a subclass I made to make undying feel more vampiric and more interesting. I could use some feedback and help. I want to make this balanced and am trying a number of ideas. My biggest concern is with blood magic feature, how to I get the effect without making it op for multi class casters?
I like the idea of blood magic, but you might need something in there to say whether casting spells using Hit Dice is same as casting using Pact Magic, so when you get the ability at level 6 are you having to expend 3 hit dice to cast your spells at level 3 or can you down cast them an invest individual hit dice to cast them at level 1 or level 2?
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Thanks, good suggestion. Maybe I could reword to simply state “you may expend hit dice instead of pact magic slots to cast a spell from your warlock spells. Expend one hit dice per level of the spell you cast. You may expend hit dice to cast a spell above its level if the spell permits.”
also, what would think of limiting this feature to 2 uses per long rest? Does it need an extra limiter?
Hit Dice are an under used resource in the game, so....
*****
Blood Magic
At level 6, Your blood is filled with the supernatural power of your patron. When ever you cast a Warlock Spell using a spell slot you can elect to cast it by spending your your Hit Dice instead of expending a spell slot.
If you are unable to expend a spell slot, you cannot use your Hit Dice to fuel the spell.
If you use your Hit Dice to cast the spell you can choose how many Hit Dice you are expending to cast the spell (One Hit Dice equals a level 1 spell, Two Hit Dice equals a level 2 spell etc). Spells cast this way can be cast at any level up to the level of the spell slot provided by your Pact Magic ability (so when you gain this ability at level 6 you can spend a single Hit Dice to cast a spell you know at level 1, or expend two to cast it as a level 2 spell or 3 to cast it as a level 3 spell but you could not spend 4 to cast it as a level 4 spell).
You take 1d8 Necrotic Damage per Hit Dice expended and this damage ignores any immunity or resistance to Necrotic Damage you may have as it is self inflicted by the spell consuming some of your life force.
You cannot expend more Hit Dice than the level of the spell slots you have for your Pact Magic (so are limited to a maximum of 5 Hit Dice per spell from level 10). as Mystic Arcanum do not consume spell slots you cannot apply Blood Magic to cast those spells, nor can you apply it to spells granted through other classes or feats.
Any Hit Dice spent in this way are regained after a long rest.
*****
I think that is pretty fair, the extra spell casting comes at the expense of the warlocks HP (up to 5d8 damage per spell once they get 5th level slots) and they have a limited pool of Hit Dice to spend and they have to balance that with healing during a Short Rest/being more of a burden to party healers or waiting for a Long Rest, also gives some minor spells, like Hex or Hellish rebuke, a bit more flair as the warlock may decide just to spend a single Hit Dice to Curse their target with a level 1 spell effect rather than spend a level 3+ slot etc. Also it is an either or situation, if they run out of spell slots the ability stops working, so it becomes a bit more tactical on when to use spell slots and should they use their last one or burn through their Hit Dice.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
so part of my desire to have blood magic feature was so you could upcast a spell..... particularly I was disappointed that many casters (arcane cleric, lore bard, wizard) could use the crazy combo of glyph of warding w planar binding, magic circle, and then summon greater demon to get a cool demon pet that could last longer than an hour if successful, and in some cases, could be quite powerful due to upcasting. Why on earth would a warlock of all classes be ****** here? This should be THEIR feature, not those other lesser classes.
So I altered blood magic and limited usage to 2 uses/long rest to prevent spamming 20 1st level spells. (thanks for the flavor text)
Now when I use this combo, I can actually use the combo, 2nd, if I mess up, there is a real cost cuz there is some crazy demon ready to destroy me while I am low on health due to cutting myself for power. Seems like some good RP elements here. You could imaging the scene of a warlock cutting himself to perform a complex and expensive ritual that results in a powerful demon minion and dire consequences if the demon succeeds its save. Also, this is a feature that should only work on warlock spells, so spells acquired from other classes, feats, racials, mystic arcanum (debatable here, I could see it being balanced with this one), etc do not work with it.
Next, because Blood Magic is still kind of a strong feature, I tried to tone down the Sanguine Fury and make it more in character as well. If this is some kind of demonic enhancement, and blood is the fuel, then lets tie it to Crimson Feast. Now, this ability is only active while you have temp hit points from that feature, and it deactivates when you run out.
You have to feast in order to get/keep the power. This feature is sort of a riff on the Ranger: Horizon Walker's distant strike, except more RP'd to vampire lock and a bit stronger (cantrips trigger it) because it is a14th lev feature instead of 11.
I am curious as well to hear the communities feedback on having a playable character that uses the combo of glyph of warding with planar binding, then magic circle around the glyph, and then summon greater demon. I think it would be awesome to have a Vrock for a pet haha.
I am trying to make a home-brew in the true order of vampires and werewolves. Recently I also made a barbarian subclass for werewolves that im curious for feedback too:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/281163-the-night-lord
a subclass I made to make undying feel more vampiric and more interesting. I could use some feedback and help. I want to make this balanced and am trying a number of ideas. My biggest concern is with blood magic feature, how to I get the effect without making it op for multi class casters?
other thoughts/recommendations?
I like the idea of blood magic, but you might need something in there to say whether casting spells using Hit Dice is same as casting using Pact Magic, so when you get the ability at level 6 are you having to expend 3 hit dice to cast your spells at level 3 or can you down cast them an invest individual hit dice to cast them at level 1 or level 2?
Thanks, good suggestion. Maybe I could reword to simply state “you may expend hit dice instead of pact magic slots to cast a spell from your warlock spells. Expend one hit dice per level of the spell you cast. You may expend hit dice to cast a spell above its level if the spell permits.”
also, what would think of limiting this feature to 2 uses per long rest? Does it need an extra limiter?
Hit Dice are an under used resource in the game, so....
*****
Blood Magic
At level 6, Your blood is filled with the supernatural power of your patron. When ever you cast a Warlock Spell using a spell slot you can elect to cast it by spending your your Hit Dice instead of expending a spell slot.
If you are unable to expend a spell slot, you cannot use your Hit Dice to fuel the spell.
If you use your Hit Dice to cast the spell you can choose how many Hit Dice you are expending to cast the spell (One Hit Dice equals a level 1 spell, Two Hit Dice equals a level 2 spell etc). Spells cast this way can be cast at any level up to the level of the spell slot provided by your Pact Magic ability (so when you gain this ability at level 6 you can spend a single Hit Dice to cast a spell you know at level 1, or expend two to cast it as a level 2 spell or 3 to cast it as a level 3 spell but you could not spend 4 to cast it as a level 4 spell).
You take 1d8 Necrotic Damage per Hit Dice expended and this damage ignores any immunity or resistance to Necrotic Damage you may have as it is self inflicted by the spell consuming some of your life force.
You cannot expend more Hit Dice than the level of the spell slots you have for your Pact Magic (so are limited to a maximum of 5 Hit Dice per spell from level 10). as Mystic Arcanum do not consume spell slots you cannot apply Blood Magic to cast those spells, nor can you apply it to spells granted through other classes or feats.
Any Hit Dice spent in this way are regained after a long rest.
*****
I think that is pretty fair, the extra spell casting comes at the expense of the warlocks HP (up to 5d8 damage per spell once they get 5th level slots) and they have a limited pool of Hit Dice to spend and they have to balance that with healing during a Short Rest/being more of a burden to party healers or waiting for a Long Rest, also gives some minor spells, like Hex or Hellish rebuke, a bit more flair as the warlock may decide just to spend a single Hit Dice to Curse their target with a level 1 spell effect rather than spend a level 3+ slot etc. Also it is an either or situation, if they run out of spell slots the ability stops working, so it becomes a bit more tactical on when to use spell slots and should they use their last one or burn through their Hit Dice.
so part of my desire to have blood magic feature was so you could upcast a spell..... particularly I was disappointed that many casters (arcane cleric, lore bard, wizard) could use the crazy combo of glyph of warding w planar binding, magic circle, and then summon greater demon to get a cool demon pet that could last longer than an hour if successful, and in some cases, could be quite powerful due to upcasting. Why on earth would a warlock of all classes be ****** here? This should be THEIR feature, not those other lesser classes.
So I altered blood magic and limited usage to 2 uses/long rest to prevent spamming 20 1st level spells. (thanks for the flavor text)
Now when I use this combo, I can actually use the combo, 2nd, if I mess up, there is a real cost cuz there is some crazy demon ready to destroy me while I am low on health due to cutting myself for power. Seems like some good RP elements here. You could imaging the scene of a warlock cutting himself to perform a complex and expensive ritual that results in a powerful demon minion and dire consequences if the demon succeeds its save. Also, this is a feature that should only work on warlock spells, so spells acquired from other classes, feats, racials, mystic arcanum (debatable here, I could see it being balanced with this one), etc do not work with it.
Next, because Blood Magic is still kind of a strong feature, I tried to tone down the Sanguine Fury and make it more in character as well. If this is some kind of demonic enhancement, and blood is the fuel, then lets tie it to Crimson Feast. Now, this ability is only active while you have temp hit points from that feature, and it deactivates when you run out.
You have to feast in order to get/keep the power. This feature is sort of a riff on the Ranger: Horizon Walker's distant strike, except more RP'd to vampire lock and a bit stronger (cantrips trigger it) because it is a14th lev feature instead of 11.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/281163-the-night-lord
I just read the title as "Lord Nikon Idea" and had a great laugh, thanks!
I am curious as well to hear the communities feedback on having a playable character that uses the combo of glyph of warding with planar binding, then magic circle around the glyph, and then summon greater demon. I think it would be awesome to have a Vrock for a pet haha.
I am trying to make a home-brew in the true order of vampires and werewolves. Recently I also made a barbarian subclass for werewolves that im curious for feedback too:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/286910-path-of-the-lycan