School of the Spell Sniper

Wizards that are gifted with an understanding of engineering and firearms are rarely given the opportunity to train in the ways of the spell sniper. Few have the knowledge, few decide to follow the course and even fewer survive but for those. They become something greater, someone instinctively focused on protecting the great flying mage school that wander Eldiah's upper atmosphere.

The spell snipers are well adapted to long range combat like all wizards but rather than simply altering the form of the ether to cast their spells, they go a step further and condense it into the chamber of a firearm, however no simple firearm could handle such magical energy. The firearm the spell snipers use is too forged of condensed magical energy and is held together by the Natural energy flow of it's wielder. Due to this a spell snipers Magitek weaponry works for them and them alone.

By combining magic with precision instruments of destruction the Spell sniper can modulate the ways that their spells are formed making them incredibly versatile compared to their more ordinary colleagues.

 

Cantrip Killer

Few Spell snipers grow far enough to manage this feat of Magical control but for those that do their most simple spells can rapidly become some of their most lethal.

You have become so quick at condensing the ether into bullet / bolt form that you can now generate two cantrip bullets a turn or a single heavily charged cantrip bullet.

Now whilst you are in Pistol / Hand Crossbow mode you wield two of your chosen form rather than one. One is real and the other is a specter you summon into your empty hand when swapping to the weapon form. You can now cast two spells in a normal spell action as long as both spells are cantrips. As it is impossible to fan the hammer with both hands full, you can decide to use fan the hammer or go into Duel wielder mode with your spectral gun and fire two cantrips as standard with no option to split the damage.

Now whilst in Sniper / Heavy Crossbow mode you roll double the normal dice for any cantrip fired in this form. You also triple the cantrips initial range rather than doubling it.

Magitek Weaponry

When you choose this subclass at Level 2 you unlock the rare and mystical art of forging the ether into a ranged Magitek weapon.

You can choose one of it's two forms to appear as.

Pistol / Hand Crossbow  -  In this form your Magitek weapon has the ability to Split spells into multiple shots. For example the Cantrip spell Fire bolt deals 1D10 damage to begin with but as you level it eventually deals 4D10, you can on any spell that deals multiple damage die split the spell down to its most basic form and fire repeatedly by fanning the hammer, meaning rather than a single spell attack dealing 4D10 you can instead fire 4 separate shots that deal 1D10 each, each shot having its own spell attack and if the spell dictates it each one having an additional save to make to any target hit by the spell. The range of the attack is decided by the spell used. Being in 5ft of an enemy doesn't impose disadvantage on your spell attack roles fired through the Magitek Pistol / Hand Crossbow. You can split your fan the hammer attacks amongst as many enemies as you have dice for the attack. This weapon is one handed and light meaning it can be used along with a shield.

Sniper / Heavy Crossbow - In this form your Magitek weapon is the very definition of ranged spell accuracy and the very reasoning behind the elite wizard school's name. You double the range of all your spells fired through this variant of Magitek weapon. Enemies in half cover are considered to be in no cover whilst looking down the scope of this weapon. If you choose to at the beginning of your turn you can Take Aim, doing so reduces your movement speed to 0 until the beginning of your next turn, however in return for taking aim you gain advantage on your spell attack roles made through this variant Magitek weapon for this turn and also score a critical hit on a natural 19-20. Shots Fired with this weapon can not be split, in the case of spells such as eldritch blast that can usually split their attacks, instead all shots are condensed into one and fired at a single target.

You still use the spell slot if the spell requires one.

If a spell you cast should have a range of touch then when fired from a Magitek weapon it has either a 30ft range in Pistol / Hand Crossbow form or 60ft in Sniper / Heavy Crossbow form.

These weapons are consider as a Wizard spell-casting focus.

You can as an action change the form of the weapon or summon it to your hand as long as its on the same plane of existence as you, if you summon it you choose which form it appears in.

If your Magitek weapon is destroyed you can spend 4 hours performing a ritual to create a new one.

You are now proficient with all associated weapon types (Firearms / Hand Crossbow / Heavy Crossbow).

Calculated Trajectory

Spell snipers begin their training at a young age and the first thing they are taught is to make decisions and calculations quickly whilst under stress, due to this grueling training method the survival rate of spell snipers is much higher than that of ordinary wizards. Once the mind is quick they train the body to respond to their calculations equally as quickly.

You gain proficiency in Acrobatics if you didn't already.

When you are asked to make a DEX save to avoid being hit by an attack or spell you can instead as a Reaction roll an Acrobatics check and skillfully attempt to dodge out of its path by calculating the attacks trajectory and rapidly moving to avoid it, doing this puts large stress on your mind as you are forced to do high level calculations in what is sometimes fractions of a second.

If a spell would normally deal half damage on a successful save and full damage on failed, if you use this ability you would then take no damage on a successful save and only half damage on a failed save.

You can perform this an amount of times per long rest equal to your Intelligence modifier + Proficiency bonus. 

You mind relaxes as you sleep and so you regain all uses of this after each long rest.

Crystallized Ether

As you continuously practice the condensing of ethereal energy into magical ammunition you learn to condense the very magical essence of ether into an actually solid form within your Magitek weapon.

Starting at level 6 whenever you make a successful spell attack using a magitek weapon you can roll an additional 1D4 force damage on top of its ordinary damage.

This value increases as you steadily become more and more proficient at condensing the ether.

At level 10 this damage becomes 1D8.

At level 14 this damage becomes 1D12.

Mortar Fusion

High accuracy and rapid fire aren't the only tricks in the spell snipers arsenal, once a spell sniper becomes fairly proficient in turning ethereal energy into a solid form they can learn to have that energy shatter and explode in a radius on impact.

You can now as an action charge a specialized exploding shell with a spells energy, unlike traditional shots this specialized shell is fired upwards above the enemy before it rapidly expands to a size that matches the spell slot used to cast it and lands at a location within the spells range, the Sniper /  Heavy Crossbow range doubling effect is not applied to this attack.

Upon landing the spell explodes in a radius of (10ft x the level of Spell Slot used) with a minimum of 10ft.

If the spell used to charge the Mortar Fusion already had an area of effect you follow the radius calculation as shown and simply add the spells native radius of effect on top of it.

All creatures in the explosion radius must make a DEX save against your Spell Save DC.

On a failed save they take full damage and must make a Strength save against your Spell Save DC or be knocked prone.

On a successful save they take half damage and must make a Strength save DC 10 or be knocked prone.

You can only use direct damaging spells and healing spells with this ability.

In the case of a healing spell being used with this ability the effects are only applied to friendly units.

You can use this ability an mount of times per Long Rest equal to your Proficiency Modifier halved (rounded up).

 

Pure Ether Shot

The height of the spell sniping arsenal is the Pure Ether Shot. At this point, a spell sniper is ready to become a mage school's official guardian. After Thousands of attempts at condensing the Ether of nature, you finally achieved what most wizards deem impossible. You have formed a single shot of Pure Ether, a bullet that glows a bright green and briefly leaves a trail of light after firing it. The terrifying screeching noise this round makes when fired is one no survivor could ever forget.

In Pistol / Hand Crossbow mode when fired the Pure Ether Shot begins to immediately break apart after leaving the barrel and spreads into a 60ft cone. For all enemies in that area make a Ranged Spell Attack with advantage dealing 6D12 force damage to any creature that is hit by it. The effects of being torn open by a sliver of pure ether leave behind a scorched avulsion that bleeds profusely. At the beginning of any creature's turn after being hit by this they must make a Medicine check DC 15 to stop the bleeding. If they fail the save they take 1D8 force damage and have only half movement. They can attempt this save as many times as necessary once per turn.

In Sniper / Heavy Crossbow mode when fired the Pure Ether Shot leaves the long barrel spinning viciously with incredible momentum. The shot can travel up to 1000ft away before losing momentum and very few materials can slow it down. This round can pierce and equally damage any five creatures in its path before stopping. If the initial target is over 600ft away the Spell Attack is made at a Disadvantage this can be canceled out by the Sniper / Heavy Crossbow ability Take Aim. If the main target is within the initial 600ft and you make a successful Ranged Spell Attack the target and up to 4 other targets behind them in range take 12D12 Force damage, however if any of those hit had less than 50 Hit Points Remaining they die immediately. If the target is between the initial 600ft and the max range of 1000ft and you make a successful Ranged Spell Attack the main target and up to 4 other targets behind them within range take 6D12 Force damage, however if any of those hit had less than 30 Hit Point Remaining they die immediately.

You can use this ability once per long rest as doing any more would cause your Magitek weapon to self implode dealing all damage to the user.