School of Geomancy

***This is my first shot at homebrew, so please leave any comments/suggestions you may have regarding balancing and mechanics.  Cheers!***

Zelander Reibecht watched the ensuing battle with the appearance of dispassion; he wanted nothing more than to throw every ounce of arcane fury he could muster at the rakshasa, Lorogos, threatening his friends, but knew he had to wait for his chance.  Their enemy knows magic, understands the Weave, and uses it to terrifying effect.  It doesn’t know Zel, though.  Nor the what his mentor taught him about the nature of magic.  How malleable it is, how to shape it rather than obey its laws and whims.  Moreover, the fiend has no idea how far Zel will go to defend his only family.  Having suffered a grievous blow from his warrior friend, Aerumon, Lorogos began to plane shift back to whatever hell he sprung from.  "Not bloody likely," Zel muttered as he artfully disassembled the spell as it was being woven.

As the Rakshasa turned its attention to him, Zel began to weave a fireball spell, glyphs sparking to life around him as he did so.  The fiend snarled a grim laugh as it charged him, knowing the spell would fail.  The baleful laugh distorted to a muffled roar of outrage as the spell unleashed a torrent of ice forming a thick wall around the beast, encasing it in a 6 inch thick globe of hardened ice.  As the rakshasa clawed and pounded fruitlessly against his icy prison, Zel mused to himself, "You're not immune to suffocation, I trust..."

---

Geomancy is a very controversial school of magic in that it does not describe a grouping of spells so much as it defines a methodology of spell casting that carries a high degree of risk.  Instead of weaving spells according to ancient rites and rituals, a geomancer manipulates the elements of matter - fire, earth, water, and wind - through geometrical spell glyphs to create very specific effects.  Such manipulations can go awry should the geomancer falter in their calculations or lose mental focus, and may find themselves at the mercy of vicious arcane feedback from the energy they are harnessing.  The high fatality rates of novice geomancers led to its forbiddance in most arcane circles.

Those who persist and carefully master the practice have found a level of practicality and versatility in their casting that conventional students of magic have not.  If you like the idea of shaping your spells to suit your situation at great personal risk, this school is for you!

 

 

Tools of the Trade

At level 2 in order to gain the benefits of this subclass you must gather four gems worth 10gp or more each and perform a one-hour ritual to attune them to the basic elements - fire, wind, water, earth.  After the ritual completes, the stones glow a deep green, a vibrant whitish blue, a smooth aquamarine, and a flickering crimson.  At the end of each day you must spend one hour as part of your long rest to reinvest them with elemental energy.

You may use these gems as your arcane focus for casting spells.  When casting a spell, the stones move  according to your will, focusing the elements in a very precise way to shape and empower your spell as you see fit. 

Further, any material components of a certain value required by a spell may be substituted for a gem of equal or greater value.

Should you be without your infused stones for any reason (theft, loss, destruction, etc.) you must replace them and undergo the above ritual once more before being able to use your geomancer features.  You may still use a conventional arcane focus to cast spells regularly.

Geomantic Manipulation

Your studies have enabled you to fundamentally change the way you cast spells by tracing geometric glyphs in the air using your infused gemstones. 

Starting at level 2 you gain expertise in Intelligence (arcana), allowing you to double your proficiency bonus for these checks.

When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher with a casting time of one action or longer, you may make an Intelligence (Arcana) check vs DC 10 + spell level + total effect cost to achieve any of the following effects:

• You may change the elemental damage of any spell to any other type except force, psychic, necrotic, and radiant. (+2 to DC)
• You may add one additional projectile or ray to any spell that fires rays or projectiles as a spell attack (+4 to DC)
• You may exclude a number of 5ft. cubes from a spell's area of effect equal or less than your Intelligence modifier (+2 to DC)
• You may alter the shape of any area of effect spell to any of the following: (+2 to DC)
  • 25ft. cone
  • 10ft. radius sphere
  • 60ft. line (5ft. wide)
  • 15ft. cube

Failing this DC causes the spell to fail without consuming a spell slot or manipulation use, but causes feedback dealing 1d6/spell slot level psychic damage to you which cannot be reduced by any means. 

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier.  You regain all uses after a short rest.

Arcane Deconstruction

At 6th level, your deepening understanding of how magic functions provides you the following benefits:

• You may cast the following spells as 3rd level spells once per short rest without using a spell slot: dispel magic, counterspell.
• When you cast counterspell or dispel magic, you have advantage on the ability check.

Improved Geomancy

At 10th level, you have the mental discipline to trace far more intricate glyphs, creating 3-dimensional spell-forms.  This grants you the following improvements:

• If you fail an Intelligence (Arcana) check to augment a spell, you may use a bonus action to retry the check.  You still take the feedback damage from the initial fail, but do not suffer additional damage should the reroll fail as well.
• You may expend a use of Geomantic Manipulation as a reaction to gain advantage on all saves and give all attacks against you disadvantage until the start of your next turn.
• You have refined your calculations and modified your glyphs to improve their effects as follows, which supersede Geomantic Manipulation:
  • You may change the elemental damage of any spell to any other type (+2 to DC)
  • You may substitute half the damage of a spell for any other type (+2 to DC)
  • You may exclude a number of 5ft. cubes from a spell's area of effect equal or less than twice your Intelligence modifier (+2 to DC)
  • You have advantage on your spell attack(s) or the target(s) of your spell have disadvantage on their saves (+4 to DC)
  • You may add two additional projectiles or rays to any spell that fires rays or projectiles as part of a spell attack (+4 to DC)
  • You may alter the shape of any area of effect spell to any of the following: (+2 to DC)
    • 60ft. cone
    • 25ft. radius sphere
    • 120ft. line, 10ft. wide
    • 40ft. cube

The damage you sustain from feedback is now 1d8/spell slot level, as you are channeling far more power into your spells.

Geomaster

 At 14th level, you have mastered the practice of elemental manipulation.  You gain the following benefits:

• Once per long rest, you can cut the tips of your fingers when tracing a glyph to infuse your spell with your own living essence.  Doing so causes you to automatically suffer double the regular feedback damage, but the spell succeeds regardless of your Intelligence (Arcana) roll and gains one of the following effects:
  • If the spell deals damage, double the number of damage dice rolled.
  • If the spell has an area of effect, double that area.
  • If the spell has a DC, add 3 to the DC.