PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Psionic Sorcerer Bloodline (Critiques Welcome!)



Sredni Vashtar
2015-11-07, 09:14 AM
So, I've been kicking around this idea for a while (pretty much since I came across the 5e Psionics Unearthed Arcana). Not to start a debate, but personally, I've never liked how the past Psionics systems worked and I've wanted to change it up. Then I thought of the sorcerer. A magic-user that gets their power from within (and is often born with their power) fits both psions and sorcerers, so why not a sorcerer with a psionic bloodline?

The only problem is that I'm still new-ish to 5e, and I don't want to make an over-powered archetype. I'm aiming for the level of the Unearthed Arcana Storm Sorcerer (I've heard it's been printed in the Sword Coast book, but I don't have that and don't know how much it's changed.) I've got most of the bloodline down, but I'm missing the level 18 capstone and my level 14 ability is stolen from the Enchanter. I'm also missing fluff for the most part, but that's just because I haven't written it down.

Anyway, here it is:

Psionic Bloodline
Instead of gaining magical might from a draconic ancestor, some sorcerers trace their power back to aberrations like illithids or aboleths. Perhaps some distant ancestor was a thrall of such a monster, or perhaps some foul power has allowed them to intermingle their blood with your family tree.


Bonus Spells
You gain the following spells as sorcerer spells at the listed sorcerer level. These spells do not count against the number of sorcerer spells you know.

Sorcerer Level Spells
1st Command, Charm Person
3rd Detect Thoughts, Suggestion
5th Fear, Sending
7th Compulsion, Confusion
9th Dominate Person, Dream

1st Level

Telepathy
At 1st level, your psionic power allows you to tap directly into the minds of others. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 100 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with a creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, and the creature understands you even if it lacks a language. You can allow a creature to respond to you telepathically, but it must understand at least one language in order to communicate this way.

Mind Blast
At 1st level, you can magically emit psychic energy in a 30-foot line. Each creature in that area must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw. The DC for this saving throw equals 8 + your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus. A creature takes 2d6 Psychic damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The damage increases to 3d6 at 6th level, 4d6 at 14th level, and 5d6 at 18th level. After you use your mind blast, you can't use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

6th Level
Resilient Mind
At 6th level, you learn to shield your mind from attacks. You gain resistance to Psychic damage and have advantage to saving throws against Enchantment spells and charm effects. At 18th level, you gain immunity to Psychic damage and charm effects.

14th Level
Mind Sculpt
At 14th level, you gain the ability to make a creature unaware of your influence on it. When you cast an enchantment spell to charm one or more creatures, you can alter one creature's understanding so that it remains unaware of being charmed. Additionally, once before the spell expires, you can use your action to try to make the chosen creature forget some of the time it spent charmed. The creature must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw against your sorcerer spell save DC or lose a number of hours of its memories equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). You can make the creature forget less time, and the amount of time can't exceed the duration of your enchantment spell.

18th Level
Persistent Control
At 18th Level, your influence over weaker minds increases. The maximum duration of your charm spells increase by 100%. (A duration of 1 minute becomes 2 minutes, 1 hour becomes 2 hours, etc.)


Other ideas I've thought up but couldn't find a way to add in (due to power level concerns, mostly) are allowing the Sorcerer to use Subtle Spell Metamagic for free, immunity to Psychic damage, inflicting Disadvantage to the target's Saving Throws vs. your Enchantment spells, and replacing some damage from spells with Psychic damage.

Any critiques, advice, help, and cookies are welcome. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Updated on 11/8/2015. Added new features at 1st and 18th levels, renamed the 14th level ability. :smallsmile:

GanonBoar
2015-11-07, 09:33 AM
That looks pretty cool. One idea I have for the 18th level ability is this:
Ethereal Manipuluation
You learn to manipulate people's dreams to an extent that alters their actions. You can cause any sleeping creature to instantly wake up, and you can choose to make a sleeping or unconscious creature within 10 feet of you dream one of the following:
Happy Dream When the creature wakes up, it is in a good mood and automatically becomes friendly to the first person he sees once waking up. If you wish, they will also recover health equal to your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier + Half your Sorcerer level (Rounded down).
Sad Dream The creature wakes up melancholic and saddened. It has disadvantage on any ability checks or saving throws for either Wisdom or Charisma(Your Choice) for one hour after waking up.
Nightmare You invade the creatures mind deeply, causing them intense fear. They must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw of DC equal to 10 + Your Charisma Modifier + Half your Proficiency Bonus (Rounded down). If they fail the save, they take 6d8 Psychic damage and wake up instantly, frightened. If they succeed, they take half damage and wake up calmly.

You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (Minimum 1). You refresh all expended uses after a long rest.

Sredni Vashtar
2015-11-07, 05:40 PM
I like the idea of manipulating dreams, but I feel like it would fit better for a Dream-focused Sorcerer. I think with a little tweaking, something similar can be done to manipulate waking minds.

I have been considering an ability similar to the Aboleth's Enslave ability, considering that this bloodline is a bit Charm-focused, but I think that might come across too evil.

Sredni Vashtar
2015-11-08, 04:37 PM
Updated bloodline in first post. Changed the thread title too. :smallsmile: