[5e] Is this spell balanced?

[Garresh]

I'm trying to make a single attack spell which effectively applies faerie fire without using concentration.

Marking Shot - level 1 spell
V, S, M

As part of casting this spell, you make a ranged weapon attack. On a hit, the target makes a will save. On a failure, they are illuminated in light, and attack rolls against them have advantage. They get an additional save at the beginning of each of their turns.

Is this overpowered? Should it be level 2?

Edit - Derp yes it is 5e. My bad.

[Temotei]

What edition? Looks like 5e.

[Garresh]

What edition? Looks like 5e.

Good guess. Fixed my OP. -_-

[Final Hyena]

The spell seems reasonable, although I would change ranged attack to ranged spell attack.

Edit; My new thought is that it's a bit weak.

Faerie fire = 20 feet aoe dex save or affected for concentration
Marking shot = attack, then wis save or affected with a re roll each turn

maybe get rid of the initial wis save?

Edit 2; Also you should specify (if it is your intent) that they can't benefit from being invisible.

[Garresh]

The spell seems reasonable, although I would change ranged attack to ranged spell attack.

Edit; My new thought is that it's a bit weak.

Faerie fire = 20 feet aoe dex save or affected for concentration
Marking shot = attack, then wis save or affected with a re roll each turn

maybe get rid of the wis save?

Edit 2; Also you should specify (if it is your intent) that they can't benefit from being invisible.

Sorry yeah I forgot to put that part. Amusingly the original version didn't have an initial save but was deemed OP by some players I asked in my group...heh. I'll knock off the initial save and allow saves on subsequent turns and that should still be useful. Yoy are getting an attack as well after all.

[Final Hyena]

Sorry yeah I forgot to put that part. Amusingly the original version didn't have an initial save but was deemed OP by some players I asked in my group...heh. I'll knock off the initial save and allow saves on subsequent turns and that should still be useful. Yoy are getting an attack as well after all.

I once had a player profusely proclaim that a certain spell was wonderful, but if the NPCs were allowed it, then it was OP, but only for them....

Many are not suited to balance, and when it comes to your own players they have their own agendas.

[Garresh]

I once had a player profusely proclaim that a certain spell was wonderful, but if the NPCs were allowed it, then it was OP, but only for them....

Many are not suited to balance, and when it comes to your own players they have their own agendas.

Well I'm not a GM. It's just something I'm working on for a project I'm doing. Trying to come up with good level 1 spell effects that can scale in power as you level so they can work around relatively static resource limits(think warlock slots kinda).

Anyways I'm going with the single attack faerie fire, saves each turn. At level 5 it will be made with advantage to keep up with 3rd level spells. And at 11 it no longer allows saves, but you still have to hit with it initially.

[Final Hyena]

Anyways I'm going with the single attack faerie fire, saves each turn. At level 5 it will be made with advantage to keep up with 3rd level spells. And at 11 it no longer allows saves, but you still have to hit with it initially.

Giving a spell advantage from higher level casting is a bit weird, usually you get extra die or more targets.

Here's a question for you, how to you shoot an invisible target with this spell?

Perhaps add in a homing affect against the closest invisible target?

[Garresh]

Giving a spell advantage from higher level casting is a bit weird, usually you get extra die or more targets.

Here's a question for you, how to you shoot an invisible target with this spell?

Perhaps add in a homing affect against the closest invisible target?


Yeah it is unusual, but I wanted it to feel more precise as it leveled, not more powerful exactly. Anyways you can't hit something you can't see with it. But something with concealment or cover it gets advantage for. So it's not an auto hit, but it makes it easier to hit a slim target. Does it sound unbalanced though? I know it breaks conventions a bit but it's kind of supposed to, but in a fair and balanced way.

[Final Hyena]

Half the point of faerie fire is that you can get invisible people due to the aoe.

Your spell is not an aoe, so how about you can target a character within range or it auto attacks the nearest invisible creature (still needs the attack roll).

[Garresh]

Half the point of faerie fire is that you can get invisible people due to the aoe.

Your spell is not an aoe, so how about you can target a character within range or it auto attacks the nearest invisible creature (still needs the attack roll).

Hm. Should that be added at level 5 or a base feature?

[Final Hyena]

Base feature, it's still good, but like faerie fire it's limited as you don't get to choose which invisible creature you target. You should flesh out your spell description with things like range. That's the important thing to consider given this second method of firing. Definitely no more than 30 feet, but probably less.

With regards to higher level casting some spells aren't suited for higher level casting, this is why faerie fire doesn't have one. I think your spell is always useful as a level 1 cast. I get the feeling you're trying to make a scaling spell for your warlock PC. The main thing to consider is getting your DM to agree to homebrew that you've made.

Might I recommend if that is the case themeing it a bit more towards warlocks with the description and if you're going to have it scale remember that scaling spells are supposed to be not as good as what they're scaling up to. Make sure to be able to point to a spell of the new slot and say this is a better option.

[Garresh]

I was going to have its range be equivalent to whatever weapon you were using, cause it's actually an arrow. Not to mention you can proc weapon mods on it. That's a big factor with this so I'd need to keep other parts weaker to balance it out. And it's not for a warlock it'd for a binder port, but stuff like that needs to be viable 1-20 to keep things well paced.

[Final Hyena]

it'd for a binder port
Yes, a binder port. That old class, the one that.... carries binders.


but stuff like that needs to be viable 1-20 to keep things well paced.
Lower level scales scale up to not be as good as spells of that level, this is because otherwise you could take a level 1 damaging spell and never need another one giving you a very wide array of spells known.

This is why fireball is better than a 3rd level burning hands.