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JRDS
2016-06-11, 07:59 AM
Arcane Tradition: Divine Magus

THIEVES? AN INTERESTING CONCEPT. Did we steal the essence of the Divine, or was it given to us freely, that we might lead our people into a new age?

-Seht, Sotha Sil's Last Words...


Arcane Traditions

There are arcane traditions of all sorts, from Elves that sing and swing swords to produce arcane effects, to abjurers that focus on the creation of shields and protective wards. There are a few hidden traditions though, secret to all save a few lucky - or unlucky - individuals. The practice of the Divine Magus is one such tradition.

First practiced by the Wizard known as Seht, a conjurer of extreme skill, being a Divine Magus is learning how to manipulate the energies of the Divine as a Wizard manipulates the Arcane energies that pervade the world. First creating tools through which he could take control of and shape Divinity, Seht transformed himself and his closest companions into demi-gods. In this form, he focused his energies toward helping his people prosper. When his time eventually came, he took a place beside Boccob in the God of Magic's Library of Lore.

A chosen few are like Seht once was, and dream of manipulating Divine energy as their brethren Wizards manipulate Arcane energy. They have the blessing of being able to follow Seht's path, accessing Divinity and creating tools to help them become Divine Magi.
Divine Magi in the World

It is very rare for a Divine Magus to meet another Divine Magus, for their work is of utmost secrecy. If anyone realized what they were trying to do - manipulate the nature of the Divine - they would likely be killed as dangerous heretics. Even worse, someone with evil intentions might realize the possibilities, and attempt to become a maleficent Divine Magus.

The secrets to becoming a Divine Magus are only discovered after strenuous researching into the Occult, and after many ritual divinations on the subject. Prayers to Seht and to a lesser extent Boccob are thought to be helpful, but are not strictly necessary. Seht and his status as a demi-god is almost completely unknown save to those attempting to become a Divine Magus, and those heavily steeped in the religious lore of the Church of Boccob.

Being a Divine Magus is a sacred and dangerous duty as walking down this path means that you are always being watched by some Divinity. Usually Seht watches over Divine Magi, to make sure that their path does not turn to one of evil. Should it do so, he will attempt to destroy them. First by sending emissaries such as various Angels and other Celestials, and if necessary showing up himself to strike down the errant Divine Magus.

A potential reason for a Divine Magus to go adventuring is to stop an evil Divine Magus from getting any more powerful. It's also a good reason for a cleric or paladin to set out; an evil Divine Magus is an affront to the gods.

Divine Magus

Divine Familiar

At 2nd level, you learn the spell Find Familiar if you do not already know it. When you cast the spell, you can chose to have your familiar be a Lantern Archon, which is a small smote of sentient divinity. Additionally, you learn Celestial as a bonus language. When you reach level 10, every time you are healed, your Lantern Archon is healed for half.


Divine Inspiration

At 2nd level, you learn 1 spell of 1st level from the Cleric Spell List that must be from the Abjuration, Conjuration, or Transmutation Spell Schools, and 1 Cleric Cantrip of any Spell School. From now on when you gain access to a new spell level and you are adding two new spells due to your level up, you can add a single spell from the Cleric Spell List of the new spell level. This spell counts as one of the two you learn due to leveling up, and must be from the Abjuration, Conjuration, or Transmutation Spell Schools.

The Cleric spells Divine Magi learn via Divine Inspiriation are considered Divine Spells, as are spells cast by Clerics, Druids, Paladins, and Rangers, from their respective spell lists. Spells and abilities used by Celestials also count as Divine Spells. This note is here in order to classify Divine Spells, which can be manipulated when the Divine Magus becomes level 14.

Divine Tools

At 6th level, you can create a Divine Tool out of some silver, gold, and Divine essence. The process takes 9 hours and 50 gold worth of silver and gold. You can only have one Divine Tool, and creating a new one destroys the old one. If you have your old one on hand, you can destroy it when you create a new one, which means you do not have to pay the 50 gold to create a new one. You are always aware of the location of your Divine Tool in relation to yourself.

A Divine Tool acts as a spell focus, and has other benefits depending on the type of tool created:

Guard of God's Weave: A golden glove that cannot be pierced, ripped, or tarnished. While wearing this glove, the cost of components for spells that you have learned from the Cleric Spell List via your Divine Inspiriation are reduced by 50%. Additionally, should you take radiant or necrotic damage, the damage is reduced by 1 per dice. This reduction is applied before resistances or vulnerabilities.
Knife of a Keen Mind: A golden knife that cannot be bent, broken, or tarnished. While wielding this knife, the DC for Concentration checks you make to maintain your spells are reduced by half of your proficiency bonus, rounded down to the nearest whole number. If you attack someone with this knife, you use your Intelligence as your attack ability score, and it acts as a dagger that deals an additional 1d4 radiant damage.
Hammer of Sundering: A golden mallet that cannot be broken or tarnished. When you or your familiar casts a spell that forces an ability check, and the target of the spell fails their save, you can use your bonus action to cause the target's respective ability score to drop by 1 point. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Intelligence Modifier, and can stack with itself. Attacking with this mallet deals 1d2 bludgeoning damage and 1d2 radiant damage. You use your Intelligence as your attack ability score when attacking with this mallet.


Divine Form

At 10th level, you have become successful at weaving Divinity throughout your body. You gain resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, and immunity to disease and exhaustion. Additionally, you no longer suffer the negative effects of aging, and cannot die from old age.

Divine Manipulation

At 14th level, you can use your Divine Tool to manipulate a Divine Spell that has been cast on you by someone else. You can do this as a reaction when the spell is cast on you, as a bonus action, or as a regular action.

Guard of God's Weave: When you are the target of a spell of Divine origin that is level 5 or lower, you can attempt to absorb the energy of the spell by rolling an Intelligence check against their spellcasting DC. If you succeed, then the spell no longer affects you and you regain a spell slot of the same level or lower of the spell you absorbed, and you are healed by 1d6 per level of the spell.
Knife of a Keen Mind: When you are the target of a spell of Divine origin, you may expend a spell slot of equal level (maximum level 5) to attempt to turn the spell back on the caster. You do this by rolling an Intelligence check against their spellcasting DC. If you succeed, then the spell no longer affects you and instead affects the original caster of the spell as though you had cast it on them, using your spellcasting ability.
Hammer of Sundering: When you are the target of a spell of Divine origin, you may expend a spell slot of equal level (maximum level 5) to attempt to sunder the spell and it's connection to the caster. You do this by rolling an Intelligence check against their spellcasting DC. If you succeed, then the spell no longer affects you and the original caster of the spell cannot cast that spell again for 1d4 rounds. If they are concentrating on the spell as you pull the energy away from them, they must make a Concentration check against your spellcasting DC. Furthermore, as an action, you can break one effect caused by a Divine Spell. Doing so requires you to spend a spell slot equal to the spell that caused the effect you are breaking.


Lantern Archon

Small smotes of sentient divinity, Lantern Archons are not usually devoted to any one god or cause. Instead they look to serve the greater good. Typically, they do this by playing a supportive role in the good-aligned planes. In the case of serving Divine Magi, Lantern Archon serve a dual purpose; they try to influence the Wizard toward performing good acts, and they watch over the Wizard and report to Seht.

Lantern Archons are not just balls of light; at their core is a crystal-like object that is the actual body of the Lantern Archon. Though they have no hands, they can psychically manipulate up to 10 lbs of material, so long as that material stays within 5 ft of them.



Lantern Archon
Tiny Celestial, Neutral Good
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 10(3d4 + 3)
Speed fly 60 ft.



Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha


6 (-2)
17 (+3)
13 (+1)
11 (+0)
14 (+2)
12 (+1)



Skills Acrobatics +5, Insight +4, Religion +2
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities radiant, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned, grappled, exhaustion, blinded, petrified, prone
Senses darkvision 120 ft, passive Perception 12
Languages Common, Celestial
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Illumination. The Lantern Archon sheds magical bright light within a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet. The bright magical light disperses magical darkness, but the dim light does not. The Lantern Archon can suppress the light to dim light for 5ft only, but this requires concentration.

Magic Resistance. The Lantern Archon has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions

Actions

Increased Illumination. The Lantern Archon can concentrate to increase it's illumination, creating bright magical light for 15ft and dim light for 30 ft. The bright magical light disperses magical darkness, but the dim light does not.

zeek0
2016-06-14, 04:28 PM
[I'd hate to see a thread get buried without a single response...]

First of all, welcome to the forum! I'm going to throw a lot more comments at you that you want/deserve. I do it out of love and interest in your idea, trust me.

I'm going to ask a bunch of questions / make comments to get you thinking about your choices.

Divine Inspiration: Why are we limited to only three schools?

Divine Tools: I would say a long rest instead of 9 hours, they are almost equivilant.
Guard - You needn't mention that the reduction happens before resistances or vulnerabilities. Resistances or vulnerabilities have no effect on damage dice, they only halve/double the result.
Knife - per general rules, all results are rounded down unless otherwise stated (PHB pg.7). No need to state it.
The knife attack can be imagined as a melee cantrip that deals 2d4 damage (good) and does not scale with level (bad).
Hammer - again, the damage is low and non-scaling. Also, the effect about DCs and such is weak - you will only reduce the actual DC by 1 half the time, and this isn't much to think about.

Divine Form: Whoa! Immortality isn't granted lightly. No other classes/subclasses get it. Kingdoms are sacrificed or souls traded for immortality - I don't think it should be reduced to a 10th level feature.
Exhastion is meant to be a serious condition that you can't ignore and (largely) can't repair.
I think there is too much here. Compare to Timeless Body (Monk(15)), Nature's Ward (Druid (10)), Timeless Body (Druid (18)), and Undying Sentinel (Paladin (15)).

Divine Manipulation: This feature is of little use for most of a campaign. Most enemies you face will not be spellcasters, let alone divine spellcasters.
Guard - This is essentially a counterspell that heals you and can't be used on higher level spells. Probably not powerful enough.
Knife - A cool use of a spell slot. How often can this be used? Can I use it against every spell they try to cast against me?
Hammer - Not being able to cast one spell is less a hindrance than you might think.

I like that you had a small item as a theme throughout. The features are nicely grounded in physical objects.

I like the Lantern Archon. A good flavorful and powerful tool.
As a small note, concentration is not a quality that has a definition outside of spellcasting.

Another thing to consider is that the word "archon" means "ruler" or "lord". This doesn't seem t be what you are going for in concept.

Let me know if you have questions or other thoughts about my comments, I'd be glad to have a conversation.

JRDS
2016-06-14, 09:37 PM
First of all, welcome to the forum! I'm going to throw a lot more comments at you that you want/deserve. I do it out of love and interest in your idea, trust me.

Hey man, I really appreciate the reply. As for throwing out more comments than I want or deserve; [i]that's impossible. I thrive on feedback and really appreciate it.


Divine Inspiration: Why are we limited to only three schools?

This is for two reasons.

1) The Eldritch Knight only has access to 2 schools of magic from the Wizard Spell List, which are Abjuration and Evocation. Other classes that access the Spell Lists of different classes are typically limited in some fashion. Since I'm not limiting by Spell Level, I thought that limiting it by schools of magic was the best way to do around this.

2) In this way we are not allowing the Divine Magus access to the main healing spells the cleric has access to, such as Cure Wounds and Heal. These spells are Evocation in 5e. I have concerns about allowing the Divine Magus access to these spells, because we might take away from Clerics one of the things they do so well in comparison to other classes.


Divine Tools: I would say a long rest instead of 9 hours, they are almost equivilant.

The 9 hours comes from "9 divines" from The Elder Scrolls lore (which this subclass is inspired from), but long rest is better D&D terminology. Done!


Guard - You needn't mention that the reduction happens before resistances or vulnerabilities. Resistances or vulnerabilities have no effect on damage dice, they only halve/double the result.

Changed from "Additionally, should you take radiant or necrotic damage, the damage is reduced by 1 per damage dice. This reduction is applied before resistances or vulnerabilities." to "Additionally, should you take radiant or necrotic damage, the damage is reduced by 1 per damage dice. This becomes 2 per damage dice at level 14."


Knife - per general rules, all results are rounded down unless otherwise stated (PHB pg.7). No need to state it.
The knife attack can be imagined as a melee cantrip that deals 2d4 damage (good) and does not scale with level (bad).

Changed from "If you attack someone with this knife, you use your Intelligence as your attack ability score, and it acts as a dagger that deals an additional 1d4 radiant damage." to "If you attack someone with this knife, you use your Intelligence as your attack ability score, and it acts as a dagger that deals an additional 1d4 radiant damage. This becomes 2d4 at level 14 and 3d4 at level 20."


Hammer - again, the damage is low and non-scaling. Also, the effect about DCs and such is weak - you will only reduce the actual DC by 1 half the time, and this isn't much to think about.

Considering the bounded accuracy of 5e, isn't reducing their score modifiers by 1, even if only half the time, really powerful?


Divine Form: Whoa! Immortality isn't granted lightly. No other classes/subclasses get it. Kingdoms are sacrificed or souls traded for immortality - I don't think it should be reduced to a 10th level feature.
Exhastion is meant to be a serious condition that you can't ignore and (largely) can't repair.

Technically incorrect. The Undying Sentinel feature from the Paladin's Oath of Ancients technically gives the Paladin immunity from old age's negative effects, and unlike any other version of this such as the Monk feature Timeless Body, does not mention death. This means that technically, the Undying Sentinel feature means that the Paladin cannot die from old age. I'm just going the extra step and out right stating that for the Divine Form feature. That being said, I've changed it so that it doesn't give immunity to exhaustion, but only death from exhaustion.

You might ask why I picked exhaustion, and the reason is that Angels (Monster Manual page 15) are immune to exhaustion.

Changed it from "At 10th level, you have become successful at weaving Divinity throughout your body. You gain resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, and immunity to disease and exhaustion. Additionally, you no longer suffer the negative effects of aging, and cannot die from old age." "At 10th level, you have become successful at weaving Divinity throughout your body. You gain resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, and immunity to disease. Additionally, you no longer suffer the negative effects of aging, and cannot die from old age or exhaustion."


Divine Manipulation: This feature is of little use for most of a campaign. Most enemies you face will not be spellcasters, let alone divine spellcasters.

This is a feature that is unfortunately only useful depending on the campaign. I'm not sure how to change this feature, since the idea is that the Divine Magus, using the tools, now can manipulate divine energy produced by others.


Guard - This is essentially a counterspell that heals you and can't be used on higher level spells. Probably not powerful enough.

It also gives you back a spell slot. Does that change things in your opinion?


Knife - A cool use of a spell slot. How often can this be used? Can I use it against every spell they try to cast against me?

As many times as you have spell slots and yes, you can.


Hammer - Not being able to cast one spell is less a hindrance than you might think.

Well, the original thought I had was stopping the target from casting spells at all for 1 round. But that sounds too powerful. So I went to not being able to cast -that- spell. What's a good middle ground here? Not being able to cast spells of that spell level or higher for a predetermined time?


I like that you had a small item as a theme throughout. The features are nicely grounded in physical objects.

The Divine Tools are actually based off Kagrenac's Tools. The hammer Sunder, the blade Keening, and the gauntlet Wraithguard, are used to pull divine energy out of the Heart of Lorkhan (the heart of a god) by the Wizard Sotha Sil and turn himself and his allies Almalexia and Vivec into gods.


I like the Lantern Archon. A good flavorful and powerful tool.
As a small note, concentration is not a quality that has a definition outside of spellcasting.

Another thing to consider is that the word "archon" means "ruler" or "lord". This doesn't seem t be what you are going for in concept.

The Lantern Archon is a classic 3.5 D&D monster, one of 3 Archons. The Lantern Archon is the weakest of the 3, followed by the Hound Archon, and finally the Trumpet Archon.

I put the concentration limitation on the Lantern Archon's abilities to expand and dampen it's own light because the Imp, to my understanding, has a concentration limitation on it's ability to shapeshift.

Again, thanks for the comment, I really appreciated it. :biggrin:

zeek0
2016-06-14, 11:02 PM
I'm happy that you considered my comments! I appreciate the changes you made.


The Divine Tools are actually based off Kagrenac's Tools. The hammer Sunder, the blade Keening, and the gauntlet Wraithguard, are used to pull divine energy out of the Heart of Lorkhan (the heart of a god) by the Wizard Sotha Sil and turn himself and his allies Almalexia and Vivec into gods.

The Lantern Archon is a classic 3.5 D&D monster, one of 3 Archons. The Lantern Archon is the weakest of the 3, followed by the Hound Archon, and finally the Trumpet Archon.
It seems you know much more lore than I do. I conceed the point on the Lantern Archon, since it already exists.


This means that technically, the Undying Sentinel feature means that the Paladin cannot die from old age.
I believe this could be contested, but I shan't go into it here. What I'll consider instead is the implication of offering immortality as a class feature at all.

Immortality is the goal of the most terrible villains and a reward for the greatest heroes. In most stories, it requires terrible sacrifice (Voldemort) or direct divine influence (The Wandering Jew). Becoming a vampire is easy enough, but most would argue that changing your goal-state largely means that continuity of consciousness is out the window.

My point is that immortality should ask for more than 10 levels in a feature. It is too thematically fraught to be handed out without cost.


This is a feature that is unfortunately only useful depending on the campaign. I'm not sure how to change this feature, since the idea is that the Divine Magus, using the tools, now can manipulate divine energy produced by others.
As a DM, I'd be irked to change my villains so they have a divine influence, just so my player could use their feature against them.

Instead, I think you should imagine a new feature entirely. Maybe one of the options remains a counterspell mechanic, but another manipulates your own divine energy?

Cheers.