PC wants a 9th level radiant smite from the heavens

[Telesto]

Essentially what he is looking for is:
Cylinder or single target
Long range
Radiant Damage

He wants a holy beam of light to fall from the sky onto the target, and deal damage. Either that or some kind of concentration based version of the same thing. He was looking at Meteor and trying to back hack it into a high damage dice spell, to which I said that's insane because it's already one of the most potent spells in the game, and the damage he was looking for was way more than reasonable (Massive Damage issues become prevalent).

So, help me make his dreams come true and homebrew this spell.

[Quintessence]

Essentially what he is looking for is:
Cylinder or single target
Long range
Radiant Damage

He wants a holy beam of light to fall from the sky onto the target, and deal damage. Either that or some kind of concentration based version of the same thing. He was looking at Meteor and trying to back hack it into a high damage dice spell, to which I said that's insane because it's already one of the most potent spells in the game, and the damage he was looking for was way more than reasonable (Massive Damage issues become prevalent).

So, help me make his dreams come true and homebrew this spell.

I think the best option would be to use Flame Strike as the base for this spell and expand from there.

[Slipperychicken]

Essentially what he is looking for is:
Cylinder or single target
Long range
Radiant Damage

He wants a holy beam of light to fall from the sky onto the target, and deal damage. Either that or some kind of concentration based version of the same thing.

Could look at Moonbeam for inspiration there.

[Corran]

Essentially what he is looking for is:
Cylinder or single target
Long range
Radiant Damage

He wants a holy beam of light to fall from the sky onto the target, and deal damage. Either that or some kind of concentration based version of the same thing. He was looking at Meteor and trying to back hack it into a high damage dice spell, to which I said that's insane because it's already one of the most potent spells in the game, and the damage he was looking for was way more than reasonable (Massive Damage issues become prevalent).

So, help me make his dreams come true and homebrew this spell.
Meh, the whole thing reeks to me, I think your player is not aiming for flavour, but for I_win_button. I would give him moonbeam as an oath spell, assuming he is a paladin. And take away one of his 2nd level other oath spells.

[Cybren]

Am I reading it right in that you want a 9th level spell, and not a spell at 9th level?

[Tosamu]

Using Meteor Swarm as a baseline:


Change the area of effect from four 40ft-radius spheres to one 80ft-radius vertical cylinder, as though the beam were falling from the heavens. This has the same total area on flat ground, and is less flexible to aim, so it should be fair.
Change the damage from 20d6 bludgeoning and 20d6 fire to 30d6 radiant. The overall damage decreases, but radiant is a much better damage type in terms of resistances and immunities.
You could also add a minor secondary effect, like giving undead a disadvantage on their reflex save, or blinding the targets for 1 minute if they fail a wisdom saving throw.

[Mellack]

What kind of caster are they? What is wrong with just casting a leveled-up moonbeam or flame strike?

[jas61292]

Well, 9th level spells are insane, so going overboard is actually quite difficult. That said, assuming that this is for a Cleric (as would make sense), I would hesitate to give them anything even encroaching on the power of Meteor Swarm. Arcane casters are the blasty guys, not divine casters, and while Clerics have some blasting, it is generally weaker than what Sorcerers or Wizards posses. That said, Meteor Swarm is already over the top insane, so there is no need to even want to go that high.

Obviously, due to the flavor, you would want it to do at least partial radiant damage (splitting with fire like flame strike might be cool, but that could depend on the god). Now as for damage, well, flame strike is the perfect example of the kind of spell you are looking at, and it would do 12d6 damage out of a ninth level slot. Now obviously, an actual ninth level spell should probably do a lot more. Fireball does 14d6 compared to meteor swarm's 40d6. We don't want to go that high, probably, both due to class role, and damage type, but something like 30d6 might be appropriate. That said, pure damage can be kinda boring, and is not exactly the most typical type of thing for a cleric. I would probably look to drop damage down to 20d6, but throw in a powerful de-buff, like a very lengthy blindness or short duration stun on a failed save.

Now all of this is assuming an area effect. I do kinda like the idea of a god's smite being single target, though. In such a case, it would probably be OK to ratchet up the power a bit. Personally, I'd be cool with 30d6 and a harsh debuff if it is only one target.

Ultimately though, its really hard to screw something like this up too much. 9th level spells are supposed to be absolutely ridiculous, so giving a bit too much damage or whatnot is not going to be the end of the word. While these highest level spells are not meant to break the game (which is what makes Wish such a horribly made spell that no DM should ever actually allow), they can very well break open encounters, and in the end, so long as this is just a damaging smite spell, and not something with greater consequences beyond battle, it will probably be fine no matter how much damage it does.

[Telesto]

What kind of caster are they? What is wrong with just casting a leveled-up moonbeam or flame strike?

Right, sorry. Paladin 2/Death Cleric 18. He's playing to become this world's version of a death god (Kelemvor, I think he's going for), and this is a kind of end game goal.

He plays a lot of videogames and watches lots of anime, so he sees something cool and wants to go for it. So this would be a kind of final strike sort of spell. But in all likelihood this kind of thing is going to end up being his big ticket enemy killer.

[Arkhios]

Radiant smite from the heavens you say?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSUX2gwyURY

[Telesto]

Radiant smite from the heavens you say?

I think that was the third thing I thought of. But he has inspiration from some anime or something. When he said a 30ft vertical collumn of radiant energy, I figured he was talking about something else.

[Telesto]

How does this look (also bump -_-')

Kelemvor's Searing Judgement
9th level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 150 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

A vertical column of divine fire roars down on a creature that you can see within range. The target must make a wisdom saving throw. On a failed save the creature takes 15d6 fire damage and 15d6 radiant damage, is blinded and deafened for 1 minute, and is paralyzed until the start of your next turn. On a successful save the creature takes only half damage and isn't blinded, deafened, or paralyzed. Undead have disadvantage on this saving throw.
A creature blinded or deafened by this spell may make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a successful save it is no longer blinded or deafened.

Edit- Appologies on the spelling, I was mid-commute to work.

[Arkhios]

How does this look (also bump -_-')

Kelemvor's Seering Judgement
9th level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 150 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

A vertical column of divine fire roars down on a creature that you can see within range. The target must make a wisdom saving throw. On a failed save the creature takes 15d6 fire damage and 15d6 radiant damage, is blinded and deafened for 1 minute, and is paralyzed until the start of your next turn. On a successful save the creature takes only half damage and isn't blinded, deafened, or paralyzed. Undead have disadvantage on this saving throw.
A creature blinded or deafened by this spell may make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a successful save it is no longer blinded or deafened.

Wouldn't blinded and stunned be more in theme for a sudden bright flash of light. Being deafened by light seems a bit off. (although, the fire can certainly roar loudly)

[pwykersotz]

How does this look (also bump -_-')

Kelemvor's Seering Judgement

Unless the light is prophetic, you'll want that to be Searing. :smalltongue:

[krugaan]

it's spelled "searing".

Also, instead, consider the possibility of making it a longer cast, like 30 seconds or a minute. If he's seen anime, he'll understand and appreciate the charge up time. You could even add extra flavor to the spell by having it manifest some visual cues before it actually goes off, like having the whole area of effect glow the penultimate round, or small rocks / loose earth slowly levitate before all hell breaks loose.

(see: the Sol laser firing in Akira for reference).

Bump up the damage even more, why not? Straight damage isn't really a problem by 9th level spells anyway.

[MrStabby]

If you want charge up - maybe just give a version of delayed blast fireball? Raise the level to a 9th level spell, make damage die a d8, make the radius 10ft and make the damage type radiant.

[Telesto]

Round 2:

Kelemvor's Searing Judgement
9th level Evocation

Casting Time: 5 rounds
Range: 1 mile
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You gradually build up a divine blast to bring down holy fire on an enemy. For the first three rounds of casting you begin to glow gold, emitting light as a torch. On the fourth round you select a target within line of sight. The target also begins to glow and divine symbols form around the target, as if the sides of a cube. On the fifth round a vertical column of divine fire roars down on the target. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save the creature takes 20d6 fire damage and 20d6 radiant damage, is blinded and stunned for 1 minute, and is paralyzed until the start of your next turn. On a successful save the creature takes only half damage and isn't blinded, stunned, or paralyzed. Undead have disadvantage on this saving throw.
Additionally, creatures which fail their saving throw are left coated in holy fire, taking 2d6 fire damage and 2d6 radiant damage each round at the start of your turn. A creature on fire can spend an action to make a Dexterity saving throw to put out the flames.
A creature blinded or stunned by this spell may make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a successful save it is no longer blinded or stunned.
For each subsequent round you maintain concentration the target must make a Dexterity saving throw to avoid being struck again. On a failed save they take 5d6 fire damage and 5d6 radiant damage. On a successful save the creature takes only half damage. Undead have disadvantage on this saving throw.

[Pope Scarface]

5 round casting time is harsh for a combat spell. What if you instead give the spell a buildup over 5 rounds, and make it concentration? That it way it does something turn 1.

[Telesto]

Hrm. Some people thought that a longer casting time would be appropriate. But now you're suggesting a kind of Storm of Vengeance setup.

Perhaps the middle ground is better. 30 seconds is harsh, even though it was suggested before. 3 rounds seems fitting. Then the continued burn from concentration could also be ramped up a bit and I could also witchfire it and lead to a continued blinded/stunned effect

[krugaan]

make it a combo then!

1st round: wis save as a beam of divine radiance lances down from the heavens, stunning all those who fail in a huge 50' radius circle.

2nd round: the light intensifies as the ground begins to shake, the area becoming difficult terrain, and blinding all who fail a con save.

3rd round: in a mighty display of power, white fire from the low orbit ion cannon Kelemvor lances down to purify the area, dealing 30d8 damage (no save).

[Xetheral]

Light of Heaven
9th Level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 500 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

This spell can only be cast outdoors in a location with a direct overhead view of the sky. A 10-foot-wide column of brilliant light shoots down from the sky from a height of 10 miles, piercing any cloud cover. Creatures within the column are blinded so long as they remains there. The column sheds bright light to a range of 500 feet, and dim light for a mile beyond that, but the column itself is visible to any observer with line of sight, no matter the distance. Additionally, you glow from within intensely enough to shed bright light to a range of 50 feet and dim light to a range of 100 feet. Every round, at the beginning of your turn, you and any adjacent creatures take 10 points of radiant damage.

As an action, you may detonate the column, causing it to nearly-instantly expand to 60 feet in radius. Creatures (but not objects or natural foliage) within the expanded column take 30d8 radiant damage. Creatures, except undead, may make a constitution saving throw to reduce the damage by half. Creatures reduced to zero HP by this damage are utterly destroyed as if by a disintegrate spell, except that not even dust remains. Sighted creatures aware of the column and with line of sight to it when it detonates are blinded for 1 minute no matter their distance from the column. (Creatures with their eyes closed are not considered sighted for purposes of this effect.) The spell ends immediately after detonation.

If the spell ends without being detonated the column flickers and collapses and you take 30d8 radiant damage. Additionly, if you are of non-good alignment, you must make a constitution saving throw or be blinded as your eyes are burned away by the raw power of heaven. Only a wish spell is powerful enough to restore your sight.

[Telesto]

Round 3; I have an idea to have buildup, increase the damage/effects, and all around make it cooler. Much anime, very power, wow.

Kelemvor's Searing Judgement
9th level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You gradually build up a lance of divine fire to smite your enemies.

When you cast this spell you are wreathed in divine fire, shedding bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. Each round you maintain concentration the fire deals 1d6 fire damage to you, grants you cold resistance, and deals 2d6 fire damage and 2d6 radiant damage to creatures within a 10-foot radius.
Each round you maintain concentration you may use an action to build up power. At any time during your turn you may choose to use a bonus action to unleash that power in the form of a lance of divine fire from the sky. This effect can only be used once during the duration of this spell. The lance strikes down at a creature within line of sight, beginning 10 miles above them and clearing any cloud cover, and safely passing through any other cover from above. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save it takes 5d6 fire damage and 5d6 radiant damage for each round you used an action to build up power, to a maximum of 50d6 fire damage and 50d6 radiant damage. Additionally, on a failed save the creature is also paralyzed until the start of your next turn, and blinded and stunned for 1 minute. On a successful save the target only takes half damage, and is not paralyzed, blinded, or stunned. Undead have disadvantage on this saving throw.
Creatures which fail their save are also left wreathed in divine fire, taking 1d6 fire damage and 1d6 radiant damage each round at the start of their turn, as well as gaining resistance to cold. During their turn they may use an action to make a Dexterity save to put out the fire.
A creature blinded or stunned by this spell may make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a successful save it is no longer blinded or stunned.
Each round you maintain concentration after using this built up power, you may use an action to make the target make a Wisdom save. On a failed save the target takes 5d6 fire damage and 5d6 radiant damage. On a successful save the creature only takes half as much damage. Undead have disadvantage on this save.

[Regitnui]

Why does this sound like a high-level Holy summon from a Final Fantasy game?

[krugaan]

Why does this sound like a high-level Holy summon from a Final Fantasy game?

Probably because that's the (altered) goal of the OP, lol.

Alexandr Laser inc!

Although, to be honest, I always liked the Final Fantasy Tactics Holy animation.

[Ruslan]

Essentially what he is looking for is:
Cylinder or single target
Long range
Radiant Damage

He wants a holy beam of light to fall from the sky onto the target, and deal damage. Either that or some kind of concentration based version of the same thing. He was looking at Meteor and trying to back hack it into a high damage dice spell, to which I said that's insane because it's already one of the most potent spells in the game, and the damage he was looking for was way more than reasonable (Massive Damage issues become prevalent).

So, help me make his dreams come true and homebrew this spell.
First, let me mention that Guiding Bolt, fluff-wise, does exactly that, and can be cast from a 9th level slot if he's so inclined. So ... oooooh, it's not really about flavor, he wants something more mechanically powerful? I get it.

20d6 radiant, single target, no attack roll, no save, and if the target is Fiend or Undead, it has Disadvantage on attacks, saves and checks for 1 round. Seems about right.

[N810]

https://youtu.be/NBvSIyMny3M :smallcool:

[Telesto]

Why does this sound like a high-level Holy summon from a Final Fantasy game?

I'm not going to lie, that sounds like something along the lines of what he's looking for. He wants a big mean damaging spell.

And part of why I like the buildup idea, is the chance he loses it. To balance out the big damage.

Although, after the intentionally big bad damage from before (which I was partially exaggerating to see if anyone said anything). I'm going to scale the 5d6/action to 2d6/action, making it still high and scary, but more realistically balanced out to the concentration buildup.

Honestly when he came to me with this my reaction was "oh, he wants something silly OP to use on... hordes of enemies" as he was asking for like 30d6 cylinder concentration up to 3 minutes

[Telesto]

Oh. Welp, what sparked it is Tales of Symphonia, Holy Judgement. I took his meaning entirely wrong. I blame us being tired and it being near bedtime. Okay, totally different thing.

I guess, then, it should be something like an AOE, where allies get advantage on attacks and resistance to all damage for concentration number of rounds, then also deals ~5 randomly striking 10ft radius 12d6 radiant energy beams to strike around the target.

[Telesto]

Entirely retooled to the correct effect

Holy Judgement
?th level ?

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self and 150 foot
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You call out a holy chant, causing you and your allies to gain protection from harm, and strength in battle. As you do so you can call down holy rays to strike at your foes.

When Holy Judgement is cast yourself and all allies within a 60 foot radius of you gain resistance to all damage, as well as advantage on attack rolls. This effect continues for as long as you maintain concentration.
In addition, when you cast Holy Judgement you call down a rain of holy energy within a 30 foot radius sphere centered on a point within 150 foot. 1d4+2 bolts land randomly in the sphere, creatures within a 20 foot radius of each bolt must make a Dexterity Saving throw for each bolt they are affected by. On a failed save they take ?d6 radiant damage. On a successful save they take half that amount. Creatures within the area of more than one bolt are hit by each bolt they are within a 20 foot radius of.

[Tosamu]

I'm not sure I would want a spell with that much randomness associated with it. For one, it adds a lot of bookkeeping since you have to find a way to determine where each bolt lands. It also means that the spell has a very large chance of doing nothing.

If we take a single point within the area of effect to represent an enemy, we can estimate the number of bolts that will hit it. Assuming the damage area of the bolts cannot extend beyond the 30' radius of the spell, each bolt will hit 314ft2 of the 2827ft2 area, giving it an 11% chance of hitting a particular target within the area.

Given that 3-6 bolts land, and each have an 11% chance to hit a particular target, the end result is this:


Number of Hits
Probability


0
59.37%


1
32.31%


2
7.34%


3
0.91%


4
0.065%


5
0.0027%


6
0.00005%



This won't be perfectly accurate, since monsters occupy more space than a single point, and targets near the center of the circle are more likely to be hit, but it is still a decent approximation of the results. As written, this spell has more than a 50% chance to miss a single enemy entirely.

[Telesto]

Increased it to 20.

Now, the question becomes, with this giving resistance and advantage, what level should it be? From there I can work out a relatively fair damage (thinking 1/2 or 3/4 the DMG suggested damage)

Edit: How does this look

Entirely retooled to the correct effect

Holy Judgement
7th level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self and 150 foot
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You call out a holy chant, causing you and your allies to gain protection from harm, and strength in battle. As you do so you can call down holy rays to strike at your foes.

When Holy Judgement is cast yourself and all allies within a 60 foot radius of you gain resistance to all damage, as well as advantage on attack rolls. This effect continues for as long as you maintain concentration.
In addition, when you cast Holy Judgement you call down a rain of holy energy within a 30 foot radius sphere centered on a point within 150 foot. 1d4+2 bolts land randomly in the sphere, creatures within a 20 foot radius of each bolt must make a Dexterity Saving throw for each bolt they are affected by. On a failed save they take 8d6 radiant damage. On a successful save they take half that amount. Creatures within the area of more than one bolt are hit by each bolt they are within a 20 foot radius of.
At Higher Levels: When used in a spell slot of 8th or 9th level the number of bolts that land increases by 1 for each level above 7.

[Tosamu]

Since I'm not sure of the wording, can the bolts fall near the edge of the 30' radius, so that their explosions deal damage up to 50' from the center of the effect? Or can they only fall within the central 10', so that the extra 20' explosion from the bolts does not extend beyond the 30' radius?

[Telesto]

The wording does have it so they can land near the edge. I am okay with that. As it still hits almost half way into the area. So it is possible targets in the center are missed.

[Tosamu]

That makes sense. Otherwise every bolt would damage a target in the center of the circle.

As it stands, if you center the spell on a single target, any bolt that lands within 20' of the center will hit. This gives each bolt a 44% chance (202/302 = 0.44) of hitting the primary target. Recalculating the same probabilities as before:



Number of Hits
Probability


0
8.73%


1
26.73%


2
32.90%


3
21.37%


4
8.20%


5
1.87%


6
0.19%



Huh, that's unexpected. Unless I've screwed up my math somewhere, the average number of bolts that hit a target in the center of the circle is exactly 2. The same should also be true of any targets in within 10' of the center of the effect, but targets farther out than that will be hit less.

If we take the expected value of 2 hits, we're looking at 16d6 area damage, plus party-wide damage resistance and advantage for (most likely) the rest of combat. Comparing that with Delayed Blast Fireball, which does 12d6 in most situations, I think that Holy Judgement is a bit strong at the moment.

[Telesto]

Dropping it down to 5d6, leading to an average of 10d6 on a central target. Much more on large/huge/gargantuan targets. But, thematic to the video game spell, numerous strikes on the same target are decent. I suppose the other option would be to ramp it to a 9th level spell, as it originally was, and maintaining the 8d6

[Telesto]

Potentially the final version. Damage reduced to 4d6, higher level gets a bigger buff up to 5-8 and 6d6 each as a 9th level spell
Holy Judgement
7th level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self and 150 foot
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You call out a holy chant, causing you and your allies to gain protection from harm, and strength in battle. As you do so you can call down holy rays to strike at your foes.

When Holy Judgement is cast yourself and all allies within a 60 foot radius of you gain resistance to all damage, as well as advantage on attack rolls. This effect continues for as long as you maintain concentration.
In addition, when you cast Holy Judgement you call down a rain of holy energy within a 30 foot radius sphere centered on a point within 150 foot. 1d4+2 bolts land randomly in the sphere, creatures within a 20 foot radius of each bolt must make a Dexterity Saving throw for each bolt they are affected by. On a failed save they take 4d6 radiant damage. On a successful save they take half that amount. Creatures within the area of more than one bolt are hit by each bolt they are within a 20 foot radius of.
At Higher Levels: When used in a spell slot of 8th or 9th level the number of bolts that land increases by 1 for each level above 7th and the damage of each bolt increases by 1d6 for each level above 7th.

[Giant2005]

When Holy Judgement is cast yourself and all allies within a 60 foot radius of you gain resistance to all damage, as well as advantage on attack rolls. This effect continues for as long as you maintain concentration.
That is a free, more powerful version of Stoneskin (level 5 spell) that effects an entire crapload of people. As a bonus, it also provides the most beneficial aspect of Foresight (level 9 spell) to that same crapload of people.
Alternatively, it gives better versions of the Barbarian's two most powerful abilities to a crapload of people - abilities that are powerful enough that WotC made sure that even Barbarians couldn't have them both in the same build (the bear and wolf level 3 abilities).
No matter how you look at it, that is far too powerful for a level 7 spell.

1d4+2 bolts land randomly in the sphere
How is that even practical? What possible means could you use to randomly determine where in the sphere those bolts would land?

On a failed save they take 4d6 radiant damage. On a successful save they take half that amount. Creatures within the area of more than one bolt are hit by each bolt they are within a 20 foot radius of.
14 damage x 4.5 hits = 63 damage. Disintegrate (high highest damage non-meteor spell in the game) inflicts 85.5 on average in that same slot. That sounds pretty reasonable until you consider that this spell is AOE and already provides buffs that are worth more than a level 7 spell should be able to offer.

[Tosamu]

I agree the buff effect is probably a bit over the top. It might be interesting to make it only affect allies within the area of the attack, so that anyone who gets buffed also takes damage. I do agree that it seems impractical to determine where each bolt falls randomly.

The average damage is a fair bit lower than 63, since each bolt doesn't hit the whole area. On average, any target within the center 10' of the spell will be hit by 2 bolts, and anything beyond the central 10' will be hit slightly less often than that.

[Telesto]

So, what I'm working with is as follows. Quoted from Gamefaq's Colette Brunel by Huff N Puff 20




Holy Judgment
In-Game Description: ---
Special Usage: When Judgment and Holy Song have 50 or more uses, cast one of
these 2 spells, and this may occur.

Colette's Hi-Ougi, Holy Judgment is a combination of Holy Song and Judgment.
When she casts this spell she messes up the spell that she was trying to cast,
and instead, her divine clumsiness kicks in, and she fuses that spell with the
other, and it becomes quite strong. This spell applies "Holy Song Effect" to all
allies, and calls down Judgment at 3 times its strength.
An easy way to use this attack is to Cast Holy Song, and if the "Target" icon
is present, cancel it by guarding. Then try again until it doesn't appear.
If it's not there, the spell will be Holy Judgment. Beware of Trigger Finger.


Judgment
In-Game Description: Attack all enemies with the light of Judgment.

A powerful light magic spell that has lasers rain, dealing out a good deal
of light damage to anything hit by this spell. Colette's version of the spell
comes out significantly faster than Kratos's slow version, but her incantation
is no where near as cool. It's highly inaccurate, however.


Holy Song
In-Game Description: Increases defense and offense of the entire party for a
time.

The second best Status buff in the game. This spell increases all Allies
damage output by 25% as well as decreasing the damage that anyone in your
party takes by 25%. This effect lasts for 1 minute and 30 seconds, and stacks
with Raine's status buffs.

Honestly the only thing I can think of for the 25% are advantage and resistance. And to be frank, I kind of hate that he can't even play the game first without getting a special spell or doing something completely outside what is already established.

[Giant2005]

Stick with what you have got, except also tie it to his Divine Intervention.
If he rolls under his Cleric level, both effects occur.
If he rolls under double his Cleric level, one of the effects occurs (his choice).
If he rolls over his Cleric level, then bad luck - the spell slot is wasted as the Cosmos gives him the middle finger.

Ditch the random bolts in the radius thing though, that just isn't feasible - let him choose where the bolts go.

[Telesto]

Holy Judgement
9th level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 150 foot and/or Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous and/or Concentration, up to 1 minute

When you cast Holy Judgement roll a d%. If the result is less than or equal to your Cleric level level, you may use both Judgement and Holy Song. If the result exceeds 80 the spell fails, if the result is between your Cleric level and 80, select either Judgement or Holy Song.

Holy Song: You call out a song of strength granting yourself and all allies within a 30 foot radius of you resistance to all damage, as well as advantage on attack rolls. This effect continues for as long as you maintain concentration.

Judgement: Select a point within 150 feet of you and within line of sight, 1d4+3 holy bolts fall where you choose within a 30-foot radius of that point. Creatures within a 20-foot radius of each bolt must make a Dexterity saving throw. Creatures failing their save take 6d6 radiant damage, on a successful save they take half as much damage. A creature within the area of multiple bolts is subject to each bolt they are within the area of.

[Giant2005]

That looks a lot better, but you should ditch the whole Caster Level thing - Caster Level doesn't exist in 5e. It is a Cleric spell, so just use Cleric Level.