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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Tweaks to UA's Wizard Theurge Tradition



Grey Watcher
2017-04-02, 12:01 PM
So, this is my own tweak for the Theurge Wizard (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/20170213_Wizrd_Wrlck_UAv2_i48nf.pdf) to fix some of the weirdness:

Struck-through text is in the original UA and is removed from this version.
Bold text is not in the original UA and is added by me.
<unchanged> means this whole entry is unchanged from the UA version.

Go forth, internet, and brutally savage my work!

Divine Inspiration
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Arcane Initiate
Beginning when you select this tradition at 2nd level, whenever you gain a wizard level, you can replace one of the wizard spells you add to your spellbook with a cleric domain spell for your chosen domain. The spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

If you add all of your domain spells to your spellbook, you can subsequently add any spell from the cleric spell list instead. The spell must still be of a level for which you have spell slots. you treat the domain spells of your chosen domain as Wizard spells and you may add them to your spellbook normally.

Any cleric spell you gain from this feature is considered a wizard spell for you, but oOther wizards can’t copy cleric spells from your spellbook into their own spellbooks unless they also have a feature that allows it.

Channel Arcana
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Channel Arcana: Divine Arcana
As a bonus action, you speak a prayer to control the flow of magic around you. You may concentrate on this effect, as though concentrating on a spell, for up to one minute. The next spell you cast during this time gains a +2 bonus to any attack roll you make for it or to its saving throw DC, as appropriate. Once the spell is cast the effect ends.

Arcane Acolyte
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Arcane Priest
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Arcane High Priest
At 14th level, you gain your chosen domain’s 17th-level benefits. Your academic nature and understanding of magic and doctrine allow you to master this ability sooner than a cleric of your domain. you can scribe spells beyond your domain into your spellbook. Any spell from the Cleric spell list is considered a Wizard spell for you as long as the spell’s level is no higher than half your highest level spell slot, rounded down.

Design Notes:

I like the idea of the Theurge, essentially a Wizard/Cleric multiclass-lite (the inverse of the Arcana Domain for Clerics), but, like many, I'm not impressed by the execution.

I think getting the Domain powers is simple and elegant, so I left that largely intact. However, I think that getting access to high-end Cleric spells and the highest level Domain power is silly: if you want those things, you should have to play an actual Cleric. So, the ability to get Cleric spells beyond your domain is now at the end of the tradition (which is still quite early in the grand scheme of things) and goes for versatility (if you can find the scrolls, you can eventually have all the 4th-level and lower Cleric spells) instead of the power of getting your own high-end spells and someone else's.

Channel Arcana got nerfed a little to make it more like "Guidance, but for spells." It's still a potent button that you can press often, but the opportunity cost is a bit steeper.

Additional Changes I'm Unsure About:

Arcane Initiate: I might add a Cleric cantrip, since, for Example, Evocation gains Sculpt Spells and poaching a Cantrip seems like a simple way to keep your specialty on the radar.

Channel Arcana: An alternative to the above might be to make Channel Arcana in general a long-rest recharge. Not sure how much protectionism of the Cleric's turf to employ here.

Arcane High Priest: I feel like this lacks oomph, but I'm not sure what else I'd add. Maybe starting here you get the "Your domain spells are always prepared and don't count against your prep limit" that a lot of classes get? (You don't actually have more spell slots, just more options of what to do with them.)