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Artagon
2017-04-29, 12:51 AM
Masonic Warrior
A fighter sub-class
In times of antiquity, the nations of man battled one another, whether through political in-fighting or all out war. Some of these conflicts were for territory or religion, and still others were simply for pride. Mages were conscripted to do the bidding of their nations. That is, until the mages of various realms managed to meet in secret, working to find peace. This worked, but not in a way they expected. Hearing of their meetings the nations united at last, against a common enemy -- the magi. Crushed and relegated to the role of common workers, closely supervised, magi labored with their magic to rebuild city walls and other reconstruction projects. It was years before any were able to meet mages of other nations and cultures again.

When the mages gathered again, to commiserate and share stories, they developed one rule, one principle that must always be followed. No politics, no nations, no religion. These topics were never to be discussed, to prevent any whiff of disloyalty to be sensed by their home nations. As another precaution they also welcomed into their ranks warriors who could watch over their meeting halls and dissuade non-members from crashing their meetings.

Over time these mages, forced into doing menial magic, such as stone shaping and lifting, began to develop their own structure, their own secret beliefs, and because of this the Masons (so named due to their place in society) were born. While they did invite trusted warriors into their ranks, those warriors did not long stay uninitiated to the ways of magic. They learned secrets that they shared amongst their ranks, codifying a secret training that would allow them to better guard the halls, and also guard against their more learned brethren. These are the Masonic Warriors.

Masonic Warrior Style
When you choose this Archetype at level 3 you gain the Masonic Warrior fighting style in place of the fighting style chosen at 1st level:
While wielding a weapon in one hand and nothing in your off-hand you may use your bonus action to conjure a 'Spell Blast'.
Spell Blast - You unleash a burst of pure magic from your hand at one target up to 60 feet away. Make a spell attack with Charisma as your casting stat. If it hits you deal 1d6+Cha modifier force damage.

Arcane Secret
At 3rd level you gain four uses of Arcane Secret per short or long rest. You gain one additional use per rest at 7th level and again at 15th level. You may only use one option per turn. You learn 3 of the following options at 3rd level and may choose two additional secrets at 10th. If the ability calls for a save, the DC for the effect is 8 + Proficiency bonus + Charisma Modifier.


Force Field - When an enemy hits you or an ally within 30’ with an attack you may call up your magic to sheathe them in protective magics. Expend one use of Arcane Secret as a reaction to give the target of the attack resistance to damage until the start of your next turn.

Homing Blast - You may expend one use of your Arcane Secret as part of your Spell Blast attack to grant advantage on the attack. Additionally, the Homing Blast does +1d6 force damage to the target if it hits.

Spell Burst - When you hit with Spell Blast you may use your reaction to expend a use of Arcane Secret and cause it to explode in a 15' radius around the target, dealing Cha modifier force damage to each secondary target caught in the burst.

Chain Blast - When you hit with your Spell Blast you may use your reaction to expend a use of Arcane Secret and target two additional creatures within 20' of the primary target. Make another Spell Blast attack against the new targets.

Spellsword Charge - You may expend one use of Arcane Secret as an action to move up to 30' to an unoccupied square which you can see, ignoring all terrain between you and the target. This movement does not generate attacks of opportunity. At the end of your movement all enemies adjacent to your new square make a Dexterity save or take Cha modifier force damage. This damage increases by 1d8 at 6th, 12th, and 18th level.

Leaching Blast - As a reaction to dealing damage with your spell blast, you may expend a use of Arcane Secret to gain temporary HP equal to the damage which was dealt.

Enchanted Blade - You may expend a use of Arcane Secret as a bonus action to enchant your blade until the start of your next turn. While your weapon is enchanted it gains 5' of reach and uses your Charisma modifier instead of your strength for both attack and damage. This is especially effective vs Large or larger creatures, causing the weapon to do an additional +1d4 weapon damage on hit against them.

Herculean Strength - You may expend a use of Arcane Secret while making a strength check to count as a creature 2 sizes larger and have advantage on that check. You are exhausted until the end of your next turn.

Spell Snare - As a bonus action you may expend a use of Arcane Secret to use Spell blast against a creature up to 30’ away. If it hits you may deal 2d6+Cha modifier and pull that target up to 10’ closer. A Strength save negates the movement.

Mystery of Silence - As a bonus action you may target one creature within 60 feet. The target is silenced for 1 minute unless they make a Wisdom save. They may make an additional save at the end of their turn. Successfully saving ends the effect.

Grimoire Blade
At 7th level you may spend downtime inscribing power words onto your weapon. You gain the ability to cast ritual magic from the wizard spell list, using your weapon as your spell book. You may have up to 4 rituals inscribed into your weapon at any time. Inscribing rituals into a new weapon causes them to vanish from your old one. The spells you inscribe may be of a level up to half your character level. Your weapon now counts as a magic weapon for the purpose of bypassing resistance.

All-Seeing Eye
At 10th level, your unusual connection to the web of magic in the world allows the Masonic Warrior to expand his senses. You may cast Arcane Eye without components by using your weapon as a focus. This Arcane Eye is unique in that it may detect magic innately as per the spell. You may use this ability once before taking a long rest.

Blazing Star Body
At 15th level your body begins to exhibit the signs of prolonged magic exposure. With your unique training you are able to focus this energy into star shaped runes that appear under your skin. These runes serve as an anchor for magic, allowing you to absorb deadly magic. You gain advantage on saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities.

Grand Mystery
At 18th level you have unlocked a secret beyond the ken of all but the most powerful of mages. Choose one Abjuration or Divination spell up to 7th level. You may use this spell once per long rest. If it can be cast at higher levels, it is always cast at 7th level.

Artagon
2017-04-29, 01:00 AM
Essentially the above Fighter Sub-Class began as a crude attempt at a spellblade that did not, in-fact, cast spells. The reasoning for this is that spells are typically balanced upon the idea that they are a full Action, so trying to shoe-horn existing spells into a bonus action (thus preserving fighter attacks) is simply imbalanced. As such, I have given them a bonus action they can use every round to do 1d8+cha damage at range. I arrived at this idea as being similarly balanced to an off-hand weapon with the fighting style to go with it. Yes it is at range, but then so is a hand crossbow. I will say up front that I understand that many of the options presented under Arcane Secrets are a bit more powerful than the Battle Master, which the class feature is based upon. This is predicated upon the knowledge that 1) The damage never increases (other than one, which is an Action to use) unlike the Battle Master, and 2) I am providing fewer uses per rest with now recharge mechanic.

Due to this, I tend to believe that it's OK that we have more caster-style abilities further into the sub-class as long as they are not largely combat-useful. Thus I gave them limited ritual magic and some very limited divination/abjuration abilities. That said, I'd really appreciate if you can point out anything that seems out of balance with the other options, or potentially combo-able into something incredibly broken.

Bearowl
2017-04-29, 01:37 AM
I think the magic blast is not balanced.

Barbarians can use their bonus action to attack, but it gives exhaustion.

You mentioned this is like an off-hand attack - unless you take a specific fighting style, you don't get a modifier to the off-hand attack. Rogue's, for instance, don't get to add dex to the offhand.

The modifier should be taken out, or at the vary least added in later.

zeek0
2017-04-29, 06:40 AM
Hey! I like the idea of using a battle-master-like system to do gish things. Cool.

I agree with Bearowl concerning magic blast. 1d8+abilitymod is what you deal with a bow. 1d6+abilitymod is what you do with an offhand melee weapon, if you have the twf style.

Also, assign a damage to type to this.

For grimoire blade, I would *not* make their caster level equal to hair figure level - they will progress at double the speed of a caster. I wouldn't even have them progress as fast, since they are a martial class. 1/3 seems most reasonable.

Otherwise, I'm into it. Nice work.

Artagon
2017-04-29, 08:55 AM
You mentioned this is like an off-hand attack - unless you take a specific fighting style, you don't get a modifier to the off-hand attack. Rogue's, for instance, don't get to add dex to the offhand.

The point you are making is true, however, fighters DO get a fighting style and this replaces their level 1 style. I could just as easily carry around multiple hand axes as throwing weapons for my off-hand attack.


I agree with Bearowl concerning magic blast. 1d8+abilitymod is what you deal with a bow. 1d6+abilitymod is what you do with an offhand melee weapon, if you have the twf style.

Also, assign a damage to type to this.

For grimoire blade, I would *not* make their caster level equal to hair figure level - they will progress at double the speed of a caster. I wouldn't even have them progress as fast, since they are a martial class. 1/3 seems most reasonable.

You're absolutely right about the d8 being too large, I'm making that change now. I'll also tentatively add the Force damage type, as it's intended to be pure magic. I'd meant to get around to this anyway, but I wanted to get initial impressions.

I'm not sure how making fighter level = caster level makes them double-speed to wizards? I'm assuming you are thinking spell level = caster level? Cause yeah, that would be crazy-talk, lol.

Here's a list of wizard rituals to give you an idea of what that feature really entails:

Alarm (Lvl 1)
Comprehend Languages (Lvl 1)
Detect Magic (Lvl 1)
Find Familiar (Lvl 1)
Floating Disk (Lvl 1)
Identify (Lvl 1)
Illusory Script (Lvl 1)
Unseen Servant (Lvl 1)
Gentle Repose (Lvl 2)
Magic Mouth (Lvl 2)
Skywrite (Lvl 2)
Feign Death (Lvl 3)
Phantom Steed (Lvl 3)
Tiny Hut (Lvl 3)
Water Breathing (Lvl 3)
Contact Other Plane (Lvl 5)
Telepathic Bond (Lvl 5)
Instant Summons (Lvl 6)

So you get four spells from that list that can be cast as rituals (10 minute cast time). At 7th level you'd have access to all but the last 3, same as a wizard. The difference is that the wizard could have all of those in their spellbook, giving them access to any of them at any given time, where the Grimoire Blade feature gives you only 4.

JNAProductions
2017-04-29, 10:41 AM
This has some serious 3.5 terminology. Touch attacks, for instance, don't exist anymore.

And echoing the voices saying you shouldn't get a free bonus action attack at little cost.

Artagon
2017-04-29, 10:52 AM
This has some serious 3.5 terminology. Touch attacks, for instance, don't exist anymore.

And echoing the voices saying you shouldn't get a free bonus action attack at little cost.

Doh! I'll fix it.. Advantage perhaps?

Also, nobody has said don't give a free bonus attack.. It's a pretty standard benefit for a number of fighting styles and classes. They were simply saying that my original incarnation at d8+stat mod was too powerful. I agreed and dropped it to d6 + stat mod, which is in line with the two weapon fighting style, as well as throwing weapons and hand crossbows. Keep in mind also that it's using a secondary stat, not Strength, which helps spread out the power curve at lower levels.

JNAProductions
2017-04-29, 10:54 AM
I think the issue is it's basically free, and also ranged. The only other way to get a ranged attack with stat mod added is to take a feat-and feats are big.

Not to mention, you get 4 uses of secrets per rest, so that's easily two per fight. And a lot of them bump up the damage of your blast.

Artagon
2017-04-29, 11:12 AM
I think the issue is it's basically free, and also ranged. The only other way to get a ranged attack with stat mod added is to take a feat-and feats are big.

Not to mention, you get 4 uses of secrets per rest, so that's easily two per fight. And a lot of them bump up the damage of your blast.

Throwing weapons are ranged, can be used off-hand, can be thrown on any of the attacks, not just the bonus attack, have longer potential range, and only require the fighting style (picked up at lvl 1 fighter) to get stat added to the damage.. and yes, you do have to buy them, but they are re-usable, since you can collect them after the fight.. and you can get magical thrown weapons for extra attack/damage as you level. That is something which the Spell Blast will never get. I'm not sure how you'd want me to balance it without nerfing the sub-class into uselessness.

Yes, the secrets can pump the damage of your blast, but compare those pump abilities to the Battle Master, which can be applied to any number of attacks in a round, start at +d8, and wind up at +d12. Some of the abilities do extra damage spread out amongst multiple targets, that is true.. but again, they are once in a round and you end up with fewer uses of the abilities than a battle master of equal level.

Do you still maintain I need to lower the balance level of that class ability? If so could you provide some suggestions?

JNAProductions
2017-04-29, 11:18 AM
Thrown weapons get a max of three-on the first round of combat. Throw two you've already been holding, grab a third with your item interaction and throw it. Then you're limited to one on each later turn.

They also preclude the use of a shield or two-handed weapon. Yours does not.

They also deal physical damage-yours deals force.

Finally, I suppose it's technically possible to pick up five enchanted throwing axes, but in all likelihood, you'll get maybe one. Which means that, past a certain point, you start doing half damage to foes with resistance to nonmagical damage.

Artagon
2017-04-29, 12:03 PM
They also preclude the use of a shield or two-handed weapon. Yours does not.

From the ability text: "While wielding a weapon in one hand and nothing in your off-hand you may use your bonus action to conjure a 'Spell Blast'"

I did contemplate specifying that this counts as a weapon, to prevent someone from multi-classing to get Duelist fighting style.. thoughts?

zeek0
2017-04-29, 12:36 PM
I agree with the OP in this argument. A feature + your fighting style should be enough of a cost. Imagine that you got the two-weapon fighting style, and then the feature allowed your off-hand weapon to be a hand crossbow.

For your weapon question, I don't think it's necessary.

As for grimoire blade: I'm confused. I *think* that caster level doesn't exist anymore, which is my confusion.
I'd like to offer an alternative version, which I think is cooler and stronger (rituals aren't too strong). A new version would give them any 5 spells off the wizard spell list, spell levels 1-5, which they can cast as a ritual. This makes it much stronger, but I don't think that any spell breaks the game if castas a ritual.

Just an idea; take it or leave it.

By the way, I do like the flavor a good bit. I'd be interested in a Masonic mage if you ever homebrew one.

Artagon
2017-04-29, 12:54 PM
As for grimoire blade: I'm confused. I *think* that caster level doesn't exist anymore, which is my confusion.

I'll try rewording it, essentially I just want to make sure they can't cast spells that a wizard wouldn't qualify to cast yet.. so At 7th level, it would be 4th level or lower spells, at 9th level, 5th level or lower, etc.

I'll definitely have to think about the Masonic Mage.. I'll be honest, I'm always a little more comfortable with homebrewing melee classes, since that's my go-to. Spells have a way of sneaking around your well-crafted plans if you aren't careful.

Artagon
2017-05-04, 03:22 PM
Re-worded Grimoire Blade to make more sense. Additionally, I gave some thought into doing a Masonic Mage, but as I looked at Unearthed Arcana for inspiration I realized that my Masons would comprise of the Theurgy and Lore Master traditions found there. Lore Master almost perfectly encapsulates what I'd want them to be, with their unearthed secret magics and knowledge of a wide range of topics. Theurgy wizards also make sense with their combination of arcane and divine. The knowledge domain is especially appropriate for this type of wizard. While the Masons claim not to speak of religion, their brand of truth seeking leads them to their own interpretation of the divine. If they follow any diety at all it would be an old and forgotten one.