How would you make a card throwing mage?

[jaappleton]

Basically, I watch way too much Yu Gi Oh as a child and now I want to make a card wielding spellcaster. Unfortunately, I'm also the party healer.

Reaction spells are a big bonus, so I can say people activated my trap card. :smalltongue:

Was thinking Divine Soul Sorc, Lore Bard, or maybe Life Theurge Wizard. Open to suggestions, though.

Thoughts?

[nickl_2000]

Divine Soul Sorcerer truly would be the best bet here. You get healing spells, shield, absorb elements, and feather fall I would think that absorb elements would be a perfect spell for a "trap" card.

[Unoriginal]

Basically, I watch way too much Yu Gi Oh as a child and now I want to make a card wielding spellcaster. Unfortunately, I'm also the party healer.

Reaction spells are a big bonus, so I can say people activated my trap card. :smalltongue:

Was thinking Divine Soul Sorc, Lore Bard, or maybe Life Theurge Wizard. Open to suggestions, though.

Thoughts?

Just re-fluff your spellcasting as you showing a card, then the creature on it animating and doing the magical effect.

"I call forth Vlad the Imp Healer! Do your duty!"

*lil imp in doctor outfit pop out of the card, point at your target, and they get healed*

[Stan]

Thematically, hellish rebuke is a cool reaction spell, but I think it's warlock only. Absorb elements and counter spell could also be fluffed as interrupt/instant cards.

For anything like Yu Gi Oh or Pokemon, I feel like conjuration spells are a good fit as you get little monsters to fight for you - spells that conjure something that will fight over things like entangle and fog cloud.

If you want a bit of Gambit with your cards, you could refluff darts. Also get spells that shoot at multiple targets to feel like you're sending out a wave of cards.

[jaappleton]

Noticed that Lore Bard could also be great, especially with Cutting Words.

[Sariel Vailo]

Whenever possible scream its time to duel. Also get into actual duels see if the dm could have rival card mages.

[Bahamut7]

This is a concept I have in the works myself. Unoriginal already hit it on the mark. You refluff all spells cast as cards drawn and thrown or shown or however you want to do it. All scrolls you use or make are special one time use cards that burn up on use. If you get the right spells, you could create your own deck of Illusions. And of course, you need to seek out the Deck of Many Things because who else would be worthy of it, but the card mage?

[Mortis_Elrod]

Celestial Warlock.

Get you a cool Millennium Chain or Tome while you're at it. Always have Hellish Rebuke ready, so you can say 'You've activated my trap card".

Come up with ridiculous attack names for every single EB. Make sure they are different.

Oh and make sure to tell them exactly what Cure Wounds does. Every. Single. Casting.

tome if you want to build up your deck.

chain if you want to believe in he heart of the cards and have yourself a personal connection to a card.

[DarkKnightJin]

How funny. I mentioned my desire to make a YGO inspired Wizard with their 'deck' as their spellbook just earlier today to a friend.

I'll probably combine it a bit with Stands from JoJo.
As in, the spell activates, a monster is conjured to produce the effect, and it sticks around for as long as the effect does.

Might pick Conjuration as the Wizard's Tradition for added fun. Just because I can.
Maybe War Wizard to have the at-will Reaction of that +2 to AC or +4 to a failed save.

[Inchoroi]

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/194065/Tarocchi-Class

Not entirely what you're looking for, but I love this class.

[Exocist]

This is a concept I have in the works myself. Unoriginal already hit it on the mark. You refluff all spells cast as cards drawn and thrown or shown or however you want to do it. All scrolls you use or make are special one time use cards that burn up on use. If you get the right spells, you could create your own deck of Illusions. And of course, you need to seek out the Deck of Many Things because who else would be worthy of it, but the card mage?

I actually have a homebrew class (which I'm playing in a campaign, stated character goal is getting the Deck of Many Things) which works off the card throwing principle. You need a Tarot Deck though.

Basic premise is you have so many cards in your Tarot deck (more cards get added as you level up), you reshuffle your "graveyard" and "hand" into the deck after a long rest, then draw a new hand (number of cards = half your level, rounded up). Every time you play a card, you draw another card.

The effects of the cards are
- 0-9 of <Suit>, which you get at the same level as a fullcaster would (Casts spell of choice, level of spell equal to the number on the card. 10 is a Cantrip. Can't be upcast. Spells must be from a specific list - Wands is Wizard/Warlock, Cups is Paladin/Cleric, Pentacles is Bard/Ranger, Swords is Druid/Monk with Ki abilities substituting for spell level, but only if a monk of your level could use that ability.)
- Page, Knight, Queen & King of <suit> (Unique effects, you get them at 1, 6, 11 and 16 respectively)
- Major Arcana (The fool is given at level 1, the World at level 20. The rest are the Archetype features at 2, 6, 10 and 14 where you get a choice between one of 5 cards to add to your deck).

The class is probably imbalanced for the 5e system (having way too many resources compared to other fullcasters at higher levels) as well as probably too flexible, but the inherent RNG of the class leads to wacky things happening involving spells that are usually never picked, but because the narrow situation where they might be useful shows up while you have the appropriate card in your hand shows up, you use the spell.

[Ganymede]

The PHB already gives great leeway as to what can be used as a spellcasting focus. Just ask your DM to let you use a deck of mystical cards to be your spellcasting focus.

[Throne12]

Put all your spells on paper the glue them to chip board or card stock shuffle them then on first round of combat draw 5 cards then when it your turn draw one more and just use what ever spell cards you have in your hand.

[Dragonkingofth]

ohhh! Now normally I would not reply with a homebrew idea: but I LITERALLY made a homebrew about a bard who used a deck of cards, a literal player held deck of cards, to manipulate his ability, but if he draws a joker the DM gets to use that power against him, the idea was to give players a little mini-game of how to always use the cards they have for any situation, got skill buffing cards in combat? figure out how to make that work. I could forward that too you if you like,

Otherwise:I recommend warlock: go Hexblade and convince the DM that a deck of playing cards is totally a valid weapon choice for Hex Warrior.

I'm convinced it could be
https://media1.giphy.com/media/NdpH5TQHNjY1W/giphy.gif

Plus warlock gives you some interesting options for how you got your power: You won them in a card game for example, lost a poker game against the devil and now ya gotta do his duty's.

[ZenBear]

I don’t have anything homebrew for this, but one of my players is a big MtG fan playing a Wizard. Instead of a spell book he has a spell deck. I’m gonna have fun the first time he goes to a Wizard shop in hopes of buying a spell, but store policy says they only sell randomized booster packs. 😋

[Slybluedemon]

Basically, I watch way too much Yu Gi Oh as a child and now I want to make a card wielding spellcaster. Unfortunately, I'm also the party healer.

Reaction spells are a big bonus, so I can say people activated my trap card. :smalltongue:

Was thinking Divine Soul Sorc, Lore Bard, or maybe Life Theurge Wizard. Open to suggestions, though.

Thoughts?

Just reskin spells, Eldtrich Blast could be throwing a card. Mending could be taking a card and having that card mend into the item and healing it.

Fireball is just you throwing a card into an area and it blows up.

Meteor Swarm, you throw a card or cards into the air and rocks fly to it and form a Meteor


Take Shield or something as a reaction

[MeeposFire]

It shows my age that rather than a card game I was thinking more along the line of Gambit from X Men.

[RSP]

It shows my age that rather than a card game I was thinking more along the line of Gambit from X Men.

Same here. That’s probably easier to do too: Hexblade w/ re-fluffed EB as his kinetically-enhanced cards.

To OP: I think Divine Soul is probably the way to go, though you could MC with Warlock for Hellish Rebuke if that’s necessary (or Magic Initiate to grab it as a 1/day thing, along with EB refluffed). DS for Spiritual Weapon which should be good refluffed as whatever you summon with your cards.

[DnDegenerates]

Basically refluffed Eldritch blast/other warlock themed spells.

[SkylarkR6]

My current character is a divination wizard with proficiency in calligrapher's tools who writes his spellbook in shorthand on cards. Recently I came into possession of some magical adamantine cards and a stylus to write on them. I find that they work fantastically with animate objects for a swarming flying card attack.

[Vogie]

If your sole desire is "Dealing magic damage with charged up cards" a la Gambit, Magic Stone is your go-to. You transform mundane objects into magical projectiles that suddenly have a throwing range and scales with your casting modifier...

I'd ask your DM to adjust it though. Right now it's only available with Druids and Warlocks, neither of which have an extra attack feature (Thirsting blade only cares about the pact weapon), and is technically a ranged spell attack (rather than one that can be repeated *with* an extra attack feature).

Actually, when I think about it, he also fights with a supercharged staff... which sounds a lot like Shillelagh. So a Druid 1 or Tome Warlock 3 would be able to pull off his ability pretty well, mechanically... just without the explosions.

[GlenSmash!]

Noticed that Lore Bard could also be great, especially with Cutting Words.

Oh yeah, insult there dueling tactics, or terrible cards in their deck.


I’m gonna have fun the first time he goes to a Wizard shop in hopes of buying a spell, but store policy says they only sell randomized booster packs. 😋

Brutal.

I love it.

[jaappleton]

The best part is that I can be a Warforged with a duel disk attached to my arm.

And I get to make puns based on who my party members are.

“This is my friend, a Bladesinger. He’s both my Celtic Guardian and my Mystical Elf. And my other ally here, the Dragonborn, is my Red Eyes Black Dragon.”

[DrowPiratRobrts]

As long as you have a spellbook you can make that spellbook a deck of cards. This isn't even stretching the rules. It's RAW. So yeah, I like the idea of you have spells on your cards and then you reveal them or throw them or something. You could ask your DM for a magical deck that serves as your spellcasting focus. It'd be cool if he/she ruled that they return to your hand after casting (or they return to your deck in the dueling gauntlet on your wrist).

[Treantmonk]

Basically, I watch way too much Yu Gi Oh as a child and now I want to make a card wielding spellcaster. Unfortunately, I'm also the party healer.

Reaction spells are a big bonus, so I can say people activated my trap card. :smalltongue:

Was thinking Divine Soul Sorc, Lore Bard, or maybe Life Theurge Wizard. Open to suggestions, though.

Thoughts?

The rules provide some paramaters for every spell cast. It is up to the player to decide how the spell functions within those parameters. Your concept should be easy enough considering that. Let me give you an example:

Your character casts the spell GREASE
Components: V, S, M* (butter) (material components can be replaced with use of a component pouch or spell focus)
Range: 60 feet
lick grease covers the ground in a 10-foot square centered on a point within range...

"My character raises his arcane deck of cards, the arcane focus crystal embedded in the deck case glows with blue magical light as my other hand reaches into the deck and with a flick of his fingers, pulls out a card, jet black but shiny in it's surface. He yells out the command word "Sesto!" and throws the card at the Ogre's feet, and it transforms with a flash into a pool of black grease. Make a Dex save."

All 100% RAW and RAI.

[the secret fire]

Don't forget the creepy dynamic where your character is a child, but there is an adult man lurking somewhere inside of him who comes out and speaks in a gravely voice when it's time to fight.

[Asmotherion]

Divine Soul Sorcerer.

You can totally rework the visual of:

-Sword Burst
-Cloud of Daggers
-Blade Barier

To be cards instead of daggers. You can also have a metalic card that will count as a Dagger to quallify for Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade.

You can also have your Shield of Faith be a Millenium Shield, and your Spirit Guardians be a Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl. :3

[Malifice]

Basically, I watch way too much Yu Gi Oh as a child and now I want to make a card wielding spellcaster. Unfortunately, I'm also the party healer.

Reaction spells are a big bonus, so I can say people activated my trap card. :smalltongue:

Was thinking Divine Soul Sorc, Lore Bard, or maybe Life Theurge Wizard. Open to suggestions, though.

Thoughts?

Fluff it so.

Instead of bat guano and grasshopper legs, you use magic cards as components (or even simply fluff a deck of cards as your arcane focus).

Done.