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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next College of the Storm (Bard Subclass)



Grod_The_Giant
2018-08-31, 12:34 PM
You have learned the secret methods of harnessing the magic powers of music to influence and control the weather.

Stormsong: At 3rd level, you learn three cantrips: Gust, Shocking Grasp, and Thunderclap. All three cantrips are particularly effective in your hands.

Gust can affect large creatures, and may push them in any direction or knock them prone. The distance it can shove a creature or object doubles at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels.
Shocking Grasp deals additional lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier, and has a range of 10ft.
Thunderclap's point of origin may be any point you can see within 30ft.
Cloak of Winds: Beginning at 3rd level, creatures who have been granted a bardic inspiration die may jump twice as far as normal and only take half damage from falls.

Thundercall-- Beginning at 6th level, after casting one of the cantrips you learned via Stormsong, you may expend two bardic inspiration dice to cast Call Lightning as a spell of one-half your bard level (round up) as a bonus action. If you cast one of the cantrips while already concentrating on Call Lightning, you may draw down a bolt of lightning as a bonus action, instead of the usual action.

Ballad of the Sky-- Beginning at 6th level, you gain the ability to subtly control the weather around you. If it is raining, you can use an action to cause the rain to stop falling in a 20‐foot radius centered on you. You can end this effect as a bonus action. If it is windy, you can use a bonus action each round to choose the direction that the wind blows in a 100‐foot radius sphere around you. The wind blows in that direction until the end of your next turn. This feature does not alter the speed of the wind.

Aria of Destruction: Beginning at 14th level, you learn some of the most powerful weather magics in existence. The following spells count as bard spells for you, and you may learn two of them without counting against the total number of bard spells you know.


Spell Level
Spells


3rd
Lightning Bolt, Wind Wall


4th
Sleet Storm, Storm Sphere


5th
Conjure Elemental (air only), Control Winds


6th
Chain Lightning, Wind Walk


7th
Whirlwind


8th
Control Weather


9th
Storm of Vengeance

Vogie
2018-08-31, 02:09 PM
You have learned the secret methods of harnessing the magic powers of music to influence and control the weather.

Stormsong: At 3rd level, you learn three cantrips: Gust, Shocking Grasp, and Thunderclap. All three cantrips are particularly effective in your hands.

Gust can affect large creatures, and may push them in any direction or knock them prone. The distance it can shove a creature or object doubles at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels.
Shocking Grasp deals additional lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier, and has a range of 10ft.
Thunderclap's point of origin may be any point you can see within 30ft.

Thunderstrike: Beginning at 3rd level, after successfully affecting a creature with a Bard spell, you may spend an inspiration die. Roll the die and deal that much lightning damage to the target. If your spell affects multiple creatures, all take this damage.

Winter's Ballad-- Beginning at 6th level, you may spend one inspiration die to cast Control Winds. However, the area you can affect is limited--instead of a 100 foot cube, you may affect an area with a radius of 10ft per point of your Charisma modifier.

Aria of Destruction: Beginning at 14th level, you learn Chain Lightning, Whirlwind, Control Weather, and Storm of Vengeance.

Quoting for posterity.

I like the Stormsong abilities, as well as thunderstrike... however, I think both of them together at 3 may be too much. I could see the three Stormsong abilities, and maybe a ribbon for the 3rd level ability, not unlike the Sea Sorcerer's first level abilities.
Perhaps Thunderstrike could be moved to 6?

Thunderstrike should indicate if you're referring to Bardic Inspiration, the mechanic Inspiration, or both.

Winter's Ballad is probably broken. A 5th level spell, available up to 5 times per short rest, at level 6? Sure, both the distance and usages are tied to your Charisma modifier, but that's kinda insane.

Aria of Destruction should clarify that they are going to count as bard spells, and whether or not they count towards your spells known - for example, a Bards Magical Secrets feature states explicitly that "The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table", while a Lore Bard's Additional Magical Secrets feature states "The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know."

You're also giving the bard a 6th, 7th, 8th, & 9th level spell that they would have known, when the Bard can only cast up to 7th level spells... that will certainly cause confusion.

JNAProductions
2018-08-31, 02:10 PM
Quoting for posterity.

I like the Stormsong abilities, as well as thunderstrike... however, I think both of them together at 3 may be too much. I could see the three Stormsong abilities, and maybe a ribbon for the 3rd level ability, not unlike the Sea Sorcerer's first level abilities.
Perhaps Thunderstrike could be moved to 6?

Thunderstrike should indicate if you're referring to Bardic Inspiration, the mechanic Inspiration, or both.

Winter's Ballad is probably broken. A 5th level spell, available up to 5 times per short rest, at level 6? Sure, both the distance and usages are tied to your Charisma modifier, but that's kinda insane.

Aria of Destruction should clarify that they are going to count as bard spells, and whether or not they count towards your spells known - for example, a Bards Magical Secrets feature states explicitly that "The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table", while a Lore Bard's Additional Magical Secrets feature states "The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know."

You're also giving the bard a 6th, 7th, 8th, & 9th level spell that they would have known, when the Bard can only cast up to 7th level spells... that will certainly cause confusion.

This is 5E. Bards get 9ths.

Otherwise, mostly agreed.

Grod_The_Giant
2018-08-31, 02:27 PM
Quoting for posterity.

I like the Stormsong abilities, as well as thunderstrike... however, I think both of them together at 3 may be too much. I could see the three Stormsong abilities, and maybe a ribbon for the 3rd level ability, not unlike the Sea Sorcerer's first level abilities.
Perhaps Thunderstrike could be moved to 6?
To be honest, I kinda thought Thunderstrike was a ribbon-- Bards always get some sort of new use for their inspiration dice, but this is hardly a very efficient one.


Winter's Ballad is probably broken. A 5th level spell, available up to 5 times per short rest, at level 6? Sure, both the distance and usages are tied to your Charisma modifier, but that's kinda insane.
But its a crappy 5th level spell. You can slow people down if they're advancing from one direction, protect against ranged attacks, and ground fliers-- nothing terribly strong, especially since it's still taking up your Concentration and affecting a much smaller area than before.

JNAProductions
2018-08-31, 02:29 PM
To be honest, I kinda thought Thunderstrike was a ribbon-- Bards always get some sort of new use for their inspiration dice, but this is hardly a very efficient one.

But its a crappy 5th level spell. You can slow people down if they're advancing from one direction, protect against ranged attacks, and ground fliers-- nothing terribly strong, especially since it's still taking up your Concentration and affecting a much smaller area than before.

Much smaller? It's, at level 8, typically gonna be a 50' radius sphere, instead of a 100' cube. They have the same diameter, and honestly, it's a pretty damn BIG spell. So even if it's a mere 30' radius, that's MORE than big enough in general.

Grod_The_Giant
2018-08-31, 02:57 PM
Much smaller? It's, at level 8, typically gonna be a 50' radius sphere, instead of a 100' cube. They have the same diameter, and honestly, it's a pretty damn BIG spell. So even if it's a mere 30' radius, that's MORE than big enough in general.
...
Math.
...
You're right. I still don't think the individual bits are that strong, but... how about affecting a 5ft radius per die spent?

Grod_The_Giant
2018-09-03, 03:47 PM
Update: Thunderstrike and Ballad of Winter replaced with hopefully-more-balanced versions.

Vogie
2018-09-03, 07:52 PM
This is 5E. Bards get 9ths.

Otherwise, mostly agreed.

Not at level 14 they don't. If a level 7 wizard somehow learns Wish, they're likely to want to use it somehow, even though they don't have slots for it.

It'd likely just be easier to have "At level 14, you learn these two. At 15, you gain this one. At 17, you learn this last one. None of them count towards your number of spells known.


You have learned the secret methods of harnessing the magic powers of music to influence and control the weather.

Stormsong: At 3rd level, you learn three cantrips: Gust, Shocking Grasp, and Thunderclap. All three cantrips are particularly effective in your hands.

Gust can affect large creatures, and may push them in any direction or knock them prone. The distance it can shove a creature or object doubles at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels.
Shocking Grasp deals additional lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier, and has a range of 10ft.
Thunderclap's point of origin may be any point you can see within 30ft.

Cloak of Winds: Beginning at 3rd level, creatures who have been granted a bardic inspiration die may jump twice as far as normal and only take half damage from falls.

Thundercall-- Beginning at 6th level, you learn Call Lightning as a bard spell, though it doesn't count against the number of bard spells you know. For the duration of the spell, you can call a bolt of lightning as a bonus action after casting a spell that deals thunder damage, lightning damage, or which is based on winds, such as Gust or Wind Wall.

Ballad of the Sky-- Beginning at 6th level, you gain the ability to subtly control the weather around you. If it is raining, you can use an action to cause the rain to stop falling in a 20‐foot radius centered on you. You can end this effect as a bonus action. If it is windy, you can use a bonus action each round to choose the direction that the wind blows in a 100‐foot radius sphere around you. The wind blows in that direction until the end of your next turn. This feature does not alter the speed of the wind.

Aria of Destruction: Beginning at 14th level, you learn Chain Lightning, Whirlwind, Control Weather, and Storm of Vengeance. These spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know.

Cloak of Winds and Ballad of the Sky are fantastic, great job.

I like Thundercall, but I think it'd be perfect if you either:

gave damage and scaling for the bolt of lightning independent of your other spells, or
Change it to "After casting a spell that deals thunder or lightning damage, or which is based on Winds (like Gust or Wind Wall), You may also cast Call lightning as a bonus action" with or without using a spell slot

Grod_The_Giant
2018-09-04, 12:52 PM
Not at level 14 they don't. If a level 7 wizard somehow learns Wish, they're likely to want to use it somehow, even though they don't have slots for it.

It'd likely just be easier to have "At level 14, you learn these two. At 15, you gain this one. At 17, you learn this last one. None of them count towards your number of spells known.
Fair enough.




Cloak of Winds and Ballad of the Sky are fantastic, great job.
I can't exactly take credit for Ballad, as I lifted the Storm Sorcerer feature word-for-word, but I'm glad you liked Cloak.'



I like Thundercall, but I think it'd be perfect if you either:

gave damage and scaling for the bolt of lightning independent of your other spells, or
Change it to "After casting a spell that deals thunder or lightning damage, or which is based on Winds (like Gust or Wind Wall), You may also cast Call lightning as a bonus action" with or without using a spell slot


The former was how I originally wrote it-- when you get it at 6th it deals damage as if cast out of a 3rd level slot, regardless of how many you've used that day. At 7th, the damage goes up to 4d10, and so on-- but I kind of like the second... let me see here.

SilverStud
2018-09-07, 01:30 PM
Hey man, I don't have any constructive criticism to offer. Just wanted to pop in and tell you that this looks great. It's a subclass that I would certainly enjoy playing, and I will probably be lifting it for my players to use in one of my campaigns.

I love the flavor and extra utility stuff with Call Lightning and the extra cantrips!

Vogie
2018-09-07, 03:01 PM
Aria of Destruction: Beginning at 14th level, you learn some of the most powerful weather magics in existence. The following spells count as bard spells for you, and you may learn two of them without counting against the total number of bard spells you know.


Spell Level
Spells


3rd
Lightning Bolt, Wind Wall


4th
Sleet Storm, Storm Sphere


5th
Conjure Elemental (air only), Control Winds


6th
Chain Lightning, Wind Walk


7th
Whirlwind


8th
Control Weather


9th
Storm of Vengeance



I really like this formatting & mechanic... Nice!

Grod_The_Giant
2018-09-07, 03:36 PM
Hey man, I don't have any constructive criticism to offer. Just wanted to pop in and tell you that this looks great. It's a subclass that I would certainly enjoy playing, and I will probably be lifting it for my players to use in one of my campaigns.

I love the flavor and extra utility stuff with Call Lightning and the extra cantrips!
Hey, compliments are always constructive :smalltongue:


I really like this formatting & mechanic... Nice!
Thanks! Any suggestions for alternate 5th and (especially) 4th level spells? I'm not wild about Sleet Storm and Conjure Elemental.