Replacement for Hound of Ill Omen, good or bad idea?

[Arkhios]

I was wondering, having read a certain thread here fairly recently, would it be a bad idea to replace the Shadow Sorcerer's feature - Hound of Ill Omen - with a feature (maybe name it as "Power over Shadows" or something) that would let you add Charisma to your damage rolls with spells that deal either psychic or necrotic damage?

What do you think?

[NaughtyTiger]

Add it to 1 target for Area of effect spells or all of them?
Does it stack with hexblades curse?

At first glance, I don't see it as being stronger than added Char to Eldritch Blast.

[Citadel97501]

That seems incredibly weak to me, as those spells are few and far between for a Sorcerer although that would save you meta magic points.

[Avonar]

That seems like a much weaker replacement for the Hound. Not only that, it doesn't tie in to the theme of the class, and it's an extremely boring class feature. Would remove any desire to play the class for me.

[Asmotherion]

Hound of Ill Omen is one of the best things the Shadow Sorcerer has to offer... why you'd want to replace it is beyond me.

That said, if you really want to go for it and your dm is ok with it, it does sound balanced (though weak). If what you're really after is some hex bonus for a Sorcerer/Warlock, just go for that from the start as a core ability, instead of masking it as a pseudo-weak bonus that scales.

[Mortis_Elrod]

i'll echo the othere's here a bit, the hound is actually pretty good, and you shouldn't want to replace it. Especially since you can have more than one hound going at the same time.

However, if you're looking for a replacement ability.... look for something missing theme wise first before just looking for mechanical similarities. Hound of ill Omen is a way to make the shadows come alive and attack your enemies. You'd want something that does similar, using shadows to attack enemies, and you'd likely either use the same resource (spell points) or make it short rest or cha mod times per Xrest limited.

Off hand i can't think of thematic ability, besides just shadow sculpting (which would be a major downgrade and effectively just minor illusion) or the hound...

[Keravath]

Since I am not sure what the original thread is ...

Do you want to replace Hound of Ill Omen because you consider too strong, too weak or just not the right theme for a shadow sorcerer.

My personal opinion is that there isn't really anything that bad or overpowered with the feature .. so why do you want to replace it?

[Arkhios]

Since I am not sure what the original thread is ...

Do you want to replace Hound of Ill Omen because you consider too strong, too weak or just not the right theme for a shadow sorcerer.

My personal opinion is that there isn't really anything that bad or overpowered with the feature .. so why do you want to replace it?

It was just a "random" thought that sprung up to my mind from a post I read in the thread. The thread itself is rather irrelevant to the topic, which is why I didn't mention it.

To me, I've felt the Hound of Ill Omen somewhat inconsistent to the sorcerous origin as a whole; it just feels off.

I figured this alternative would be somewhat equal with the Draconic Origin's 6th-level feature. I suppose if it feels underwhelming it could have an additional benefit of granting access to choose psychic and necrotic from any spell list; just like the warlock's patron spells function. And maybe a few bonus spells of those types from levels 1 to 3.

[Mortis_Elrod]

It was just a "random" thought that sprung up to my mind from a post I read in the thread. The thread itself is rather irrelevant to the topic, which is why I didn't mention it.

To me, I've felt the Hound of Ill Omen somewhat inconsistent to the sorcerous origin as a whole; it just feels off.

I figured this alternative would be somewhat equal with the Draconic Origin's 6th-level feature. I suppose if it feels underwhelming it could have an additional benefit of granting access to choose psychic and necrotic from any spell list; just like the warlock's patron spells function. And maybe a few bonus spells of those types from levels 1 to 3.

Seems kind of lame to just add numbers and a few very select spells. I'd rather keep the hound.

[Dr. Cliché]

I can kinda understand giving a bonus to Necrotic damage but I'm not so sure about Psychic damage. That would be something I'd expect from a Great Old One Warlock or similar.


To me, I've felt the Hound of Ill Omen somewhat inconsistent to the sorcerous origin as a whole; it just feels off.

Well, it probably doesn't help that the Hound of Ill Omen used to be a Hexblade feature (back in 3.5, before the Hexblade was rolled in with the Warlock). :smalltongue:

On the one hand, I get what you mean. On the other hand, I'd be wary of replacing this ability since it's the only reason I'd ever consider playing a Shadow Sorcerer in the first place.

[ImproperJustice]

Thematically it has always made me think of the “Hound of the Baskervilles”.

Which kinda ties in with themes on looming doom and gloom of the class.

In execution it’s pretty darn nifty and well worth the sorcery points.
It’s a Heighten Spell that persists and bites people, with some targeting limitations.