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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Symbiote Patron - Warlock Patron Based on Marvel's Venom - PEACH



Vogie
2018-11-13, 11:00 PM
Symbiote Patron

https://artfiles.alphacoders.com/109/109596.jpg

Expanded Spell List
The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you



Spell Level
Spells


1st
Hunter's Mark, Absorb Elements


2nd
Web, Alter Self


3rd
Life Transference, Nondetection


4th
Death Ward, Evard's Black Tentacles


5th
Creation, Rary's Telepathic Bond



Bonus Cantrip
At 1st level, you learn the Primal Savagery cantrip. It counts as a warlock cantrip for you, but does not count against your number of cantrips known.

Symbiotic Entity
At 1st level, on your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action. While raging, your symbiote surges around your body, and you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing medium or heavy armor:

You may use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength, on all Strength checks, Strength saving throws, and attack and damage rolls.
Your jump distance is doubled, and all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage taken is reduced by the slot level column of the Warlock table.
You may gain temporary hit points equal to 2 plus half your warlock level (rounded down) at the start of each of your turns.
While enveloped in the symbiote, you cannot use the Use an Object action for anything you had on your person while raging.

Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action. When the rage ends, the symbiote recedes back inside your body, and you lose any temporary hit points you have from it.

Once you have raged the number of times equal a third of your Warlock level (rounded down, minimum 1), you must finish a short or long rest before you can rage again.

Symbiotic Synergy
At 6th level, your connection with the symbiote deepens. When you use your Primal Savagery cantrip, instead of dealing 2d10 damage, you can make 2 melee attacks, each doing 1d10 acid damage. This increases to 3 attacks at warlock level 11 and 4 attacks at 17th level.
In addition, you gain a benefit, depending on your chosen boon:

Blade: Your weapons emerge from your body. You can create your pact weapon with bonus action and cannot be disarmed unless you are incapacitated. In addition, you can use a bonus action to create 3 darts that are also considered your pact weapon by your other warlock features and invocations.
Chain: Your familiar becomes an extension of your symbiote. Once per short or long rest, you can use an action to have your familiar surge around and envelop a willing creature within 5 feet of it as a reaction. That creature is effected by your Symbiotic Entity rage feature for one minute, and then the familiar is released.
Tome: Whenever you deal damage with Primal Savagery attack, add your Charisma modifier to the damage it deals on a hit. In addition, your Eldritch Blast rays and any lashes or whips you create can now also target structures, and once on each of your turns when you hit an structure with at least 2 rays in this manner, you can move yourself in a straight line 15 feet closer to it.


Otherworldly Senses
At 10th level, you gain immunity to the surprised condition, can’t be tracked except by magical means, and gain a bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks based on your charisma modifier. This bonus is doubled when using your Symbiotic Entity feature.
In addition, if you are at or under half your maximum hit points and a creature hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to roll a d6. On a 5 or higher, the attack instead misses you, regardless of its roll.

Vorpal Hunger
At 14th level, each time you hit a target with your Primal Savagery attack while raging, you gain a +1 bonus attack and damage bonus on subsequent hits on that creature, to a maximum of your Charisma modifier.
In addition, once you have a bonus of at least +3, when you attack a creature that has at least one head and roll a 20 on the attack roll, you can use your reaction to bite off one of the creature’s heads. The creature dies if it can’t survive without the lost head. You regain hit points equal to half that creature's hit die, and each creature in a 15 foot radius that can see this act must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or drop whatever it is holding and become Frightened for 1 minute, as if effected by the spell Fear. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
A creature is immune to this effect if it is immune to piercing damage, doesn’t have or need a head, has legendary actions, or the GM decides that the creature is too big for its head to be cut off with this weapon. Such a creature instead takes an extra 6d8 piercing damage from the hit.




Notes:

This is based on the movie Venom, rather than the comics. Such a great example of an otherworldly patron.
I liked the idea of a dark transformation for Warlocks, but thought that a straight rage would be too powerful. I used a short of Hexblade-esque rage, and incorporated the straight DR from HAM, plus THP, in lieu of resistance. EDIT: I made the THP Optional as part of the rage, just in case you want to use AoA.
The use of Primal Savagery as the primary attack gives an interesting dynamic
I used the Compatibility Symbiotic Synergy feature (needs a better name) to help bridge the gap and show the difference between Venom and Riot. In the movie, Riot is launching spikes left and right, and mostly using melee weapons - which sounds like a Blade Warlock. I've just smoothed it over and added the ability to create Darts with the feature, allowing you to have throw multiple weapons. I used Magic Stone as a baseline, but added language so it can connect with your Thirsting Blade, Eldritch Smite and Lifedrinker invocations. Venom, on the other hand, I vision as more of a Tome and I've used a reverse Grasp of Hadar effect to give the webslinging effect. I expanded it to include a thorn whip and lightning lure, but I'm not thrilled with the wording...
I used the Chain Pact to nod towards the comic connection that Carnage is the spawn of Venom, and the potential coolness of your Sorcerer, Paladin, or Bard getting a Symbiote temporarily. Of course you can also use it to protect your tank or healer as well. It could also incorporate a Symbiote-enabled pet, a nod towards Venom's inhabitation of a dog in the movie :)
Otherworldly Senses is the Spider-sense. I wanted to make it different from "just an alert feat", so I added universal resistance when surprised, and advantage on Perception and Survival checks when being hunted down. For the actual reflex, I used Armor of Hexes as a base. Since this is a melee-oriented subclass, I made it available for every target, but only after you're bloodied, and you dodge on a 5 or 6, instead of a 4 to 6.
Vorpal Hunger gives you a self-heal, and a nod to Venom's desire to nom on some heads. I used the Vorpal Sword as a base, with a very MOBA-esque stacking mechanic.
I want to incorporate some issues with Thunder, Fire, and Booming damage, but the subclass is already pretty dense.



Please let me know what you think!

Vogie
2018-11-16, 02:18 PM
Made some updates to the class features and expanded spell list.

Man_Over_Game
2018-11-19, 04:02 PM
Hey, Vogie! I'm always loving your stuff.

The symbiote patron seems really badass, but there are a few concerns I see.

Notably, it's incredibly front loaded (you all the important stuff early on). This is a problem for multiclassing (like with the Hexblade). Additionally, the front loaded features don't scale with your Warlock level, but with other things. In other words, it's in your favor to multiclass a single level into this class and go somewhere else.

Another concern is that it is definitely intended to be in melee combat, but it doesn't have enough to make melee worthwhile. Your temporary hitpoints are going to last 1-2 turns, max. That 3 DR on weapon attacks won't help much in tier 2 (level 5+).

I had some initial complaints about the level 6 feature, but after reading the fine print, it all seems fine (with the Chain version being a bit too strong, maybe require Concentration?).

Level 10 is...eh? Why not just make it so that your Symbiote form is always under the effect of Pass Without Trace, and can't be surprised?

Or change it to be so that you always know when you're being tracked, hunted, or talked about. Otherwise, having Advantage might be a telltale sign that's awkward to gauge it's usefulness.

The level 14 ability is a problem. Tack on two levels into Fighter, and you're reaching +4 in a single turn. It'd be cool, though, I can't deny that.




My biggest concerns are the lack of defensive options compared to the desire to use melee attacks.

I think having a higher DR and more temporary hitpoints would fix this, but maybe towards something that allows for more sustained combat rather than a burst of defense, to allow players to stay in heavy combat. Bumping it up directly would make the subclass more frontloaded, and make it even more powerful as a multiclass.

Here's a possible solution: Creating an adapting variable, called the Symbiote Level, that determines a bonus to several things. The Symbiote Level is your proficiency or your Warlock levels, whichever is less. This strongly encourages leveling heavily into the class, and provides some meaty bonuses in the right places, but while still scaling with overall character level.


For example, you could put this as the DR rate on the main class feature. You could regain this value in Temporary Hitpoints every turn, but only if you don't have temporary hitpoints (reflecting a sort of "regeneration" effect). You can also tie it in with the number of times you can use your Symbiote feature. For someone to gain the maximum effect with this concept, they would need to be at least level 17, with at least 6 of those levels being Warlock. However, if someone only invested a single Warlock level, they only get the 1 Symbiote Level.


To address some of your prior concerns, I would replace Shield with Absorb Elements. I'd also make the "tentacle" effect move you up to 10 feet. I'd like to see some kind of fear effect tied in.

That gives me an idea! Level 14 feature allows you to spend your Reaction upon killing a target to bite off its head. This gives you Temporary Hitpoints equal to your Warlock Level, and causes a fear effect on all creatures within 15 feet of you. Usable once per short rest.

-----------------

I know I give a lot of criticism, but this is actually really cool.

Vogie
2018-11-20, 09:52 AM
Notably, it's incredibly front loaded (you all the important stuff early on). This is a problem for multiclassing (like with the Hexblade). Additionally, the front loaded features don't scale with your Warlock level, but with other things. In other words, it's in your favor to multiclass a single level into this class and go somewhere else.

Another concern is that it is definitely intended to be in melee combat, but it doesn't have enough to make melee worthwhile. Your temporary hitpoints are going to last 1-2 turns, max. That 3 DR on weapon attacks won't help much in tier 2 (level 5+).
(...)
My biggest concerns are the lack of defensive options compared to the desire to use melee attacks.

I think having a higher DR and more temporary hitpoints would fix this, but maybe towards something that allows for more sustained combat rather than a burst of defense, to allow players to stay in heavy combat. Bumping it up directly would make the subclass more frontloaded, and make it even more powerful as a multiclass.
Here's a possible solution: Creating an adapting variable, called the Symbiote Level, that determines a bonus to several things. The Symbiote Level is your proficiency or your Warlock levels, whichever is less. This strongly encourages leveling heavily into the class, and provides some meaty bonuses in the right places, but while still scaling with overall character level.
For example, you could put this as the DR rate on the main class feature. You could regain this value in Temporary Hitpoints every turn, but only if you don't have temporary hitpoints (reflecting a sort of "regeneration" effect). You can also tie it in with the number of times you can use your Symbiote feature. For someone to gain the maximum effect with this concept, they would need to be at least level 17, with at least 6 of those levels being Warlock. However, if someone only invested a single Warlock level, they only get the 1 Symbiote Level.


Okay, I've used Primeval Guardian as a model, making the THP scale with half warlock level. I also made the DR scale up to 5 based on the Spell slot level, so a 1 level dip would only give DR 1, but gets up to 5 at level 9. Instead of using 1/2 Proficiency, I also based the number of rages by 1/3rd of Warlock level, per rest.

This way the functionality is frontloaded, but you have to invest levels to get the most out of it.

I also further updated the 6th level feature that indicates you gain additional Savagery attacks based on warlock level, instead of character level.


Level 10 is...eh? Why not just make it so that your Symbiote form is always under the effect of Pass Without Trace, and can't be surprised

Done. I made it based on your charisma modifier, then doubled when using the symbiote, giving you up to +10 stealth in the form, or +5 without. Gives


The level 14 ability is a problem. Tack on two levels into Fighter, and you're reaching +4 in a single turn. It'd be cool, though, I can't deny that.

You can get to +4 in a single turn at level 17 anyway, so I'm not particularly worried about that.


To address some of your prior concerns, I would replace Shield with Absorb Elements. I'd also make the "tentacle" effect move you up to 10 feet. I'd like to see some kind of fear effect tied in.

That gives me an idea! Level 14 feature allows you to spend your Reaction upon killing a target to bite off its head. This gives you Temporary Hitpoints equal to your Warlock Level, and causes a fear effect on all creatures within 15 feet of you. Usable once per short rest.

Done

I originally had intended that you'd be able to tentacle 5ft per ray, to a total of 20, but that is really hard to word. I've now changed it to using 2 rays to rappel 15 feet. This allows it to be really interesting at 6, but would require you getting to 10th level to use rays to attack AND move.

I really like a fear effect, so I incorporated it into the part of the beheading. I don't expect it to happen a lot, as most targets will either die before you get enough hits, or not be able to be beheaded.



I know I give a lot of criticism, but this is actually really cool.

Absurd amounts of feedback is my favorite type of feedback! Nothing is more frustrating then working on something and the only reply being variations of "Neat!" or "Meh".

Man_Over_Game
2018-11-20, 12:55 PM
It looks very badass. I have no further objections, Your Honor.