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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next NPC Wizard subclass - Doctor (rough notes)



jjordan
2019-04-12, 01:36 PM
Not really going to get into the reasons why, but I'm looking at putting in a little Wizard subclass of healers/doctors. These are NPCs, their skill-sets are useless in combat situations or even, really, general adventuring. They're filling a gap and I find them interesting. These are my rough notes and I'm very open to comments.

Wizard subclass - Doctor/Physician
Background - Sage
Proficiencies - Arcana, Medicine
Spell List -
Detect Poison
Detect Disease
Detect Magic
Identify Wounds
Cure Physical Wounds
Cure Poison
Cure Disease
Dispel Magic
Magic Circle
Feign Death
Calm Emotions
Remove Curse


You can see I've broken existing spells down a little (separated detecting poison and disease). I've also made all of these new versions rituals spells only. This is not a combat medic. I've also put in a mechanic to make the detect/identify spells more interesting/useful. They all have a minimum time of 10 minutes and the caster must make a DC5 Wisdom check. The caster can continue the spell for additional 10 minute blocks and the DC goes up by 5 for each block. The longer they maintain the spell the more they learn and the greater their chances are for effectively healing the patient. E.G, this isn't one kind of poison, it's two!

As the healing has to be powered and the wizard/doctor doesn't have access to the divine energy a cleric would have I've added a dynamic where the power can be taken from other living things.

I'd like to modify the spell levels but I haven't yet. I *think* that making these ritual-based spells addresses potential power imbalance but haven't really had a chance to analyze it yet.

Man_Over_Game
2019-04-12, 01:46 PM
That's correct on the Ritual aspect. When a spell is cast without a spell slot, the spell is always treated as being cast at the lowest possible level. So this way, Cure Wounds can only ever be cast as a level 1 spell.

The concern I have is that, although you are basically duplicating Medicine checks into magic to be used by "Doctors" these spells can technically be Counterspelled, which breaks the narrative of the concept. But I think it's such a niche problem that I don't think it'd ever be relevant.

jjordan
2019-04-12, 02:04 PM
That's correct on the Ritual aspect. When a spell is cast without a spell slot, the spell is always treated as being cast at the lowest possible level. So this way, Cure Wounds can only ever be cast as a level 1 spell.

The concern I have is that, although you are basically duplicating Medicine checks into magic to be used by "Doctors" these spells can technically be Counterspelled, which breaks the narrative of the concept. But I think it's such a niche problem that I don't think it'd ever be relevant.I'm not sure I'm understanding your point on counterspells. Are you saying that patient X can walk out of the clinic, run into his nemesis who casts a counterspell and all the healing he's undergone is... well, gone?

And jumping to the spell levels, what I'd really like to do is actually change some of the spell levels. Magic circle, for instance. I'd like to make this one of the first spells a doctor learns. So making it a first level spell. But adding in a lot of material and time requirements to balance out the change so that some random wizard can't learn the spell and get a 3rd level spell at 1st level and put it to uses it wasn't intended for. So it takes a first level doctor an hour to prepare the circle using charcoal, salt, and four small copper bowls containing earth, water, air, and fire.

And I still don't have any good cantrips in mind. A cleaning cantrip comes to mind. Maybe re-purposing mend for minor cuts. I'm still working through it.

Man_Over_Game
2019-04-12, 02:40 PM
I'm not sure I'm understanding your point on counterspells. Are you saying that patient X can walk out of the clinic, run into his nemesis who casts a counterspell and all the healing he's undergone is... well, gone?

And jumping to the spell levels, what I'd really like to do is actually change some of the spell levels. Magic circle, for instance. I'd like to make this one of the first spells a doctor learns. So making it a first level spell. But adding in a lot of material and time requirements to balance out the change so that some random wizard can't learn the spell and get a 3rd level spell at 1st level and put it to uses it wasn't intended for. So it takes a first level doctor an hour to prepare the circle using charcoal, salt, and four small copper bowls containing earth, water, air, and fire.

And I still don't have any good cantrips in mind. A cleaning cantrip comes to mind. Maybe re-purposing mend for minor cuts. I'm still working through it.

Not quite. A Doctor can spend 9 minutes healing someone, for him to lose that time after someone counterspells it.

As for the leveling problems...didn't you explain this was an NPC Wizard-type that you're working with? I think the easiest way of doing it the way you want to is to make it so that the Doctor can cast these spells as a Ritual using your Doctor feature, gaining more at each specific level. The trick is to make it so that the Doctor does not KNOW the spell, but rather it's being cast without any prepared spell gimmicks or spell slots.

Similarly, an 4 Elements Monk can cast Fireball, but he does not KNOW Fireball.

jjordan
2019-04-12, 02:57 PM
Not quite. A Doctor can spend 9 minutes healing someone, for him to lose that time after someone counterspells it.

As for the leveling problems...didn't you explain this was an NPC Wizard-type that you're working with? I think the easiest way of doing it the way you want to is to make it so that the Doctor can cast these spells as a Ritual using your Doctor feature, gaining more at each specific level. The trick is to make it so that the Doctor does not KNOW the spell, but rather it's being cast without any prepared spell gimmicks or spell slots.

Similarly, an 4 Elements Monk can cast Fireball, but he does not KNOW Fireball.
Thank you. I really appreciate the clarification, suggestions, and examples. Very helpful. I'll keep working on this.

Man_Over_Game
2019-04-12, 03:08 PM
No problem!

I suppose what you could do is make it so that the Doctor spends 10 minutes and a Wisdom DC to duplicate the effect of one of the spells on his Doctor spell list. He's not considered casting a spell, so it can't be counterspelled, and it also means he doesn't inherently "know" the spell. It's also pretty succinct.

As for cantrips:


Spare the Dying
Prestidigitation (can make tools as needed or clean an object)
Resistance (help someone get better from a poison effect or death saving throws)
Light (for an at-will flashlight).

jjordan
2019-04-13, 05:12 PM
After playing with this a little more I'm thinking about abandoning the idea of making this a subclass and moving towards a magic item approach. So instead of having to rework spell levels and make a big mess I can make a little mess. Using the existing crafting rules, a variation on Glyph of Warding, a variation of Magic Circle, and the existing magic spells I can have doctors using crafted magic circles that function the way I want them to.

jjordan
2019-04-30, 05:49 PM
Still monkeying around with this. What I have so far:
-These guys use a modified magic circle.

-Must be crafted by at least a 3rd Level magic user
-Uses 300gp, 300sp, 300cp
-Takes at least two days to inscribe the complex design
-Metals must be melted and poured into the inscribed design in specific patterns
-6' diameter is uncommon, 12' diameter is rare and costs 4 times as much for crafting purposes
-Circle must have 1 glyph of warding (spell glyph) per spell capability
-Spells contained by the circle still require any components
-Does not require the use of any spell slots
-Spells only effect those within the circle
-Spells typically used in a circle:

-Detect Poison: As detect magic but applies to poison, learn what type, severity
-Detect Magic
-Detect Disease: As detect magic but applies to disease, learn what type, severity
-Identify Wounds: As identify but applies to physical wounds, learn specifics of damage
-Detect Psychic Wounds: As detect thoughts but identifies psychic damage, learn specifics
-Cure: As cure wounds, must specify which damage type (physical, psychic, etc...) to heal, must be preceded by a spell to identify the damage, cures 1d8+1 points of the specified damage type per ten minutes the doctor spends casting the spell. Make a concentration check each ten minutes to maintain the spell
-Dispel Magic
-Feign Death: As the spell, puts patient into a coma, slows bleeding.
-Remove Curse
-Prestidigitation: Typically used to clean and manipulate

I have these guys operating (ha, ha) in my setting because it's fairly low on deities that grant healing magic to their clerics. I've got apothecaries brewing a wide range of potions and barber-surgeons practicing non-magical healing for the same reason. Because most of these folks aren't very mobile that will slow the pace down.