5e - Boons from Pelor

[nakedonmyfoldin]

Howdy!

I've seen Matt Colville make mention of rewarding players with new abilities and titles to mix things up. The players are about to perform admirably in the eyes of Pelor, directly rescuing one of his monasteries. They will be level 5 at the end of the endeavor, and I think it'd be a great opportunity to give them a little boon. Nothing crazy and gamebreaking, but some cool new crunch to add to their sheets.
There is a hexblade (not evil or anything, he's repping the Raven Queen flavor), an assassin (again, not evil, doesn't affront Pelor), an Oath of Ancients Paladin, an Arcane Archer, and a Divine Soul Sorcerer.

For the hexblade, I think some kind of Sunblade type manifestation for his weapon? Like as a bonus action once per day (in daylight) for 1 minute, he can channel a weapon made of pure sunlight. The weapon is a +2 weapon, deals radiant damage, gives off light, and deals double damage vs. undead. Too OP?

For the assassin, I'm thinking some kind of play on the shadows cast by the sun would be interesting. Maybe he can do like a shadow teleport like a Meenlock, or command his shadow to act independently of him?

For the Arcane Archer, giving him more Arcane Shot options would be cool. Maybe a multi-shot arrow with advantage against undead or fiends? Really any new arrow option would be dope. Like even a once per day fireball arrow.

For the Paladin, healing feels appropriate. Or maybe adding some features from Light Domain Cleric. Like access to their spells (although a fireball wielding paladin is a scary thought).

For the Sorcerer, metamagic would be cool. Maybe an extra sorc point or two per day, and a new homebrewed metamagic?

Any ideas or guidelines, or if anyone's done this before, I'd appreciate the hell out of you.
Thanks!

[Randomthom]

For the hexblade, I think some kind of Sunblade type manifestation for his weapon? Like as a bonus action once per day (in daylight) for 1 minute, he can channel a weapon made of pure sunlight. The weapon is a +2 weapon, deals radiant damage, gives off light, and deals double damage vs. undead. Too OP?

Too OP for lvl 5 imo. Look at the Mace of Disruption instead perhaps, either directly or for the basic concept which could apply to the hexblade's summoned weapon? In 4E's lore, Pelor and the Raven Queen were very-much antithetical to each other so perhaps something that represents this contradiction?



For the assassin, I'm thinking some kind of play on the shadows cast by the sun would be interesting. Maybe he can do like a shadow teleport like a Meenlock, or command his shadow to act independently of him?

That seems cool, 1/SR would be about right perhaps...



For the Arcane Archer, giving him more Arcane Shot options would be cool. Maybe a multi-shot arrow with advantage against undead or fiends? Really any new arrow option would be dope. Like even a once per day fireball arrow.

Maybe a 1/day "lesser" arrow of slaying-like ability. 3d10 vs undead or fiends. Perhaps with a blind chance to the target?



For the Paladin, healing feels appropriate. Or maybe adding some features from Light Domain Cleric. Like access to their spells (although a fireball wielding paladin is a scary thought).

Since you don't have a cleric, there's no harm in giving one of their abilities here since you're not stepping on anyone's toes!



For the Sorcerer, metamagic would be cool. Maybe an extra sorc point or two per day, and a new homebrewed metamagic?

How about...
Metamagic: Cauterizing Fire
Any time you cast a spell that consumes a spell slot that deals fire damage, you may also heal one ally within 30 ft. for 2d6 per spell slot level expended. 1SP

Edit: The recharge on these abilities should be tied to spending time in actual sunlight.

[pragma]

This sounds fun, but I'd be worried about making this a permanent class ability. Being able to call in a one-time (or otherwise limited use) boon from Pelor seems safer to me: even if you dial in the balance wrong on an ability, your players will run out of it sooner or later.

For the shadows monk, I'd just make him able to create a light source that casts harsh shadows: he prays to Pelor for a mini-sun which lets him teleport around (and maybe blinds enemies).

[Sol]

I like the concept, and I think your ideas are mostly close. I've added some thoughts below. These suggestions are....definitely not weak, but most of them are conditional on access to sunlight or undead targets.


For the hexblade, I think some kind of Sunblade type manifestation for his weapon? Like as a bonus action once per day (in daylight) for 1 minute, he can channel a weapon made of pure sunlight. The weapon is a +2 weapon, deals radiant damage, gives off light, and deals double damage vs. undead. Too OP?
I think the +2 is unnecessary, especially if this effect persists between weapons. Your hexblade will want a +1/2/3 weapon eventually anyway, so this benefit would wane naturally regardless. I don't love the combination of the (in daylight) requirement with the effect of the blade giving off light, but I do love both of those features, so I think an interesting take would be along the lines of one of the following:

You gain the ability to charge your blade with sunlight as a token of Pelor's blessing. You may activate this at any time as a bonus action to cause the weapon to deal radiant damage, emit bright light in a 20ft radius, and deal double damage to undead creatures for 1 minute. This ability can be recharged during a short rest, if the entire hour is spent in bright sunlight.
You gain the ability to channel sunlight through your blade. Any time you are in direct sunlight, you may choose to deal radiant damage with your weapon, and deal double damage to undead creatures.


I think I like #1 better, if only because....who fights undead creatures outdoors during the day? Like, me, if I have a choice, but that's so rarely where they are. As for whether these are too OP, the answer in most campaigns is no, since undead are but one of many subsets of enemies. If undead are a major focus of your campaign, yes, either balance these all against that or pare them down.


For the assassin, I'm thinking some kind of play on the shadows cast by the sun would be interesting. Maybe he can do like a shadow teleport like a Meenlock, or command his shadow to act independently of him?
Shadow teleport is maybe stepping on a Shadow Monk's toes, but if you don't and won't have one in the party, it's an absolutely awesome thing to provide. Wholesale steal the Shadow Monk level 6 feature. Bonus action 60ft teleport that must both start and end in dim light or darkness, and it grants advantage on your next attack.
If you do think that's stepping on the Shadow Monk's thematics, instead do something like giving the Assassin an invisibility ability, magical darkvision, and/or a limited use of the darkness spell?


For the Arcane Archer, giving him more Arcane Shot options would be cool. Maybe a multi-shot arrow with advantage against undead or fiends? Really any new arrow option would be dope. Like even a once per day fireball arrow.
The largest weakness of Arcane Archer, as i'm sure you already know, isn't Arcane Shot options, it's Arcane Shot uses. I'd be very tempted to solve that here, with something like:

When you use your Arcane Shot ability while standing in bright sunlight, roll a d20. On a roll of 11 or higher, you do not expend that use of Arcane Shot.
Additionally, your Shadow Arrow Arcane Shot option is replaced with Radiant Arrow: You weave illusion magic the Light of Pelor into your arrow, causing it to occlude your foe’s vision with shadows blind your foe. The creature hit by the arrow takes an extra 2d6 psychic radiant damage, and it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be unable to see anything farther than 5 feet away blinded until the start of your next turn. Undead enemies automatically fail this saving throw and take twice as much radiant damage from this ability. The psychic radiant damage increases to 4d6 when you reach 18th level in this class.



For the Paladin, healing feels appropriate. Or maybe adding some features from Light Domain Cleric. Like access to their spells (although a fireball wielding paladin is a scary thought).
You gain the following features from the Light Domain Cleric at their appropriate levels, using your Paladin Class level instead of Cleric level:

1: Bonus Cantrip: Light
1: Warding Flare
3: Channel Divinity: Radiance of the Dawn
6: Improved Flare
17: Corona of Light


That's....a whole lot, but it also isn't, really, without the spells. It's really just another Channel Divinity option, which Paladins can only use 1/rest instead of 2/3, another Reaction option, and a glowy boy capstone that probably helps the sorcerer more than the paladin itself but also if your party reaches level 17 they should feel like superheroes.


For the Sorcerer, metamagic would be cool. Maybe an extra sorc point or two per day, and a new homebrewed metamagic?

As part of a short rest, you may regain 1 spent sorcery point, provided that the entire rest takes place in Bright Sunlight. This feature stacks with the level 20 feature Sorcerous Restoration.
You gain access to the following Metamagic option, which does not count against your Metamagic selections: Disrupting Spell: When casting a spell, you may spend 2 sorcery points to cause the spell to only affect undead targets. Against undead targets, the spell deals maximum damage instead of rolling, and this damage is radiant instead of its normal type. If an undead target has 25 hit points or fewer after taking this damage, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be destroyed. On a successful save, the creature becomes frightened of you until the end of your next turn.


So, +a few sorc points depending on your resting schedule, and a maximize vs undead that throws in the Mace of Disruption effects as well.

[noob]

skip


Pelor is quite the god of innocent undead murder.

[nakedonmyfoldin]

Holy cow you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the options, i'm spoiled for choice now