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KarlMarx
2020-07-26, 01:46 PM
School of Plague Magic--Wizard subclass

The School of Plague Magic focuses on the magical study, manipulation, creation, and elimination of illnesses. While some plague mages (as practitioners of this School are called) use their powers and skills to devastate towns, cities, and even countries, others are dedicated (if often secretive) scholars wishing to eliminate deadly diseases.

Antibody Spells (2nd Level)

At 2nd level, you gain the ability to store your spells not as words within a spellbook, but as antibodies within your blood. You may store any number of spells or spell levels within your blood. Preparing a spell from your antibodies does not require a spellbook, but otherwise functions identically to normal spell preparation. This ability does not prevent you from keeping a traditional spellbook, if you so choose.

When you first acquire this ability, all of the spells present in your spellbook become present in your blood also. When you learn new spells by gaining a wizard level, you may choose to learn spells in your blood, rather than a spellbook, but you do not learn any additional spells. You may also “copy” spells found, either from other spellbooks or from spell scrolls, into your blood by creating a spell antigen. You must pay the same costs in time and gold as you would to copy the spell into a spellbook, as you must alchemically and magically prepare the spell antigen to expose yourself to.

The magical antibodies present in your blood render you immune to disease.

When you create a spell antigen of a spell that deals necrotic or poison damage or inflicts the poisoned condition, the gold and time you must spend is halved.

Powerful Pathogens (2nd Level)

When you cast a spell that deals necrotic or poison damage, you may choose to switch the damage type from necrotic to poison or vice versa.

You may also choose to impose disadvantage on all saving throws against a spell that inflicts either damage type, or imposes the poisoned condition. Once you use this second ability, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Disease Control (6th Level)

Whenever you cast a spell that affects multiple creatures, you may choose to remove any one disease from all affected creatures.

Additionally, whenever you cast a spell that deals necrotic or poison damage, or inflicts the poisoned condition, you may expose all targeted creatures to one disease with which you are familiar. The creature must make a constitution saving throw, with a DC equal to your spell save DC, or become infected. If a creature is infected, symptoms immediately manifest. All saves against the disease use your spell save DC. You can infect creatures normally immune to disease with this ability, but the creature has advantage on its saving throws against the disease.

Arcane Afflictions (10th Level)

When you cast a spell that deals necrotic or poison damage, you ignore resistance to either damage type, and treat immunity to either damage type as if it were resistance to that damage type. When you cast a spell that inflicts the poisoned condition, you ignore immunity to that condition.

Disease Development and Destruction(14th Level)

At 14th level, you gain the ability to create new diseases as well as cures for existing diseases. It takes you 8 hours to create a disease or cure, and to create a cure you must have a creature or object carrying the disease in your possession.

When you create a disease, choose one means of transmission. The mode of transmission you choose affects the save DC of the disease:

Bite/close contact (+2 to DC): A creature must make a saving throw when bitten by, or otherwise exposed to the bodily fluids of, a creature infected with the disease.

Airborne/contact (+0 to DC): A creature must make a saving throw when it comes into contact with, or remains within 10 feet of for more than 10 minutes, a creature infected with the disease.

Waterborne (-2 to DC): A creature must make a saving throw when it drinks water tainted by the disease.

The save DC against a disease that you create is equal to your spell save DC at the time of the disease’s creation, modified as above. When a creature is exposed to a disease, in a manner determined by the above, it must make a constitution saving throw or be infected by the disease or become infected. It takes 1d4 days for symptoms of a disease you create to manifest (unless you use your Disease Control ability); the specific symptoms of the disease are at your discretion. The infected creature loses 1d4 points of one ability score of your choice when creating the disease. At the end of each long rest, an infected creature must make a constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature loses 1d4 points of the ability score affected; on a successful save, it regains 1d4 points of the ability score. If the creature’s ability score is reduced to 0 by the disease, it suffers a permanent effect based on the score affected:

Strength or Dexterity: the creature is paralyzed

Constitution: the creature dies

Intelligence or Charisma: the creature is catatonic (treat as stunned)

Wisdom: the creature is blinded or deafened (your choice when creating the disease)

If a creature’s ability score is restored to its full value after successful saves or the creature makes three successful saves in a row, it is cured of the disease.

When creating a disease, you may choose the creatures it afflicts, and may limit it to affecting only a certain creature type, race, species, or similar. Likewise, you may similarly designate certain such categories immune to the disease.

You may only create one disease at a time. If you create a new disease, all creatures afflicted by a disease you previously created are cured.

You also gain the ability to eradicate diseases. Doing so requires an object or creature exposed to the disease and 8 hours. At the end of the 8 hour period, you must make an intelligence check against the disease’s constitution save DC. On a success, you magically eradicate the disease, and all creatures on the same plane are cured of it.

Old Harry MTX
2020-07-26, 02:06 PM
I like the concept.
I will suggest to change Powerful Pathogens to something like "you can change the damage type dealt by a spell to necrotic or poison a certain number of times per rest", and maybe at a higher level add a feature that produce different effects depending on the damage type.

Also why not use the levels of Exhaustion in Disease Development and Destruction instead of changing the ability scores?

KarlMarx
2020-07-26, 02:18 PM
I like the concept.
I will suggest to change Powerful Pathogens to something like "you can change the damage type dealt by a spell to necrotic or poison a certain number of times per rest", and maybe at a higher level add a feature that produce different effects depending on the damage type.

My instinct with powerful pathogens was to give an ability to help circumvent poison and necrotic immunities at lower level, before Arcane Afflictions comes online. I doubt that the change to necrotic/poison ability would get used very much except to trigger disease control, since poison is unambiguously the weakest damage type and necrotic isn't particularly strong.

Edit: basically, I want to incentivize the player to use spells that already use these damage types. I do this in two ways, firstly by mitigating the downsides of using Poison and to a lesser extent Necrotic via first the lvl 2 and then the lvl 10 abilities, and secondly by attaching a wide-ranging rider to such spells in the form of bestowing diseases.



Also why not use the levels of Exhaustion in Disease Development and Destruction instead of changing the ability scores?

Because there's already a disease that does that :/