Arcane Tradition: Acausality -- v 0.1-alpha PEACH

[PhoenixPhyre]

This is the first draft of a wizard subclass, designed to share some themes with Chronurgy but reworked mechanically. Both because I don't allow Wildemount content and because I wasn't an entire fan, plus aiming for more setting-adherence.

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Started by wizards studying the effects of concept bombs and their disruption of the natural flow of time, as well as the lingering effects of Broken Causality's presence near Godsfall, the school of Acausality focuses its efforts on understanding and manipulating the local flow of time, while not causing paradoxes that might bring the Archon of Time's wrath down on them.

Features

Temporal Wobble (need to find a better name)
Starting when you choose this tradition at level 2, you gain the ability to force yourself slightly out of sync with the local time stream. As a reaction when you would fail a saving throw against an effect that deals half damage on a success, you can make an Intelligence saving throw. If this new saving throw would have succeeded against the effects DC, you are considered to have passed the saving throw and take half damage. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short rest or expend a spell slot as part of the reaction. Intent--like the artificer's canon, you can use it 1x/SR for free but more requires spending spell slots

Past is Present
Starting at 6th level, you can bring visions of the past into the present day. After touching a location or creature for 1 minute, state an event or a time period within that location or creature's history you would like to view. If the target is a location, make an Intelligence (History) check against a DC of 10 + 1 for every 50 years that have passed since that event or time period. If the target is an unwilling creature, it must make a Charisma saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If the check succeeds or the saving throw fails, the requested event or time period overlays itself over present reality and plays out. You can choose to play it forward at normal or double speed, pause it, or rewind it (back to the starting time), and the vision lasts for 10 minutes of real time. You cannot interact with anything in the event, but you can see or hear anything. If the target was a creature, the point of view is limited to the creature's perceptions. Once you successfully use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Shared Wobble
Starting at 10th level, you can use your Temporal Wobble feature when a creature you can see within 30 feet of you meets the trigger conditions, benefiting the triggering creature. If more than one creature within range would benefit, it applies to all of them. Only make one saving throw and apply it to all affected creatures.

Echoing Spell
Starting at 14th level, you can cause a spell you cast to re-occur at lower strength. When a spell of 5th level or lower you cast ends, you can use your reaction to cause it to echo as if it had just been cast. None of the echoed spell's parameters (target, spell level, etc) change, but new saving throws and attack rolls must be made. If the spell dealt damage, it deals half as much damage and any saving throws against it are made at advantage. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short rest.

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Notes: I know the wording needs to be cleaned up. Please flag places that the wording is unclear or doesn't make sense.

[gloryblaze]

Temporal Disjunction—>Shared Disjunction, maybe?

[PhoenixPhyre]

Temporal Disjunction—>Shared Disjunction, maybe?

Hmm. Not a bad idea.

If I may, how did the mechanics look? Reasonable? Interesting?

[sandmote]

Temporal Wobble (need to find a better name) Escape the Moment?


If this new saving throw would have succeeded against the effects DC, you are considered to have passed the saving throw and take half damage. Should say "the effect's save DC," and that you "succeeded" on the saving throw. Although perhaps just say "you succeed the saving throw?" I'm not sure if you intend to mean you succeed and take half damage (meaning a total of 1/4 the damage).


If the target is an unwilling creature, it must make a Charisma saving throw against your spellcasting DC. I'd try "an unwilling creature can make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a success, your attempt to see the past fails and..." Not sure how you want to handle the successful save though. Could waste the effect, or just make the target immune until you finish a long rest. In either case you should probably limit the PC's ability to spam it against an unwilling target.


You cannot interact with anything in the event, but you can see or hear anything. You should probably specify a maximum distance here. Either limited to a certain radius (60'?) or to things that were discernable from your location.

[PhoenixPhyre]

1 Escape the Moment?

2 Should say "the effect's save DC," and that you "succeeded" on the saving throw. Although perhaps just say "you succeed the saving throw?" I'm not sure if you intend to mean you succeed and take half damage (meaning a total of 1/4 the damage).

3 I'd try "an unwilling creature can make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a success, your attempt to see the past fails and..." Not sure how you want to handle the successful save though. Could waste the effect, or just make the target immune until you finish a long rest. In either case you should probably limit the PC's ability to spam it against an unwilling target.

4 You should probably specify a maximum distance here. Either limited to a certain radius (60'?) or to things that were discernable from your location.

1. Not bad.
2. Intent was basically an after the fact try again, but with INT. So passing the save means you take the usual half damage from the effect.
3. Probably a limited duration immunity on the target creature. So you can try again, but have to come from a different angle on a different person or place.
4. Yeah. Thought was that you can see anything you could see from the point you hit the effect. You could walk around, but that doesn't expand the area.

[Phhase]

Nice, there are some excellent ideas here.

Wobble is good.

Past is Present (The formal name would be Postcognition) is interesting, although I personally would allow its use more than once per long rest given its narrow scope and non-combat focus. I also think it would be good to allow it to be used on an item to take a moment from its history (like a coin, or a sword).

Shared Wobble is good, but it's a little bland and its narrow scope makes me think that there's room in the power budget for it to do more. Perhaps also allow it to be used on enemies? You'd make an Intelligence save that would replace the save of the creature(s), except youd subtract your bonuses from the result instead.

Echoing spell seems a bit disappointing. Yes, it's Enhanced Twinspell Lite. But like. It doesn't FEEL like you're shattering time, it just feels like wizard finally getting a little of what Sorcerer stole from it. I'd like to see something else entirely, something that really screws with time, space, and reality. Something that deserves the be the capstone of Acasuality.

How about this:
Quantum Reality
On the beginning of your turn before you take any other action (Including free actions), you can choose to spool up your mental processes and enter a state of infinite consciousness. In this state, all reality simultaneously is and is not a simulation running inside your mind. This state persists until you, at any point, decide to end it, you yourself die, or the end of your second turn since the beginning of the process comes (So basically 2 rounds, or until you die or decide to end it early). When the end of the state occurs, you make a decision - either reality was, or was not a simulation in that span of time. If it was, you wake up, and reality resets itself to the beginning point where the vision started. All things that occurred in that span are undone. Only you know what transpired in the redacted timeline. Alternatively, you disengage your mind from the timeline and reality was not a simulation. Events proceed as normal. Once used, you must either take a long rest or spend a spell slot of 8th level or higher to use this feature again.

Put simply - you have up to two rounds where, if something goes wrong, you can undo that time entirely, or not if what you're trying works. A save point, if you will. It would require a little bookkeeping, but it's a cool idea.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Nice, there are some excellent ideas here.

Wobble is good.

Past is Present (The formal name would be Postcognition) is interesting, although I personally would allow its use more than once per long rest given its narrow scope and non-combat focus. I also think it would be good to allow it to be used on an item to take a moment from its history (like a coin, or a sword).

Shared Wobble is good, but it's a little bland and its narrow scope makes me think that there's room in the power budget for it to do more. Perhaps also allow it to be used on enemies? You'd make an Intelligence save that would replace the save of the creature(s), except youd subtract your bonuses from the result instead.

Echoing spell seems a bit disappointing. Yes, it's Enhanced Twinspell Lite. But like. It doesn't FEEL like you're shattering time, it just feels like wizard finally getting a little of what Sorcerer stole from it. I'd like to see something else entirely, something that really screws with time, space, and reality. Something that deserves the be the capstone of Acasuality.

How about this:
Quantum Reality
On the beginning of your turn before you take any other action (Including free actions), you can choose to spool up your mental processes and enter a state of infinite consciousness. In this state, all reality simultaneously is and is not a simulation running inside your mind. This state persists until you, at any point, decide to end it, you yourself die, or the end of your second turn since the beginning of the process comes (So basically 2 rounds, or until you die or decide to end it early). When the end of the state occurs, you make a decision - either reality was, or was not a simulation in that span of time. If it was, you wake up, and reality resets itself to the beginning point where the vision started. All things that occurred in that span are undone. Only you know what transpired in the redacted timeline. Alternatively, you disengage your mind from the timeline and reality was not a simulation. Events proceed as normal. Once used, you must either take a long rest or spend a spell slot of 8th level or higher to use this feature again.

Put simply - you have up to two rounds where, if something goes wrong, you can undo that time entirely, or not if what you're trying works. A save point, if you will. It would require a little bookkeeping, but it's a cool idea.

That last proposed feature is a wish effect, but better (two rounds, not just one, and you can have your cake and eat it too). And has the potential to have massive slow-down effects at the table, with having to replay 2 rounds of combat. That's...nasty. And not in a good way. And way beyond the power budget for any wizard subclass feature. Wizard subclasses are small, because their entire class power budget is used up by the spell list. Which is horrible design, but a rant for a different thread.

The existing one is generally better than twin spell--no restrictions on aoe spells for one. For another, you can use it to extend control effects on someone. Or force another legendary resistance use, for free. Or resummon something. Or just blast the area with another fireball.

[Phhase]

That last proposed feature is a wish effect, but better (two rounds, not just one, and you can have your cake and eat it too). And has the potential to have massive slow-down effects at the table, with having to replay 2 rounds of combat.


That's fair. It was a stretch, I guess. I did have another idea, though:

Splinter Causality
As an action once per long rest, you split yourself into (One, perhaps more?) temporal clones of yourself. They take their turns adjacent to yours. Temporal clones have all of your abilities and possessions, but any resources that one expends are removed across all clones (It is impossible to duplicate resources with this effect). Temporal clones all share each other's senses. Anything one sees, all can see. The clones last for (a short duration, one round, maybe two), and at the end of this duration, or if killed before it, a clone and all of its possessions, no matter where they are, vanish. If you are killed while there are clones active, your consciousness transfers to one of them, which becomes you.

So, in essence, it sounds like a Simulacrum, but it's more like a super action surge. There would be no duplication of spellslots, just nova potential. Perhaps as a balance point, you could apply the levelled spells/turn restriction to you and the clones as a single entity?

[PhoenixPhyre]

That's fair. It was a stretch, I guess. I did have another idea, though:

Splinter Causality
As an action once per long rest, you split yourself into (One, perhaps more?) temporal clones of yourself. They take their turns adjacent to yours. Temporal clones have all of your abilities and possessions, but any resources that one expends are removed across all clones (It is impossible to duplicate resources with this effect). Temporal clones all share each other's senses. Anything one sees, all can see. The clones last for (a short duration, one round, maybe two), and at the end of this duration, or if killed before it, a clone and all of its possessions, no matter where they are, vanish. If you are killed while there are clones active, your consciousness transfers to one of them, which becomes you.

So, in essence, it sounds like a Simulacrum, but it's more like a super action surge. There would be no duplication of spellslots, just nova potential. Perhaps as a balance point, you could apply the levelled spells/turn restriction to you and the clones as a single entity?

Again, you're way outside the power budget of the capstone here. For one thing, it's 14th level, not 20th. For another thing, the reference points here are



Starting at 14th level, you have advantage on saving throws against spells.

Furthermore, you have resistance against the damage of spells.





Starting at 14th level, any creature that you summon or create with a conjuration spell has 30 temporary hit points.




Starting at 14th level, you can increase the power of your simpler spells. When you cast a wizard spell of 1st through 5th level that deals damage, you can deal maximum damage with that spell.

The first time you do so, you suffer no adverse effect. If you use this feature again before you finish a long rest, you take 2d12 necrotic damage for each level of the spell, immediately after you cast it. Each time you use this feature again before finishing a long rest, the necrotic damage per spell level increases by 1d12. This damage ignores resistance and immunity.


I'd say "you take at least one additional turn and have an HP buffer of your current HP for the duration" is way more powerful than 30 temp HP on summons or even max damage once per day on a 1st - 5th level spell. For reference, time stop, a 9th level spell, gives you ~3 rounds of actions...that can't affect anyone else at all.

[Phhase]

Again, you're way outside the power budget of the capstone here. For one thing, it's 14th level, not 20th.
I'd say "you take at least one additional turn and have an HP buffer of your current HP for the duration" is way more powerful than 30 temp HP on summons or even max damage once per day on a 1st - 5th level spell. For reference, time stop, a 9th level spell, gives you ~3 rounds of actions...that can't affect anyone else at all.

Hrm. Damn Wizards, always too powerful for their own good. Well then, rule of three I guess: What about the ability to know if a creature would be immune/resist/have advantage against any particular spell before you cast it? Since you can have tons of spells, it might get tiresome doing process of elimination against every effect so you could potentially also just do "You know immunities, resistances, and advantage that creatures have." If that's too good, it could be gated behind a save or a /rest limit. Flavored as having already tested said defenses with said spells in alternate futures.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Hrm. Damn Wizards, always too powerful for their own good. Well then, rule of three I guess: What about the ability to know if a creature would be immune/resist/have advantage against any particular spell before you cast it? Since you can have tons of spells, it might get tiresome doing process of elimination against every effect so you could potentially also just do "You know immunities, resistances, and advantage that creatures have." If that's too good, it could be gated behind a save or a /rest limit. Flavored as having already tested said defenses with said spells in alternate futures.

That's possible, but I think it's actually weaker than what's there now. I've got a player wanting to play test this as it is, so we'll see how it goes.

My next game will be 3/4 homebrew playtest
* Protean (base class around mutations, sort of a quasi-shape-shifter/totemist hybrid)
* Acausality wizard
* Dragon Knight (heavily revamped version of the one floating around on the internet, also localized for the setting's rather different take on dragons)
* Oath of the Watchers Paladin (not homebrew)

Plus homebrew materials instead of most magic items.

[Phhase]

That's possible, but I think it's actually weaker than what's there now.
Don't underestimate the power of knowledge! If there are spell or item effects that are granting defenses, those will be revealed too. I absolutely concede that the Twinspell feature is mechanically solid, useful, and balanced, I'm just thinking that something else might do a better job of serving the theme you have going.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Past is Present
Starting at 6th level, you can bring visions of the past into the present day. After touching a location or creature for 1 minute, state an event or a time period within that location or creature's history you would like to view. If the target is a location, make an Intelligence (History) check against a DC of 10 + 1 for every 50 years that have passed since that event or time period. If the target is an unwilling creature, it must make a Charisma saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If the check succeeds or the saving throw fails, the requested event or time period overlays itself over present reality and plays out. You can choose to play it forward at normal or double speed, pause it, or rewind it (back to the starting time), and the vision lasts for 10 minutes of real time. You cannot interact with anything in the event, but you can see or hear anything. If the target was a creature, the point of view is limited to the creature's perceptions. Once you successfully use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Honestly, this is the feature that worries me the most from a DM perspective. This has a lot of plot-ruining potential, especially with the low DC.

What if it's targeting a group of creatures; who makes the save? Say that you're trying to rewatch a meeting of a coven of hags, for example.

What if the creature in question is dead? For example, you're trying to spy on a human king who's been dead for a century? Do they make a saving throw from their stat blocks in life, or do they not get a save?

[PhoenixPhyre]

Honestly, this is the feature that worries me the most from a DM perspective. This has a lot of plot-ruining potential, especially with the low DC.

What if it's targeting a group of creatures; who makes the save? Say that you're trying to rewatch a meeting of a coven of hags, for example.

What if the creature in question is dead? For example, you're trying to spy on a human king who's been dead for a century? Do they make a saving throw from their stat blocks in life, or do they not get a save?

The creature has to be one you are touching, right now. And it has to be alive. It's not "name a creature and go into its past", it's "look into the past of this creature you're touching."

So the hags--you'd have to be touching one of them for the whole time. Meaning you've beaten it. And only that one gets the save. The king? No dice. Can't target something that's dead; if you know where the king was at some point and can get there, you can try the location based one, but that's fixed in place.

Edit: and as far as plot-ruining potential...I'm loose with my plots. I don't really have them, which means they can't be ruined. I generally have a rough idea of the major movers and shakers and major "things going on" in a region, but nothing more detailed than that. And can and do adapt if they zig where I thought they'd zag. I generally don't plan in any detail beyond about a session or two out, because they frequently focus on one thing or I have a stroke of genius (charitably speaking, others might call it madness) and impose a hard-left-turn "twist" on things. Sometimes those twists just happen "in the flow" as I'm running a session and then I have to catch up with what my mouth just said. Currently I've got a "long lost girlfriend" side-plot happening because of something I said in the heat of the moment and that stuck...

[Kuulvheysoon]

I literally quoted the feature, and yet somehow I missed that you needed to be touching the creature the whole time. :smallannoyed:

I suppose the plot-ruining is less if you need to research to figure out when something happened in a place to abuse that low DC, but any sort of murder mystery now has zero mystery to it (unless the villain takes care to disguise themselves, but that smacks more of a 'screw you player' unless the PC has been making heavy use of it).

[PhoenixPhyre]

I literally quoted the feature, and yet somehow I missed that you needed to be touching the creature the whole time. :smallannoyed:

I suppose the plot-ruining is less if you need to research to figure out when something happened in a place to abuse that low DC, but any sort of murder mystery now has zero mystery to it (unless the villain takes care to disguise themselves, but that smacks more of a 'screw you player' unless the PC has been making heavy use of it).

For various reasons, I rarely run murder mysteries. One weird thing may be that I'm fairly loose with information, so often you'd know who dunnit (at least the actual killer), but that isn't usually the end of it. They're either under the influence of someone else, a patsy, or a hired gun. Or honestly believe they were doing the right thing...and may be right.

But yeah, looking at it, the DC is probably a bit too low. Need to calibrate that. I want it to scale with the time (so earlier events are harder), mainly for setting reasons. And, well, the campaign this is going to debut in will likely


heavily influenced by events that happened quite a long time ago, as well as many that happened not so long ago


But there's plenty of timey-wimey stuff in the setting that may confuse things. The debut character for this has studied time magic because of a brush he had with an instance of broken time (and the setting's version of the wardens of time fixing it). And that same instance has left shards of screwed up causality all over the region (because fixing it meant grabbing "spare bits of time" from all over and stitching them together to keep things coherent. So there are lots of people with messed up or missing memories around. Sort of Thanos Snap/un-snap...but instant...ish.

Edit: My new DC framework for the check (ie location-based):



Time Since Event
DC


< 1 year
15


1 year - 10 years
20


> 10 years
25