Greywander
2021-11-15, 09:56 PM
I'm working on a witch class, using the warlock as a base (they get Pact Magic and Invocations, but no EB and no Agonizing Blast). Their main gimmick is at-will Bane (pact magic users need something at-will, or they'll quickly fall behind conventional casters), along with a set of Curses they can learn that they can apply with they inflict a target with Bane, Hex, or Bestow Curse. Basically, curses just add an additional rider to these three spells, making them stronger. (Hex is interesting, because it offers no save, so you can just curse the target. Without EB, though, witches miss out on the main benefit of Hex, but that should be balanced out by having a way to apply their curses without a save).
As I'm writing up my list of curses they can choose from, though, I'm finding that some are design for combat, while others are designed for out of combat, and I'm left wondering if I should be designing all of them for use in combat? Maybe I should create two separate lists, one for combat and one for out of combat, and have you learn curses from each of them?
Here's a couple of examples of combat curses I have so far:
Merciful Curse
The target takes 1d8 psychic damage whenever they deal damage to another creature.
Restless Curse
On each of its turns, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or use their movement to move out of their space.
And then here's a couple of my non-combat curses:
Babbling Curse
Choose one language you know. The target can only speak in that language, even if they don’t know that language. This does not allow the target to understand that language if they couldn’t already, nor is the target aware that they are not speaking normally.
Blinding Curse
The target becomes unable to see faces. Everyone appears to have identical, nondescript features, and can only be recognized by clothing and other tertiary aspects of their appearance.
Sleepless Curse
The target is unable to benefit from resting, and cannot sleep.
I really like the utility aspect of some of these, but I'm left wondering if maybe I should turn the non-combat curses into their own spells or something, and keep the list of special curses here restricted to just combat debuffs. Since they get at-will Bane, it does make sense to focus primarily on combat debuffs, but you might not really need more than a couple, while the utility curses could be a lot more useful. Kind of like with cantrips: you generally only need one or two damage cantrips, and the rest can be utility.
Should I separate these? Or should I offer both types? Or, perhaps I can give each curse an in-combat and out-of-combat effect (e.g. combining Restless and Sleepless into one curse)?
Update: I decided to go with giving each curse both in-combat and out-of-combat effects. I've taken that list of five initial curses and shorted it to four. Here's what I have now. I'm aiming to develop at least four more curses, and I'm sure I'll come back and tweak these to improve them later.
Babbling Curse
Choose one language you know. The target can only speak in that language, even if they don’t know that language. This does not allow the target to understand that language if they couldn’t already, nor is the target aware that they are not speaking normally.
When the target casts a spell with verbal components, they must succeed on a Charisma save, or else they garble the components and fail to cast the spell properly.
Blinding Curse
The target becomes unable to see faces. Everyone appears to have identical, nondescript features, and can only be recognized by clothing and other tertiary aspects of their appearance.
When the target targets another creature, there is a 1 in 4 chance that they target a random creature next to their intended target by mistake. Roll a d4, and on a 1 they target a random creature within 5 feet of their intended target instead.
Merciful Curse
The target takes 1d8 psychic damage whenever they deal damage to another creature.
Due to the nature of the curse, the target suffers physical pain when they act harshly towards others. This makes them more agreeable than normal, if only to avoid the pain, giving the target disadvantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks.
Restless Curse
A restless feeling comes over the target, making it difficult for them to stay still. On each of its turns, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or use their movement to move out of their space.
The target finds it difficult to rest or sleep. At the end of a rest, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or else it is unable to benefit from the rest.
As I'm writing up my list of curses they can choose from, though, I'm finding that some are design for combat, while others are designed for out of combat, and I'm left wondering if I should be designing all of them for use in combat? Maybe I should create two separate lists, one for combat and one for out of combat, and have you learn curses from each of them?
Here's a couple of examples of combat curses I have so far:
Merciful Curse
The target takes 1d8 psychic damage whenever they deal damage to another creature.
Restless Curse
On each of its turns, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or use their movement to move out of their space.
And then here's a couple of my non-combat curses:
Babbling Curse
Choose one language you know. The target can only speak in that language, even if they don’t know that language. This does not allow the target to understand that language if they couldn’t already, nor is the target aware that they are not speaking normally.
Blinding Curse
The target becomes unable to see faces. Everyone appears to have identical, nondescript features, and can only be recognized by clothing and other tertiary aspects of their appearance.
Sleepless Curse
The target is unable to benefit from resting, and cannot sleep.
I really like the utility aspect of some of these, but I'm left wondering if maybe I should turn the non-combat curses into their own spells or something, and keep the list of special curses here restricted to just combat debuffs. Since they get at-will Bane, it does make sense to focus primarily on combat debuffs, but you might not really need more than a couple, while the utility curses could be a lot more useful. Kind of like with cantrips: you generally only need one or two damage cantrips, and the rest can be utility.
Should I separate these? Or should I offer both types? Or, perhaps I can give each curse an in-combat and out-of-combat effect (e.g. combining Restless and Sleepless into one curse)?
Update: I decided to go with giving each curse both in-combat and out-of-combat effects. I've taken that list of five initial curses and shorted it to four. Here's what I have now. I'm aiming to develop at least four more curses, and I'm sure I'll come back and tweak these to improve them later.
Babbling Curse
Choose one language you know. The target can only speak in that language, even if they don’t know that language. This does not allow the target to understand that language if they couldn’t already, nor is the target aware that they are not speaking normally.
When the target casts a spell with verbal components, they must succeed on a Charisma save, or else they garble the components and fail to cast the spell properly.
Blinding Curse
The target becomes unable to see faces. Everyone appears to have identical, nondescript features, and can only be recognized by clothing and other tertiary aspects of their appearance.
When the target targets another creature, there is a 1 in 4 chance that they target a random creature next to their intended target by mistake. Roll a d4, and on a 1 they target a random creature within 5 feet of their intended target instead.
Merciful Curse
The target takes 1d8 psychic damage whenever they deal damage to another creature.
Due to the nature of the curse, the target suffers physical pain when they act harshly towards others. This makes them more agreeable than normal, if only to avoid the pain, giving the target disadvantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks.
Restless Curse
A restless feeling comes over the target, making it difficult for them to stay still. On each of its turns, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or use their movement to move out of their space.
The target finds it difficult to rest or sleep. At the end of a rest, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or else it is unable to benefit from the rest.