KorvinStarmast
2022-03-28, 11:54 AM
I've got a friend who, as DM, is not sure of how to proceed with homebrew ideas. We got to talking about how the WoTC UA/playtest process worked. (Her soul sources are PHB, MM, and DMG. I'll be lending her Xanathar's and Tasha's so that she can pick and choose features from there as she likes them).
One of her prospective players has indicated a desire to play the old UA Phoenix sorcerer (2017 era). After we had that chit chat for lunch, it occurred to me to try and compare the overboost that Tasha's gave to sorcerers with the fiddling experimentation 2017 UA represents.
Playgrounders, and particularly those of you who tried these UA sorcerers out in play, how do these two sorcererous origins compare to Tasha's sorcerous origins?
(Source = UA from Feb 2017 called Unearthed Arcana: Sorcerer (©2017 Wizards of the Coast LLC). IIRC, Xanathar's Divine Soul is descended from Favored Soul in this UA.
The power of water is the strength of flexibility, resilience, and a relentless nature. Water parts to allow a ship to sail over it or a diver to plunge into it, but their passing leaves no mark. Water flowing down a mountain reaches the sea. might bend and turn across valleys and down hillsides, but it slowly and steadily returns to the waves. Those whose souls are touched by the power of elemental water command a similar power. Your heritage ties to powerful creatures of the sea, such as nereids, the lords of the merfolk, and elemental powers. Like a river, you feel the call of the ocean. The call is ever present in your heart, and you are never completely at peace until you are near the sea.
Soul of the Sea{clear and concise, fathomless Warlock gets similar features}
At 1st level, your tie to the sea grants you the ability to breathe underwater, and you have a swim speed equal to your walking speed.
Curse of the Sea {a bit fiddly?}
When you choose this origin at 1st level, you learn the secret of infusing your spells with a watery curse. When you hit a creature with a cantrip’s attack or when a creature fails a saving throw against your cantrip, you can curse the target until the end of your next turn or until you curse a
different creature with this feature. Once per turn when you cast a spell, you can trigger the curse if that spell deals cold or lightning damage to the cursed target or forces it to move. Doing so subjects the target to the appropriate additional effect below, and then the curse ends if the spell isn’t a cantrip (you choose the effect to use if more than one effect applies):
Cold Damage. If the affected target takes cold damage from your spell, the target’s speed is also reduced by 15 feet until the end of your next turn. If the spell already reduces the
target’s speed, use whichever reduction is greater.
Lightning Damage. If the affected target takes lightning damage from your spell, the target takes additional lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
Forced Movement. If the target is moved by your spell, increase the distance it is moved by 15 feet.
Watery Defense {30 feet? Scout rogue only gets 15!}
At 6th level, you gain resistance to fire damage. You also gain the ability to defend yourself by momentarily assuming a watery form. As a reaction when you are hit by an attack and take bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from it, you can reduce that damage by an amount equal to your sorcerer level plus your Charisma score, and then you can move up to 30 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. Once you use this special reaction, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Shifting Form {This is a neat feature, not sure about balance, a bit fiddly}
Starting at 14th level, you gain the ability to enter a liquid state while moving. When you move on your turn, you take only half damage from opportunity attacks, and you can move through any enemy’s space but can’t willingly end your move there. On your turn, you can move through any space that is at least 3 inches in diameter and do so without squeezing. When you stop moving, the regular squeezing rules apply if you’re in a space one size smaller than you. You can’t willingly stop in a space smaller than that, and if you’re forced to do so, you immediately flow to the nearest space that can fit you, back along the path of your movement.
Water Soul {solid origin capstone, maybe too powerful?}
Starting at 18th level, your being is altered by the power of the sea. You gain the following benefits:
• You no longer need to eat, drink, or sleep.
• A critical hit against you becomes a normal hit.
• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
I think the level 1 feature needs another scrub, 14 and 18 are solid and easy to understand, and level 6 probably within the balance zone.
Playgrounders: how would you tweak it, if at all?
Your power draws from the immortal flame that fuels the legendary phoenix. You or your ancestors perhaps rendered a phoenix a great service, or you were born in its presence. Whatever the cause, a shard of the phoenix’s power dwells within you. That power is a mixed blessing. Like the mythical creature, you can invoke fiery energy and gain the ability to cheat death itself. This power comes at a cost. The fire within you seethes, demanding to be unleashed. You
sometimes find yourself absentmindedly feeding fires. You can’t bear to allow a fire to sputter out. You feel most comfortable while holding a lit torch or sitting in front of a campfire. More importantly, this gift comes with no
special protection from fire. You are as vulnerable as any other creature to fiery magic, including your own. Phoenix sorcerers can use their powers to pull themselves back from the brink of death, and all too often their own, rash nature or reliance on destructive magic is what puts them there in the first place. Such sorcerers are wanderers by necessity.
The volatile nature of their magic makes other folk nervous. If a fire breaks out in town, a phoenix sorcerer had best flee, whether guilty or not. Fire is a dangerous force, and phoenix sorcerers have a reputation (deserved or not) for reckless behavior, confident that the essence of the phoenix can save them.
Phoenix Soul Quirks
d6 Quirk
1 You absentmindedly ignite small fires that quickly sputter out.
2 You cackle like a fiend when you unleash your fire spells.
3 You admire fire, even if it burns your friends.
4 You are covered in burns that mark the first time your power manifested.
5 You like your food charred.
6 You are brave to the point of recklessness.
Ignite
At 1st level, you gain the ability to start fires with a touch. As an action, you can magically ignite a flammable object you touch with your hand—an object such as a torch, a piece of tinder, or the hem of drapes.
Mantle of Flame
Starting at 1st level, you can unleash the phoenix fire that blazes within you. As a bonus action, you magically wreathe
yourself in swirling fire, as your eyes glow like hot coals. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:
• You shed bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet.
• Any creature takes fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier if it hits you with a melee attack from within 5 feet of you or if it touches you.
• Whenever you roll fire damage on your turn, the roll gains a bonus to equal to your Charisma modifier.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Phoenix Spark
Starting at 6th level, the fiery energy within you grows restless and vengeful. In the face of defeat, it surges outward to preserve you in a fiery roar. If you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to draw on the spark of the phoenix. You are instead reduced to 1 hit point, and each creature within 10 feet of you takes fire damage equal to half your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. If you use this feature while under the effects of your Mantle of Flame, this feature instead deals fire damage equal to your sorcerer level + double your Charisma modifier, and your Mantle of Flame immediately ends. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Nourishing Fire
Starting at 14th level, your fire spells soothe and restore you. When you expend a spell slot to cast a spell that includes a fire damage roll, you regain hit points equal to the slot’s level + your Charisma modifier.
Form of the Phoenix
At 18th level, you finally master the spark of fire that dances within you. While under the effect of your Mantle of Flame feature, you gain additional benefits:
• You have a flying speed of 40 feet and can hover.
• You have resistance to all damage.
• If you use your Phoenix Spark, that feature deals an extra 20 fire damage to each creature.
Capstone might be a little overpowered, not sure, but I don't think her campaign will get past 11/12 per our discussion today.
Playgrounders: how would you tweak Phoenix Sorcerer, if at all?
I am hoping to offer her some suggestions next week, so good ideas are most welcome. And the bottom line is, now that Tasha's sorcerers are out, do these even need any tweaking?
Bonus question:
What "origin" spells would you recommend for Sea Sorcerer and Phoenix Sorcerer? (If any)
One of her prospective players has indicated a desire to play the old UA Phoenix sorcerer (2017 era). After we had that chit chat for lunch, it occurred to me to try and compare the overboost that Tasha's gave to sorcerers with the fiddling experimentation 2017 UA represents.
Playgrounders, and particularly those of you who tried these UA sorcerers out in play, how do these two sorcererous origins compare to Tasha's sorcerous origins?
(Source = UA from Feb 2017 called Unearthed Arcana: Sorcerer (©2017 Wizards of the Coast LLC). IIRC, Xanathar's Divine Soul is descended from Favored Soul in this UA.
The power of water is the strength of flexibility, resilience, and a relentless nature. Water parts to allow a ship to sail over it or a diver to plunge into it, but their passing leaves no mark. Water flowing down a mountain reaches the sea. might bend and turn across valleys and down hillsides, but it slowly and steadily returns to the waves. Those whose souls are touched by the power of elemental water command a similar power. Your heritage ties to powerful creatures of the sea, such as nereids, the lords of the merfolk, and elemental powers. Like a river, you feel the call of the ocean. The call is ever present in your heart, and you are never completely at peace until you are near the sea.
Soul of the Sea{clear and concise, fathomless Warlock gets similar features}
At 1st level, your tie to the sea grants you the ability to breathe underwater, and you have a swim speed equal to your walking speed.
Curse of the Sea {a bit fiddly?}
When you choose this origin at 1st level, you learn the secret of infusing your spells with a watery curse. When you hit a creature with a cantrip’s attack or when a creature fails a saving throw against your cantrip, you can curse the target until the end of your next turn or until you curse a
different creature with this feature. Once per turn when you cast a spell, you can trigger the curse if that spell deals cold or lightning damage to the cursed target or forces it to move. Doing so subjects the target to the appropriate additional effect below, and then the curse ends if the spell isn’t a cantrip (you choose the effect to use if more than one effect applies):
Cold Damage. If the affected target takes cold damage from your spell, the target’s speed is also reduced by 15 feet until the end of your next turn. If the spell already reduces the
target’s speed, use whichever reduction is greater.
Lightning Damage. If the affected target takes lightning damage from your spell, the target takes additional lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
Forced Movement. If the target is moved by your spell, increase the distance it is moved by 15 feet.
Watery Defense {30 feet? Scout rogue only gets 15!}
At 6th level, you gain resistance to fire damage. You also gain the ability to defend yourself by momentarily assuming a watery form. As a reaction when you are hit by an attack and take bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from it, you can reduce that damage by an amount equal to your sorcerer level plus your Charisma score, and then you can move up to 30 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. Once you use this special reaction, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Shifting Form {This is a neat feature, not sure about balance, a bit fiddly}
Starting at 14th level, you gain the ability to enter a liquid state while moving. When you move on your turn, you take only half damage from opportunity attacks, and you can move through any enemy’s space but can’t willingly end your move there. On your turn, you can move through any space that is at least 3 inches in diameter and do so without squeezing. When you stop moving, the regular squeezing rules apply if you’re in a space one size smaller than you. You can’t willingly stop in a space smaller than that, and if you’re forced to do so, you immediately flow to the nearest space that can fit you, back along the path of your movement.
Water Soul {solid origin capstone, maybe too powerful?}
Starting at 18th level, your being is altered by the power of the sea. You gain the following benefits:
• You no longer need to eat, drink, or sleep.
• A critical hit against you becomes a normal hit.
• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
I think the level 1 feature needs another scrub, 14 and 18 are solid and easy to understand, and level 6 probably within the balance zone.
Playgrounders: how would you tweak it, if at all?
Your power draws from the immortal flame that fuels the legendary phoenix. You or your ancestors perhaps rendered a phoenix a great service, or you were born in its presence. Whatever the cause, a shard of the phoenix’s power dwells within you. That power is a mixed blessing. Like the mythical creature, you can invoke fiery energy and gain the ability to cheat death itself. This power comes at a cost. The fire within you seethes, demanding to be unleashed. You
sometimes find yourself absentmindedly feeding fires. You can’t bear to allow a fire to sputter out. You feel most comfortable while holding a lit torch or sitting in front of a campfire. More importantly, this gift comes with no
special protection from fire. You are as vulnerable as any other creature to fiery magic, including your own. Phoenix sorcerers can use their powers to pull themselves back from the brink of death, and all too often their own, rash nature or reliance on destructive magic is what puts them there in the first place. Such sorcerers are wanderers by necessity.
The volatile nature of their magic makes other folk nervous. If a fire breaks out in town, a phoenix sorcerer had best flee, whether guilty or not. Fire is a dangerous force, and phoenix sorcerers have a reputation (deserved or not) for reckless behavior, confident that the essence of the phoenix can save them.
Phoenix Soul Quirks
d6 Quirk
1 You absentmindedly ignite small fires that quickly sputter out.
2 You cackle like a fiend when you unleash your fire spells.
3 You admire fire, even if it burns your friends.
4 You are covered in burns that mark the first time your power manifested.
5 You like your food charred.
6 You are brave to the point of recklessness.
Ignite
At 1st level, you gain the ability to start fires with a touch. As an action, you can magically ignite a flammable object you touch with your hand—an object such as a torch, a piece of tinder, or the hem of drapes.
Mantle of Flame
Starting at 1st level, you can unleash the phoenix fire that blazes within you. As a bonus action, you magically wreathe
yourself in swirling fire, as your eyes glow like hot coals. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:
• You shed bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet.
• Any creature takes fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier if it hits you with a melee attack from within 5 feet of you or if it touches you.
• Whenever you roll fire damage on your turn, the roll gains a bonus to equal to your Charisma modifier.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Phoenix Spark
Starting at 6th level, the fiery energy within you grows restless and vengeful. In the face of defeat, it surges outward to preserve you in a fiery roar. If you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to draw on the spark of the phoenix. You are instead reduced to 1 hit point, and each creature within 10 feet of you takes fire damage equal to half your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. If you use this feature while under the effects of your Mantle of Flame, this feature instead deals fire damage equal to your sorcerer level + double your Charisma modifier, and your Mantle of Flame immediately ends. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Nourishing Fire
Starting at 14th level, your fire spells soothe and restore you. When you expend a spell slot to cast a spell that includes a fire damage roll, you regain hit points equal to the slot’s level + your Charisma modifier.
Form of the Phoenix
At 18th level, you finally master the spark of fire that dances within you. While under the effect of your Mantle of Flame feature, you gain additional benefits:
• You have a flying speed of 40 feet and can hover.
• You have resistance to all damage.
• If you use your Phoenix Spark, that feature deals an extra 20 fire damage to each creature.
Capstone might be a little overpowered, not sure, but I don't think her campaign will get past 11/12 per our discussion today.
Playgrounders: how would you tweak Phoenix Sorcerer, if at all?
I am hoping to offer her some suggestions next week, so good ideas are most welcome. And the bottom line is, now that Tasha's sorcerers are out, do these even need any tweaking?
Bonus question:
What "origin" spells would you recommend for Sea Sorcerer and Phoenix Sorcerer? (If any)