GalacticAxekick
2022-07-19, 05:43 PM
The traditional philosophy of 5e combat treats defense as completely passive. If I attack, your AC defends you. If I cast a spell, your saves defend you. When your turn rolls around, your only concern is usually choosing how you will attack.
I'm experimenting with actions that take 1 round or more to take effect: actions that happen slowly enough for the target to defend themselves actively instead of passively! In exchange, these actions should be extremely powerful
Here are a couple quick ideas. Let me know what you think!
Beam Cannon
3rd level Evocation
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Self (300 ft line)
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration (up to 1 minute)
You draw magical energy into your empty hand, which glows brighter and brighter over the casting time.
At the start if your next turn, the cannon is ready. You can use your action to point your hand in any direction and release the beam, which fills a line 300 ft long and 5 feet wide for the duration. A target exposed to the beam when you unleash it, who touches the beam for the first time on its turn, or who ends its turn within the beam takes 8d6 force damage (4d6 force damage if it has 1/2 cover, and 2d6 force damage if it has 3/4 cover). In any case, a creature that takes damage from this spell must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 30 feet away from you and knocked prone.
As part of the action you use to fire the beam, and as an action on each of your turns for the duration, you can begin to rotate the beam up 90 degrees over the course of one round. Each creature that begins its turn along the beam's path before the start of your next turn must immediately leave the beam's path or take 8d6 force damage and make the aforementioned Strength save.
This spell ends if you move or if you are forcibly moved.
You probably picked up that Beam Cannon is a Dragon Ball reference. It's evocative of Goku's slow and powerful Kamehameha, and named after Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon. This is the only spell/feature in this post that I have actually tested at my table, but the context there was very different.
At my table, Beam Cannon was a red dragon's breath weapon, and it dealt fire damage. The dragon spent one round with its teeth clenched and firelight pouring through the gaps between them, warning the players about what was about to happen. The players did not think to take cover, but instead scattered so that they would not all be engulfed by the breath weapon. The red dragon released its breath weapon on an NPC ally, then slowly began to pivot its aim 90 degrees.
Over the next round, I told every player that the breath weapon was sweeping in their direction and that if they did not get out of its way first thing on their turn, they would be hit. One player (a Strength-based Wizard) jumped 8 feet high over the flames. Another player (a Sorcerer) used Mold Earth to excavate a trench and fell prone in it. The final player (a Rogue) ran for a nearby wall and make an Acrobatics check to run a short distance UP the wall: just enough to evade the flames.
The Wizard and Rogue were both left with an action to retaliate against the dragon. The Sorcerer spent his action, but continued ducking in and out of his trench to evade future breath weapons while attacking. The dragon adjusted the angles of its breath weapon to thwart player strategies (for example, aiming the beam a few feet off the ground to prevent them from jumping over it), and the players came up with new ways to evade it (falling prone under it, and rushing towards the dragon and strafing around it. This is, in my opinion, the gold standard for a feature that players defend against ACTIVELY instead of PASSIVELY)
Huff & Puff
4th level Evocation
Casting Time: Action
Range: Self (60 ft cone)
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
You inhale sharply and draw a 60 ft cone of air into your mouth. Any gases in the area that can be dispersed by wind are drawn into your mouth as well, but do not affect you. If you are in an airtight space smaller 40 foot cube, you reduce it to a vacuum.
On any of your subsequent turns for the duration, you can use your bonus action to exhale the air in a 60 ft cone. Unfixed objects and creatures in the area weighing 1000 lbs or less are blown 30 ft away from you and knocked prone. Fixed structures in the area take 8d6 bludgeoning damage. Exposed flames in the area are blown out. Any gases you have inhaled fill the air.
A creature within reach of a fixed object can make a Strength saving throw to grab hold of it, and avoids being blown away on a success.
A creature with partial cover can make a Dexterity saving throw to hide behind it, and avoids being blown away on a success.
A creature with total cover is not blown away.
You can continue using your actions to inhale and exhale for the duration. Once you inhale, you cannot speak or breathe until you exhale.
I'm experimenting with actions that take 1 round or more to take effect: actions that happen slowly enough for the target to defend themselves actively instead of passively! In exchange, these actions should be extremely powerful
Here are a couple quick ideas. Let me know what you think!
Beam Cannon
3rd level Evocation
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Self (300 ft line)
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration (up to 1 minute)
You draw magical energy into your empty hand, which glows brighter and brighter over the casting time.
At the start if your next turn, the cannon is ready. You can use your action to point your hand in any direction and release the beam, which fills a line 300 ft long and 5 feet wide for the duration. A target exposed to the beam when you unleash it, who touches the beam for the first time on its turn, or who ends its turn within the beam takes 8d6 force damage (4d6 force damage if it has 1/2 cover, and 2d6 force damage if it has 3/4 cover). In any case, a creature that takes damage from this spell must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 30 feet away from you and knocked prone.
As part of the action you use to fire the beam, and as an action on each of your turns for the duration, you can begin to rotate the beam up 90 degrees over the course of one round. Each creature that begins its turn along the beam's path before the start of your next turn must immediately leave the beam's path or take 8d6 force damage and make the aforementioned Strength save.
This spell ends if you move or if you are forcibly moved.
You probably picked up that Beam Cannon is a Dragon Ball reference. It's evocative of Goku's slow and powerful Kamehameha, and named after Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon. This is the only spell/feature in this post that I have actually tested at my table, but the context there was very different.
At my table, Beam Cannon was a red dragon's breath weapon, and it dealt fire damage. The dragon spent one round with its teeth clenched and firelight pouring through the gaps between them, warning the players about what was about to happen. The players did not think to take cover, but instead scattered so that they would not all be engulfed by the breath weapon. The red dragon released its breath weapon on an NPC ally, then slowly began to pivot its aim 90 degrees.
Over the next round, I told every player that the breath weapon was sweeping in their direction and that if they did not get out of its way first thing on their turn, they would be hit. One player (a Strength-based Wizard) jumped 8 feet high over the flames. Another player (a Sorcerer) used Mold Earth to excavate a trench and fell prone in it. The final player (a Rogue) ran for a nearby wall and make an Acrobatics check to run a short distance UP the wall: just enough to evade the flames.
The Wizard and Rogue were both left with an action to retaliate against the dragon. The Sorcerer spent his action, but continued ducking in and out of his trench to evade future breath weapons while attacking. The dragon adjusted the angles of its breath weapon to thwart player strategies (for example, aiming the beam a few feet off the ground to prevent them from jumping over it), and the players came up with new ways to evade it (falling prone under it, and rushing towards the dragon and strafing around it. This is, in my opinion, the gold standard for a feature that players defend against ACTIVELY instead of PASSIVELY)
Huff & Puff
4th level Evocation
Casting Time: Action
Range: Self (60 ft cone)
Components: V
Duration: 1 minute
You inhale sharply and draw a 60 ft cone of air into your mouth. Any gases in the area that can be dispersed by wind are drawn into your mouth as well, but do not affect you. If you are in an airtight space smaller 40 foot cube, you reduce it to a vacuum.
On any of your subsequent turns for the duration, you can use your bonus action to exhale the air in a 60 ft cone. Unfixed objects and creatures in the area weighing 1000 lbs or less are blown 30 ft away from you and knocked prone. Fixed structures in the area take 8d6 bludgeoning damage. Exposed flames in the area are blown out. Any gases you have inhaled fill the air.
A creature within reach of a fixed object can make a Strength saving throw to grab hold of it, and avoids being blown away on a success.
A creature with partial cover can make a Dexterity saving throw to hide behind it, and avoids being blown away on a success.
A creature with total cover is not blown away.
You can continue using your actions to inhale and exhale for the duration. Once you inhale, you cannot speak or breathe until you exhale.