D&D Base Class Contest XV Chat Thread

[Damon_Tor]

Spell sling - If I am reading this right, this is nuts. So you can cast Aganazaar's Scorcher (for example) from a second level spell slot. Then cast it again using the same slot and the same action... for 6d8 damage in an area of effect from a level 2 spell slot... Hit level 7 and you can fireball twice from a level 3 spell slot for 16d6 damage? Then maybe even add subclass bonusses on top. This seems so over the top and dominating in Tier 2 that I assume I am misreading it.

It can only be used for first level spell slots until 17th level, where it opens up to 2nd level slots.

Limit breaker - only once per day, but it is still potentially pretty dangerous, not least because spell sling lets you cast two spells out of this slot.

Again, spell sling only works on first and (much later) second level slots.

Subclasses

Magneticist
A very cool subclass as a theme. I think there is a lot of fun stuff you could do here in play.

Spell list seems good but lightning arrow? I don't really get why this spell?

I wanted to enable cast-attack hybrids as a concept, and an electrically-charged dart makes sense for a railgun-esque character. Despite it's name, lightning arrow can be used with thrown weapons.

Magnetic propulstion: is this intended to let your spells of radius self be duplicated on allies? Or that you can pick an ally instead? If the latter then it is merely a very good ability. If the former then this is very much over the top.

I should clarify this: it only effects spells with a range of self that already have a radius. Booming Blade and Earth Tremor were the two examples I had in mind. EDIT: I clarified that this ability is intended to be used on spells with a range of "self (radius)"

Magnetic Impact: This is very open to interpretation. Can you push someone down stairs and they take Int damage every step of the way? It is like a free concentration free spike growth.

I do need to tighten up this wording. EDIT: I rewrote this ability. The damage is only dealt once per turn but now scales by the distance traveled by the objects/creatures you're moving. So instead of the ability allowing lots of little hits it allows for one big hit: it's still a good way to weaponize a spell like telekinesis, but not quite so silly in the sense that it motivates you to ping-pong the creature between lots of different surfaces/other creatures.

Lava bender: is "smashing damage" bludgeoning or force?

Bludgeoning, my error. EDIT: fixed

Magmatic Emission: What defines an "area" a 5ft square? A contiguous effect from the same spell? If every 5ft square counts then spike growth is a really big deal. Like problematic... With a weaker interpretation this still gives a very nice bonus to some powerful effects.

The damage is limited to once per turn.

Worldbreaker: Wow. This is crazy. Multiple free castings, especially with recovery of the spellbreaker ability AND extra damage AND you get it early AND you get a lot of bonus effects that apply to this?

It's just one free casting, then you have to use your limit breaker. Earthquake is a very situational spell, so I expect most of the time you'll want to use your limit breaker for Erupting Earth.

All in all I love the theme of the class and I like a lot of the mechanics but I think it is pushing too many good abilities at too many levels. Not many dead levels. No ribon abilities... and some of the abilities are insanely powerful with so many interactions. Not being a full caster is a major cost - but a number of abilities just totally circumvent that (casting multiple spells from the same spell slot, casting spells without spell slots). Really in practice I think the only weakness is the lack of versatility in the spell list - and this is fixed too well by the character options that give you access to more abd by multiclassing.

Some of this may be my misinterpretation but I think that this needs a round of curation to clarify some wording and curtail its power - especially in tiers 2 to 3, but for a Beta version this looks pretty sweet.

There are definitely some places I need tighter wording, so thanks for the review. I'm curious to hear what your reading if the power level of the class is with the understanding that spell sling is limited to 1st level spells for most of the game.