5e Alternate Wizard tradition features

[BerzerkerUnit]

Had some ideas because some of the RAI I’ve heard is bad and some of the features feel weak or out of place or the subclass as a whole leaves a hole in the concept.

Abjurer-
Arcane Ward. Beginning at 2nd level when you cast an Abjuration spell you create a reserve of magical force you can interpose between yourself and a source of harm. The protection is momentary but absolute. As a reaction when you would take damage you can use the Arcane Ward and reduce the damage to 0. If a secondary effect would result from the damage, such as setting you on fire, splashing you with acid, or poisoning you, it is also nullified. Once expended, this defense is unavailable until you cast an Abjuration spell of 1st level or higher.

Illusionist
Virtual World. Beginning at 6th level, when you create an illusion you can modify from round to round with your action, its interactions with the environment also appear, creating illusions of damage to structures and objects or rendering actual objects it appears to move invisible in their actual location. These additional changes remain for the duration of the spell.

Necromancer
Untoward Familiars. At 2nd level you learn the find familiar spell. You can replace the normal components of the spell with a creature’s hand or the corpse of a tiny creature. In either case the spell creates a Crawling Claw or and undead version of the creature. In the latter case the creature’s stats are main the same but it’s type is Undead and it is immune to poison and the poisoned condition. It does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe.
When you use the familiar to deliver a touch spell that deals damage, you can deal an additional 1d6 necrotic damage on a hit or if the target fails its save.

Enchanter
Psychic Shock. Beginning at 6th level you can make the unraveling of your control over others disorienting and painful. When a creature Charmed by one of your spells ends the Charmed condition you can choose to Incapacitate the creature until the end of your next turn.

These are hastily written, any feedback is welcome.

[Herbert_W]

Abjurer-
. . . As a reaction when you would take damage you can use the Arcane Ward and reduce the damage to 0. If a secondary effect would result from the damage, such as setting you on fire, splashing you with acid, or poisoning you, it is also nullified. . .

Oh man, there must be a creative way to abuse this. I can think of a few uses that are as situational as they are strong (swimming in lava by casting a spell each round or jumping down from any height) but nothing game-breaking. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is one.

Illusionist
. . .when you create an illusion you can modify from round to round with your action, its interactions with the environment also appear . . .

This is cool. It might be difficult to adjudicate though if this would effect creatures through the environment. What happens in an illusory effect would seem to rip the floor out from under a creature? Do they experience an illusion of falling? Do they actually fall prone, or do they just think that they're prone, and if the latter what mechanical effects does this have?

You've prevented some abuse by limiting it to effects on the environment (which I assume means not directly affecting creatures). This ability would be bonkers powerful in the hands of a creative player without that.

. . . and I kinda wish that this ability didn't have that limitation. It wouldn't be balanced, but still incredibly fun. Maybe a version of this without such a limitation could serve as an alternative capstone.

Necromancer
. . . you learn the find familiar spell. You can replace the normal components of the spell with a creatureÂ’s hand or the corpse of a tiny creature. . .

This is thematically appropriate. It feels right for a necromancer. It's not something that makes me want to run out and play one. It's better than what WOTC wrote but it's still not great.

Enchanter
. . . When a creature Charmed by one of your spells ends the Charmed condition you can choose to Incapacitate the creature until the end of your next turn.

Automatic incapacitation with no save feels a bit weird. I'd let an enchanter cast another enchantment spell which targets the creature in question as a reaction (and, to make things interesting, not limit this to a spell that only targets that creature).

Alternatively, enchanters might be able to target any creature that they've charmed within a certain period so long as the new spell is an enchantment spell, regardless of range, and also telepathically communicate with creatures that they have charmed. This would make enchanters quite scary without directly increasing their in-combat capability much. Someone who has been charmed could return to being an agent of the enchanter at any moment!

[BerzerkerUnit]

Oh man, there must be a creative way to abuse this. I can think of a few uses that are as situational as they are strong (swimming in lava by casting a spell each round or jumping down from any height) but nothing game-breaking. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is one.



This is cool. It might be difficult to adjudicate though if this would effect creatures through the environment. What happens in an illusory effect would seem to rip the floor out from under a creature? Do they experience an illusion of falling? Do they actually fall prone, or do they just think that they're prone, and if the latter what mechanical effects does this have?

You've prevented some abuse by limiting it to effects on the environment (which I assume means not directly affecting creatures). This ability would be bonkers powerful in the hands of a creative player without that.

. . . and I kinda wish that this ability didn't have that limitation. It wouldn't be balanced, but still incredibly fun. Maybe a version of this without such a limitation could serve as an alternative capstone.



This is thematically appropriate. It feels right for a necromancer. It's not something that makes me want to run out and play one. It's better than what WOTC wrote but it's still not great.



Automatic incapacitation with no save feels a bit weird. I'd let an enchanter cast another enchantment spell which targets the creature in question as a reaction (and, to make things interesting, not limit this to a spell that only targets that creature).

Alternatively, enchanters might be able to target any creature that they've charmed within a certain period so long as the new spell is an enchantment spell, regardless of range, and also telepathically communicate with creatures that they have charmed. This would make enchanters quite scary without directly increasing their in-combat capability much. Someone who has been charmed could return to being an agent of the enchanter at any moment!

Thanks so much for your feedback!

Your enchanter recommendation feels like it steps on the toes of the level 10 feature which most agree is very strong. Thematically interesting though.

Necromancers are already leaps an bounds ahead at level 6 so I didn't want them to get over done, this just felt like a stronger step in Necromancer's direction than some terrible life drain you will almost never see happen organically. (It is great if your DM overlooks the bag of rats you carry).

I've been looking hard at the Arcane Ward rewrite and I just don't see it as a big deal. You sacrifice the option of Shield for the round to negate 1 instance of damage. It can be a big deal, nullifying a crit, etc. But, I'll note most combat Abjuration spells are Reactions, so at best you're probably using it every other round. Pound for pound it's probably weaker than the extra stack of HP, but the extra stack of HP has been ruled so... wackily, I'd rather give something that's huge and obvious even if it isn't quite as good as Ward Classic at it's best (IE apply resistance and Immunity first).

Spoiler: AW example insanity

Show

Bad Ruling: 20th level Yuan Ti Abjurer gets caught in a cloud kill that deals 55 damage. Since Arcane Ward is applied before resistances/immunities (per JC), it gets knocked off protecting the caster who is already immune to the effect.

Good Ruling: Per text the ward only takes the damage you "would have taken", since you don't take the damage eliminated by your resistance or Immunity, the ward is still at full.