A while back, I submitted some ideas for a Halloween themed 5e supplement, but my pitches were not selected to move forward. No big deal, it happens. However, since these are all fall, harvest, and Halloween themed, it would be silly to sit on them for too much longer. Let’s face it, I won’t move on them any time soon, so I might as well plop them here. The pitched ideas were a mix of archetypes (druid, rogue, and sorcerer), magic items (weapon, headpiece), and even one full-on adventure. The last might be too much for me to write up with a shortened time frame, but you never know!
I haven’t written about the sorcerer before in this blog, so let’s start there. The 5e sorcerer is baller. I feel like it’s the crazy secret class that no one talks about, but is amazing. It has the traditional archetypes you would expect, draconic and wild (chaos), with a supplement released that has a not-so-great storm archetype, but it also carries all of the old metamagic stuff from 3e. The sorcerer has a pool of sorcery points that scale directly with sorcerer level, and those metamagic abilities require different amounts of sorcery points. You can even create additional spell slots, or turn spell slots into sorcery points, albeit at something of a “loss”. Sorcerer also retains the whole “no prepared spells, just spells known” deal. Lots of options, same powerful punch of spells, and archetypes that you know and love. In my opinion, it’s a cool design, and looks like a good class to play.
A long time ago, there was this idea in the playtests of 5e where you picked a specialty and a background. This was around the same time as when you would get a bonus to melee if you ran out of sorcery points. If you took ambusher, spy, and draconic bloodline, you ended up with this stealthy two-handed spellblade sorta build. It was neat, and I was sad to see it go. However, with the way archetypes work, there is totally design space for this to be created. With this in mind, I came up with the Dread Bloodline Sorcerous Origin.
Dread Bloodline
Your innate magic comes from the dread lords of Ravenloft having mingled with your blood or that of your ancestors. Most often, sorcerers with this origin trace their descent back to a sorcerer who made a deal with a dread lord while trapped in their domain, someone who claims to have been born of a liaison between someone trapped in the realm and a dread lord, or even one who has received power from the “Dark Powers” and managed to not become a dread lord as a result. None of these bloodlines are well known, and many sorcerers keep this lineage a secret, out of fear of reprisal against themselves or family. Any given sorcerer could be the first of a new bloodline,as a result of a pact or some other exceptional circumstance.
Darklord’s Legacy
Starting when you choose the origin at first level, you gain proficiency in any weapon of your choice, a choice between either athletics or stealth, may wear up to medium armor, and gain one of the racial languages presented in the race section of the PHB, or setting specific cultural languages such as Chondathan or Alzhedo, as a language.
Darklord’s Might
When you either possess no sorcery points, or your sorcery point total reaches 0, you gain a d6 sneak attack die, usable with any weapon in which you are proficient. Sneak attack die gained outside of this ability are still restricted by weapon-type. This increases to 2d6 at level 6, 3d6 at level 11, 4d6 at level 14, and 5d6 at level 18.
Evernight’s Aura
At 6th level, part of the magic of the strange and bleak city of Evernight has become your’s to command. You can spend 2 sorcery points to roll 1d4 and use the result to do one of the following:
- As a reaction, you can apply the number rolled to your AC when you are targeted with a melee attack
- You can multiply the number by five and add that number to your movement until the end of turn
- You can to your spell saving throw DC for a single spell
Mistborne
Starting at 14th level, you are able to exercise control over the mists of the Shadowfell. Whenever you would be able to make a melee attack as a reaction, you may instead shroud your attacker in mist. The target must make a successful Wisdom save against your spell DC or be affected by the confusion spell until the end of the target’s next turn. This effect interrupts any planned action the target possessed. You do not have to concentrate on this effect.
Blessing of the Shadowfell
Beginning at 18th level, you become suffused with the energy of the Shadowfell and your dark heritage, exchanging the things that make you a mortal for the bleak understanding of that grey realm. As an action, you can spend 5 sorcery points to draw on this power and gain the blessing of the Shadowfell. For 1 minute or until you lose your concentration (as if you were casting a concentration spell), you may make a melee attack as a bonus action, adding your charisma modifier to damage, you may use your sneak attack die as part of this attack, even if you have already made a sneak attack this round, or if the attack would not normally qualify, you gain advantage against the charmed and frightened condition, and are resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, psychic, radiant, and slashing damage.
While under the effects of the blessing of the Shadowfell, you may spend 1 sorcery point to use misty step in place of your movement.