Skipping the Ranger and Rogue, which do not get subclasses in this book, we come to the Runechild Sorcerer.
The lore here is somewhat broad - essentially, you simply have magic because you... got magical powers. While I find that a little underwhelming, it does suggest a "standard" sorcerer that doesn't really exist out side of maybe Wild Magic (which I've tended to think of as more of a novelty than a subclass you pick for power).
At level 1, you get Essence Runes. You start with one essence rune, and get another with each level-up, making it a bit like Sorcery Points, except you get them at level 1 and it's a separate resource to track. Indeed, the correlation here is important, as when you spend Sorcery Points, at the end of the turn on which you used them, a number of essence runes you have become charged. Additionally, you can use a bonus action and spend 1 Sorcery Point to convert two essence runes into two charged runes.
If you have 5 or more charged runes, you emit bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light for another 5 feet.
If you expend a charged rune to use one of your subclass features, it returns to being an inert essence rune, and all charged runes revert to inert runes when you finish a long rest.
Ok: recap: there's a secondary resource like an afterburner for your Sorcery Points.
Also at 1, you get Runic Magic. This works very similarly to the extra spells granted to the Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul, giving you more spells and letting you swap them out for abjuration and transmutation spells from the Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard spell lists.
These spells are: Longstrider, Protection from Evil and Good, Lesser Restoration, Protection from Poison, Glyph of Warding, Magic Circle, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Greater Restoration, and Telekinesis.
None of these are big damage spells, but given the tiny number of spells a sorcerer can learn, the broad utility here might be quite appealing.
Also also at level 1, you get Glyph of Aegis. When you take damage, you can expend any number of charged runes as a reaction, and then roll d6s for each rune expended, reducing the damage by the total.
So, clearly we're incentivized to use our Sorcery Points liberally to thus give us this other resource - it's an interesting balancing act. It might not be a bad idea to start off your day spending SP to charge runes (as it's more efficient, albeit without any beneficial effect from the SP spent) to make sure you have a few to start with. While it's still randomized a bit thanks to the fact that the aegis is d6s, you can at least choose how potent your defense is in response to how much damage you would otherwise take.
At 6th level, your Glyph of Aegis is upgraded. As an action, you can expend up to 3 charged runes and touch a creature, who then gets to roll the number of d6s equal to the charged runes expended and reduce the next instance of damage they take by that amount if it happens in the next hour.
Obviously not as flexible as the one you use on yourself, and you won't necessarily know if the next strike they take will be big enough to warrant 3d6. Still, this lets you do a little bit of team defense, which is nice.
Also at 6, you get Sigilic Augmentation. When you make a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution ability check, you can expend a charged rune as a reaction to gain advantage on the roll. Additionally, if you have to make a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw, you can use a reaction and expend a charged rune to gain advantage on the save. However, using it for a saving throw is something you can only do once per long rest.
This is interesting. Honestly, I find using it for ability checks more interesting than with saves, as it competes for your reaction with Glyph of Aegis. Getting advantage relatively on demand on Dexterity checks seems pretty useful.
And still at level 6, you get Manifest Inscriptions. As an action, you can expend a charged rune to reveal hidden or invisible arcane traps, marks, runes, wards, sensors, or glyphs within 60 feet of you, causing them to glow with dim light for 1 minute.
During this minute, you have advantage on Intelligence (Arcana) checks to discern the nature of any magic revealed this way, and if they mean something in a language you can't read, you can understand them while they are glowing as if you did understand the language.
Obviously, this feature is going to be a lot more useful if your DM likes to make magical traps. I really like the flavor of it, though.
At 14, your Glyph of Aegis die becomes a d8 rather than a d6.
Also at 14, you get Runic Torrent. When you cast a spell, you can expend 2 charged runes to cause the spell to deal Force damage rather than its usual damage types. Additionally, all creatures that are targeted by the spell or within its area must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 15 feet away from the spell's point of origin or get knocked prone (you choose). You can use this once per short or long rest.
So, almost nothing is unaffected by Force (Helmed Horrors and similar monsters are, I think, the sole exception. (No, wait, Amethyst Dragons are resistant at least,) and Force is not an option for Transmute Spell. The pushback is also pretty hefty. I guess I'm slightly underwhelmed by the fact that this is only once per rest, but to be fair, you could potentially hit a lot of enemies with this using an AoE spell.
Finally, at level 18, you get Arcane Exemplar. Once per long rest, you can expend a charged rune to transform into a being of pure magical energy and get the following benefits: You have a flying speed of 60 feet, creatures have disadvantage on saving throws against your sorcerer spells, you have resistance to damage from spells, and whenever you cast a spell of 1st level or higher, you regain hit points equal to the spell's level.
These transformation and its benefits last until the end of your turn, but you can expend a charged rune at the end of your turn (no action required) to extend the feature's duration until the end of your next turn. When the transformation ends, you're stunned until the end of your next turn.
Ok, so this is interesting: it's an Ult that reminds me a bit of the way that the Shadow Priest's Void Form worked in World of Warcraft for a few expansions. Once you go into this, you want to try to keep it up until the fight is over - which shouldn't be hard as you can just use Metamagics to charge up your runes on your turn. And it's quite a powerful state to be in.
So, ultimately, what do we think of the Runechild? I actually think it's pretty cool - throwing in another resource to keep track of is maybe a bit much given that Sorcerers are already tracking spell slots and sorcery points, but it'd be easy enough to just write a number of charged runes and make sure it's not more than your sorcerer level.
And, frankly, I do think that this gives a "classic sorcerer" vibe that you don't really get with Wild Magic or Draconic Bloodline. I honestly didn't expect to like this one, but here we are!
No comments:
Post a Comment