Comments from the Finger: I'm... I'm sorry about this. Really, I am. This is something that should have stayed buried in 3.5, but I wrote just a bit on a lark and it was done in 20 minutes. The original Oozemaster is a manipulator of, you guessed it, oozes and slimes, and this version looks at your ooze ancestry. Yes, ooze ancestor. Don't ask how it works.
Oozemaster
Your innate magic stems from a long family line of Ooze blood. For generations, the taint of Ooze blood has run in your family, infecting some at birth and sparing others, stemming from a well-documented but shadowy ancestor. It's unclear what horrific experiment infused a monstrous ooze or slime into his body so long ago, but some of his scattered descendants are born to this day with a personal, innate magic and bizarre physical characteristics.
Oozy Touch
Starting when you choose this origin at 1st level, you can excrete slime with a touch. As an action, you can make a touch range spell attack at a creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the creature takes 1d6 acid damage. You can expend 1 sorcery point make this touch rust metal, or rot wood, up to a maximum of 10 cubic feet of material. You have advantage on on Strength checks to break rusted metal or rotten wood. This ability's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Indiscernible Anatomy
At 1st level, your placement and composition of your internal organs is bizarre. You take no additional damage from critical hits.
Malleability
At 6th level, your body becomes more fluid. You can shift your features around and make yourself look differently while you maintain concentration on the change. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can’t change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the physical change is up to you.
Additionally, you can expend 2 sorcery points to compress your body enough to squeeze through an inch-wide crack. You cannot expand inside a space that offers any resistance, such as an occupied suit of armor.
Goopy Blood
By 14th level, your blood flows like a thick soup rather than a normal liquid. As a reaction expending up to 5 sorcery points when you are attacked, you can reduce the damage dealt by 3 times the number of sorcery points expended, up to a maximum of the damage dealt.
One with the Ooze
At 18th level, your transformation into an ooze is complete. You can shapechange, as per the spell, into any ooze without expending a spell slot. After you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
4/18/17: Oozemaster: One with the Ooze: Shapechange instead of polymorph
I love it. I love it. I LOVE it.
ReplyDeleteDoes the oozy touch function like the rust monsters touch when you cast a sorc point?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I left the mechanics of rusting somewhat ambiguous, and therefore under the purview of the DM, because I thought the Rust Monster's antennae ability and the Grey Ooze's corrode metal ability (the two Monster Manual references here) were far too powerful to embed in what is essentially a cantrip. I figure most DMs would let Oozy Touch grant advantage on breaking something composed of those materials, but I'd like feedback on how I should structure this ability.
DeleteIn fact, I'll add that in until I get a better suggestion for a mechanic here.
DeleteI love this subclass, in part for its sheer strangeness, and I'll hopefully be playing it in an upcoming game. But if I may be so bold, in the interest of making the subclass as worthwhile as possible (read: can it be as strong as a Draconic Sorcerer?) I have a few questions and possible suggestions:
ReplyDelete1. Oozy Touch seems essentially like a free acid cantrip that offers the potential to seriously weaken iron-clad foes if paired with an attack made by your party fighter. Step in, rust the armor, back out, fighter shatters the enemy's AC, ???, profit. The problem with this, however, comes in the "back out" step. The puny, low hit die Sorcerer is going to take an Op attack when he tries to retreat, or he needs to stay in proximity to the baddy, and waste his action to disengage on his next turn, during that time, the baddy might hit him anyway. In the 3rd edition version of this class, the Oozemaster also had the ability to throw an Oozy Glob that had a similar effect, along with splash damage, but only limited number of times. Given the Sorcerer's inclination to remain out of reach of opponents, this seems like a far more appealing option, so one could avoid the dangerous AoO on retreating after sliming an opponent. Even with only a 10 ft range, like it was in 3rd edition, it at least allows the sorcerer to remain out of harm's way. Would you consider this ranged option replacing the Oozy Touch?
2. And on the subject of being in harm's way, the first time I read the Indiscernible Anatomy feature, I loved it, and it makes perfect sense given the nature of this creepy beasty. However, the more I think about it, the less significant it seems, and for the same reason that I proposed a ranged Ooze attack. This isn’t a fighter. He’s not gonna be facing weapon attacks often enough for crit immunity to provide a substantial boost. A full caster class wants to stay out of combat as much as possible so this seems far more situational then, say, a Draconic Sorcerer's AC boost. I don’t know how to go about fixing this, because the flavor of it makes sense, but not the mechanics. Perhaps the Ooze bloodline could offer some sort of advantage on saving throws or better yet, perhaps a low level version of Goopy Blood (a feature I also love) that could scale up with the Sorcerer as it levels. That way, the Oozemaster gets something in the way of defensive traits that might make up for it’s low hit die and low AC.
3. Everything else with this build I love, so lastly I’d like your opinion on an idea that I had: How would you feel about giving the Oozemaster the ability to sort of fling its body parts at enemies, that could act independently from him, essentially allowing him to cast Summon Ooze without a spell slot. Maybe the “summoning” each Ooze damages the Oozemaster in a way that it cannot recover HP from through the use of its Goopy Blood. It’s just a thought.
Maybe I’ll talk to my DM and try to implement these things in my game and I’ll be able to let you know how it works. Regardless, thanks for listening to me ramble for a page, and keep up the good work, these subclasses are a blast.
Great feedback! I'll see what I can do about implementing some of these ideas.
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ReplyDeleteI love this sorcerer, and I plan to try it out in our current campaign. I showed it to my DM, and he suggested a few changes, based on other sorcerers, and the fact that denying crits seemed to be more of a level 6 ability. See what you think:
ReplyDeleteOozy Touch
Starting when you choose this origin at 1st level, you can excrete slime with a touch. As an action, you can make a touch range spell attack at a creature within 5 feet of you.
On a hit, the creature takes 1d6 acid damage. You can expend 1 sorcery point make this touch rust metal, or rot wood, up to a maximum of 10 cubic feet of material. You have advantage on on Strength checks to break rusted metal or rotten wood. This ability's damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Malleability
At 1st level, your body becomes more fluid. You learn the Disguise Self spell, which does not count against your number of spells known, allowing actual changes to your physical form, but without changes to your attributes and abilities. In addition, you can cast it by spending 1 sorcery point or by spending a spell slot.
At 3rd level, you learn the Alter Self spell, and can cast it by expending 2 sorcery points. If you cast either spell using sorcery points and choose the “Change Appearance” option, the duration becomes concentration, up to eight hours.
Indiscernible Anatomy
At 6th level, your placement and composition of your internal organs is bizarre. You take no additional damage from critical hits.
Additionally, you can expend 2 sorcery points to compress your body enough to squeeze through an inch-wide crack. You cannot expand inside a space that offers any resistance, such as an occupied suit of armor.
I was disappointed at the 18th level ability, until I realized that the Black Pudding had 84 HP. I don't know if it counts exactly as a combat form, but it's great at utility, and can save your bacon if you get low on health. I'd really like to know if anyone has playtest experience with this.
ReplyDelete