How to Create Your Own Homebrew Spells in D&D 5e

My Homebrew Spell System for Dungeons and Dragons lets you Create BALANCED Homebrew Spells that are FUN and don't break your games. D&D 5e has a balance system to it and I have broken it all down in this resource below.⏬ More Content ⏬
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[@TheDungeonCoach]

Let me know what D&D spells YOU homebrew! 📑 Download the Build a Spell PDF: www.patreon.com/thedungeoncoach OR here on my Website: thedungeoncoach.com/products/dc-playbook-vol-8

[@SamuelDancingGallew]

25:44 There's one key thing that was missed between the comparison of Poison Spray and Primal Savagery: Poison Spray does Poison damage, which is shut down by so many things. And Primal Savagery deals acid damage, plus it's an attack roll, which is more easily hit. But I do agree, Primal Savagery could benefit from some improvement like the target has disadvantage on opportunity attacks against creatures other than you.

[@goldensajti9022]

level 7 spell create corpse protector a undead that only care its master safety dunno its ballanced?

[@douglasphillips5870]

Do you have advice on homebrew utility spells?

[@LordOz3]

This reminds me of a freeform spell system I used in a skill based d20 homebrew, where characters took feats to gain access to different kinds of magic and their skill determined their maximum "potence". Potence was calculated off damage, range, area/targets, saves. etc..

[@backonlazer791]

13:50 9th level single target damage: 108 Meanwhile Meteor Swarm: *140 damage on avarage in a huge AOE goes BRRR*

[@sethb3090]

The thing is, this system is for making _balanced_ spells.

[@ts25679]

One of issue with saving throw spells is of course "save or suck", it was almost awesome but I rolled a 17. Sorry. Would it be more fun if we added ailments and damage overtime to some of those spells and had two saving throws potentially targeting two different characteristics? Winter wolf casts cone of cold so you roll dex acrobatics and constitution. If you pass the dex you get the damage mitigation, but if you fail the con you take the slow debuff. Or perhaps, if you take enough consecutive damage the cumulative total of which meets or surpasses your attribute score that triggers the associated DOT, this counter is reduced by you attribute bonus every round.

[@matthewcrowther890]

As my two cence with the ‘friendly fire’ bit of spells, area really does matter. Just to use the example of psychic scream, a 90ft area that affects friendlies is now bascially unusable, because there’s no reasonable to actually get your allies out of the area. How easy it is to avoid allies matters for friendly fire spells, so that’s another thing to consider

[@SuperFlyx19]

I can picture this as very situational, using it to give your allies cover, or to make fleeing easier, so its not that useless just situational...i like this. Especially if you can use it telepathically😂

[@fasthandshero85]

I like this one, Made it with my DM for my hexblade-bard. Tormenting Wound Enchantment Cantrip Casting Time: 1 action Range: equivalent to weapon used for material component Components: S, M (a melee weapon worth at least 1 sp) Duration: 1 round You brandish the weapon used in the spell’s casting and make a melee attack with it. On a hit the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects. Additionally the first time it attacks a creature other than you before the spell ends, Its mind is assulted and it takes psychic damage equal to your spellcasting ability modifier. At Higher Levels. At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 psychic damage to the target on a hit, and the damage the target takes if it attacks a creature other than you increases to 1d8 + your spellcasting modifier. Both damage rolls increase by 1d8 at 11th level (2d8 and 2d8 + spellcasting modifier) and again at 17th level (3d8 and 3d8 + spellcasting modifier) Spell List: Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

[@airdragon11studios]

Let's go!!!! So excited for this video!

[@dam-a-dab5922]

Great timing !!!!

[@slothmoth2389]

Great video-- definitely one of my favorites you've made! It inspired me to create this Bard-only spell. It was a little bit complicated to get the wording right but I hope you like it: *Creative Liberty* _Level 2 Enchantment_ _Casting Time:_ 1 Action _Range:_ Line of sight _Components:_ V S M _Duration:_ Concentration, up to 10 min You begin to improvise a new ballad telling the tale of two foes locked in a heated contest. When you cast the spell choose two targets around whom the tale revolves. You must be able to see both targets when you initially cast the spell. All targets make a wisdom saving throw. On a success, any damage or temporary health received from this spell is halved. For the duration of the spell, you may elaborate on the tale in favor of one target and to the detriment of the other. As a bonus action, roll a D6 and deal that much psychic damage to one of the chosen targets while granting that many temporary health points to the other target. Each target must be able to hear you in order to receive either effect. _At Higher Levels._ When you cast this spell using a 5th level spell slot, you may target 2 additional targets and may roll up to 2d6 (Half of the targets must take damage, half of them must gain temp hp). At 7th level you may select up to 6 targets and roll up to 3d6 (Half of the targets must take damage, half of them must gain temp hp). At 9th level you may target up to 10 targets, roll up to 3d10 (At least one target must be dealt damage, and at least one target must receive the temp hp).

[@bleddynwolf8463]

that really cool

[@timh797]

This reminds me of an ability creation system I whipped up for something unrelated to 5e. I did start with ability level that influenced the number of "creation points" available to customize the ability similar to your Spell Level. So a tier 0 would grant 4 points, then increment by +2 for each level in a simple progression (4,6,8,10, ..). The amount of creation points could be changed if you wanted a different magic system that escalates in power (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ... Fibonacci). It was assumed the ability always had at least 1 line to describe what it did. Next important category I simply called "Lines." Which was for writing purposes, and is something I dislike about 5e where some spells are bloated text dumps that slowed things down in play to a crawl. Utility abilities often used more of their creation points on this category. This helps to limit the scope of the ability in writing and its effects. Then after that you had the categories similar to what you describe for damage, aoe damage, range (though a stat also influenced spell range in my case), duration, etc. You also had the Banes/Boons that could be applied and costed creation points. Lastly there were conditional statements that could increase the amount of creation points (similar idea of risky options/specialized options for higher reward based on the condition).

[@garyvincent7397]

i made a homebrew spell in a game recently, it was called bellials force bubble and its what happens when an abjuration specialist gets drunk and tries to cast fireball

[@gamefreak88]

You always get me excited to do things like this. Blood Sacrifice: Cantrip Action to cast Instantaneous Range: Touch Damage: Magical ? Components: Verbal and somatic Touch an ally and drain your life force dealing 2d10 damage to yourself and heal ally equal to damage done. More then two uses gives 1 level of exhaustion plus one level of exhaustion for each use afterward. Fully heal outside of combat or a long rest resets uses before gaining exhaustion. At higher levels. This spell adds an extra 1d10 damage and heal for 1d10 more at 5th level. At 11th level, take 8 less damage. At 17th level can damage enemies for 3d10 without the benefit of healing and levels of exhaustion don't apply.

[@NakamiJun]

Thinking of your 4th level psychic stun... I'd actually argue it's a spell that has to much of a chance to cause everyone friend & foe to be stunned. Leaving a dead combat round. For that reason I wouldn't have it effect the caster. I think the area was pretty good as Self, 15 foot radius (30 feet around yourself). I would probably also give it slightly higher damage... Like 2d6 psychic, save for half. Still not much for a 4th level spell. Another way to tweak it would be to be a concentration spell and it does no real damage (1d4/1d6 on a failed save), but can stun each round with a save. I've been working on a bunch of new spell options. Including areas such as targeted explosions, so a line til it strikes and then a cone, burst, or other area. Semicircles, Spirals, Vortex (burst with a hole in it), Wave (series of lines), Paths (guided line), & starburst (spikey burst).

[@MatthewDragonHammer]

Storm Ward is literally Warding Wind but better, which is also 2nd lvl. I’d make it 3rd lvl, clarify whatever the fog effect does (heavily or lightly obscured?), up the damage to 3d6 line with a length equal to the radius of the ward, with +5ft radius and +1d6 dmg per spell level.

[@KingZNIN]

Oh wow I think I've completely missed that wording wind exists. After all these years of playing D&D you would have thought I would have seen it. Now I feel a little dumb. After looking it up it's a little underwhelming, and feels arguably more like a first level if you shorten the time to 1 minute. Maybe if you're dealing with a lot of dart traps, and the such it would be worth its second level slot, but I don't know.

[@NegatveSpace]

I'd like to see more spells that have some kind of drawback like haste has. Or abilities that also have drawbacks.

[@Atrianpaul]

If you affect all creature in the area (not an finite amount of target) yeah slow affect the allies... but if you got a finite amount of target.. no you can pick it

[@spikebeargrin1617]

Has anyone done any 2-4 action/turn spells? I really like the idea of a mage risking focusing in a big spell for a few turns to turn the battle, but 1 minute is way too long for most combats

[@jacoboverstreet8553]

I would check out Storm Of Vengeance and use that as inspiration. Each round it’s active it does a different and stronger effect. Most combats only last 2-4 rounds so you don’t want the mage to be useless for that combat, but you could make it so that each round he’s concentrating on the spell it gets stronger.

[@spikebeargrin1617]

@@jacoboverstreet8553 oh i like that idea! I'll definitely look into that! Though with my DM I've been in a few battles that went over 10 turns. Granted some of them were supposed to be multiple encounters that we rolled together because of circumstances.

[@ikeillue8385]

@@spikebeargrin1617 That is a really difficult thing to do well. Basically you have to make it so that the spell is powerful to be worth while. IE, a 3rd level spell that takes 2 actions to cast. It has to be powerful enough that its worth using this spell, instead of just casting fireball twice. The issue here is that this spell would have to deal at minimum an average of 56 damage to make up for that (unless you consider saving a spell slot a reasonable trade for losing out on the utility of being able to target 2 different locations with the spell). The big issue is, if you are ever the ones initiating combat, you now have a 56 damage opener, which is crazy for that level (unless the encounter is just one really big thing, you are probably going to wipe the enemies in one shot, and that big creature is going to be mostly mostly dead).

[@deathless_actual4936]

I just mentioned this idea in my comment as well because personally I love this idea. I also liked the idea of not having a standard set amount of round to hold it for, but a caster could power it up every round and choose when to let it go, making it more powerful every round held, but increasing the risk to the caster every round held if their concentration is broken due to taking damage before it’s cast.

[@imsomeguy029]

The changes I'd make to Storm Ward are- change damage to single target within the effect of the spell, half damage on success. Then +5ft and +1d6 per spell level (maybe every 2 spell levels?)

[@DyrgeAfterDark]

when upcasting spells only one value changes, never both this is a hard line design of 5e, Homebrew as you will.

[@imsomeguy029]

@@DyrgeAfterDark is that specified somewhere or just how they made everything? I never noticed that, but it is simpler and easier to balance I suppose, thanks for pointing it out.

[@Orciwan548]

Im gonna use this to add elden ring spells to my dnd game. The idea of using the stars to wield magic is awesome and amazingly thematic.

[@GrandOldDwarf]

Definitely down for a Saves rant!

[@justthecraft]

As far as "Saves Every round" I ususally use the phrase "On a success they are immune to the effects of this spell for 24 hours. On a fail (Insert Spell effect here). They may attempt to roll another save at the end of each of their turns, if they fail 3 times the effects last until the duration ends."

[@saboogly]

Reaction spell could be like push back on a melee attack against caster the caster can as a reaction use a 1st lvl or cantrip (mostly cantript maybe 1st lvl does damage added to it) and push back the attacker 5 ft. That way it doesnt completely stop the caster from being attacked but slowes the attacker

[@anymeaddict]

Yes! Math dice video! I would love that!!!

[@danjbundrick]

I feel like the rate at which the damage is resisted should be taken into account. Changing a damage type from fire to psychic could drastically increase its average damage

[@fyreman666]

I was surprised but happy you saw and chose my idea! Your quick take on it's pretty interesting, a lot more prone to failure like the anime, which I love. I also got the Ki Master some time ago. Here's actually my original take on Vegeta's volley, which is a reflavored and slightly altered spell from a Mage Hand Press Gunslinger spell, with a removed limiter. Vegeta's Volley 1st-level evocation Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous You charge ki into your open hands and start launching it at your enemies. Make 6 ranged spell attack rolls with disadvantage against targets you can see within range. These attacks always have disadvantage, regardless of circumstance. On a hit, a target takes 1d8 force damage. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can make two additional attacks with disadvantage for each slot level above 1st. I also have another spell that I made as something for half martials/half casters that like to punch. Chromatic Strike 1st-level evocation Casting Time: 1 action Range: Self (5-foot radius) Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous Choose acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder. You focus energy around your fists or feet, a faint glowing outline appears around it. Make an unarmed melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the attack's normal damage and effects and an additional 2d8 damage of the damage type you chose. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st. Hoping I can get your take on the spell building system soon.

[@fyreman666]

This is my take on your for fun version of the idea. Vegeta's Volley, DC's For Fun Edition 3rd-level evocation Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous You charge ki into your open hands and start launching blast after blast at single target, creating a 10 foot radius cloud of thick dust, obscuring the target's vision. Roll 6d8. For every damage die rolled that hits 4 or below, the damage is ignored. For every damage die rolled that hits a 5 or above, it deals that much in force damage. At Higher Levels. Roll an additional 2d8 for every spell level above 3rd.

[@hopecaster98]

The last vid on homebrew was my first vid of yours and thought it was really fun and was waiting for this vid which also very fun and informative. Though the 4th level spell that can stun you and your allies is kinda bad, the risk isn't enough for the reward imo. If you give that spell to a squish caster like a wizard being stunned and having all attack have advantage against them is gonna destroy them, all it take is one enemy caster or ranged attacker or one person to make the save to go up and unload their attacks on you. Then if you give the spell to a tanky caster like a paladin, their typically gonna be in melee range with the rest of the martial party memebers making this spell do more harm than good typically. The idea of stunning yourself in return for mass stun is interesting but maybe having it affect fewer creature in return for allowing you select targets, I could see that as a cool last ditch thing you could even make it a reaction. A sort of panic button like sacrificing your turn to stop their turns, very interesting idea. I do like the idea of a spell not being able to exclude people but I think that should considered another balancing factor like how concentration or component are viewed, making a spell more powerful in return for a lack of control ( I also think when you have a lot of spell that can hurt the party can lead to a lot of frustration) Lastly the idea of stunning yourself after casting a spell is very interesting I see it as kinda using two turn to cast the spell which I think could be really cool to balance very impactful and strong spells.

[@ReserCatloons]

To rationalize why the Slow spell behaves the way it does, it's a good idea to keep in mind that it uses a Wisdom saving throw to affect its targets. With that in mind, we can observe a similar effect with an upcasted Hold Person; the spell affects the creatures that are targeted by it by attacking their minds. Targets need to be close to each other in order to all be targeted at once. That being said, the area being described as a "cube" definitely makes it easier to draw the conclusion you made in the video, so I understand where you're coming from.

[@henryohenry1504]

*Dragon's Gift:* Healing cantrip of 1d4 at 30 ft but it costs a dragon's tooth everytime you do it.

[@PyrotechNick77]

Step one of homebrew spell crafting is always use a d12 damage dice. Nothing less. I love this system DC, and I'm definitely going to utilize it for my HB spells. It would be really cool if you maybe dedicated one of your streams to craft a spell using your system and have chat help you out!

[@kenyonelliott2628]

In 3.5 I used Vecna against my players and he had spell level slots from 10-16th. I came up with some really messed up spells. Quickened Maximized Empowered Time Stop

[@gabrielarka9029]

First things first: Congratulations on the amazing work, i think this kind of content is what I´ve been missing my hole life as a DM. Please, i allways wanted to see a summoning sistem like in Final Fantasy, please, make it happen !!! i tried to create something but i lack the knowledge to create something that wont break the game. I created a base sistem where the players will defeat a great spirit and it would grant them their favor. It has 3 stages, i posted it on dnd beyond. first stage the player can call for help and the spirit will grant some habilities spirit flavor, for example take Ifrit from FF, he would have a fire aura or something. second stage he incorporates the spirit, changing his actual body and lossing control, and the afinitty with this spirit is the "profficiency" to see if the spirit obbeys the 3rd and last stage is a final fantasy summon properly, the player call the spirit which deals a huge special atack. please, help this humble DM wannabe to achieve this dream !!! Sorry for broken English, Love From Brazil !!!

[@ryangentry2003]

Not exactly a spell, but I’ve made chromatic Kobolds for my Tyranny of Dragons based campaign and gave them a breath weapon, more of a spit really, but it does do more damage than their other attacks.

[@thomasclarke6097]

Amazing video. Makes me want to create a whole book of homebrew spells! Had you considered adding any kind of "rarity" component to a spell? So that players can't start with it and have to either find it as treasure or invest extra money into researching it?

[@samfish2550]

I am curious about some things like rider effects and debuffs and how much they should be valued when determining spell lv. Here's an example of an idea I've been throwing around. Paranoia Lv: ? School: Enchantment Range 60ft. Concentration. Duration: 1 minute Radius:15ft Select a creature within range, that creature must make a charisma saving throw. On a successful save nothing happens. On a failed save the target becomes charmed and frightened of all creatures within 15ft of it that it can see, hear, smell, or touch. At the end of each of the creatures turns it can repeat it's saving throw, the target can take a action while no other creatures are in the spells aoe they can spend a action to snap out of their paranoia, ending the spells effects. Up casting this spell at ?lv. or higher increase the (currently debating radius by 5ft. or target count by 1) I have other looser weird ideas. Consuming Decay Lv: 5th School: Conjeration. Range: 60ft Concentration Duration: 10 minutes Radius: 0ft. Select a creature or a 5ft+ area of inert organic matter that isn't being carried, worn, or weilded, organic material targeted in this way always fails. Any creature immune to disease automatically saves the throw. On a success the target takes half damage. On a failure the target takes 5d4 necrotic damage, can't heal while under the spells effects, and a 15ft. sphere of spores is created on the target and follows where they move. Every creature that enters the clouds radius or starts it's turn there must make a roll against your or suffer the effects of this spell as if it were cast on them. A creature can only be effected by one aura.

[@darthjuyo9258]

Coach I have pre-ordered alkander's almanac of all things and I was wondering is this spell system is going to be in the book as well like the armor or weapon system? I love your videos keep up the good work, Godspeed to you!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

This spell system is NOT in the book, I dont feel it fits into the base rules of the game, so I didnt put it in there. These systems are usually ALL stand alone systems etc.

[@przemysawjozwiak144]

For me if you cast Slow Spell then all players should roll Dexterity Save to speed up their move before being slow down. For example if you walk then you start to run just to walk again after successfull roll. If you fail then you slow down like all the rest. Just like you, Coach, say about Stun Spell. And as cherry on the cake: 30 feet DC 20, 60 feet DC 15 and 90 feet DC 10 of save roll.

[@darkdragonsoul99]

Ok so a spell I've been cooking up in my head for a long time but could never really figure out how powerful it actually is. Acid rain 20-foot radius centered on a point of your choice within 150 feet you credit an acidic rain that lowers the AC of anyone who enters or starts there turn in the rain by 1 semi permentantly the only way to remove the effect is to repair your armor and heal the holes in your thick hide. Does no damage other then the AC reduction.

[@PopDruidWeekend]

Hey, I was wondering if you could do a video on how to make subclasses. I was wanting to put some together for your Ki master class and I love the class but I was hoping to extend the subclass options in the pursuit of making either an angel focused transforming person or even a demonic transforming person, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to put things together and when to implement certain features, Absolutely love your videos thanks so much for doing what you do!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

I have something like that on the docket, but there is just SO much work that goes into making these videos that it takes a while to research and produce. So I will keep at it and expect to see it SOME time :P

[@PopDruidWeekend]

@@TheDungeonCoach Appreciate the response! And I absolutely understand that it takes a good chunk of time to make your videos, always enjoy your stuff and can't wait to see it once it does come out! Thanks again!

[@nikwintren]

Coach, pausing during your save rant (because I feel you). Haven't started tweaking much yet, but this would be a good start. Feedback on my initial thoughts: Based on that constitution being if your body is strong enough to resist the damage. Then wisdom would be if your mind is strong enough to resist. Intelligence would be if you're intelligent enough to understand and see through it. And charisma would be if your sense of self and soul is strong enough to withstand the effect - would that be good phrasing do you think?

[@couver73]

I kinda had a more interesting thought process with that 30 foot stun spell you came up with it. Very few spells actually do this but maybe have it so you can still have the proper AOE damage and the stun effect but only one can happen at a time. If you pass the save, 4d10 psychic damage. If you fail, you're stunned. That way. there's always some sort of risk to it. You're hoping for it to turn the tables in combat but it's still an okay damage option that still puts you at risk by taking it too. Random thoughts.

[@Gokkee]

I'm working on a combination spell of two players. They were put in a situation we're they tried to close off section of a cave to stop a horde of kobolds while they took care of an isolated group of kobolds. The cleric used gust of wind down the hallway but was not extremely effective, so the warlock rp'ed a desperate plea of help so a mist combined with the wind to wall of the section were the horde was for whatever time was convenient at the time ^^ Have a few ideas out for a combination spell that can be done maybe once a day or something, any thoughts from the smart audience or the coach would be great :D Thinking of a barrier spell that might last for a d4 or d6 turns or evolve the gust of wind spell into something else🤷‍♂️

[@evans178]

Elemental Blades spells like Shadow Blade !

[@DyrgeAfterDark]

Flame Blade exists

[@evans178]

@@DyrgeAfterDark... flame blade is not like shadow blade... you cant use it as a weapon since it forces you to spend a whole action for a single attack.

[@jamesbuchanan3888]

IMO the game needs a modifier on disadvantage and advantage to deal with the small gradients. I like using " disadvantage +, high die max", and "advantage -, low die minimum. For small disadvantage two die are rolled as normal, and the + (1 or 2) is added to the low die. Small advantage rolls two die, and the modifier is deducted from the high die. The max/min limits are to deal with double rolls. The principle also works well expanded for very advantageous or very disadvantageous circumstances.

[@Orciwan548]

One of the things that bothers me is picking a point for area of effect. you’re able to just perfectly land a fireball to not hit allies 5ft from the monster. I get it’s to make it more usable and changing that would be hard it’s just weird to me the wizard has a video game like control of his spells.

[@elizabethviolet8448]

In terms of damage spells, I actually think homebrew spells that just do damage and nothing else can get away with doing more damage than most existing damage spells, just because single action instantaneous damage spells aside from fireball and meteor swarm just aren't very good when you look at the math. Spellcasters shouldn't be as good at damage as weapon users, but limited use spell slots already make them worse at damage, so their spells could be allowed to do more damage. Chromatic orb is really just... about the same damage as one beefy guy swinging a big sword once, maybe like 3 more points, and it costs a spell slot and your action and if it misses it does nothing and you just wasted both of those and feel sad, and even on a hit it's usually not very meaningful. I think if you had a homebrew 1st level attack roll spell that did like 4d8, it would be fine: yeah it overshadows chromatic orb but chromatic orb sucks so if none of the players took it before you added the 4d8 spell, who cares. And same for spells like Shatter or Scorching Ray, or Circle of Death and Horrid Wilting... Some spells like fireball and meteor swarm are really good though, we probably don't need better versions of those

[@End3r97]

That dragon ball z spell is interesting, especially with the ignore low damage rolls aspect (average of a d8 ignoring 1-4 is 5+6+7+8=26/8=3.25, bringing our new average to 19.5). Personally, I feel like rolling low on damage is already punishing enough and it would really suck to have your spell do almost nothing with some bad rolls though. I think a better way to simulate a lot of randomness with how many hit would just be to have the spell make 6 attacks, each doing 1d8. Though perhaps that would make it stack with spells like Hex too strongly. Changing it to 4 attacks doing d12s might work? About the same average and is super swingy since you might hit all 4 or none, roll high damage or low, all while also getting to add on hit effects like Hex as well. I don't know how well this matches with the show though and if 4 attacks matches that fantasy.

[@fakjbf3129]

Dice math is easy, the average value is half plus point five. So a d4 is (4/2) + 0.5 = 2.5, a d6 is 3.5, a d8 is 4.5, a d12 is 6.5, and a d20 is 10.5. Then you just add the average values together, so 2d6 is 3.5 + 3.5 = 7, 8d6 is 28, 7d10 is 38.5, etc. You're doing 2d6 and 1d4 damage, that's 3.5 + 3.5 + 2.5 = 9.5 average damage. To go from an average damage back down to dice you would pick a die size and divide the final damage by the average. So if I want a 5th level single target spell that should deal 50 damage per the table and I want to use d12s, that would be 50/6.5 = 7.7, let's round it up to 8d12 which is 8 x 6.5 = 52 which is close enough.

[@Gokkee]

Any thoughts for party combinations of spells and how to balance those?

[@NegatveSpace]

I like the idea of lightning spells having a constitution save and maybe having a slow or stun effect. Maybe lower level spells would be a slow and higher would be a stun. It's never made sense to me how someone could try to dodge lightning. Unless somehow the character know it's coming but then why wouldn't they be able to do that for all spells? In fact, that brings up another interesting idea. What if there is a character class or some feats that are educated about spellcasters and know how to react to certain spells. Maybe a certain number of times per day they could add their dex modifier to a spell they wouldn't normally be able to. Or maybe if they pass an intelligence check to recognize the spell they could add their dex. I like abilities that bring in different ability scores but that could get complicated trying to roll an intelligence check for every spell the entire game.

[@harley8047]

"Slowness should hit everyone in that area. It makes no sense." "Healing AoE obviously only hits your allies." Get your buckets, we're going Cherry Pickin' children!

[@Frytbye]

I homebrew the Curse of the Eternal Inconvenience

[@robusterbrown1291]

How would you homebrew Utility spells? For example a wizard in my games wants to make a spell that can organize a massive ancient library they found. It takes an extremely long time to read/ translate the books so she is thinking that writing a spell that could do the work would be better. Also me and her have worked out that if she keeps following this line of thinking she will end up accidentally creating the magic version of a computer. What level do you put on a spell that deals no damage and causes no conditions?

[@eadricstorm9874]

I would start looking at unseen servant type spell and comprehend languages as a baseline and go from there.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

I would think about how much utility it can provide in combat, then out of combat, think of the level that you get access to spells slots and think of when you would be ok with players doing it. So if you think players could have it at 5th level then you would make it a 3rd level spell.

[@Leighzer]

Did you take into consideration that damage spells aren't very good at higher levels? Did you calculate the table so that it isn't stronger that what's available, or did you improve the damage to make it viable?

[@notreallyalec]

How I long for the days of players characters having the option to make their own spells as a wizard during downtime.

[@ghoultric]

For your damage table fireball disagrees haha.

[@deathless_actual4936]

Note that when I reference “physical” damage I am not referring to non-magical, I’m referring to damage that is more physically structural as in something at would take up geometric space rather than abstract. Psychic damage I’d consider abstract abstract whereas fire is physical. Personally I disagree with the idea that no spell should naturally allow the caster to choose targets to be affected or immune to the effects just because it’s an AoE, but generally I don’t think is as much of an issue as you make it out to be. Most of the AoE spells with “physical” hazards such as fireball, conjure volley or cone of frost already affect “each creature” in the AoE which makes sense because it is now a physical damaging hazard that creatures would have to dodge to avoid. Psychic Scream however is not only a non-physical damage spell, it’s also not an AoE. Psychic Scream is quite simply a ranged spell with a range of 90ft and a save rather than an attack roll. This is again probably simply due to the fact that it is not a projectile. Even if it was an AoE, it’s no longer a physical blast of fire filling the space of a dozen creature, it’s a caster reaching directly into the minds of their enemies to attack them psychically. That I can understand being a spell that allows targeting exclusively hostiles to be hit or friendlies to be protected. If it were a true AoE I wouldn’t expect it to limit the number of creature you can target to 10 it would just affect all hostile creatures in the area of effect. Non-physical AoEs are actually pretty rare (and by pretty rare I mean I can’t actually think of one nor could I find one during my short search just now, but I’m sure there could be some) The 5th level spell, Destructive Wave, could be considered non-physical, but I would still consider thunder damage physical similar to the audible damage coming from the shockwave of an explosion blasting. Regardless I would agree that this spell shouldn’t allow specific targeting. By the wording of this spell it sounds as if you’re creating a shockwave of divine energy centered on yourself exploding in every direction. The spell effects each creature you choose within the AoE (30ft sphere). Because this is a true AoE I would think it should event everyone, perhaps excluding just the caster. As far as “healing AoEs” needing to be able to target to abound healing hostiles, if you’re talking about Mass Healing Word or Prayer of Healing, these are again not AoEs. They are simply multi-target ranged spells with ranges of 60’ and 30’ respectively. A true AoE would need to be classified as a cube, sphere, cone, line, etc. Just being capable of targeting multiple creatures doesn’t make a spell an AoE. ON A SEPARATE NOTE, One thing I would actually like to see in DnD is combat applicable spells that take multiple rounds to cast at the expense of maintaining the spell each round until cast by perhaps spending their action each round and maintain concentration on the casting of the spell. Kind of like a shorter, combat ready ritual caster. I think you could do a dm specified number of rounds to accomplish some type of campaign objective, for example: maybe dispel magic has to be held for a few rounds of combat to break open a magically sealed door from powerful enchantments to allow the party to escape and the rest of the party has to protect the caster from hostiles. I would possibly give a three stroke failed con save for the caster like a death save mechanic before losing concentration depending on how difficult it should be. Alternatively it could possibly be used as a minor upcast if DMs want to allow magic uses to get a little more use out of their spell slots. Hold a spell for up to X additional rounds to get a minor damage/effect bonus per round held that they can choose to unleash early or hold for maximum effect without increasing the spell slot cost. Risk vs Reward: potential for higher damage output from lower level spell slots at the expense of less damage over time because simply casting a new spell each round would deal more damage in a shorter time frame. Also potential risks involved when losing concentration due to taking damage while power casting a spell. Maybe the caster takes some kind of additional damage from the spell misfiring if their concentration is broken. This may also be the longest comment I’ve ever made for a KZbin video, but still a great video so it was warranted. 😃

[@krimson459]

I have been watching your content for a while now and generally love the things you create. The only thing I do not agree with you here is about the schools of magic. For the majority of casters in the game it has no real relevance, with the biggest exception being wizards. The school of magic is extremely important for a few wizard subclasses (most notably Abjuration, Evocation, Conjuration, and Illusion) so I don't think it is good advice to simply say "don't worry about it". Otherwise great system that a lot of people could really benefit from using. Thanks!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

I can totally agree that I could have came across as too dismissive of this, especially for wizards. I just was coming from the perspective that once you establish what the spell does you cant TWEAK what the school is... if you are doing evocation type things... you cant just "tweak" it be to necromnacy out of nowhere without changing the flavor of the spell. So I see what you mean :)

[@johnmanning4381]

Spellcrafting from yellowbyte studios

[@ghoultric]

This is very old but uhhh witch bolt it last a while and deals lots of damage

[@damianspence]

Isn't it the case that you can't cast a bonus action spell and action spell in the same turn? Or are cantrips exempt?

[@bryan__m]

Cantrips are exempt.

[@EunoiaRPG]

Your commentary on the Dragonball Z spell made me think you could reverse engineer the Mirror Image spell, which uses this mechanic for defence. I'm gonna spitball something real quick "Each time a creature targets you with an attack during the spell's duration, roll a d20 to determine whether the attack instead targets one of your duplicates. If you have three duplicates, you must roll a 6 or higher to change the attack's target to a duplicate. With two duplicates, you must roll an 8 or higher. With one duplicate, you must roll an 11 or higher." So for the attack spell you could step up the damage on something like magic missile. Magic Volley 2nd Level Evocation 30ft range You create six darts of magical force that streak towards one target within range. Each dart deals 1d6 force damage on hit. Roll a d20 for each dart to determine whether the attack hits the target. With a roll of 6 or higher the first dart successfully lands, and each successive dart increases the required roll by 2 up to a maximum of 16. Casting this spell at higher levels reduces the original and subsequent requirements to hit by 1 and increases the damage dealt by each bolt by 1.

[@EunoiaRPG]

Damage for a level 2 spell might be bit strong on average though, rather than decreasing the damage maybe I would shift the original requirement to 8 and maximum to 18.

[@MrJTEND]

That homebrew spell kind weak but that my throat

[@theoneandonly6112]

I have to disagree on “slow.” If only because you gave two examples just prior that also work this way. “Magic missile” and “scorching ray.” Both of those target a limited number of enemies in a specific range and let you avoid hitting your allies. It just kinda seems nitpicky to complain about “slow” in this way.

[@spacechannelfiver]

My favourite homebrew spell is "Your Mum" - it's like an AOE version of Tasha's Hideous Laughter that has a 1 turn limit. The caster creates an illusionary schoolboy that then tells a your mum joke. All creatures must make a Wisdom saving throw or spend their next turn ROFL.

[@Reno41194]

comment streak: 6 campaign update: lost a player this week. he ships out for army basic training in the 18th of April and had to move his stuff before then. Gave him a proper send off where he went toe to toe with one of the BBEGs right hand men, giving the party just enough time to seal both of them away in a dimensional prison.

[@viiy9429]

Idk how else to describe it, but your channel is"how to be a TRUE ALPHA" but it's DND shit.... Idk the vibe is the same

[@023Whiplash]

A pdf for 10 bucks? Really?

[@forkme3165]

Spells made with this are so weak theyre practically unusable.