A melee sorcerer? On this recently revived newsfeed? It isn’t a hallucination! This is actually happening, and hopefully it’ll really, really creep you out. But look past all that monstrous nature, and you’ll find a heart of- is that a third set of teeth? Why do you have those?

 

Read on below for the Arcane Monstrosity sorcerer!

 

Sorcerer-Arcane-Monstrosity-v1

You can also find the PDF version here!

 

To others, magic is a force outside. To sorcerers, magic is inside. But for you, magic is inside and it does not belong there. Whatever experiment, whatever accident created you… created a monster. You can’t be what you were before, if you still remember a time before.

 

FEATURES:

• Monstrous Weapon. A horrific mutation, allowing you to harness magic through your body itself, rather than simply casting a spell.
• Harsh Genesis. Terrible as it may have been, such a horrific experience has hardened your body to what troubles lie ahead.
• Combat Monstrosity. Attacking with your monstrous qualities is quick, easy, and effective. But maybe that should be the frightening part.
• Instinctive Arcana. Oh, necromancy makes your skin crawl? I never thought I’d- oh, okay, right then. That’s… okay.
• Sorcerous Mutation. Your own power causes unexpected results in your unstable biology, hardening your skin or strengthening your strikes.
• Horrific Transformation. And now it’s all out in the open. The monster you really are, free for the world to behold. To see, and to fear.

 

DESIGN NOTES:

• As far as narrative goes, this subclass is one of many that perhaps might be too suited for making dark, somewhat annoying character types. But I can’t help that, so I won’t try.
• Mechanically though, this is the leftovers of some toying around I did with spells. I wanted to know if you could reasonably translate spells into melee attacks; the original idea was some sort of fireball that launches the caster to the destination, where they then make flame-imbued melee attacks against all enemies in range.
• Needless to say, that didn’t work out as hoped. Instead, we have this. I know that I could never make a sorcerer’s melee attacks more appealing than their cantrips, which is why I haven’t tried to. The natural weapon is for enhancing close quarters combat, trading the myriad requirements of a spell (somatic, material, verbal) for a more limited amount of damage.
• My primary worry here is with Sorcerous Mutation and Horrific Transformation. Both are risky, because I feel like they may give too many benefits in comparison with their sorcery point expense. At the same time, they don’t seem like the most powerful sorcerer features I’ve ever seen, so I hope it isn’t too bad.
• As an aside, I’m back! Weekly posts should start back up now, primarily with homebrew updates and then shifting towards more articles over the next month or so.

Let me know what you think!