New Spells: Frailty and Ray of Fatigue
Links: PDF | D&D Beyond: Ray of Fatigue, Frailty
Art Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/feliciacano/art/Life-Tap-Talisman-Sacred-Pool-172464007
While exhaustion is an evocative and interesting mechanic in 5th edition D&D, and it can create fantastic narrative opportunities, between the difficulty in removing it and the rarity of the condition, it’s easy to go through a whole campaign without interacting with it much or even at all. Exhaustion used too often can be devastating, of course, because while the first level or two aren’t that bad, the higher levels can be crushing especially to non-spellcasters, and the 6th level is instantly lethal! Today’s spells are an example of some of the ways this under-utilized mechanic can be explored and played with in fun new ways that don’t break the game by hurling exhaustion around too easily. They’re also both nasty necromancies that will tantalize any affliction-oriented mage!
Ray of fatigue is a new 3rd-level spell to follow the same pattern as ray of sickness and ray of enfeeblement at 1st-level and 2nd-level (respectively). This spell attack deals a bit less damage than a 3rd-level spell should do to a single target, but it makes up for that by applying the potent combined effects of at least three levels of exhaustion, making the target weaker, slower, and less capable with ability checks. Even after the spell ends, the target is still left with one level of exhaustion until it can rest. Multiple hits, or combinations with other exhaustion spells or effects, can greatly debilitate the target beyond the spell’s duration or normal effects or even kill them!
At the top end of the power scale, the new 9th-level spell frailty is designed to fill a similar role to feeblemind, but for destroying bodily health instead of mental faculties. This potent affliction thrusts targets into at least level 4 of exhaustion, which (in addition to the effects of all three levels below it) halves the target’s maximum hit points, potentially dealing an extreme amount of damage in the process! It imposes disadvantage on the target’s repeated saving throws to end the effect, making it extremely difficult to end once its been applied to the target — much like its cousin feeblemind. Frailty also serves as a great storytelling spell that a DM can use to help explain and fill in the world while connecting it to real game mechanics, in the same way as other storytelling spells like imprisonment or druid’s grove. That’s because the spell can be made permanent, helping to explain those who were rapidly aged, withered, or otherwise ravaged by magic! (Frailty’s material components are a reference to the folktale of Urashima Taro, who experienced rapid magical aging)
Both of these spells appear on the spell list for the new Pathomancer feat that is appearing alongside them in The Impermissicon, making them pathomancies as well as necromancies. This is a spellcaster specialization feat, so it boosts the power of spells from the spell list associated with it and makes them a little easier to cast. Pathomancy as a discipline focuses on the diseases (pathology) and emotions (pathos) of living things. Pathomancers cast spells that blind, weaken, or otherwise afflict their foes with physical and mental afflictions and illnesses. It’s a fantastic feat for cementing the mechanics and themes for a witch, curser, or dark magic wielder without forcing them to use one subclass or one damage type such as necrotic, poison, or psychic damage — a great example of the role and purpose of the spellcaster specialization feats in D&D Unleashed!
Links: PDF | D&D Beyond: Ray of Fatigue, Frailty
