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{OAP} The Odic Class

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Outlandish Adventure Productions presents:

The Odic, a Wisdom-based spellcasting class that uses an ancient and dangerous method - sacrificing its life force as its spellcasting resource! Heavily inspired by the magic used by the shamans of Norse mythology, odyllic magic is from a barbaric time long before arcanists discovered the Weave, a time in which the Old Tongue was spoken and tattoos were used to channel one's own vitality through the body and out into the surrounding world. Every odic is at least partially covered in a network of these runic tattoos, allowing them to channel their vitality through their bodies and into life forms outside themselves. This network begins, and is defined by, the odic's choice of Heart Rune, which determines the core nature of their life force manipulating abilities.

Heart Runes

The Bestial Mark - The Bestial Mark grants its bearers the ability to fight like a wild animal on the battlefield, getting in close to their opponents and ripping into them with fist, tooth, and nail. These odics, in addition to empowering their offensive ability, channel their vitality into protecting their bodies from harm and improving their natural strength.

The Parasite Brand - The Parasite Brand gives its bearers the ability to leech away the life force of their victims, using vile necrotic powers to enervate their foes while restoring themselves.

The Patron Emblem - The Patron Emblem imbues its bearers with the ability to link their life force to others using temporary odyllic tattoos, creating a chain of vitality that serves to protect both. These generous odics tend to believe in sacrificing their life force to the benefit of their companions.

The Sight Sigil - The Sight Sigil provides its bearers the ability to extend their perception beyond the here and now, into the future and outside the boundaries of reality, to gain contact with the deities and forces that govern the multiverse. This otherworldly perception allows them to tug on the strings of fate, potentially altering destiny.

The Odic Class also comes with 4 new spells, 1 returning spell we originally created for our Elementalist Class, and 2 spells generously provided by Sterling Vermin Adventuring Company, which are usable by the odic and a number of other classes!

We hope you enjoy the Odic as much as we and our players do! We'd love to hear your feedback, so please send us any questions or comments you have. Also, if you perceive any balance issues, please let us know and we will address them as quickly as we can.


Update History

10/13/2017 v1.0 - Original Odic Class uploaded.


And if you like the Odic, you might enjoy OAP's other products:

This is the Outlandish Adventure Productions philosophy: Despite our move to a paid model, we remain committed to our ideology that everyone who wants to play our products, regardless of financial means, should be able to do so. To that effect, if you'd like to play any of our products, you can message BossLeiser through OAP's Subreddit, contact us on Twitter or Facebook, or email RossLeiser@gmail.com to get a Printer Friendly copy at no cost to you. This copy won't include any of the art assets, but it will contain everything you need to utilize the product in your games. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Discussions (9)
Customer avatar
Tony L June 10, 2023 7:09 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Question for you, would there happen to be a ruling on whether or not when you "lose hp" by reducing your maximum... would that require a concentration check? My DM and I are trying to figure it out because the spellcasting of this class can become quite limited especially if you are playing bestial mark and using the vigorous fury feature.
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Customer avatar
Ross L June 10, 2023 7:16 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi, Tony! Great question!

It's a very subtle interaction, but concentration saving throws are only imposed by damage, not by loss of hit points. So if the hit point maximum reduction caused by creating an odic spell slot also forces your current hit points to be reduced, you will still be able to maintain concentration without needing to make a saving throw.
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Tony L June 10, 2023 7:27 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you for responding so fast Ross, appreciate it very much!
Customer avatar
christopher L February 10, 2020 2:09 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hello, I just wanted to say first off that I love your products and really appreciate it all the content that you produce. I was wondering in regards to the Odic, have you considered updating it's spell list with any of the spells introduced in Xanathar's guide to everything? I'm not sure how any of the new spells would affect balance but life transference seems like it could be a good fit for the class among other spells. Thank you again.
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Customer avatar
Ross L February 10, 2020 4:01 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi, Christopher!

Yes, I do plan on updating the class as soon as my schedule and other projects allow. This will include the Xanathar's spells, tweaked Heart Rune spell lists (as well as removing the current restriction of Rune spells not on the Odic spell list), and likely minor balance tweaks. Overall, though, I'm very happy with the state the Odic is in, so the changes won't be too extensive.
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christopher L February 10, 2020 9:36 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hello,
Thank you for your quick response. I'm excited to get to use your content as a player for the first time so I was curious about the odic. Good luck with your future endeavors and I'm sure any changes you do will be fantastic. Thanks again.
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Customer avatar
christopher L February 10, 2020 9:39 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I forgot to ask but was the amount of spells prepared Half of Odic levels + Wisdom instead of full amount of odic levels so it could have a number similar to the warlock class?
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Customer avatar
Ross L February 10, 2020 11:23 pm UTC
CREATOR
The reasoning behind giving them so few prepared spells is that they have so much more possible spells cast per day than other casters if you're willing to let your life get super low, and also because they, unlike warlock, get automatically prepared spells from their Heart Rune in addition to Ritual Casting. But, like Warlock, they also get extra upper-level spells (surge spells for odic and arcanum spells for warlock).

So I guess, yeah, I didn't want them having too many spells known because theoretically they can cast a lot more spell per day than casters other than warlock (if the party is willing to take lots of short rests).
Customer avatar
Spencer J December 02, 2019 10:42 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hey Ross! Great class, as usual. Just wanted to make sure I'm understanding this wording right for Spellcasting. Specifically: a sentence in Casting Odic Spells
It says: "To cast one of these odic spells, choose a spell level no greater than your maximum spell level, and no less than the level of the spell you’re casting".
I understand that means that a level 8 Odic can't cast Cure Wounds at 5th level, since their max spell level is only 4, and they can't cast Blight at say 2nd level, since the minimum level requirement is 4 for that spell.
But what about a spell like Inflict Wounds? Can you choose what to cast it as between levels 1 through 4?
Sorry for the confusing question and once again, great stuff!
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Customer avatar
Ross L December 02, 2019 11:02 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi, Spencer! Thank you for the kind words!

Inflict Wounds would act similarly to Cure Wounds: Since they are both level 1 spells, and your maximum spell level at level 8 is 4, you can cast the spell at 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level, reducing your hit point maximum by the corresponding amount to produce and use the intended spell slot.
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Customer avatar
Spencer J December 03, 2019 1:04 am UTC
PURCHASER
Ok awesome! Thank you so much!
Customer avatar
Michael N November 29, 2019 3:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Been a big fan of the Odic since i managed to convince my GM to let my PC respec into it after breaking up with his deity

During that convincing process me and another player concocted a alternative to the Vital Surge feature as were in an agreement that its a bit restrictive for the Odic at higher levels(just as it was with warlock) and incongruous with the class identity as a whole

So heres what we came up with to try to get more in rhythem with the class

“Vital Surge(Gamble Method):when the Odic attempts to cast a spell at 6th level or higher(allowing up casting) the odic must burn more then just their immediate vitality to conjure more powerful effects

The Odic must expend and roll a number of Hit Dice + their CON modifier to equal or surpass the requirements of each spell level 6 and above
6th level spell total requirement: 18 (3x6)
7th level spell total requirement: 21 (3x7)
8th level spell total requirement: 32 (4x8)
9th level...See more
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Customer avatar
Michael N November 29, 2019 3:10 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Note we did decide ultimately to go with the as-is Vital Surge when we where okay’ing the Odic because of GM exasperation and i wasn't pushing too hard to use this version but since we wrote it up might as well share it!
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Customer avatar
Ross L November 30, 2019 3:31 pm UTC
CREATOR
It's definitely an interesting system! However, the issue with it - other than being very complex - is that it makes casting a 6th-level spell less costly than casting a 5th-level on average. At 11th level, it costs 19 max HP to cast a 5th-level, and despite the fact that this also expends hit dice (which are less individually valuable to this class than to others because of their ability to regain them on a short rest), the max HP expenditure is only 18 for a 6th-level.

And this disparity only becomes greater as you increase in level. At level 20, a 5th-level spell costs 28 max HP, which is more than a 7th-level in this system on average and nearly as much as an 8th.

The values for the costs of 1st- through 5th-level spells were painstakingly calculated to make sure that the Odic's spellcasting and health after spellcasting were comparable to wizard, with Vital Surge being implemented in its current form to make 6th- through 9th-levels cast-able without basically having to kill you to...See more
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Customer avatar
Michael N December 01, 2019 1:27 am UTC
PURCHASER
wait warlocks cant switch arcanums?...*one google later* god warlock as if i cant hate you more.

anyway to reiterate this idea was not accepted for the campaign,for good reasons, but i mainly feel the current issue with the idea is just bad math which easy enough to fix

since the idea was for something that follows in line with how the campaign group saw the Odic's casting method as "as limited as you are to play it safe" with the as-listed method you just got 1 spell at 6+ levels each and that it

Customer avatar
Lucas F April 21, 2019 3:20 am UTC
PURCHASER
i guess there is a typo on the Parasitic Drain. it says that you can use your action on the 6th level to deal 1d6 necrotic damage, but later it says that the damage increases by 1d6 at level 5, so 2d6.
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Customer avatar
Ross L April 21, 2019 1:21 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thank you for the catch! That phrasing is an artifact from a previous draft when this feature was gained at 2nd level; we'll fix it when we do our comprehensive review and update of the class.
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Customer avatar
Lucas F April 26, 2019 4:22 am UTC
PURCHASER
Eager to see it ^^.
I have a player on my table that is currently at the 3th level.
So just to make sure, when he becomes 6th level it will deal 2d6?
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Customer avatar
Ross L April 28, 2019 11:28 pm UTC
CREATOR
Yes, it should indeed be 2d6 since it requires a full action to use.

And I'd love to hear more about his character!
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Customer avatar
Lucas F April 30, 2019 8:40 am UTC
PURCHASER
Well i've been working as a illustrator for the Mage Hand Press for the past year so we've used the race Mandrake from the book "Men and Monsters". It's kind of a tree person (a groot from guardians of the galaxy kind of character).
He chose the parasite brand, we say that he has some leeches and other kind of vermin's around his body for flavor, and his tattoos are made of scarification on his bark. He seeks his missing master, the only other odic known in the world.
So far he's been trying to be a melee spellcaster, although i saw that the odic has a lot of support spells, the said player don't really fits that role, he likes to deal damage and it lacks a bit of necrotic spells but i guess this is more of dnd's faults other than you. It's kind of soon to assume anything yet about the class itself, i've liked the mechanics of trading life for magic, and that was the thing that drew the player to the class.
It's working pretty well, the first 2 levels were brutal for him, but now with...See more
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Customer avatar
Ross L May 03, 2019 1:51 am UTC
CREATOR
Thank you so much for sharing!

Yeah...Parasite Brand is definitely meant to be more of a mid-range DPS mage type with some added survivability from the temporary hit points granted by Odyllic Leech and some slight spell recursion from the target death effect. If your player wants to go more melee, Bestial Mark is designed more with that playstyle in mind.

And I'd love to hear more about the Justiciar, Elementalist, and Emerrgent if you'd be willing to share more!
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Customer avatar
Lucas F July 23, 2019 9:18 am UTC
PURCHASER
Sorry for the long delay on the response.
Well my justiciar player said that he felt like it was missing more ways to counter spellcasters, at least the "counterspell" should be added, i dont know how this would impact the overall ballance of the class. Other than that, i dont think there is much to add, feels pretty solid.
The Elementalist is a bit weaker at the moment, but seeing some of the thing that the player will get later in the game, i think it will become much more powerfull, perhaps is just a slow building curve, nothing to worry.
The Emergent played just for a few weeks, i did not had the chance see much about the class in game, seems like a cool concept and it would surely have its place on the group. He had a dragon companion, i was not sure how to handle missing body parts for the soul hahahah
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Customer avatar
Lucas F July 24, 2019 6:12 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Oh and "silence" spell for the justiciar as well
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Customer avatar
Ross L July 25, 2019 1:46 pm UTC
CREATOR
I appreciate your feedback on all of your players' classes! I think you may have missed some things in the justiciar spell list, however, because Counterspell and Silence are both already on it.
Customer avatar
Raymond B May 06, 2018 9:49 pm UTC
PURCHASER
So, I'm sure a lot of thought went into the decision I'm going to ask about -- I'm not so much questioning its validity as I am wondering about the process behind it.

"Once you cast a rune spell that isn’t on the Odic spell list, you must finish a short or long rest before you can cast the spell again."

So, essentially, from the way I'm interpreting this, this nerfs spells like the Sight's casting of bane, and the Beast's casting of mage armor, to 1/SR. I'm sure a dedicated player would be able to track this, but as a DM, it's the sort of thing I look at and think of as a little complicated and tricky to juggle. I suppose my question is, what's the reason for limiting these spells? Are they really so powerful that standard (well, standard *Odic*) casting would break them? Or am I missing something?

Big fan of OAP, by the way. Waiting eagerly on Honor and Devotion!
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Customer avatar
Ross L May 07, 2018 3:14 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi, DJ! Glad to hear you're a fan! We're looking forward to HnD, too!

As to the "Once you cast a rune spell that isn’t on the Odic spell list, you must finish a short or long rest before you can cast the spell again.", there's exactly one reason it exists: the Aid spell on the Patron Rune Spell list. If that spell were spam-able, you could give all of your party members near-infinite HP, other than yourself.

That said, Aid was an artifact from a previous version of the odic that took damage when it cast spells, in addition to lowering max health. In the update of the class we plan to post with its Copper Celebration product (yet to be fully explored), we'll be swapping Aid for Warding Bond (which was massively counterproductive with that earlier version), and removing the "once per rest" caveat on the Rune Spells. So, for the purpose of your games before this update launches, feel free to make those exact changes.

Hope that helps!
Customer avatar
Lachlan H February 28, 2018 9:44 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Ross, I wanted to ask about the Odic's AC. Without any armor proficiencies and nothing to replace it like the monk/barbarian's unarmored defense, and with only the Bestial Mark subclass getting access to mage armor the class is easier to hit than any other class in the PHB. I was curious what the design/theme reason for this was?

Besides that I think this class is a gem and shall be looking into your other works.

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Customer avatar
Ross L March 02, 2018 4:06 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Lachlan!

First, thank you for your kind words! Due to the extremely unorthodox nature of the Odic's spellcasting, this was the hardest class for us to design and balance in a way that felt truly satisfying, though the Emergent was a close second. So, whenever we get praise on those two classes, it feels especially good.

There are a few reasons that we intentionally left the Odic with such little access to AC boosts:

1) The Odic has the highest hit die, tied with barbarian, in 5e. Despite the fact that they can use this high HP as a resource, we didn't want odics who only ever want to spam cantrips to feel safer to play than classes that are actually intended as tanks, like Fighter and Paladin.
2) To get maximum usage out of this high HP, an odic generally wants to take damage before they begin casting their leveled spells (so that reducing their hit point maximum doesn't reduce their current hit points), and we wanted to facilitate that "optimum" style...See more
Customer avatar
Hayden M December 11, 2017 11:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I am very confused about the end of the odic magic feature, is it not possible to heal as an odic class, or does a healing spell that is greater than your spell cost negate a spell?
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Customer avatar
Ross L December 12, 2017 4:02 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi, Hayden!

If you're referring to the paragraph that references the Greater Restoration and Aura of Life spells, that is a paragraph we implemented to prevent possible infinite casting. Hit points can still be restored to your current hit point total (to an amount no greater than your current hit point maximum), but your hit point *maximum* can only be restored by two methods in the base class: 1) Finishing a long rest, or 2) using your Vital Recovery feature when you finish a short rest.

If you're speaking of odics casting a spell like Cure Wounds to heal themselves, that is still possible. Odics don't take damage for casting their spells, but simply reduce their hit point maximum. For example, let's say a level 1 odic with a hit point maximum of 14 was reduced to 3 hit points by her enemies, and casts Cure Wounds to heal herself. She reduces her hit point maximum to 11 to create the 1st-level spell slot, and then casts Cure Wounds with it. She rolls the 1d8, getting a result of 6,...See more
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Customer avatar
Hayden M January 06, 2018 12:17 am UTC
PURCHASER
Ah okay, thanks so much, this class is probably one of the most unique spell-casters out there, keep up the good work, If their was ever a 2nd 5e players handbook, a great deal of your classes should be included, as well as some from Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co, and the Tarrochi class, you should also check that out as well, unique spellcasters seem to be your thing
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Customer avatar
Ross L January 06, 2018 5:22 am UTC
CREATOR
My pleasure! And thank you for your kind words.

I and the rest of OAP have indeed checked out the Tarrochi and SVAC's stuff! We *adore* the Pugilist and Magus, as well as a great number of SVAC's races. The Tarrochi is certainly cool, but has a little too much bookkeeping and external requirements for our tastes, though that shouldn't take away at all from how amazingly balanced and unique the Tarrochi is! Alex Tanner, the Tarrochi's creator, is an incredibly creative homebrewer, and his work has even inspired some of OAP's content (our Elementalist class was heavily inspired by his Lacer class from Incarnate: Last of the Lacers!).

It's funny you should say that unique spellcasters are our thing, given that the Odic is actually our only full-progression spellcasting class at this time. We do have several half-casters - the Sculptor, Elementalist, and Justiciar (which is a Pact Magic-style half-caster) - but we also have several martial-style classes into which little to no spells are...See more
Customer avatar
Brad R December 05, 2017 4:06 am UTC
PURCHASER
Question: which Magus class is the Give Life cantrip for? Is this a class you haven't released yet?
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Customer avatar
Ross L December 08, 2017 2:46 am UTC
CREATOR
It actually isn't our class at all, but the fantastic Magus by Sterling Vermin Adventuring Company! I highly recommend it: http://www.dmsguild.com/product/200237/the-Magus-Class
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This title was added to our catalog on October 13, 2017.