this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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What?
Wizards can choose two spells each level without having to find them.
I think all that falls under "at my table"
Well, no, since it's a clearly written class feature that doesn't mention anything to do with DM discretion. Except in the sense that everything is DM discretion, but in that case discussing any rules at all is pointless.
Remind me, what's Rule #1?
See the second sentence.
"This is my house rule."
"You can't do that! Unless it's some kind of house rule!"
If the possibility of such drastic house rules have to be accounted for it's not really possible to discuss balance.
I think "go on a quest for new spells" is infinitely more interesting than "the spells get teleported into your brain somehow, just don't think about it"
That's
...almost entirely unrelated to what I said?
Only dealing with the L10 scenario.
(1) You get to choose two new spells at level up, in addition to those you find elsewhere. Assuming your DM hasn't restricted sourcebooks.
(2) This is where catnap is required. It shortens a short rest to ten minutes (at the cost of an L3 slot). This allows you to create new motes before the previous ones have expired.
(3) the motes are being triggered by familiars, who can become the concentration holder. How do you get that many familiars? Well, you give your familiar motes with Find Familiar and have them crush them.
Furthermore, each familiar can then dismiss their familiar to their pocket dimension for unbreakable concentration.
Everything works, rules as written. Broken? Yes.
I agree. It's very situational, requires huge investment in prep, an extra five slots (for catnap), familiars all ready to go, probably a surprise round to get all the spells off together, and a bunch of other insane ideal circumstances. A smart enemy wouldn't be caught flat-footed like that either.
The less broken things are just to give your other party members their own familiar, give other party members a single wizard self buff (like Shadow Blade), or combat cast something like Leomunds Tiny Hut. All of which requires downtime or precombat prep.
Wizards are broken in general. This one is just more broken than others.
L15 scenario. The above are two entirely separate scenarios -- I was not assuming two chronomancers in the same party.
Let's simplify this from an action economy perspective so we aren't running into the reaction limits. Let's assuming combat lasts four rounds, and on each of the first three rounds, you cast Polymorph (killer whale), and use your Chronal Shift to force a reroll if they save, generally with the goal of burning legendary resistances. Obviously this works better with a bigger party casting save or suck, to burn them faster (you can only Chronal Shift once per round though) or you can use the L10 trick above if well prepared. Great, in the fourth round, you cast Polymorph (killer whale) again and force them to fail the save as a reaction. Take one point of exhaustion. Easy enough, right?
Well, magic jar is fun, but requires serious prep to reduce the risks. An L15 wizard should already have a lair where they can leave their body safely, and they'd need to capture their target and bring them to their lair. This is why I chose L15 for this scenario instead of L14, because you need access to the spell. Assuming your wizard has a Researcher background or something (so you can handwave the meta), you can use locate person to find a CR12 Duergar Despot who has immunity to exhaustion. They exist in Forgotten Realms at least. Your DM might rule they don't exist, and then you'll have a harder time finding a humanoid immune to exhaustion to capture to magic jar into. That whole capture scenario would be an amazing multi-session mini-arc.
So worst case scenario, the DM says such a target doesn't exist. Well, then you have to wait until L17 to pull this shit off. True Polymorph can create a humanoid that is immune to exhaustion (there are dozens of them!) to create a magic jar target. Or you can use Wish (also broken) to summon such a creature, or simply wish yourself immune to exhaustion.
I mean, if you're an L17 wizard, you're basically god anyway. But the Chronomancer can pull off godhood at L15 if they can become immune to exhaustion with magic jar.
Even at L14, with the exhaustion penalty, it's stupidly strong.
Side note: killer whale is my go to. It's huge, thus hard to carry away by minions; has a huge bag of hitpoints, hard for minions to slap once to return back to BBEG form; and has a speed of zero on land. A good BBEG will have contingencied dimension door or something, so it isn't foolproof. You can try to trap them in Mordenkainens Magnificent Mansion or something that prevents escape through teleportation, but that adds another layer.
Did I mention that wizards are broken?
And different people play for different reasons. When I'm DMing, I'd be tickled pink that the player is engaging with the world, attempting to shape it, and not just riding the rails. When I'm playing, I select tables where sandboxes are encouraged.
Party wants to build a lair? DM brain wheels turning... I'm going to run a tower defense scenario or two! That'll be epic for them! Clearly a rival mad mage doesn't like them encroaching on his monopoly on lairs in this forest... Or whatever.
There's a lot of spells in the game that have things like: if cast every day for a year. How the hell are players in an urgent scenario ever going to cast Teleportation Circle in their lair for a year? Nevermind the thousands of gold that'll cost. If the player comes to me with a plan though, Imma roll with it, throw up some obstacles, toss some roleplayer scenarios in, maybe have the BBEG find out about their plans and attempt to disrupt, etc. And after handwaving some downtime, and rewarding them with their permanent circle in their lair, everyone will have had a great time :)