New Spells: Steam Hydromancies
This content can now be found at its most updated version in The Elements and Beyond, a free 246-page compendium that you can download right here, filled with 23 subclasses, 8 spellcasting feats, 134 spells, 213 spell variants, 85 monsters, 30 magic items, 4 races plus 12 new subraces each with racial feats, and even more goodies for both players and DMs!
Art Credit: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rPdJJ
Today's spells are Hydromancy spells, which means that they appear on the spell list for the new Hydromancer feat in the compendium, and they thus activate the feat's special abilities. These feats are designed, among other things, to unify thematic concepts that can stretch across multiple damage types, making other forms of conventional specialization (such as damage type synergies) less resonant for these things. Steam spells are a great example, as they deal fire damage but they appear on the Hydromancy spell list (which also contains spells that deal bludgeoning damage, cold damage, and more) and not on the Pyromancy spell list (also new in the compendium), which doesn't necessarily contain every spell that deals the fire damage type. With more elemental spells available to players who use the compendium than ever before, and with many of them combining elemental effects (like the new 7th-level primordial tides spell and its elemental waves), the distinction is important!
Steam Strike is a simple spell to combine damage and the blinded condition by going for your opponent's eyes, and it comes with a few fun damage variants for other damage types that could do the same. Note that because the blinded effect is not a magical effect and doesn't have a duration, a staggeringly high spell save DC can blind targets pseudo-permanently if the target cannot succeed on the Constitution saving throw, though the blinded condition would still be easily removed by a casting of lesser restoration. Scalding Sphere on the other hand is a more complex spell for thoroughly locking down a single target and boiling them alive -- even raising them into the air for extra control and dramatic effect. While the spell can be as difficult to escape once caught within it as evard's black tentacles which shares the escape mechanic, it also requires the target to fail a Dexterity saving throw and does nothing but ~10 fire damage on a failure. This 6th-level spell will require you to invest your spell slot with some risk, but it can sure pay off.
This preview comes straight from The Elements and Beyond, continuing the trend of recent previews. One of the three upcoming compendiums planned, The Elements and Beyond is focused on not just the classic four elements, but the powers of the natural world and the planes surrounding it, and will contain not just dozens of new spells, but spellcaster specialization feats like the Hydromancer feat, new subclasses, and even races like the Pixie!
PDF Link / D&D Beyond Links: Steam Strike, Scalding Sphere, Sun Strike, Vitriolic Spray
