Mesmer (5e Class)
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This page is of questionable balance. Reason: Half casters shouldn't gain spells at 13th and 17th level, and most of the times, shouldn't gain at 9th level also
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Mesmer
As the city guard burst into a tavern, the gnome they are seeking sits patiently at the bar paying them no heed. As the soldiers proceed to attempt to capture their prey, the gnome shatters into fractals as a cloaked figure exits the bar in the confusion. A masked figure stands between bandits and their targeted village. Seemingly without cause more masked figures appear out of thin air by their side and charge the bandits. An elven woman cries out in pain watching as an arrow slays her friend. Her friend then seems to rise up as time is reround and the arrows dissipates to mist. Mesmers are masters of mirage. They weave deception magic that seeks to confound, disorient and dumbfound their enemies. With a wave of the hand, they can shatter their own illusions to produce even greater special effects. Mesmers are magical duelists who wield deception as a weapon. Using powerful illusions, clones, and phantasmal magic to confuse and distract their foes, mesmers make sure every fight is balanced in their favor and their opponents can’t believe their eyes.
Creating a Mesmer
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| https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mesmer |
Why did you decide to become an adventurer? How did you get the powers of the mesmer, where you taught at a school, self-taught, or was the way of the mesmer passed down to you from someone? Is there a reason why you choose the way of the mesmer? Are you not confident in yourself, did you have experience with illusion magic growing up, or do you just want to trick and deceive others?
- Quick Build
You can make a mesmer quickly by following these suggestions. First, Charisma should be your highest ability score, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the charlatan background.
Class Features
Class Features
As a Mesmer you gain the following class features.
- Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per Mesmer level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + Constitution modifier per Mesmer level after 1st
- Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, longsword, rapier, shortsword
Tools: Artisan's tools and Thieves tools
Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
Skills: Arcana. Choose 3 from Deception, Investigation, Insight, Perception, Persuasion, or History
- Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- leather armor
- (a) quarterstaff or (b) longsword
- (a) shortsword or (b) two daggers
- Everburning torch
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Illusion | Features | Cantrips Known | Spells known | —Spell Slots per Spell Level— | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | ||||||
| 1st | +2 | 1 | Illusions, Soul Mask | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2nd | +2 | 1 | Illusion Archetype | 2 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 3rd | +2 | 1 | Fighting style | 2 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 4th | +2 | 1 | Ability Score Improvement | 3 | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 5th | +3 | 1 | Tactical Approach | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 6th | +3 | 1 | Archetype feature, Soul Mask enhancement | 3 | 7 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 7th | +3 | 1 | Total Recall | 3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 8th | +3 | 2 | Ability Score Improvement, Illusion increase | 3 | 9 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 9th | +4 | 2 | Blink | 3 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
| 10th | +4 | 2 | Archetype feature | 4 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
| 11th | +4 | 2 | Illusionary Double | 4 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — |
| 12th | +4 | 2 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — |
| 13th | +5 | 2 | Phase Retreat | 4 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — |
| 14th | +5 | 2 | Archetype feature, Soul Mask enhancement | 4 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — |
| 15th | +5 | 3 | Inspiration, Illusion increase | 4 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 16th | +5 | 3 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 17th | +6 | 3 | Complete Focus | 4 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | 3 | Changing Appearance | 4 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | 3 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | 3 | All for One, One for All | 4 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Illusions
Starting at 1st level, you can make an illusionary copy of yourself as an action. You must maintain concentration as if it were a spell.
- Illusions can spawn to a distance of 5 feet times half of your Mesmer level, but they cannot travel farther than 90 feet from you. This lasts for 3 rounds, or when they drop to zero hit points. Their existence can be extended if you spend a bonus action in doing so.
- Your illusion's Armor Class is equal to your AC during the time you summoned them; they will always have 1 hit point.
- Illusions have their own set of actions. They use the same attack roll, but roll damage individually. However, any bonuses given to you does not apply to them, and magical items turn into its mundane counterpart instead (e.g. legendary sword becomes a normal sword, a healing potion becomes an empty flask, a grimoire becomes an unwritten book). If they use weapons with ammunition, the ammo disappears after use.
- They are able to pass through each other, but not through walls and other solid objects.
- They are considered as magical, but they cannot cast spells. They can be dispelled by a dispel magic spell so long as the caster targets you instead of your illusions. The DC is your Spell Save DC.
- When outside of combat, your illusions can attempt to support a creature from doing skill checks under Strength, Dexterity, or Charisma. The target creature gets an advantage to their roll regardless of how many illusions are participating. Illusions does not grant advantages with skill checks under Constitution, Wisdom, and Intelligence.
- Allies cannot heal the illusions nor give buffs to increase their maximum Hit Points by any means, but they can grant them Temporary Hit Points and other bonuses instead. However, they can only benefit half (rounded down, minimum of 1) from its effects.
The number of illusions that can be created at a time starts at 1, is then increased to 3 at 8th level, and 5 at 15th level. More than 1 illusion can be summoned with the same action.
A creature can not tell the difference between you and your illusions unless it passes an Intelligence saving throw against your Spell save DC.
Alternative: The creature must roll a Wisdom saving throw against your Spell save DC. On a fail, assign a number on yourself and your illusions, then roll a dice of that many numbers. As long as the dice doesn't land on your assigned number, other creatures will continue to target the illusions.
Spellcasting
See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting.
- Mesmer's Arcane Knowledge
Balancing their martial training, the Mesmer learns spells from the wizard spell list, but is limited to casting spells in the Enchantment, Illusion, and Transmutation spell schools.
- Cantrips
At 1st level, you know two cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn additional wizard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Mesmer table.
- Spell Slots
The Mesmer table shows how many spell slots you have per level. To cast one of these Mesmer spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
- Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is the spellcasting ability modifier for your spells, since the power of your spells relies on your mental ability. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability modifier. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the Spell Saving DC and Spell attack bonus of your abilities.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Spell attack modifier= your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Soul Mask
Starting at 1st level, you gain a soul mask that functions as a magical headpiece which cannot be attuned to anyone other than yourself. Upon creating your mask, you determine the appearance of your mask when unequipped. While wearing the mask, it appears to blur with your face, faintly enhancing or adding features to your appearance.
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Harlequin's smile
At 1st level, you can select a Charisma based skill and add proficiency in that skill, or expertise if you are already proficient in it.
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Phantasm of sorrow
Upon reaching 6th level, you can elect to either gain proficiency (or expertise if relevant) in another Charisma based skill, or gain advantage on roll checks of a previously chosen skill.
Alternative: You can choose to prolong your illusions from 12 seconds (2 turns) to 18 seconds (3 turns) instead.
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Fanged dread
Upon reaching 14th level, you can elect to either gain proficiency (or expertise if relevant) in another Charisma based skill, or gain advantage on roll checks of a previously chosen skill.
Alternative: You can choose to gain advantage in your Constitution saving throw instead.
| All mask sources at |
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| https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mesmer |
Illusion Archetype
At 2nd level, you must choose an archetype between Torchbearer and Phantom. You gain features at 2nd, 6th, 10th, and 14th levels.
Fighting Style
At 3rd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again. Your illusions gain the benefits of fighting style.
Archery
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
Defense
While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Dueling
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls
with that weapon.
Great Weapon Fighting
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you
make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
Two-Weapon Fighting
When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add
your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Ability Score Increase
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of you choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Tactical Approach
You improve to utilize the effectiveness of your illusions. Starting at 5th level, your illusions has the following abilities and can only be used once until a short rest.
Shatter
You can make your active illusions explode with psychic energy. As an action or reaction, creatures take 1d4 + Charisma mod psychic damage from each illusion adjacent to them. The damage increases to 3d4 at 10th level and 4d4 at 15th level, and 5d4 at 20th level. After this ability is cast, the illusions count as being reduced to zero hit points and disappear.
Group Hug
As an action, adjacent illusions from you can group together to form a defensive stance, increasing your AC for the next incoming attack roll, as seen on the chart below. By doing so, the attacking creature will automatically pass the check of discerning the illusions from you. Regardless if you are hit or not, your illusions count as being reduced to zero hit points and disappear on the start of your next turn.
Helping Hands
As an action, you can direct your illusions to hold their own action and assist you or another creature from doing skill checks or saving throws under Strength, Dexterity, or Charisma. Your target creature gains advantage (as stated in Illusions feat), and gains bonus increase depending on the number of participating illusions, as seen on the chart below. While your illusions focus on this task, they cannot do any other actions or bonus actions.
| # of participating illusions | bonus increase |
|---|---|
| 1 | +1 |
| 2 | +1 |
| 3 | +2 |
| 4 | +2 |
| 5 | +3 |
Total Recall
Starting at 7th level, you can spend an action to recall the illusions to your side. The illusions will teleport, preventing any attacks of opportunity against them. So long as the illusions have not done their turn yet, they can spend their actions as normal. This can be countered by a counterspell against your Spell save DC.
Blink
Starting at 9th level, you can blink to one of your illusion's side as long as you can see it. The blink counts as a teleportation, preventing attacks of opportunity against you. This ability can be cast a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and all casts are restored after a short rest.
Illusionary Double
Starting at 11th level, if an ally within 10 feet of you is about to be hit with an attack, you can use your reaction to cause them to blink 5 feet and create an illusionary double in the ally's place, causing the attack to automatically miss. However, if you are within melee range of a creature, they can make an opportunity against you, as you have taken your focus off of your opponent to help your ally, leaving you vulnerable. You must complete a short or long rest in order to use this feature again.
Phase Retreat
You learn to act quickly to escape deadly situations. Starting at 13th level, you can use a reaction to negate a fatal damage and Blink away (subtract this from your number of Blink you can do). The attack's damage is reduced to zero and you teleport 5 x (1d6 + your Charisma modifier) feet away. You regain use of this feature after you finish a long rest.
Enduring Image
Starting at 15th level, you have practiced to hold your concentration better, even in the hardest of times. As a reaction, you can choose to spend three hit dies to keep one illusion from disappearing unwillingly, maintaining any buffs applied to that illusion. Additionally, you gain +2 bonus in your Constitution saving throws for every three hit dies spent, and lasts for 1 hour.
Complete Focus
Starting at 17th level, you gain an extra attack as long as all five of your illusions are targeting the same creature as you are.
Changing Appearance
Starting at 18th level, a mesmer may always have the spell disguise self on themselves. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell.
All for One, One for All
Starting at 20th level, your connection to your illusions has been perfected. Once per round, whenever you would take damage, you can make a reaction to swap places with one of your illusions causing them to take the damage instead. You can only do this in a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. If no illusions are available, then this feat has no effect.
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| https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:The_Mesmer |
Torchbearer
Trained in deceiving the senses of others, the torchbearer is able to use the lights of a flame to create a magic weapon that can both burn their foes physically and mentally.
Torch Weapon
Starting at 2nd level, while wielding a torch a mesmer can cast an illusion on it as a bonus action once per turn. This illusion makes the torch turn into any one handed weapon the mesmer is proficient in. Any torch weapon is counted as a magic weapon. The bonus to attack and damage rolls is equal to half your proficiency bonus, rounded down. An illusion created while the mesmer is wielding the torch weapon copies the enchantment.
Manifest in the Flame
Starting at 6th level, while wielding a torch a mesmer can; once per turn, produce a burst of flame up to the size of a campfire within 10 feet or mold a campfire sized size of flame within line of sight into any shape until the mesmer stops concentrating on the flame. Nothing you create can deal damage, serve as a weapon or a tool, or hinder another creature's actions.(GM's discretion)
Burning Psyche
Starting at 10th level, while wielding a torch all sources of a mesmer's psychic damage deal an additional 1d4 fire damage. In addition, attacks with the torch weapon now deal an extra 2d6 fire damage.
The Prestige
Starting at 14th level, while wielding a torch a mesmer can use an action to gain invisibility and invulnerability for one round. If the mesmer does not end their turn in an open square, the effect is dispelled. At the start of the mesmer's next turn all foes adjacent to the mesmer take 3d8 fire damage. This ability can be cast a number of times equal to your Spell Ability modifier and all casts are restored after a long rest. Illusions can only use this ability if they are wielding the torch weapon. If a illusion uses the ability it counts toward the cast limit.
Phantom
Having mastered the creation of illusory clones, the phantom has also learned to wield the shadows of their illusions to aid them in combat.
Phantom Strike
Starting at 2nd level, you can send forth a phantasm to strike your enemies from afar. As a bonus action, your melee reach becomes equal to a number of feet equal to 5 x your spellcasting ability modifier. This ability can be used a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of one), and you regain all uses of this feature after you finish a short or long rest. Alternatively, you can choose to command your illusions to deliver the attack instead.
Dueling
Starting at 6th level, once per round when a mesmer or one of its illusions is attacked with a melee weapon, a phantom weapon is summoned to parry the attack. Add 1d4 to the mesmer's AC when being attacked by a melee weapon.
Phantom Butterflies
Starting at 10th level, a mesmer's illusions passively generate phantom butterflies. The mesmer can now see and gain line of sight from the perspective of its illusions, and is able to cast spells with an illusion as the point of origin for the spell.
Deja Vu
Starting at 14th level, you can summon phantoms to repeat events. When you or your illusions make a hit, the damage is doubled.
Whenever your illusions do Helping Hands, the target creature gains twice of the additional bonus.
Multiclassing
Prerequisites. To qualify for multiclassing into the Mesmer class, you must meet these prerequisites: 13 Constitution and 13 Charisma.
Proficiencies. When you multiclass into the Mesmer class, you gain the following proficiencies: light armor, longsword, and rapier.
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