Conduits

The half-elf extended his hand, and the glowing stone winked out, the light traveling into his arm. With a flourish, he became the light he controlled, zipping down the cave at blinding speed. As he passed the city gate, he fired off a series of laser bolts at the undead guards, felling each.

The dragonborn laughed from the top of the cliff, his assailants gathering below. With a leap, he raised his fist and fell from the heavens, fire trailing from his smoking arm. He landed with an explosion. Though his body was initially nowhere to be found, the smoldering ashes coalesced into his form once more. His chuckling, head-shaking form, with bodies littering the floor around him.

The woman closed her eyes, aware of every being in the room. When her eyes couldn’t be trusted, it was better to see with her mind. Her assailant was running. She could feel his fear. She dashed over to the invisible man, grasped his head, and sucked the thoughts from his brain. She opened her eyes just in time to see him reappear as the last spark jumped from his head to her hand and he fell lifeless to the ground.

The halfling grunted as she flew across the room. That punch had hit her hard! Oh well. Time to punch back. She smirked as her fist became stone, striking the bugbear with strength far greater than her size would suggest. Now it was his turn to fly. The halfling coated herself in stone and dashed over to the fallen bugbear within an eyeblink, then bashed his head in with both fists. Yes sir, she did hate bugbears.

Magic of the Mundane

Conduits, like Sorcerers, are powerful simply because they were born that way. Unlike Sorcerers, Conduits aren't linked to magic as a whole, but instead are magically linked to an ambient, normally mundane, element. Most are able to project this element, and some can temporarily alter the composition of their bodies to adopt physical characteristics of it.

Physically Superior

In addition to their elemental manipulation powers, Conduits also exhibit extremely enhanced physical capabilities. They can endure and rapidly recover from injuries that would be fatal or crippling to a normal being. This results in a nearly-unstoppable combination of tanklike endurance and limitless power.

Rare and Feared

Very few carry the genetic abnormality that creates Conduits, and the power that makes them special can be terrifying to those that are without. With no one to "show them the ropes," they often grow up alone. Ironically, this usually makes them stronger, teaching them to improvise to survive.

Creating a Conduit

When creating your Conduit, consider how your powers affected your life. When were they discovered? Were you outed by someone in the town? Were you an outcast, doomed to walk the wastes on your own, or were you a hero, praised for your miraculous deeds? How did you react to seeing your powers? Did you study them; were you afraid of them, or just glad to have them?

Think about what led you to adventure. Was it because the town was too restrictive for you? Did you want to grow your powers? Did you have a desire to fight for "the greater good," or did you see yourself as the ultimate authority and seek to bend populations to your will? Because of their augmented capabilities, Conduits often tend toward such extremes, but you might feel forced into the adventuring life whilst wanting a normal one.

Conduits are often the centers of conflict and are usually forced to pick a side, so neutral Conduits are very rare; although their lust for freedom typically manifests itself in a more chaotic alignment.

Quick Build

You can make a Conduit quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Charisma or Dexterity your highest ability score, depending on whether you want to focus on spellcasting or your Conduit Shot in combat. Your next-highest score should be Constitution, as that will increase your survivability as well as your Power Well once you reach level 20. Second, choose either the Hermit or the Folk Hero background.

Class Features

As a Conduit, you gain the following features:

Hit Points

---

• Hit Points: 1d8 per Conduit level
• Hit Points at First Level: 8 + Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + Consitution modifier

Proficiencies

---

• Armor: Light armor, shields
• Weapons: Simple weapons, improvised weapons
• Tools: None

---

• Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
• Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Acrobatics, Intimidation, Survival, and Arcana

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a dungeoneer's pack (b) an explorer's pack
• (a) light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
• An improvised weapon bearing resemblance to a weapon that you are proficient with and a shield.

---

Conduit Material

You are a conduit of power for a certain material: Light, Electricity, Smoke, or Stone. This choice determines your Conduit Spell List and Conduit Damage Type. It also grants you additional features immediately and at level 6, level 10, and level 14.

Conduit Resilience

Your connection to your Conduit Material allows you to shrug off injury.

While not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You may have a shield equipped and still gain this benefit.

Alternatively, you may use your Constitution Modifier in place of your Dexterity Modifier when determining your AC while wearing light or medium armor that you are proficient in. When wearing medium armor, restrictions on how much can be added to your AC from your Dexterity still apply when using Constitution instead.

Material Casting

Beginning at 2nd level, you draw the bulk of your power from a well within yourself that you replenish by drawing power from your Conduit Material. This well is represented by a pool of points called your “Power Well.” You can hold a maximum number of these points equal to your Conduit level. You replenish points equal to half your maximum, rounded down, automatically after you finish a long rest that you end with no points of exhaustion, and regain all points when you gain a level in this class. You can also use an action to drain a nonmagical source within 5 feet and replenish a portion of your Well. The amount of points gained this way is at the DM’s discretion (Suggested amounts in the table below), but you can only gain a maximum of points per round equal to the maximum number of points you can spend on a spell, and you can't do this on the same turn you cast a spell or spend points from your Power Well in any other way. Sources drained in this way are depleted*; Torches go out, ponds are emptied, and caves are widened. You must wait 24 hours to drain a source that you create with a Conduit spell, such as with the “create or destroy water” spell.

Source Size	Total Points Stored
Tiny	2
Small	4
Medium	7
Large	11
Huge	16
Gargantuan	25

A note on draining power: extremely large sources (such as the ocean) cannot be completely drained in a normal lifetime. It is highly advised that DMs not allow a water Conduit to become ageless. Also, THE SUN IS NOT ANYWHERE NEAR 5 FEET FROM ANYONE. IT IS NOT A SOURCE.

Casting Conduit Spells. You cast your Conduit spells not through spell slots, but through the points in your Power Well. To cast a Conduit spell, you must expend a number of points equal to the spell’s level. You may expend more points to increase the spell’s level, but the maximum number of points you may spend on a Conduit Spell is determined by your Conduit Level, as shown in the Conduit Class Table.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher. You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from your Conduit Type spell list. The Spells Known column of the Conduit table shows when you learn more Conduit spells of your choice. Each of those spells must be of a level at or below the maximum number of points you can spend on a Conduit Spell. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one or more of the Conduit spells you already know and replace it with another spell from your Conduit Type spell list. The new spell(s) must also be of a level you can cast.

Spellcasting Ability. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your Conduit Spells, since the strength of your magic depends on your own confidence in you abilities. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma Modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a Conduit spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spellcasting Focus You are your own spellcasting focus for your Conduit Spells, so you don’t need to provide material components unless a gp value is specified for a given material.

Conduit Strike

Also at 2nd level, your connection to your Conduit Material allows you to imbue your melee attacks with its energies. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can expend points from your power well to deal extra damage in your Conduit Damage Type to the target, in addition to the attack's damage. The extra damage is 1d8 per point spent. You may only spend a maximum number of points on a Conduit Strike that you would be able to spend on a Conduit Spell.

Beginning at 15th level, your attacks are always imbued with power. You add your Charisma Modifier in your Conduit Damage Type to the damage you deal with a melee attack.

Fast Healing

Beginning at 3rd level, your connection to your Conduit Material allows you to heal from minor injuries. On your turn, you may use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d8 + your Conduit level. Once you do so, you must finish a short or long rest to do so again.

In addition, whenever you use your action to drain a Conduit Power Source, you regain hit points equal to number of the points drained.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your 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.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you may attack twice, instead of once, when you take the Attack action on your turn.

Glide

Beginning at 7th level, you’ve learned to harness the power of your Conduit Material to hold you aloft. When you would fall, you may instead use your reaction to glide. This causes you to fall only up to your movement speed until the start of your next turn. While falling in this manner, you may move 5 ft horizontally for every 5 ft you fall. If you land on a surface while using this feature, you do not take any fall damage or fall prone as a result of falling.

Comet Rush

Beginning at 11th level, you have learned to make yourself like a star falling from the sky. You may use your action to move in a straight line to a target, to a maximum of twice your movement.

The target must make a dexterity saving throw. If they fail, they take 1d6 damage of your Conduit Damage Type for every 10 feet moved during this action, and fall prone. If they succeed, they take half damage and remain standing. If the distance moved is twenty or more feet, targets within a 5' radius must make the same Dexterity saving throw. If the distance moved is forty or more feet, the radius increases by an additional 5'.

When you Comet Rush, your body turns into your conduit material when you reach your target and then reforms in front of them immediately after. This is stressful for your body. You take 1d6 necrotic damage for every 10 feet traveled minus 1.5 times your conduit level, rounded down.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Damage Absorption

Beginning at level 18, whenever you are hit with a spell or an attack that would deal your Conduit Damage Type to you while you are not surprised, you instead gain hit points equal to half the damage dealt, and may use your reaction to drain the attack as if it were a Conduit Power Source, adding points to your Power Well equal to the damage dealt. You can gain more points through this feature than would normally be allowed, but you may still not have more points in your Power Well than your maximum.

Prime Conduit

When you have reached 20th level, you have mastered your abilities and deepened your Power Well. The maximum points you may have in your Power Well is determined by your Conduit Level + your Constitution modifier.

Conduit Materials

Light

Light Spell List

---

• 1st-Level Spells: Color Spray, Disguise Self, Faerie Fire, Guiding Bolt, Longstrider, Silent Image
• 2nd-Level Spells: Blur, Branding Smite, Darkness, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Moonbeam, See Invisibility
• 3rd-Level Spells: Blinding Smite, Crusader’s Mantle, Daylight, Haste, Major Image
• 4th-Level Spells: Greater Invisibility, Guardian of Faith, Hallucinatory Terrain, Phantasmal Killer
• 5th-Level Spells Bigby’s Hand, Mislead, Photon Beam, Seeming

Conduit Damage Type

Your Conduit Damage Type is Radiant. If a Conduit spell you cast allows you to choose a damage type, you must choose radiant when available.

Brightshot

As a Light Conduit, you can manifest the light you are connected with in different ways.

As a bonus action, you can cause your eyes and forearms to glow red, blue, yellow, green, or white, shedding bright light in a 20 foot radius around you and dim light for another 20 feet. Doing this, however, makes it harder for you to hide. You have disadvantage on all Dexterity (Stealth) checks you make while manifesting your light in this way. You may stop this effect as a bonus action. At 6th level, you gain access to the Dancing Lights cantrip.

Additionally, you have a ranged spell attack that you can use with the Attack action. The attack has a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add your Dexterity modifier to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is radiant, and its damage die is a d4. This die changes as you gain Conduit levels, as shown in the Conduit Shot column of the Conduit table.

Beginning at level 2, when you use the Attack action on your turn to use this special attack, you can spend 1 point from your Power Well to make two additional attacks with it as a bonus action.

Lightspeed

Beginning at 6th level, Your connection to light allows you to move at an incredible pace when you will it. You may take the Dash action as a bonus action. Additionally, whenever you take the Dash action, you turn into a bolt of light, gaining a bonus to your base movement speed equal to the number in the Unarmored Movement column of the Monk table that corresponds with your Conduit level, provided you are unarmored.

Beginning at level 14, whenever you take the Dash action, you may run along vertical surfaces on your turn without falling during the move.

Infrasight

Beginning at 10th level, You are so infused with light, your eyes emit and sense wavelengths others cannot. You can see normally up to 120 feet in all light conditions, including complete darkness, provided it isn’t magical.

Smoke

Smoke Spell List

---

• 1st-Level Spells: Burning Hands, Chromatic Orb, Fog Cloud, Hellish Rebuke, Rocket Leap, Searing Smite
• 2nd-Level Spells: Aganazzar’s Scorcher, Darkvision, Flame Blade, Flaming Sphere, Heat Metal, Pyrotechnics, Scorching Ray
• 3rd-Level Spells: Elemental Weapon, Fireball, Flame Arrows, Gaseous Form, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Stinking Cloud
• 4th-Level Spells: Fire Shield, Wall of Fire

---

• 5th-Level Spells Cloudkill, Flame Strike, Immolation, Reincarnate

Conduit Damage Type

Your Conduit Damage Type is fire. If a Conduit Spell that deals damage allows you to choose a damage type, you must choose fire.

Cindershot

As a Smoke Conduit, you may manifest your connection with heat and smoke in different ways.

As a bonus action, you can manifest your smoke on your eyes and forearms, causing them to glow a flickering orange and smoke to flow off of them in tendrils, shedding dim light and heat as if from a small campfire in a 10 foot radius around you. You may stop this effect as a bonus action. At 6th level, you gain access to the Fire Bolt cantrip.

Additionally, you have a ranged spell attack that you can use with the Attack action. The attack has a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add your Dexterity modifier to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is fire, and its damage die is a d4. This die changes as you gain Conduit levels, as shown in the Conduit Shot column of the Conduit table.

Beginning at level 2, when you use the Attack action on your turn to use this special attack, you can spend 1 point from your Power Well to make two additional attacks with it as a bonus action.

Smoke Doppelganger

Beginning at 6th level, as an action, you can cloak yourself in smoke and split your form in two. You create a Smoke duplicate indistinguishable from your real form that lasts for 1 minute, or until you lose concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The smoke double zooms from your form to an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the double to up to 30 feet to a space you can see, but it must remain within 120 feet of you.

For the duration, you can cast spells as though you were in the double’s space, but you must use your own senses. Additionally, when both you and your double are within 5 feet of a creature that can see the double, you have advantage on attack rolls against that creature, given how distracting the double is to the target.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest in order to use it again.

Smoke Dash

Beginning at 10th level, you turn yourself into smoke to get into (or out of) places you shouldn’t be able to whenever you take the Dash action. When doing so, you may ignore obstructions that are not air-tight. For example, you may twist around creatures, slide under doors, and slip between bars of a cage.

You may not go around or over an obstruction whose only opening is beyond 5 feet away from the line you would travel in, nor can you go through a barrier that prevents magical entry.

Phoenix Rising

Beginning at level 14, your attunement with smoke and flame has become so acute that you can burst from your own ashes. When you die for the first time that day, you crumble into ash and cinder. The next round on your turn, your ashes coalesce once more into your form, and you burst with fiery energy. You regain one hit point, regain one use of Fast Healing if you have none, and are standing. Each creature within a 20-foot radius must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, they take 4d6 + your Constitution Modifier in fire damage and are knocked prone, and on a successful save they take half damage and remain standing.

Once you have used this feature, you may not use it again for 30 days.

Electricity

Electricity Spell List

---

• 1st-Level Spells: Catapult, Compelled Duel, Feather Fall, Hunter’s Mark, Thunderous Smite, Thunderwave, Witch Bolt
• 2nd-Level Spells: Beast Sense, Blindness/Deafness, Calm Emotions, Detect Thoughts, Hold Person, Suggestion
• 3rd-Level Spells: Call Lightning, Elemental Weapon, Lightning Arrow, Lightning Bolt, Revivify, Speak with Dead
• 4th-Level Spells: Compulsion, Confusion, Dominate Beast, Fabricate, Storm Sphere
• 5th-Level Spells Dominate Person, Hold Monster, Modify Memory, Rary’s Telepathic Bond, Telekinesis

Conduit Damage Type

Your Conduit Damage Type is lightning. If a spell allows you to choose a damage type, you must choose lightning when available.

Zapshot

As an Electric Conduit, you can manifest the electricity you are connected with in different ways.

As a bonus action, you can cause your forearms to be covered in flickering red or blue electricity, shedding flickering dim light in a 10 foot radius around you. You may stop this effect as a bonus action.

Additionally, you have a ranged spell attack that you can use with the Attack action. The attack has a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add your Dexterity modifier to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is lightning, and its damage die is a d4. This die changes as you gain Conduit levels, as shown in the Conduit Shot column of the Conduit table.

Beginning at level 2, when you use the Attack action on your turn to use this special attack, you can spend 1 point from your Power Well to make two additional attacks with it as a bonus action.

Neuroelectric Siphon

Your power comes from electric energy, and there is plenty of that in the brain. Beginning at 6th level, you can drain the neuroelectric energy from incapacitated creatures that you can touch and that have a brain as if they were a Conduit power source.

To do so, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw. Creatures immune to necrotic damage automatically succeed this saving throw. If they fail, they take necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Conduit level, rounded down, their maximum hit points are reduced by the amount of damage they took, and if they took all of the damage, you gain one point in your Power Well. A creature that has its hitpoint maximum reduced to 0 by this feature dies outright.

In addition, you can drain the residual neuroelectric energies of recently dead creatures. Any creature with a brain that has died within the last 10 minutes are considered a power source for you and have a total number of points that can be drained equal to the Intelligence score they had while living.

Electrolocation

Beginning at 10th level, you frequently send out pulses of electric energy and can sense the area around you based on how much is reflected back to you and how quickly. You have blindsight up to 30 feet.

Electromagnetic Interference

Beginning at level 14, you may, as a bonus action, start or stop emanating an aura of interference to a radius of 30 feet. When doing so, Divination magics that would reveal information about a creature, object, or location within that radius reveal only static, and creatures cannot teleport into or out of that radius.

Stone

Stone Spell List

---

• 1st-Level Spells: Earth Tremor, Hail of Thorns, Mage Armor, Shield of Faith, Jump, Wrathful Smite
• 2nd-Level Spells: Dust Devil, Earthbind, Levitate, Maximillian’s Earthen Grasp, Pass Without Trace, Spike Growth
• 3rd-Level Spells: Conjure Barrage, Elemental Weapon, Erupting Earth, Meld into Stone, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Freedom of Movement
• 4th-Level Spells: Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum, Staggering Smite, Stone Shape, Stoneskin
• 5th-Level Spells Passwall, Swift Quiver, Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone

Conduit Damage Type

Your Conduit Damage Type is Bludgeoning

Aspect of Stone

Whenever you cast a Conduit spell, the effect is caused by stone that comes from your form. As a result, any Conduit Spell of first level or higher that you cast that would deal a damage type other than piercing or slashing instead deals bludgeoning damage, and if you are given a choice of damage types, you must choose piercing or bludgeoning even if it is not on the list.

Stoneshot

As a Stone Conduit, you may manifest your connection with stones in different ways.

As a bonus action, you can manifest your stone on your forearms and lower legs, making you much stronger and much heavier than normal. While doing so, you have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks, but you have disadvantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks. You may stop this effect as a bonus action. When you reach 6th level, you gain access to the Magic Stone cantrip.

Additionally, you have a ranged spell attack that you can use with the Attack action. The attack has a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add your Dexterity modifier to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is bludgeoning, and its damage die is a d4. This die changes as you gain Conduit levels, as shown in the Conduit Shot column of the Conduit table.

Beginning at level 2, when you use the Attack action on your turn to use this special attack, you can spend 1 point from your Power Well to make two additional attacks with it as a bonus action.

Attuned With the Earth

Beginning at 6th level, As long as your feet are on the ground, you have tremorsense up to a radius of 60 feet. Additionally, you gain proficiency with medium and heavy armor.

In addition, beginning at level 14, you have resistance to all types of damage except psychic and necrotic, regardless of source.

Stone Plate

Beginning at level 10, you can use your powers over stone to protect yourself and your allies. You may spend points from your power well and use your action to cover a willing creature you can touch protective armor made of stone.

When you do so, the creature gains temporary hitpoints equal to to five times the number of points you spent. You may not spend more on this feature than you would be able to on a Conduit Spell. As long as a creature has these hitpoints, they are considered to be wearing heavy armor, they have disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, they deal an additional 1d4 bludgeoning damage whenever they take the attack action, and they have the following AC and added weight based on how many points were spent (the weight is added only to the creature’s total; they are not carrying this weight):

Points Spent	AC	Added Weight (Lbs)
1	14	+200
2	16	+400
3	17	+600
4	18	+800
5	19	+1000

In addition, you may drain the stone off of creatures wearing your armor as if it was a Conduit power source. When you do so, you gain 1 point in your Power Well for every 5 temporary hit points drained. You may not take away temporary hit points with this action that you did not give.

Multiclassing

If a player wants to multiclass into the Conduit class, these are the prerequisites they have to meet and proficiencies they gain:

---

• Prerequisites: Constitution 13 and Charisma 13
• Proficiencies: Improvised weapons, light armor, shields

Unique Spells

There are a couple of effects that I wanted on Conduits that just didn't have the right published equivalent. Thus, I present to you a couple spells unique to the Conduit class (Of course, you could take them as Bard spells with Magical Secrets; I'm not one to judge).

Photon Beam

5th-level evocation

---

• Casting Time: 1 Action
• Range: 120 Feet
• Components: S, M (a glow worm, a firefly, or other phosphorscent material, which the spell consumes)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Make a ranged Spell Attack against a target in range. On a hit, the target takes 5d12 radiant damage and a constant laser beam of sunlight is formed between you and the target, allowing you to use your action on subsequent turns to deal an additional 5d12 radiant damage to the target. The spell ends if you use your action to do anything else. The spell also ends if the target ever has full cover from you or is ever outside the spell's range.

The target may also use its action on its turn to attempt a Dexterity saving throw to escape the beam. On a success, the spell ends.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the base damage increases by 1d12 for each slot above 5th.

Rocket Leap

1st-level transmutation

---

• Casting Time: 1 Action
• Range: self
• Components: S, M (a hot coal or flammable oil, which the spell consumes)
• Duration: 1 minute

For the duration, flames shoot from your hands and feet whenever you jump. When this happens, your jump height and distance are determined by your Spellcasting Ability instead of Strength, and you don't need a running start to maximize your jumping capabilities.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, your jump height and distance are also multiplied by the slot level for the duration.

Special Thanks

to /u/Leuku and /u/julietjulietlima on Reddit and my friends offline that helped me make this workable.