Taser (5e Class)

Taser

Twitching uncontrollably, a halfling stands amongst the charred corpses of an orc raiding party, arcs of lightning still running across his fingertips and hair.

Shaking hands with a long-time enemy, a dwarf adds a little surprise before his rival can react, and the former's hand is shocked beyond repair.

An elf covered in blue runes closes his eyes and settles into a meditation pose. He slowly rises up to eye-level of the red dragon, and a tether of lightning connects the two. The dragon's life force slowly is siphoned away into the glowing runes as it roars and flails in futility.

Unfortunate or lucky?

The taser is a class of those accursed by fate. Tasers are formed by those that found or created a device to imbue their bodies with the power of lightning. This ultimately grants both great power and misfortune. They often have blue veins of electricity zagging over their skin showing their power's instability. It hurts them to even use it at times.

Creating a Taser

By Magalie Villeneuve

Not all characters are a Taser by choice. Consider the amount of control a character has over the power in its own body and how anyone can get a small shock from contact. Is your character very sporadic? Are they tortured by memories of being an experiment, or perhaps a misfortune they bought on themselves? Do they want normalcy or relish this chaotic energy?

Quick Build

You can make a Taser quickly by following these suggestions. First, Wisdom should be your highest ability score, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the experiment background. Third, choose the [[5e SRD:|shortsword]] and studded leather armor for your equipment.

Class Features

As a Taser you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per Taser level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + Constitution modifier per Taser level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: light armor
Weapons: martial melee weapons, simple weapons
Tools: thieve's tools, medicine kit
Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills: any three from Arcana, Nature, Acrobatics, Performance, Intimidation, Persuasion, Medicine

Equipment

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

• A device melded onto some part of your body that is irremovable
• (a) quarterstaff or (b) short sword or (c) any simple weapon
• (a) studded leather armor or (b) a martial melee weapon of your choice
• If you are using starting wealth, you have 4d4x10 in funds.

Table: The Taser

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Charge Points	Features
1st	+2	2	Inner Battery, Shock Attack
2nd	+2	4	Passive Charge
3rd	+2	6	Taser Type
4th	+2	8	Ability Score Improvement
5th	+3	10	Shock Repose
6th	+3	12	Passive Charge improvement
7th	+3	14	Taser Type feature
8th	+3	16	Ability Score Improvement
9th	+4	18	Lightning Rod
10th	+4	20	Passive Charge improvement
11th	+4	22	Charge Resistance
12th	+4	24	Ability Score Improvement
13th	+5	26	Powered By Thunder
14th	+5	28	Electromagnetism
15th	+5	30	Taser Type feature
16th	+5	32	Ability Score Improvement
17th	+6	34	Restorative Storm
18th	+6	36	Taser Type feature
19th	+6	38	Ability Score Improvement
20th	+6	40	Resuscitation

Inner Battery

At 1st level, the device melded into your body in your starting equipment fills your body with amazing power over charged particles. This power manifests in the form of charge points, which allow you to fully utilize your effects as a taser.

Charge Points

You have 2 charge points, and you gain two additional points every time you level up, to a maximum of 40 at level 20. You can never have more charge points than shown on the table for your level. You regain all spent charge points when you finish a long rest. You use these points for special taser techniques and class features. You start knowing two such features: Lightning Step and Electro-Field. You learn more taser techniques as you gain levels in this class. You can also use charge points to augment other features.

When you spend a charge point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you recharge your battery.

Some of your taser techniques require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Taser save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

• Lightning Step: As an action, you can spend 1 charge point to teleport to an unoccupied space within distance equal to your base walking speed that you can see.
• Electro-Field: As an action, you can spend 1 charge point to create a low field of electric waves to protect yourself. Until the start of your next turn, any attack rolls with metal weapons or spells that deal lightning damage roll with disadvantage if they target you or need to pass within 5 feet of you.

Shock Attack

Starting at 1st level, you can expel charge from yourself to empower your strikes and even shock others to make shock attacks. You have two of these attacks, lightning fist and shocking bolt.

• Lightning Fist: Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 lightning damage.
• Shocking Bolt: You can throw a bolt of lightning at a creature within 60 feet of you as an action. Make a ranged attack with the modifiers of your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 lightning damage. This bolt's damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).

Augmenting Shock Attacks

You may choose to expend charge points when you make a shock attack to augment its power. When you expend a point for either your lightning fist or shocking bolt, on a hit, the target is stunned until the end of it's next turn. When you use charge points this way, you take lightning damage equal to the damage you dealt.

Passive Charge

Starting 2nd level, the presence of charge in the characters body causes visible changes such as sparks of lightning and small twitches. So long as the character has any charge points available, you are considered proficient in the Intimidation skill. A soft glow casts dim light in a 10 feet radius of the character as long as you have charge points that are unused.

Starting 6th level, you regain one charge point every hour you are not incapacitated.

Starting 10th level, you recover 2 charge points per hour instead of one.

Taser Type

At 3rd level, you choose one of two types of tasers to become. Choose either the Warrior Taser or Mage Taser subclass, both detailed at the end of the class description. You get features from your chosen subclass at 3rd, 7th, 15th and 18th levels.

Ability Score Increase

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.

Shock Repose

Starting 5th level the you can channel energy through an enemy attack. If you are targeted by a melee attack or grappled, you can use your reaction to deal lightning or thunder damage equal to the damage die of your lightning fist.

Augmenting Shock Repose

You can use a charge point when using your shocking repose to force all creatures within 5 feet of you to make a Strength save against your taser DC. On a failed save, the creature is pushed back 5 feet and is stunned until the end of it's next turn. When you successfully deal damage to a creature with this feature, you take half of the damage you dealt as lightning or thunder damage (depends on what you chose before) rounded up.

Lightning Rod

Starting 9th level, by expending two charge points before any saving rolls or attack rolls are made, you can redirect a lightning or thunder attribute attack or spell onto yourself. These attacks automatically succeed and in the case of saving throws, it is treated as though you failed. The original target takes no lightning damage from the attack. In the event that the spell will hit multiple targets, the lightning rod feature must be used separately for each target.

Charge Resistance

Starting 11th level, you gain resistance to lightning and thunder damage.

Powered By Lightning

Starting 13th level, you can recover charge points through taking lightning damage. You regain 1 expended charge point for every 10 lightning damage dealt to you in a single attack.

Electromagnetism

Starting 14th level, you can manipulate the electricity in you to repel yourself and levitate, as well as fly. You gain a fly speed of 60 feet.

Restorative Storm

Starting 17th level, you are rejuvenated instead of harmed by lightning and thunder. If you should take lightning or thunder damage, you instead regain hit points equal to the amount of damage you would have taken. You cannot regain more hit points than your maximum with this feature.

Resuscitation

Starting 20th level, your inner battery serves to restart your life in dire situations. If you drop to 0 hit points and are incapacitated or unconscious, so long as you have at least 1 charge point remaining, you can expend up to 10 charge points to become conscious again with a number of hit points equal to the number of charge points you spent, minus 1.

Warrior Taser

The kind of lightning bolt that gets up close and personal, warrior tasers focus their electricity directly as weapons of contact.

Shock Channel

Starting at 3rd level when you take this specialization, the lightning within your body empowers your strikes more than before. Your lightning fist damage increases when you reach higher levels in this class as per the table below.

Lightning Fist Increase

Level	Damage Dice
3	1d6
7	1d8
11	1d10
15	2d6
19	2d8

Additionally, you can channel this lightning through your body into weapons that you hold. These weapons must be made of metal or a similarly conductive material. When you channel your lightning, you add the lightning fist damage dice after the weapon's normal damage, without additional action. Attacks made channeling this way cannot be augmented with charge points.

Intensify Charge

Starting at 7th level a warrior taser learns how to bolster any lightning damage dealt. You can now add your Wisdom modifier and proficiency bonus to your lightning fist damage. This increase extends to weapon channeling and features that use the same damage, like Shock Repose.

Stunning Dash

Starting 15th level, you gain the power to shock those who try and take you by surprise. When you Dash or are hit by an opportunity attack, you can use your reaction to expend one charge point to emit a burst of lightning or thunder in a radius of 10 feet from where you are attacked. All creatures within range must succeed a Constitution saving throw against your taser DC or be paralyzed until the beginning of their next turn.

Aspect of the Lightning Beast

Starting at 18th level, you can use an action to produce a lightning breath weapon within a 5 by 60 feet line in a direction of your choice. All affected creatures must make a Constitution saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus. On failure, a creature takes lightning damage equal to Xd8, X being the amount of charge points you expend (maximum 30). On success, they take half as much damage.

Mage Taser

Mage tasers focus more on the sorcerer-like roll, utilizing their lightning as a sort of gateway to greater power, much like a bloodline.

Excess Charge

Starting 3rd level, when you choose this taser type, your electrical charges can create bursts of interference. When you use your shocking bolt portion of you Shock Attack feature, you can, without additional action, expend 1 charge point to expel a sonorous discharge from yourself. Each creature in a 15-foot radius originating from you must make a Constitution saving throw against your taser DC. On a failed save, a creature takes 2d8 thunder damage and is pushed 10 feet away from you. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and isn't pushed.

Zap Defenses

Starting 7th level, whenever you force a saving throw with a feature that uses charge points, you can add the number of charge points used to the DC.

Chain Lightning

Starting 15th level, you can expend an action to spend 12 charge points to cast the chain lightning spell without using any spell slots, somatic, verbal, or material components. Your casting modifier for this spell is your Wisdom.

Power Word Stun

Starting 18th level, you can use an action to spend 16 charge points to cast the power word stun spell without the verbal component or spell slots. Your casting modifier for this spell is your Wisdom. You may use this feature once, regaining use when you finish a long rest.

Multiclassing

Prerequisites. To qualify for multiclassing into the Taser class, you must meet these prerequisites: must find or make the Taser artifact.

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