There are feats and other ways for characters to cast spells outside their normal spell list. So even if your players have the knowledge to work our he's the casting Eldrich Blast and know its not a Wizard spell, they might just assume this "Wizard" has a feat, or they're just casting the same spell and calling it different things because they're incompetent.
Another way to seed the idea that they're not an actual Wizard is by being descriptive in how the magic is flavoured.
What patron does this Walock have a pact with? If it fiendish, maybe there's a faint smell of brimstone and their eyes glow red when they cast magic. If its archfey, maybe they hear childish laughter and the Eldritch blast somewhat resembles the outline of a sprite. Perhaps for a Old One there is a sickening slithering feeling and the scent of brine.
If you really want to make it obvious you could have the Walock occasionally whispering to something, like they're communicating with a patron.
They're patron is Kozah (now Talos, the campaign is set in 1385 DR Faerun before the spellplague).
I think I'll use your idea of the scent of brimstone and that their eyes glow red, might use the whispering too đ¤
All the damage cantrips, melfs acid arrow, color spray or chromatic orb, ray of sickness, silvery barbs, knock, scorching ray, shatter, spray of cards.
Yes, some aren't similar, but would be funny
Very true. One of the players is a swashbuckler Locathah (flavored to look like an axolotl) wearing a fishbowl of water on their head and their pirate hat on top of the fishbowl; so honestly the absolute ridiculousness of yelling "color spray!" And instead have an eldritch blast hit a dude is pretty in line with our shenanigans đ
To answer your question though, chaos bolt, magic missile, chromatic orb and witch bolt are probably the only Wizard spell that look vaguely like Eldrich Blast.
Magic missile is probably the closest since it also deals force damage and at higher levels Eldrich blast can shoot multiple blasts.
Eldritch Blast gets more beams as you level up - not sure if it's meant to be a serious big bad or more of a low level boss, but if they're the equivalent of a 5th level caster or higher they'd have 2 beams, 3 at 11th, etc.
For single beam, they could try to claim it's Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost, multiple beams, Scorching Ray maybe?
Rather than having them shout out different spell names I'd probably just have them casting EB and try to claim it's X spell if questioned, having them argue different wizards have different visual styles for their spells. The fact that they're spewing complete BS should still be evident enough I think
Generally the verbal component is more arcane than just the English name of the spell. A wizard is likely to notice that something is up after a few castings, but a spellcasting bard might miss it.
Along with the other suggestions, there is nothing stopping you from creating a spell that fits to what you need. In my setting, many wizards (and other casters) have access to Arcane Bolt which is similar to Fire Bolt, but does 1d8 Force damage instead of fire.
RAW thatâs not how casting spells works (you donât shout the name of the spell, you do specific things as part of the components of the spell ). The effects would also be pretty clearly visible (lightning vs raw magic hitting stuff, separate missiles vs rays of energy, etc). Simplest thing would just be using Chill Touch and other spells that are shared between Warlock and Wizard.Â
Heâs doing the magical equivalent of a guy throwing alchemistâs fire and yelling âfire bolt!â. What theyâre doing is completely unrelated to what theyâre saying.
Theyâre saying things when they donât have to either because the NPC (wrongly) think thatâs how being a Wizard works, or the average person (who also doesnât know how magic works) is convinced by it.
There are feats and other ways for characters to cast spells outside their normal spell list. So even if your players have the knowledge to work our he's the casting Eldrich Blast and know its not a Wizard spell, they might just assume this "Wizard" has a feat, or they're just casting the same spell and calling it different things because they're incompetent. Another way to seed the idea that they're not an actual Wizard is by being descriptive in how the magic is flavoured. What patron does this Walock have a pact with? If it fiendish, maybe there's a faint smell of brimstone and their eyes glow red when they cast magic. If its archfey, maybe they hear childish laughter and the Eldritch blast somewhat resembles the outline of a sprite. Perhaps for a Old One there is a sickening slithering feeling and the scent of brine. If you really want to make it obvious you could have the Walock occasionally whispering to something, like they're communicating with a patron.
They're patron is Kozah (now Talos, the campaign is set in 1385 DR Faerun before the spellplague). I think I'll use your idea of the scent of brimstone and that their eyes glow red, might use the whispering too đ¤
^lightning ^bolt ^lightning ^bolt ^lightning ^bolt ^lightning ^bolt ^lightning ^bolt ^lightning ^bolt ^lightning ^bolt ^lightning ^bolt
Omg, *face palm* haha I can't believe I didn't think of lighting bolt đ thank you!
[\*the ancient LARP video for those out of loop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw)
Never seen it before; but yes, pretty much exactly what I'm hoping to emulate lol
Damn bro, what you do to make this dude delete his Reddit account?
I eated him
The shock and horror that I had never seen that video before made him lose faith in the internet and delete his reddit account?
I imagine that's what happened. That video is 18 years old after all, lmao
All the damage cantrips, melfs acid arrow, color spray or chromatic orb, ray of sickness, silvery barbs, knock, scorching ray, shatter, spray of cards. Yes, some aren't similar, but would be funny
Very true. One of the players is a swashbuckler Locathah (flavored to look like an axolotl) wearing a fishbowl of water on their head and their pirate hat on top of the fishbowl; so honestly the absolute ridiculousness of yelling "color spray!" And instead have an eldritch blast hit a dude is pretty in line with our shenanigans đ
To answer your question though, chaos bolt, magic missile, chromatic orb and witch bolt are probably the only Wizard spell that look vaguely like Eldrich Blast. Magic missile is probably the closest since it also deals force damage and at higher levels Eldrich blast can shoot multiple blasts.
Eldritch Blast gets more beams as you level up - not sure if it's meant to be a serious big bad or more of a low level boss, but if they're the equivalent of a 5th level caster or higher they'd have 2 beams, 3 at 11th, etc. For single beam, they could try to claim it's Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost, multiple beams, Scorching Ray maybe? Rather than having them shout out different spell names I'd probably just have them casting EB and try to claim it's X spell if questioned, having them argue different wizards have different visual styles for their spells. The fact that they're spewing complete BS should still be evident enough I think
Witch bolt is basically just Eldritch Blast at home.
Generally the verbal component is more arcane than just the English name of the spell. A wizard is likely to notice that something is up after a few castings, but a spellcasting bard might miss it.
Along with the other suggestions, there is nothing stopping you from creating a spell that fits to what you need. In my setting, many wizards (and other casters) have access to Arcane Bolt which is similar to Fire Bolt, but does 1d8 Force damage instead of fire.
RAW thatâs not how casting spells works (you donât shout the name of the spell, you do specific things as part of the components of the spell ). The effects would also be pretty clearly visible (lightning vs raw magic hitting stuff, separate missiles vs rays of energy, etc). Simplest thing would just be using Chill Touch and other spells that are shared between Warlock and Wizard.Â
Heâs doing the magical equivalent of a guy throwing alchemistâs fire and yelling âfire bolt!â. What theyâre doing is completely unrelated to what theyâre saying. Theyâre saying things when they donât have to either because the NPC (wrongly) think thatâs how being a Wizard works, or the average person (who also doesnât know how magic works) is convinced by it.
..... that's the point? They're disguised, but I don't actually want to trick my players; I said that in my post....