Arcane Duelist - An Arcane Tradition for 5e

What is an Arcane Duelist?

Many wizards specialize in a certain school of magic, or dedicate themselves to a particular area of study where they might augment their abilities to be more useful as a whole. Not so with an Arcane Duellist - very few things matter more to an them than being better than other Arcane practitioners.

An Arcane Duellist focuses on being able to establish superiority over other mages, whether through dirty, underhanded arcane trickery or superior counter-spelling, an Arcane Duellist is capable of bursts of magical finesse capable of countering even the mightiest spell-casters.

Arcane Duelists tend to have an air of superiority about them, but an Arcane Duellist may have chosen their path for any number of reasons. Perhaps they are part of an order who hunts rogue mages, or perhaps their sworn enemy is another arcane practitioner who they seek to bring to justice. Either way, an Arcane Duelist tends to need a motivation to be better in a magical arena.

Dueling Stance

Starting at 2nd level, you may enter a dueling stance as a bonus action. Glowing runes appear in a 5ft diameter circle around you. Whilst standing in this area, you gain the following benefits:

When a creature misses you with an attack, you may spend your reaction to cast a cantrip that targets the creature attacking you. If the cantrip successfully deals damage, that creature takes additional damage equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Your AC increases by 2.

You cannot be knocked prone.

If you leave this area for any reason, the runes fade and you lose the benefits of this feature. You may use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (a minimum of once) before requiring a long rest to use it again.

Dispel Resistance

Also starting at 2nd level, you become adept at resisting the attempts of other mages to dispel your magic.

If a creature attempts to dispel a magical effect created by you through a use of dispel magic or any other similar effect, they must make an ability check to dispel it regardless of the level of the spell. If a creature attempts to counterspell you, they must also make an ability check regardless of the level of the spell they are attempting to counter.

Superior Counterspell

At 6th level, you add the spell counterspell to your spell book if you do not know it already. If you do have counterspell in your spell book, then you may add an abjuration spell that is of a level you can cast to your spell book instead.

You may expend an additional spell slot of 1st level when you cast counterspell to cast it without using your reaction. You must still expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to cast counterspell itself.

Spell Thievery

At 10th level, you learn the art of spell thievery, an underhanded way of winning duels that is as effective as it is unsportsmanlike.

When you successfully counterspell, you understand the spell your opponent attempted to cast and may choose to expend a spell slot equal to the spell's level in order to spell-steal it. You may do this even if you do not have the spell prepared in your spellbook, or if it is from a classes spell-list outside of yours. The spell must have a casting time of either one action, or one bonus action.

Whilst spell thieving, you must maintain concentration as if you were concentrating on a spell. On your next turn, you may use your action to release the spell, casting it as normal, using your spell save DC and attack bonus for the casting of the spell.

Memorized Sigils

Starting at 14th level, you regain all uses of Dueling Stance on a short or long rest. In addition, your Dueling Stance feature changes from a 5ft diameter circle to a 10ft radius circle, and the AC bonus increases to 4.