ghosts in the machine: Fulminar the Stormweaver

(chatgpt wrote this one. basically, the idea, fill in the missing lightning spells, makes lightning a real identity you can pick for your guy)

A once-inquisitive tinkerer turned accidental master of storms, Fulminar, a Deep Gnome, stumbled into the Elemental Plane of Storms via a misfiring teapot experiment. Returning forever changed, he's now the Stormweaver.

Fulminar, the Stormweaver

Small humanoid (deep gnome), any alignment

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	18 (+4)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)

Armor Class 15 (mage armor)

Hit Points 90 (12d8 + 36)

Speed 25 ft.

Saving Throws Int +7, Wis +4

Skills Arcana +7, Insight +4, Perception +4

Senses Darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Common, Gnomish, Undercommon

Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Gnome Cunning. Fulminar has advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic.

Virile Cantrip. Fulminar’s cantrips deal half damage on a missed attack or a successful save.

Spellcasting. Fulminar is a 10th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). He has the following wizard spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): Thunderclap (see below), Lightning Lure, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Shocking Grasp

1st-level (4 slots): Stormweaver’s Bolthold (see below), Mage Armor, Thunderwave, Shield, Magic Missile

2nd-level (3 slots): Gust of Wind, Scorching Ray

3rd-level (3 slots): Counterspell, Lightning Bolt, Fly

4th-level (3 slots): Storm Sphere, Arcane Eye

5th-level (2 slots): Teleportation Circle

6th-level (1 slot): Chain Lightning, Globe of Invulnerability

Actions

Arcane Shock. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (6d6) lightning damage.

Fulminar's Arcane Tempest (Recharge 5-6). Fulminar casts his signature spell, creating a 30-foot radius of crackling energy. Each creature he chooses within the area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 27 (6d8) lightning damage and be restrained. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and isn't restrained.

Legendary Actions

Fulminar can take 2 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Fulminar regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Legendary Cantrip. Fulminar casts one of his cantrips.

Reverberating Bolt. Fulminar sends a bolt of lightning, dealing 5 (1d8) damage to a target restrained by Fulminar’s Arcane Tempest.

Thunderous Barrier. Fulminar creates a protective barrier around himself, gaining resistance to all damage until the start of his next turn.

Teleport. Fulminar magically teleports to an unoccupied space he can see within 60 feet.

(and here are the promised spells, which will make it so that you, too, can stormweave…)

Thunderclap

Thunder evocation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 5 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You release a sudden burst of concussive sound localised in a 5-foot radius around you. All creatures in this area must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 1d6 thunder damage and is deafened until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and isn't deafened. Creatures deafened by this spell have disadvantage on attack rolls.

At Higher Levels: The damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

Stormweaver’s Bolthold

1st-level lightning evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S, M (a piece of fur, a glass rod, and a pinch of iron filings)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You conjure a powerful bolt of lightning that streaks toward a target within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 3d8 lightning damage.

Furthermore, the spell creates an electrified zone in a 10-foot radius around the target’s position. Creatures, excluding yourself, within this area when the spell is cast or who enter it for the first time on a turn or end their turn there, must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 lightning damage. This zone persists until the concentration ends.

At Higher Levels: When cast using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the initial target damage increases by 1d8, and the area effect damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.

Arcane Tempest

2nd-level evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (30-foot radius)
Components: V, S, M (a small lodestone and a piece of fur)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

When you cast this spell, crackling energies spiral around you, manifesting a swirling storm of lightning within a 30-foot radius centered on yourself. Each creature of your choice within this area must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 3d8 lightning damage and is restrained by the arcs of electrical energy. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and isn't restrained.

A restrained creature can use its action to attempt to break free, making a Strength check against your spell save DC. On a success, the creature breaks free from the restraints and suffers no further effects.

Additionally, as a bonus action on each of your turns for the duration, you can cause bolts of lightning to strike one creature affected by this spell, dealing 1d8 lightning damage. You must maintain concentration on the spell to use this bonus action.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the initial lightning damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd.

(chatgpt wrote this. it was chatgpt)

Bigby “the Hand”

There's not a lot of cohesive themes for a spellcaster that the game supports with out-of-the-box spells that just fit, like you definitely can be the fire guy and you can be the illusions guy sort of, and you can flavor the spells to fit your concept, but if you want to be the lightning guy the spells are a bit shit, generally you end up with a guy who can do all sorts of things, that don’t all match each other. 

But one guy the game has always supported is the hand guy, and thats … fucking… dumb… but you can do it. And its clearly because one of the guys in Gygax’s campaign thought it was a fun concept and it just sort of got grandfathered in. But who is this guy Bigby, and what’s his deal? Well whenever I read into the histories of all the dudes in Greyhawk it’s revealed that none of that stuff is all that interesting or relevant to my game, and the guy I was imagining was better anyway, so let’s try to reverse engineer a guy who fills the gloves, instead.

So my ultimate goal here is to flesh out all the material you would need if you wanted to play Bigby in 5e from first level to whatever level he needs to be to be THE TRUE BIGBY of legend. I’ll crush him down into some statblocks that are 5e monsters, so he can be a villain in a campaign. And hopefully along the way I’ll give you enough juice to want to field this guy. What is the deal with the hand guy? 

My intuition is to make a caster who’s not terribly good at magic, and whose interest in magic is basically as a means to an end - and that end is making extra hands to do extra things with. The hand is a perfect implement for most any task he is willing to imagine. So we do not really need spellcasting beyond this, and we would not wish for it. This suggests a Arcane Trickster rogue -this would grant us Mage Hand Legerdemain at third level, which is a clearly better version of Mage Hand, which was always going to be our first choice of spells. I dont think any self-serious Bigby would be without the Mage Hand Legerdemain, because the idea that some other caster is using Mage Hand in ways that he cannot would frustrate this Bigby. But he can’t go all the way to 20th level with Arcane Trickster Rogue, because the spell, Bigby’s Hand, is a 5th level spell, and the arcane trickster is a half caster so it never gets to 5th level spells. But we can know that it’s three levels of Arcane Trickster at least, so why not start with that. 

So our Bigby starts out as a petty criminal, makes a name for himself as an ambidextrous pickpocket and picklock, kind of a scrawny guy, sticks to the back, good if you need someone to open a safe, cheats at cards. People start calling him “The Hand”, becomes sort of infamous. He’s a manipulator, rises through the ranks as a smuggler, he’s a regular. Relies on underlings too much, ultimately is betrayed too many times, decides to become more self-sufficient, turns to magic. So the monster version of that guy looks like:

Bigby, Cunning Manipulator

Medium Humanoid, Unaligned

Armor Class 15 (chain)

Hit Points 35 (5d8 + 10)

Speed 30 ft.

STR        DEX        CON        INT        WIS        CHA
10            20 (+5)    14 (+2)    16(+3)    13 (+1)    14 (+2)

Skills Perception (+3), Stealth (+6)
Expertise Sleight of Hand (+10), Persuasion (+6)
Condition Immunity charmed
Senses Passive Perception 13
Languages Common, Thieves' Cant

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Improved Mage Hand Legerdemain. When he casts Mage Hand, Bigby can make his spectral hand invisible, and can use it to stow or retrieve an object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature, and can use it with thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range.
Bigby can perform these tasks without being noticed, if he succeeds on a Sleight of Hand check vs that creature's Perception.
Bigby's Mage Hand can be used to make attacks (hand crossbow/dagger) on targets Bigby can see, or to deliver touch spells.

Actions

Multiattack. Bigby makes two attacks with daggers and/or hand crossbows.

Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit. reach 20/60 feet, one target. Hit: 7 (1d4+5) damage.
Hand Crossbow. 

Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 30/120 ft, one target. Hit: 8 (1d6+5) damage.

Spellcasting. 

Bigby casts one of the following spells, using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 13):

At will: mage hand, chill touch, shocking grasp
2/day each: charm person, puppet
1/day: hold person, spider climb

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Bonus Actions

Cunning Distraction. Bigby can use a bonus action to Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, interact with an object, use Mage Hand Legerdemain, or make a weapon attack. If he has a Mage Hand active or casts a spell on his turn, he can Hide even if only lightly obscured, and gains advantage on any check (not attack) made as part of this bonus action.

Reactions

Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker Bigby can see hits him with an attack, he can use his reaction to halve the attack's damage against him.

So I think that works fine for a low-level Bigby. I'd put him in a group of regular thugs and not mark him as special until he starts doing weird stuff. Have him try to steal something from the party and escape unnoticed. A reasonably well-equipped party will still obliterate him but this is the plight of all creatures with hit points. I think he can maybe stick it out a couple rounds, if he has help, and I think he sort of has a reasonable chance of escaping to become a recurring villain or someday invent the spell Bigby's Hand, which is probably the goal here.

To even cast that spell, he can't be a straight Arcane Trickster, and needs to stick nine levels in Wizard, or Sorcerer, or Artificer. This puts us well beyond any spellcaster I’ve personally ever played, but Bigby, at this point in his career, I suppose, is determined to unlock the fifth level of hand magic. To do less would be insufficient. So this later Bigby is at least a 12th level character, and a spell researcher, and a single-minded one, at that. So this is, I guess part 1 of a longer Bigby mythos, so expect more parts to follow.