Auroris wrote:
2) Since Pedro and Henry have stepped in, we have the answer here. For my part, I think evil eye could stand a second look. But I won't say anything definite.
I should clarify why I bring up "Evil Eye". It is not the power level of the spell, or even the ability to use an action to
attempt to force the cursed character's to have disadvantage on their
next attack roll. The problem with the spell is that there is no scaling when casting at higher level.
Hex scales because the curse can be moved from one target to the next, and you can just keep the spell going. Evil eye does not have that scaling. Keeping Evil Eye up for hours only works if you know you are going to be encountering the target later. In that case, this works better as an NPC ability, than a PC spell (unless of course you plan on betting at a gladiatorial arena).
I also have to disagree that this is not a combat spell. It augments damage, and can be used to force disadvantage on an attack roll; it is a combat spell. There are no significant out of combat abilities associated with the spell. I can see an out of combat use for a curse spell to cause an orator to stumble during a speech (disadvantage on an ability check), but the wording of spell is specific to combat actions, specifically an attack.
With the goal being a simulation of fairy tale/folklore hexes and curses, this falls short. As a replacement for the Hex spell, it does not work due to the scaling.
I also have to add that one major pains in 5e is to have to give up your action to keep an ability active; having it linked to a saving through each round makes it worse. For example, Wizard Enchanter has the ability
Hypnotic Gaze. If the target fails the initial saving throw, you can keep the target enthralled for up to five round, the catch being that you have use your action to keep them enthralled (they don't get a save, it ends when you break contact or five rounds is up). It sucks that you have to give up an action each round, but it works if it ties up a big threat for five rounds.