Homebrew Weapon: Insect Glaive

[CrazyYanmega]

As a late celebration to the success of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, I decided to recreate one of the iconic new weapons of the game. This weapon is specially designed for Rangers.


http://www.twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/monster-hunter-4-ultimate-insect-glaive.png

Homebrew Weapon: Insect Glaive

Glaive: The Insect Glaive is an exotic masterwork one-handed slashing weapon, dealing 1d6+strength modifier damage when sized for a medium creature, and threatening a critical on a 20 for double damage. As a swift action, you can use the glaive to give one order to the glaive's corresponding Kinsect, either Attack or Return.

Kinsect: A Vermin that is inseperably linked to the Insect Glaive. The Kinsect is always 2 size catagories smaller than the size of its intended wielder. A Kinsect can attack an opponent and glean its essence, bringing the essence back and strengthening the wielder of the glaive. When ordered to attack, the kinsect makes a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet using the wielder's base attack bonus and dexterity modifier. If the attack is successful, the Kinsect deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage and gleans an essence. A Kinsect can only carry one essence at a time, and if it makes a successful attack while carrying an essence, it drops the old essence and gleans the new essence. A Return order causes the kinsect to fly back to the wielder of the Insect Glaive and imbue its host with any gleaned essence it is carrying. Unlike a normal vermin, the Kinsect is treated as an object, not a creature. It has 10 hit points +10 per enhancement bonus, and a hardness of 5. It is treated as having an AC equal to 10 plus the wielder's hitdice plus its enhancement bonus, and saves equal to that of its wielder. A Kinsect can be enchanted like a normal weapon. A Kinsect cannot carry poisons.

Essences: This is the most important aspect of the Insect Glaive. When a Kinsect makes a successful attack, roll a d3. For every 5 hitdice the hit enemy has (a Kinsect cannot glean an essence from an enemy with 4 or fewer hitdice), the essence provides a +1 enhancement bonus to (1)Strength, (2)Dexterity, or (3)Constitution. For example, an Insect Glaive wielding ranger makes a successful Kinsect attack against a Tarrasque and rolls a 1. When the Kinsect returns to the ranger, the ranger recieves a +9 enhancement bonus to strength. When an essence is absorbed by a host, the essence lasts for 5 rounds. Essences of the same type do not stack, but overlap.

Price: 1500 GP for a medium sized Insect Glaive and Kinsect, 1300 for a small one, and 1800 for a large one. Crafting an insect Glaive requires the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat. If the Kinsect or the Glaive is destroyed, an entirely new Insect Glaive must be created.

Feat: Advanced Kinsect Control
Prerequisites: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Insect Glaive), Wis 13
With this feat, you can direct your Kinsect to imbue its essence to a creature other than yourself.

Feat: Extend Essence
Prerequisites: Exotic Weapon Proficency (Insect Glaive), Con 13
With this feat, your essence buffs double in duration, to 10 rounds.

Feat: Potent Essence
Prerequisites: Exotic Weapon Proficency (Insect Glaive), Advanced Kinsect Control, Extend Essence, Base Attack Bonus +9
With this feat, your Kinsect's essences provide a +2 enhancement bonus for every 5 hitdice the hit enemy has, instead of +1.

Is this weapon too OP? Should I increase the cost of purchase?

[Debihuman]

It's a BUG!!! KILL IT!!!! seriously though that's a bit freaky even for D&D. BTW, can you sunder the bug from the glaive?

Is this 5th edition? It's not marked.

Also you'd probably need to make a stat block for the Kinsect.

Debby

[Network]

Looks like third edition stuff, but I may be wrong (I don't know enough of 5th edition to be sure, and there isn't enough info to distinguish 3E from pathfinder here). As Debi said, you could potentially attract more people if the thread was tagged with the appropriate system.

In either case, I'll see if I can review it tomorrow.

[CrazyYanmega]

It is indeed third edition. I forgot to add the tag.

Hmm, do I really need to stat out the kinsect? I thought I covered all of the necessary components...

I'll stat out the Kinsect once I have more time online.

Here is the Insect Glaive in action (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTqOFUMKaAE)

Hmm. Maybe statting out it's hitpoints like a familiar would work. The main reason I treated the Kinsect as an object was that otherwise it would be provoking attacks of opportunity.

By the way, could someone please teach me how to make an extended homebrew sig?

[Debihuman]

Translating video games to tabletop usually doesn't work perfectly. I watched the video but still I'm not sure what the insect does. It looks like it is a ranged attack that "steals juice." You have made this too complicated and unwieldy to use in combat. Non-magical items cannot do what it is you are asking it to do. No way should you get +9 enhancement bonus for a measly 1,500 gp. Look up the magic item costs. A +9 enhancement bonus costs 81,000 gp and that's just for that bonus nevermind all the other things it does. I recommend that you simplify and streamline this to fit the tabletop game rather than trying to make it match the video game.


Glaive: The Insect Glaive is an exotic masterwork one-handed slashing weapon, dealing 1d6+strength modifier damage when sized for a medium creature, and threatening a critical on a 20 for double damage. As a swift action, you can use the glaive to give one order to the glaive's corresponding Kinsect, either Attack or Return.

First of all, a glaive is a two-handed melee weapon with reach. You can hit foes 10 feet away but not adjacent foes. See SRD for glaive stats here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm Second, a medium glaive's damage is 1d10 with a triple critical hit (1d10/x3).

You have the appropriate swift action to activate the kinsect, but you are just trying to do too much to make it work like the video game.

Sizes are all messed up in video games. That weapon, not to mention the insect, is too big. On a screen it makes sense. You have to be able to see it. In tabletop, it has to be sized to the wielder.

Here is my edited and corrected suggestion with all construction costs and information listed below.

Insect Glaive is a +1 glaive with a large purple insect carved into its pole. As a swift action, the wielder of the glaive can activate the kinsect.

Kinsect
Tiny Construct
Hit Dice: ½ d10 (2 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: Fly 30 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-9
Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1)
Full Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1)
Space/Reach: 2½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Steal essence
Special Qualities: Construct traits, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +2, Will -5
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 14, Con —, Int — , Wis 1, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Insect Glaive
Organization: Only with owner of insect glaive
Challenge Rating: ½
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Steal Essence (Su): Once commanded by its owner, a kinsect can take a full-round action to fly to a foe within range, attack with its slam, and return to the insect glaive. Living creatures hit by a kinsect’s slam attack gain a negative level unless they succeed on Fortitude save (DC 10 + owner of the insect glaive's Charisma score). For each negative level bestowed, the owner of the insect glaive gains 1 temporary hit point. If the kinsect is destroyed, the temporary hit points are immediately lost. An insect glaive without its kinsect can be wielded as a normal +1 glaive until repaired. A kinsect may only be commanded once per round.

Moderate necromancy; CL 11th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Construct, animate object, vampiric touch; Price 10,308 gp.

Cost explanation: 8 gp for glaive, 300 gp for masterwork (all magic weapons have to be masterwork to start), 2,000 gp for +1 enhancement bonus and 8,000 gp the special ability (Kinsect). Total cost: 10,308 gp.
Debby

[CrazyYanmega]

Thank You debi. I can always count on you for help.