Custom Magic Weapon (Item)

[Ardantis]

My group just started 5e and we're level 4. We had some magic items held over from 3.5, but most of them don't transfer over right and some players would get screwed. The DM wanted us to have an appropriate tool for our level, so he decided to give each character a magic item appropriate to that level to compensate for the items we had in a previous edition.

We were thinking that an item roughly equivalent to a +1 weapon would be appropriate for 4th level, or a rarity of "uncommon" at best.

My character is a single-classed Outlander Bladelock who sees visions of a terrible future (as per the Outlander background bond). He's a little crazy, and his patron is a refluffed Fiend Patron who is a dragon. Basically, he's rather mad and beholden to dragons.

The DM thought that it would be really flavorful and appropriate for my character (who is a little self-destructive) to have an item with a strength AND a drawback, and since I'm a Bladelock, I requested a weapon.

Here's our spitballed idea- a weapon with a 20% chance on attack to cast Hex on the target, but ALSO with a 20% chance to cast an Evard's Black Tentacles effect on both the wielder's square AND the target's square. The two conditions cannot be activated on the same hit.

As you can see, the "detriment" is actually sort of crowd control, although I'd have to save against the effect as well.

TL;DR Is the bolded weapon description appropriate for a 4th level character? What other, better custom weapons would be level appropriate for 4th level and still have both a benefit and a drawback? I appeal to your imagination and sense of power balance.

[Inevitability]

I personally think it would be quite a hassle having to deal with a large AoE spell every few turns. How about something like a Berserker Axe? It's a magic weapon that grants +1 to attack and damage rolls and increases your HP by an amount equal to your level, but it can make you go into a berserk fury, attacking friend and foe alike, whenever you take damage.

[Yagyujubei]

how about a weapon that can siphon your life to increase your luck in battle.

basically it would bestow a 1 roll "bless" to give you an additional d4 on an attack at the expense of some of your HP. how much HP is taken per use is up to you guys.

another idea: we have a vampiric dagger in our campaign that will store half of the damage of any killing blow up to a total pool of 20 that can; as a bonus action be siphoned back to its wielder. Granted we're level 11, so the maximum storable hp should be lower for a level 4 version, perhaps 6 to 8.

I would generally steer clear of items that have random % die effects, especially with effects that battle changing. they will increase battle length due to all the extra rolling going on and could make encounters harder for the DM to balance.

[Ramshack]

how about a weapon that can siphon your life to increase your luck in battle.

I would generally steer clear of items that have random % die effects, especially with effects that battle changing. they will increase battle length due to all the extra rolling going on and could make encounters harder for the DM to balance.

I agree with this whole heartily ^

I think a life stealing blade would fit the bladelock pretty well. On a crit deal an extra 10 necrotic damage and give yourself 10 temporary Hp.

If you really want to an advantage and disadvantage maybe something that expends your hit die to deal extra damage. So you have 4d8 as a warlock maybe you can expend one Hit die to deal an extra 1d8 damage. This hit die uses the same pool as your hit die for short rests etc.

[Ardantis]

Ok, to address a few things...

We were going to have the Evards affect only the squares on which the target and the wielder stand. I would be ridiculous to have a major AOE proc every few turns; I forgot to include that.

Is the berserker axe in the DMG? I'll have to check that out.

Keeping track of drained life seems like a drag, and I already get tHP from Dark One's Own Blessing and Armor of Agathys. Plus they don't stack as per the tHP rules.

However, spending hit dice for damage bonuses is exactly the kind of double edged sword we're talking about here.

Thanks for the input so far!

[Diarmuid]

Just out of curiosity, is the rest of the group getting simple "+1 items" as your OP suggested? If so, why are you trying to get something that's more, while also having a drawback?

[Inevitability]

Is the berserker axe in the DMG? I'll have to check that out.

Yes, page 155.