Ring of Wicked Barbs (homebrew magic item help)

[Arc-Royal]

I'm developing some homebrew magic items for the campaign I'm running so my players can start finding items in about a level. While some items I've planned are more utility-oriented, I thought I'd give them something with a bit more punch, but with a tradeoff to accompany the increase in power.

The current state of the item is as follows:

Ring of Wicked Barbs (don't have a book on-hand, so I can't compare it to other items to estimate an appropriate rarity), requires attunement
A ring made of a loop of twisted wrought iron with tiny spikes protruding from the surface (enough to scratch, but not enough to harm).

Ring has maximum of 10 charges, recovers 1d4+1/day
Upon taking damage, can expend charges up to 1/3 the damage received (round down, minimum 1). For each charge expended, a magical barbed thorn is ejected from the skin of the wearer, causing 1 point of magical piercing damage to the wearer and dealing 3 points of magical piercing damage to the attacker. Charges are expended concurrently. If an enemy is killed by the damage, neglect the damage to the wearer (i.e. expending two charges would deal 6 damage to the enemy and 2 damage to the wearer, unless the 6 damage would kill the enemy, in which case the wearer takes no damage).

If expending a charge would leave the ring with zero charges, roll a d20. On a result of 1, the ring explodes, causing 3d4 magical piercing damage to the wearer and all creatures within a 10-ft radius sphere.

I'd like to see how my players analyze risk and reward against one another. They've mostly been dealing with minion-level baddies so far (dying in 1-3 hits, depending on how poorly they roll), so the self-damage won't come up as much until they get more substantial HP pools. I also figured, with them taking damage for using charges, they deserve to have the thorns auto-hit (probably makes their head-calculations a bit easier, too).

Thoughts? Tweaks?

[Aurthur]

So, if target player was hit for 6 damage...he could spend 2 charges, take 8 total damage, but deal 6 damage back to the attacker? Would that be a reaction, or no?

It seems like it's interesting...not op unless on a barb or perhaps a heavy armor master.

[Yorrin]

Not bad, but the whole "1/3 damage number of charges" thing seems like a pain. Just make it where the user can expend up to three charges whenever they take damage from a source other than the ring itself.

[Arc-Royal]

So, if target player was hit for 6 damage...he could spend 2 charges, take 8 total damage, but deal 6 damage back to the attacker? Would that be a reaction, or no?

It seems like it's interesting...not op unless on a barb or perhaps a heavy armor master.
You've got the math right on that. I'm honestly not sure whether or not to treat it as a reaction. If not, it'd quickly get limited by the number of charges (if they choose to activate it as often as possible), and if it used reaction, it'd be limited by action economy. Not a bad thought, but I'm not really sure which method works "best."


Not bad, but the whole "1/3 damage number of charges" thing seems like a pain. Just make it where the user can expend up to three charges whenever they take damage from a source other than the ring itself.
The one thing I'm concerned about with that sort of thing (although I suppose the number of charges limits abuse) is someone using it to clean up minion-tier mobs for free as long as they get hit at all. Do you think the maximum number of charges is a sufficient limit to potential overuse?

[Yorrin]

The one thing I'm concerned about with that sort of thing (although I suppose the number of charges limits abuse) is someone using it to clean up minion-tier mobs for free as long as they get hit at all. Do you think the maximum number of charges is a sufficient limit to potential overuse?

I don't really think it's abusable. The damage output isn't enough to matter much, even against minions.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Considering the way monster HP scales, this ring is not going to be much use once you get out of the training levels.

Also, I agree with Yorrin that the mechanics are fiddly. If I were a player, I wouldn't bother with something like this.

Random question: is there a limit on the barbs' range? It seems like there should be.

[Arc-Royal]

Considering the way monster HP scales, this ring is not going to be much use once you get out of the training levels.

Also, I agree with Yorrin that the mechanics are fiddly. If I were a player, I wouldn't bother with something like this.

Random question: is there a limit on the barbs' range? It seems like there should be.
To the first point, the campaign I'm playing in has us all at level 4, so I don't know what late game is going to be like, but they'd likely have replaced it by then anyway, I suppose.

I actually hadn't thought of range. 30 feet would probably be the most appropriate.

Definitely need to rethink the damage numbers.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

The key here is to avoid making a limited-use minor-damage-only item take up an attunement slot, and to make it less fiddly.

Variations on a theme:

Ring of Wicked Barbs, Lesser (uncommon/no attune): 1/long rest, use your reaction to deal half damage taken (up to 10) on a single melee attack (magical piercing type), to the creature that struck you with that melee attack.
Ring of Wicked Barbs (rare/no attune): n(3?)/long rest, use your reaction to deal half damage taken (up to 20) on a single melee attack (magical piercing type), to the creature that struck you with the melee attack.
Ring of Wicked Barbs, Greater (very rare/attune): Use your reaction to deal half damage taken on a single melee attack, to the creature that struck you with the melee attack.
Ring of Barbed Vengeance (legendary/attune): Any time a creature hits you in melee, that creature takes half of the damage dealt in magical piercing.

Haven't figured out n.

[Arc-Royal]

n = 3 seems reasonable in a vacuum and at nearly 5 AM (so take that for what it's worth).

The self-wounding, while an interesting idea for a thing they'd have to weigh the pros and cons of, seems too fiddly, so I think I'll ditch that.

My players still aren't yet at a point where they'll be finding magic items (on their way from the starting town to the nearest major city), so I've still got time to feel things out.