Help me balance these 4 magic items

[NiklasWB]

Hey guys, I could use some help balancing a few items I've recently given my players. They hit level 4 last session and was given the option to take 1 item each from the armory of their quest-giver.

Since they didn't have time to attune to the items I was fairly vague about what each item did, only giving descriptions like "you feel like this swords is nimble and well balanced" for something that was a finesse weapon and had a +1 to initiative.

Anyway, here are the items they took:

1. Maul made of a stone/metal mesh. I said that this Maul would make the character feel sturdy when holding the line and defending something.
2. Elven longbow. I said that this bow would be good at attacking enemies that are unaware of your presence.
3. Fur trimmed boots. I said that these boots would be good in cold-climates and against cold in general.
4. Fine leather gloves. I said these fine leather gloves would aid anyone who wished to be dexterous when picking locks or picking pockets.

So, how would you balance these so that everyone gets something that is about equal in terms of power.

The problem I'm having is that one item is pretty much only out of combat (the gloves), one if overall utility/resistance (the boots), and the other two are purely combat (maul and longbow).

The way I had originally set it up was like this:

Maul: DMG: 2d6. Special ability: You gain +2 (or +1?) to AC until the start of your next turn if you do not take a melee weapon attack as an action on your current turn. My reasoning was to give the player character (a bear totem goliath barbarian) an option to not always just rage and attack. This way he could use tactics such as dodge, dash, grapple and especially shove and gain some protection while doing so.

Longbow: DMG: 1d8. Special ability: You gain a +1 to hit and +1 to damage on enemies that are surprised. My reasoning was to reward smart planning on his wood elf hunter ranger character, using stealth and range (he also has Sharpshooter) to gain a surprise round.

Boots: As Boots of the Winterlands in the DMG. Is resistance to cold damage too powerful compared to the other items? Should I make it less powerful somehow? The player character is a human bladelock.

Gloves: As Gloves of Thievery in the DMG. Is this too weak compared to the others? +5 to slight of hands and to pick locks doesn't seem all that powerful... then again the character is a half-elven lore bard with a ton of skills , jack of all trades, and expertise etc, so he already has some amazing skill-scores.

Would you say that these are balanced (I mean, at least somewhat balanced), or should I change one or more of the items?

Thanks for the input guys.

[Ninja_Prawn]

They're fine, for the most part. Boots of the Winterlands and Gloves of Thievery are solid choices and the Maul of Tactical Options could be a huge benefit to the barbarian, since it allows him to keep tanking even without using rage. It should be +1, to keep in line with the others.

The elven longbow is underpowered though. It's weaker than a +1 longbow, which is in the same class of items as the boots and gloves. I would make it +2 against targets that can't see you. That way it could be used more than once per combat, but still forces the player to think about how to get the benefit.

[Lollerabe]

Forgoing attacking completely to gain a +1 ac as a barb sounds like a horrible trade to me. Again the best defense is an offense (often true in dnd at least).

If I were you I'd avoid giving out to many items that gave + to hit in general (and especially to a SS ranger) if the bow just dealt +1d6 weapon damg to surprised targets, I think the player would find it much funnier/awesome, and it wouldn't be OP either.

Frost res, well that depends on your setting but not a huge deal either IMO.

[Groggen]

As said earlier they seem ok balancewise.

When it comes to the longbow, I would actually give it "Damage advantage" when hidden (or have advantage to hit if that's easier), which just means "roll 2 damage dice, use the highest one". This gives the longbow an average of 5,81 instead of 4,5 while keeping the plus to damage interactive and more enjoyable imo.

I'm also a sucker for ribbon effects to make them just a little more unique, so for the gloves something like the option to make them look like the player wants as an ability, instead of just being invisible; the maul could have the Unbreakable trait or a once per day ability to gain advantage on an Intimidation check: the boots could have Gleaming, ie never gets dirty, or maybe as an action the wearer can click the heels together to know which way is home, or North; the longbow, when it gets wet, grows tiny branches and leaves? Just something to make them stand out, something that the players weren't expecting :)

[NiklasWB]

Forgoing attacking completely to gain a +1 ac as a barb sounds like a horrible trade to me. Again the best defense is an offense (often true in dnd at least).

If I were you I'd avoid giving out to many items that gave + to hit in general (and especially to a SS ranger) if the bow just dealt +1d6 weapon damg to surprised targets, I think the player would find it much funnier/awesome, and it wouldn't be OP either.

I don't think that the +1 to AC when not using a normal weapon attack for the Maul is a horrible trade. This just gives him the option to tank better even when he doesn't rage or just plain attack. What if all the enemies have ranged weapons and he can't reach them? AC bonus would look pretty sweet then. Also, for melee, he can still Shove (special melee attack), Grapple (special melee attack), Dash, Help, or a number of other actions while benefiting from higher AC. These items are given at level 4, so they shouldn't really be much better than normal non-magical weapons, but should mainly give some fun tactical options.

As for the Longbow... yes, I kind of agree that +1 to hit may be offsetting since the ranger already has like +7 to hit with the archery fighting style... +1d6 in damage when attacking surprised targets is definitely an interesting option.


When it comes to the longbow, I would actually give it "Damage advantage" when hidden (or have advantage to hit if that's easier), which just means "roll 2 damage dice, use the highest one". This gives the longbow an average of 5,81 instead of 4,5 while keeping the plus to damage interactive and more enjoyable imo.

I really like this one though, it gives you a higher average damage output without actually changing the range of damage itself. Sounds fun for the player as well. I might just pick this one. Should he wish to use it at higher levels he would benefit from the Ranger skill Vanish as well. Thanks!

[Gignere]

For the maul I would give it +2 ac when not attacking, I would also make this a +1 weapon. I really like the damage advantage for the long bow idea, but it still need to be a +1 weapon.

[eastmabl]

1* The maul is an an interesting thing. +2 AC is pretty big, but other commenters are right about the barbarian wasting his time not killing monsters.

I'd suggest that the maul is a weapon which requires attunement. An attuned user can use the Dodge or Help actions as bonus actions. This lets the player use his bonus action to do something that helps him protect himself/others while keeping him focused on his role - which is killing things.

2* Granting+1/+1 damage when the target is unaware of you is pretty underwhelming, and the fiddly bonus go against the grain of 5e game design. I'd try one of the following:

- Give the player use the Lucky feat when he attacks a character that's unaware of his presence. Since you'll have Advantage from surprise, the player will be rolling 3d20s. This can help offset bad rolling and offer an increasing chance of critical hits.

- Have the bow do an extra 7 (2d6) damage.

Considering that it won't trigger all the time, I don't think that these are out of line.

[Nicodiemus]

Since the gloves are the only pure non-com item, maybe combine them with gloves of missle snaring?

[Corran]

1. Maul made of a stone/metal mesh. I said that this Maul would make the character feel sturdy when holding the line and defending something.

Maul: DMG: 2d6. Special ability: You gain +2 (or +1?) to AC until the start of your next turn if you do not take a melee weapon attack as an action on your current turn. My reasoning was to give the player character (a bear totem goliath barbarian) an option to not always just rage and attack. This way he could use tactics such as dodge, dash, grapple and especially shove and gain some protection while doing so.
A barbarian pretty much always wants to attack instead of using his action for other things. It is just what this class is intended to do by its design. Based, on that, I would see to reonsider the benefot this maul gives, as it would be a pretty useless weapon (imo) for the barbarian.
Personally, when I first read your description, I imagined that the maul would give the barbarian a benefit when making saves against forced movement and prone effects. Advantage or a flat bonus would do in his saves against effects that result in any kind of forced movement or attempt to knock him prone.



2. Elven longbow. I said that this bow would be good at attacking enemies that are unaware of your presence.
Longbow: DMG: 1d8. Special ability: You gain a +1 to hit and +1 to damage on enemies that are surprised. My reasoning was to reward smart planning on his wood elf hunter ranger character, using stealth and range (he also has Sharpshooter) to gain a surprise round.
I would probably say an extra d6 on surprise attacks would be enough, and more in line with the benefits the other itemss give. Remember, you do not want to give very strong in combat benefits to one item, while you have other items as mostly utility or situational bonuses. A flat bonus of +1 is quite a big deal in the bounded accuracy system, and given that this character has sharpshooter, a bonus to his already exceptional attacks (due to archery) would be to much. An extra d6 on surprise rounds is much more in line with the rest of the bonuses from the other items imo.



3. Fur trimmed boots. I said that these boots would be good in cold-climates and against cold in general.
Boots: As Boots of the Winterlands in the DMG. Is resistance to cold damage too powerful compared to the other items? Should I make it less powerful somehow? The player character is a human bladelock.
Cold resistance is fine, it does not come very often, bit it is not that rare to encounter creatures that deal cold damage either. A good situational bonus. You could even add that heavy snow does not count as difficult terrain for him, though cold resistance is good enough by itself.



4. Fine leather gloves. I said these fine leather gloves would aid anyone who wished to be dexterous when picking locks or picking pockets.
Gloves: As Gloves of Thievery in the DMG. Is this too weak compared to the others? +5 to slight of hands and to pick locks doesn't seem all that powerful... then again the character is a half-elven lore bard with a ton of skills , jack of all trades, and expertise etc, so he already has some amazing skill-scores.
Nah, it's good. It will really come up when it matters, maybe have the bonus scale following his proficieny progression if you want skill checks regarding such checks to be challenging. Or maybe not, and go with the +5 to sleight of hand and open locks (thieves' tools). Dont need to add anything more imo.

[NiklasWB]

Interesting suggestions guys.

I'm really having a hard time with the Maul. I've already kind of hinted to the player that it gives him a + to AC when he doesn't take a normal attack action, and I kind of don't want to back away from that idea entirely. I think this is a fairly decent tradeoff since it is a defensive weapon (the player has expressively stated that he wants to 'tank'). I also liked the idea of this weapon having a history where it was wielded by someone making a last stand against a horde of incoming enemies and holding the line. If he wants to attack (as he should, MOST of the time), it is still a magic weapon and does a good amount of damage with his STR and rage-bonus. But I wanted to give him some more defensive options.

How's this:

Maul: Damage: 2d6 bludgeoning (magical), Special: When not taking the normal melee attack action you gain +1 AC until the start of your next turn. You have advantage against skill checks and saving throws to resist being shoved or knocked prone from both magical and non-magical sources. If an effect moves you against your will along the ground, you can use your reaction to reduce the distance with up to 10 feet.

This would give him an option to use shove, grapple, dash, help etc with an added +1 AC if he wants to, but while he makes his normal attacks he gets the benefit of not being as easily knocked prone or shoved (even when he is not raging). The reduced knock-back should be fun when fighting on a cliff-ledge as well. I've been very gratuitous with longs rests so far, but the party is about to go to a dungeon where long rests may be impossible. With only 3 rages per long rest, I think this weapon, while situational, will still be beneficial (maybe even a lifesaver) in terms of use in certain prolonged encounters.