Quaal's feather token : Bird

[Sirithhyando]

Hi everyone,

I rolled treasure for my group and they got the Quaal's feather token (bird version).
It's an awesome transport for them... slightly too awesome :smalltongue:, well, my mistake, i'll deal with it.

Thing is, my group wanted to have the bird land, them getting off the bird and hiding and then have the bird go further drawing attention while they hide.
Thing is, there's not much ruling about what it can do and how to make it do it.
The player who summon it will it to move but how far away from the player can the bird go and how complex an order can it perform.

On the spot, we decided that if the bird was dismissed, the magic item would fall straight from where the bird disappeared so if the players want to keep the item, it's better to know exactly where the bird will disppear.
Another thing, we decided that the bird couldn't go further than 100ft from the summoner. But now i feel that 100ft might not be enough. I was thinking at first that it stays as a bird as long as you have line of sight to it. (especially since i loved my players idea and wanted to reward them)

So what would you suggest? I know my players wouldn't mind modifiying what we decided on the spot though i wouldn't weaken the object.

[kaoskonfety]

Given that you've ruled the item becomes the bird (my take on the tokens as well), a good chance of losing it seems a reasonable risk.

AFB, but I'd rule it cannot take complex orders (perhaps a single direction and one clause - fly north Until the sun sets, fly in 100 foot wide circles And land after 4 circuits) and will follow orders in a fairly robotic fashion without updated directions from a rider.

For their plan the main risk will be losing the fairly small magic item in a random-ish stretch of wilderness, a monster taking a liking to it, perhaps some small children find it and claim "finders keepers". I'd be more in favour of adding something interesting on the recovery end for possible RP and to highlight they might lose it when the first try something like this (children claiming it might amuse if you have moral characters, an art collector beholder and an adult green dragon discussing who gets this item they 'found' between their territories on the other end of the spectrum) and if the do it again: perception checks, hours of labourous searching and finding it caught up in the limbs of a tree... good times.

[Sirithhyando]

That's some nice idea's, thanks.

Also, what about putting a limit on the number of time they can summon/dismiss it?

Inside a minute they could summon/dismiss it 5 times, there (probably) wouldn't be a point in doing so but is there a possibility for abuse on the item that i haven't thought about?

[kaoskonfety]

Most of them have use retrictions built in... weird that this one doesn't. Still AFB...

I can't really see any abuses? Well, none above the 'having flight' thing. Then again I mostly give the PC's magic items *for* them to abuse them.

"Uses per day" could be distance, duration or activations. I'd suggest total duration active but be fairly generous - somewhere in the 2-8 hours range.

To keep them from doing something weird growth/shrinking wise - it cannot grow into an occupied space, do damage due to size change or be deactivated mid-flight/while it has riders (a reasonable safety feaure). Making it some level of fragile will also discourage weird usages - breaking it for some momentary benifit should be allowed, so long as they are aware the act will break it.

[Sirithhyando]

Thanks


Still AFB...

Quick question, what does AFB stand for?

[kaoskonfety]

Thanks



Quick question, what does AFB stand for?

away from book - I lack the DMG to review the actual rules and am giving "from the hip" advise

[Sirithhyando]

oh i see :)

The only restriction mention is that it can fly X miles with a charge of 500 pounds, half with up to 1000 pounds. For the first, it says it's max speed is 16 miles per hours to a maximum of 144 miles per day. And that it need an hour rest every three hours.
He can be dismissed as an action or if he falls to 0HP and he can't attack.

Though what if they tell the bird to go straight ahead (through the guard tower...), it's not an attack :smalltongue: (my players are crazy, they'll do something stupid and end up killing tiamat, some crazy luck they have lol)

[psychopomp23]

oh i see :)

The only restriction mention is that it can fly X miles with a charge of 500 pounds, half with up to 1000 pounds. For the first, it says it's max speed is 16 miles per hours to a maximum of 144 miles per day. And that it need an hour rest every three hours.
He can be dismissed as an action or if he falls to 0HP and he can't attack.

Though what if they tell the bird to go straight ahead (through the guard tower...), it's not an attack :smalltongue: (my players are crazy, they'll do something stupid and end up killing tiamat, some crazy luck they have lol)

Hey we're not crazy!! We just have a very wild imagination...

[kaoskonfety]

oh i see :)

The only restriction mention is that it can fly X miles with a charge of 500 pounds, half with up to 1000 pounds. For the first, it says it's max speed is 16 miles per hours to a maximum of 144 miles per day. And that it need an hour rest every three hours.
He can be dismissed as an action or if he falls to 0HP and he can't attack.

Though what if they tell the bird to go straight ahead (through the guard tower...), it's not an attack :smalltongue: (my players are crazy, they'll do something stupid and end up killing tiamat, some crazy luck they have lol)

It runs its skull into the tower at a good speed, does no damage and is redused to 0 hp? Like a bird hitting a windowpane. Yes "reasonably" it should do some damage. But it won't, and for the same reason fireball, golems and the token itself works. Magic.

Now if they do this while the bird is loaded down with rocks to drop rocks on the troops below... well the troops get some Dex Saves with a low DC and a bird token falls on them too.

[Sirithhyando]

Hey we're not crazy!! We just have a very wild imagination...
:smallbiggrin:


It runs its skull into the tower at a good speed, does no damage and is redused to 0 hp? Like a bird hitting a windowpane. Yes "reasonably" it should do some damage. But it won't, and for the same reason fireball, golems and the token itself works. Magic.

Now if they do this while the bird is loaded down with rocks to drop rocks on the troops below... well the troops get some Dex Saves with a low DC and a bird token falls on them too.
Oh yeah, magic! I'll have to remember this one.
Thanks a lot for the help :smallcool:

[kaoskonfety]

As a general suggestion for magic items with significant abuse possibilities for "off brand" uses I might suggest what we called "The Monowire truce" we had in Shadowrun.

Monowire is a sorta-science fiction super thin incredibly sharp replacement for barbed wire in the setting. Nasty stuff with a stupidly high strength, with quietly offensive damage, armor piercing and for kicks: practically invisible.

The truce was simple: As long as the players don't do anything awful with monowire they can use it (there's a whip weapon that used it and as a defensive emplacement/trap). They can be cunning and clever in context. I may use it similarly. If they break the truce and use it for some of the HORROR it can logically be used for, I am free to use it to my diabolical mind to respond in kind. I would then present exhibit A: a self constricting net gun with "fairly strong nylon rope" replaced with "monowire". The damage was not too terrible in a round by round sense, but if you didn't have the specific tool for cutting monowire on your person, you were dead. And a rather messy dead at that.

The truce has never been broken.

Now not many D&D 5th items present serious problems (the old D&D *literally* immovable rods fit the bill though) but just let the players quietly know that if the push it too far (replace the proposed rocks on the birds back with something awful polymorphed into rocks) you may just respond in kind, from time to time.

[Sirithhyando]

So, free to do as you wish but know that i can be aweful too if you abuse too much too often. Got it :smallcool:

@ Psychopomp : Consider yourself warn :smallwink:

Thats a way of seeing it i prefer. My players don't usually abuse even when they can so i'm not much concern but there was still the use to bombard an area or have the giant bird trample over a guard tower thing i wanted to avoid... too much.
Well, the bird is going to gain lots of XP that the players wont :smallbiggrin:

[Fogs]

Hi! I'm very unexperienced with DnD, so maybe I read it wrong, but...

QUAAL'S FEATHER TOKEN
Wondrous item, rare
This tiny object looks like a feather. Different types of
feather tokens exist, each with a different single-use
effect. The DM chooses the kind of token or determines
it randomly.

Shouldn't this mean that if you're playing by the book, your players would be able to use the token once to summon the bird, and once the bird disappears, the token is gone forever?

[Sirithhyando]

Hi! I'm very unexperienced with DnD, so maybe I read it wrong, but...

QUAAL'S FEATHER TOKEN
Wondrous item, rare
This tiny object looks like a feather. Different types of
feather tokens exist, each with a different single-use
effect. The DM chooses the kind of token or determines
it randomly.

Shouldn't this mean that if you're playing by the book, your players would be able to use the token once to summon the bird, and once the bird disappears, the token is gone forever?

Oh... and now i understand why it seemed way (i mean, WAYYY) stronger than a rare item should be :smalltongue:
Well, you may be inexperienced, but i read too fast and definitly missed that part... oops :smallbiggrin:

So i did not say to my players that the item wasn't single used but... hum... it makes so much more sense now lol i feel stupid

Thanks for bringing that small, yet so important, detail to my attention :smallbiggrin:

[kaoskonfety]

hmm, single use... making it reusable isn't broken as hell but it is far better as an item.

Handwave your error as they found a version with X+1 charges where x is the number of times they've use it thus far, or just let them have it "it's defective"