5th Edition: Homebrew magic item - Glaive of the Ogre Magi

[Arkhios]

I was recently creating history for a campaign I'm running and I came up with Oni (ogre magi) having a lot of influence in the past. As I was searching for cultural likenesses to import, I noticed that the Oni favor Glaives, and I realized that one of the players in my group favors a glaive as well; immediately I thought that it would be fun if I could leave an ancient glaive of remarkable power waiting somewhere for him to pick up at some point in the future. So, I began searching through Dungeon Master's Guide for such a weapon, but couldn't find any Magic Glaives except the dull +1/2/3 or (the less dull, but still rather boring) Weapon of Warning (both of which can be any weapons).

I came up with an idea of the Glaive of the Ogre Magi, but I'm short of ideas what kind of abilities could such a weapon bestow.

I was thinking of at least the ability to cast Enlarge/Reduce At-Will, as a self only spell without requiring material components. How rare should this item qualify for? Should it confer a bonus to attack and damage rolls too?

[Cybren]

how about an item that can cast a variety of spells, like enlarge/reduce, enhance ability, disguise self. Maybe even counterspell, or shield, or some similar defensive spell

[djreynolds]

I was recently creating history for a campaign I'm running and I came up with Oni (ogre magi) having a lot of influence in the past. As I was searching for cultural likenesses to import, I noticed that the Oni favor Glaives, and I realized that one of the players in my group favors a glaive as well; immediately I thought that it would be fun if I could leave an ancient glaive of remarkable power waiting somewhere for him to pick up at some point in the future. So, I began searching through Dungeon Master's Guide for such a weapon, but couldn't find any Magic Glaives except the dull +1/2/3 or (the less dull, but still rather boring) Weapon of Warning (both of which can be any weapons).

I came up with an idea of the Glaive of the Ogre Magi, but I'm short of ideas what kind of abilities could such a weapon bestow.

I was thinking of at least the ability to cast Enlarge/Reduce At-Will, as a self only spell without requiring material components. How rare should this item qualify for? Should it confer a bonus to attack and damage rolls too?

It could be cool if it could allow Misty Step once a short rest. I see this as a weapon to kill mage's maybe even conferring something of the mage slayer feat like disadvantage on concentration check. But no bonuses otherwise.

Or whatever you like, it sounds very cool.

[ClintACK]

If you're building as a capstone magic item for a specific character, obviously it should be something that your Player will love.


For me, the quintessential Ogre Mage power is invisibility. So I'd give it invisibility on the wielder, maybe 3/day.


But I get why the size-change thing stuck with people -- the ogre mage disguised as a halfling is a classic.

[Arkhios]

how about an item that can cast a variety of spells, like enlarge/reduce, enhance ability, disguise self. Maybe even counterspell, or shield, or some similar defensive spell

It could be cool if it could allow Misty Step once a short rest. I see this as a weapon to kill mage's maybe even conferring something of the mage slayer feat like disadvantage on concentration check. But no bonuses otherwise.

Or whatever you like, it sounds very cool.

If you're building as a capstone magic item for a specific character, obviously it should be something that your Player will love.

Personally, I would prefer if the Glaive of the Ogre Magi wasn't especially appealing to a Gish, but rather equally appealing to everyone. I'd much more prefer it to be flavorful in regards to the Oni/Ogre Magi characteristics.
If I were to add more spells than just one, I'd prefer drawing inspiration from their innate spellcasting:


The oni can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: darkness, invisibility
1/day each: charm person, cone of cold, gaseous form, sleep.

Enlarge at-will was drawn from the monster's Change Shape ability which allows them to polymorph into a Small or Medium humanoid, into a Large giant, or back into its true form.

I'm reluctant to granting a single item the ability to cast darkness, invisibility and Enlarge/Reduce at-will each, but I suppose all of the spells could be cast 1/day each, including charm person, cone of cold, gaseous form, and sleep.

Do you have any idea how strong the weapon would be, in the terms of it's rarity? I'm thinking of at least Rare, but more likely Very Rare. I'm leaning towards up to a +1 weapon with little extra. Or just the "Little Extra".
Overall, an item that could be acquired at a reasonably early point.

[Cybren]

Casting more spells is spexifically less appealing to a gish as compared to a non-spellcaster. Because a non-spellcaster has no magic at all. Gishes will appreciate the extra longevity in their slots, but it's not the same as "now has access to magic when they previously didn't"

[Arkhios]

Casting more spells is spexifically less appealing to a gish as compared to a non-spellcaster. Because a non-spellcaster has no magic at all. Gishes will appreciate the extra longevity in their slots, but it's not the same as "now has access to magic when they previously didn't"

Fair enough. Although, I'm still inclined to limit the spells the weapon would grant to those normally available to Oni + spells that could change your shape or size. (or just a spell that could do both)

How about this:

Glaive of the Ogre Magi

While attuned to this weapon, you can cast the following spells on yourself only without needing any material components, up to a total of three times: Alter Self and Enlarge/Reduce. The Glaive regains all charges at dawn.

In addition, if either of these spells belongs to your class spell list, you can use the Glaive as your Spellcasting Focus for that class, even if you are not proficient in its use as a weapon.

[NNescio]

Naturally, the command word for activating Enlarge Person will be "Missing Purple Power".

[Corran]

Since you want to give your player a weapon from relatively early on, and assuming that you are assuming that this is the weapon that your player will use till the campaign ends, why dont you go with a weapon that becomes stronger when the characters levels up? For example, at each tier you could have the weapon's enchantment bonus to increase and/or to provide the PC with additional spells (likely in the form of 1/day).

As for which spells to have the weapon grant, go with the ones that you think your PC would value more (either in term of pure optimization or in term of fun, depends on your player). So from the ones that you presented (invisibility, enlarge, disuise self, etc), that fit the nature of this item, go with the ones your PC would enjoy the most. Perhaps even add one or two spells that you know he would really want to have, even if you dnt think that they would be very thematic with the weapon, I dont think your player will question this. Just some suggestions.

[Arkhios]

Naturally, the command word for activating Enlarge Person will be "Missing Purple Power".

I'm afraid that reference went over my head :/

[Gastronomie]

I think the above ideas are pretty cool. However, Alter Self is a pretty RP-ish ability, so only Enlarge/Reduce and Invisibility are "combat-oriented". So if your player's character is not the party face, there could be other options as well. Maybe something like this (borrowed some ideas from above, added some new ones):

Glaive of the Ogre Magi
Very rare, requires attunement
This glaive has 10 charges.
You can expend a charge to activate one of the following spells (DC 13): Alter Self (2 charges), Charm Person (2 charges), Enlarge/Reduce (3 charges), Invisibility (3 charges), Sleep (2 charges). For a spell which targets only one creature, you may only target youself, and if you are not holding or wearing this weapon, its duration automatically ends. You can activate each spell only once per long rest.
Also, when you hit with this weapon, you may expend a charge to inflict extra 1d6 cold damage.
After a long rest, the glaive regains 2d6 charges.

[Arkhios]

Since you want to give your player a weapon from relatively early on, and assuming that you are assuming that this is the weapon that your player will use till the campaign ends, why dont you go with a weapon that becomes stronger when the characters levels up? For example, at each tier you could have the weapon's enchantment bonus to increase and/or to provide the PC with additional spells (likely in the form of 1/day).

As for which spells to have the weapon grant, go with the ones that you think your PC would value more (either in term of pure optimization or in term of fun, depends on your player). So from the ones that you presented (invisibility, enlarge, disuise self, etc), that fit the nature of this item, go with the ones your PC would enjoy the most. Perhaps even add one or two spells that you know he would really want to have, even if you dnt think that they would be very thematic with the weapon, I dont think your player will question this. Just some suggestions.

I certainly did consider that the weapon could get stronger reflecting the character's individual power. For what are the Oni (also known as Ogre Mages) if not creatures obsessed with power.

When we started this campaign we discussed a bit of the character's build, and it will revolve around Polearm Master and Spell Sniper (his character is an Eldritch Knight, reflavored as an "alchemist", with his non-abjuration/evocation spells focused in transmutation spells), with obvious plans in using Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade with a reach weapon, Glaive being arguably the best choice. It's likely that he'll stick to Glaive if possible throughout the campaign, and personally I dislike that magic weapons found should dictate the course of one's career. (Even though few exceptions do exist, almost every magic weapon is a sword of some kind. Meh.)

In regards to what abilities the Glaive could confer per each tier, maybe something like this:

While you're attuned to this weapon, your attacks with it are considered magical, and if any of these spells are in your class' spell list, you can use the Glaive as your Spellcasting Focus for that class.
First Tier (1-4): You can cast either Charm Person or Sleep up to 3 times each day. Your spell saving throw DC for these spells is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus.
Second Tier (5-10): The Glaive has a +1 bonus to weapon attack and damage rolls. You can cast either Alter Self or Enlarge/Reduce up to 2 times each day. Your spell saving throw DC increases to 9 + your proficiency bonus.
Third Tier (11-16): The Glaive has a +2 bonus to weapon attack and damage rolls. You can cast Gaseous Form 1/day. Your spell saving throw DC increases to 10 + your proficiency bonus.
Fourth Tier 17-20): The Glaive has a +3 bonus to weapon attack and damage rolls. You can cast Cone of Cold 1/day. Your spell saving throw DC increases to 11 + your proficiency bonus.

Edit:

I think the above ideas are pretty cool. However, Alter Self is a pretty RP-ish ability, so only Enlarge/Reduce and Invisibility are "combat-oriented". So if your player's character is not the party face, there could be other options as well. Maybe something like this (borrowed some ideas from above, added some new ones):

Glaive of the Ogre Magi
Very rare, requires attunement
This glaive has 10 charges.
You can expend a charge to activate one of the following spells (DC 13): Alter Self (2 charges), Charm Person (2 charges), Enlarge/Reduce (3 charges), Invisibility (3 charges), Sleep (2 charges). For a spell which targets only one creature, you may only target youself, and if you are not holding or wearing this weapon, its duration automatically ends. You can activate each spell only once per long rest.
Also, when you hit with this weapon, you may expend a charge to inflict extra 1d6 cold damage.
After a long rest, the glaive regains 2d6 charges.

Sorry, didn't see your post when I was writing mine.
I prefer not to discourage anyone to roleplay or to shoehorn a specific party role such as the "party face" to anyone due to their strengths or weaknesses in certain area. Alter Self is a flavorful spell, that has multiple possible uses. While a Glaive is combat oriented, I don't see why should its abilities reflect that exclusively.

[eastmabl]

Arkhios -

Is there a reason why you're breaking the general rule of "8 + Prof + Ability Modifier" on this magic item?

[Arkhios]

Is there a reason why you're breaking the general rule of "8 + Prof + Ability Modifier" on this magic item?

Technically I wasn't. I just figured that a non-sentient item wouldn't have an ability modifier higher or lower than +0, and while those spells are cast by the wielder, the wielder doesn't cast them as his own spells, but as spells from the Glaive. The Glaive therefore should have its "own ability modifier" which in this case is "+0". When the item's bonus to attack and damage rolls improves, so does the Saving Throw DC by equal amount.
The main reason why I tied the weapon to the wielder's proficiency bonus is that proficiency bonus is a great factor of one's individual power along with the raw characters level.

Another reasoning with this, is that the weapon can be attuned to whether you're a spellcaster or not. A non-spellcaster wouldn't have a spellcasting modifier, so if the weapon relied on the wielder's abilities, wouldn't it be more appealing to casters rather than non-casters? I intended it to be appealing to everyone in equal measure.

Although... I guess the Glaive could be a Sentient Weapon with the soul of an Ogre Magi trapped within... but that would no doubt drive the wielder either evil or mad, or both. And this I wouldn't count as fun, especially because that could go against the player's own motivations to play the character.

[MrStabby]

Maybe a weapon of spell storing? You may cast one non-concentration spell that has a single creature as its target on the weapon, probably once per day. When you hit an enemy with it as part of the attack action you may use a bonus action to cast that spell with the hit creature as the target. No attack roll is needed for the spell.

This levels up as the party does. People other than the wielder may cast spells on it.

[ClintACK]

How about: 3/day when the attuned wielder casts invisibility, enlarge, or darkness -- with himself as the target -- the Glaive of the Ogre Magi can maintain concentration on the spell for him. (That "concentration" is broken if the wielder drops the Glaive or is disarmed.)

At first this sounds too powerful -- Concentration is *the* new mechanic limiting spell power -- but magic items already do this for spells that they cast. It's strictly weaker than a wand, as the Wielder needs to pay both a spell slot and a spell known/prepared for the effect.

If you want to make it slightly more powerful, you could make one (or all three) of those spells be added to the wielder's prepared/known spells while the Glaive is attuned. The wielder would only need to pay the spell slot.

[James warden]

Informative post

[JellyPooga]

So...there's a lot of talk here about iconic Oni powers; Invisibility, changing shape and so forth, I feel there's been an important point missed...a Glaive of the Ogre Magi would surely be created by an Oni and/or for an Oni. What need does an Oni have for a glaive that lets him turn invisible or do any of the other things an Oni can do when he can do those things already?

I'd say something of this kind should take advantage of the unique combination of abilities that an Oni possesses, so let's take a look at some of them;

Regeneration: An Oni recovers health at an astonishing rate. Perhaps room for a weapon that deals backlash damage on the wielder in exchange for above-the-curve additional damage dealt (like the Vicious weapon property of 3.5)? It would make the weapon interesting for a Player because the choice of when and how often to resort to using it becomes a dilemma instead of a no-brainer. Bonus damage can be a touch boring, though and I don't see much else coming from this ability.

At-will Invisibility: Getting Surprise is easy when you're invisible all the time. A weapon that granted something like the Bugbears Surprise Attack (additional damage when you surprise a foe) might be appropriate.

Alternatively, perhaps grant the ability to use Silence X/long rest, or perhaps even make it automatically cast Silence when you cast Invisibility or Greater Invisibility, to complement the Oni's native ability to become invisible.

At-will Darkness: Blindsight (or Truesight) anyone? Only of significantly broken use to someone that can spam Darkness themselves (or knows someone that can), if you limit it to "in areas of magical Darkness" or something, making the weapon godlike in the right hands (like those of an Oni), but merely useful to those that have limited use of the Darkness spell.

Cone of Cold: A weapons granting Resistance or Immunity to Cold damage seems at least vaguely appropriate and is in no way overpowered outside of particularly icy themed campaigns.

Just my thoughts on the subject...

[Arkhios]

So...there's a lot of talk here about iconic Oni powers; Invisibility, changing shape and so forth, I feel there's been an important point missed...a Glaive of the Ogre Magi would surely be created by an Oni and/or for an Oni. What need does an Oni have for a glaive that lets him turn invisible or do any of the other things an Oni can do when he can do those things already?

I'd say something of this kind should take advantage of the unique combination of abilities that an Oni possesses, so let's take a look at some of them;

*Yoink!*

Just my thoughts on the subject...

Very good points! I admit I hadn't thought about that. Why would a dominant race like Oni make weapons (magical even) to imitate their innate abilities, indeed. And secondly, there's little point of giving such a weapon to non-oni, neither. They might use it against them!

An Oni recovers health at an astonishing rate. Perhaps room for a weapon that deals backlash damage on the wielder in exchange for above-the-curve additional damage dealt (like the Vicious weapon property of 3.5)? It would make the weapon interesting for a Player because the choice of when and how often to resort to using it becomes a dilemma instead of a no-brainer. Bonus damage can be a touch boring, though and I don't see much else coming from this ability.
Perhaps the weapon could support the regeneration, by giving temporary hit points and frequently refreshing them. Maybe (as an action), on activation granting temporary hit points equal to 1d4+double the weapon's bonus* if any, then refreshing 1d4 points each turn after that for 1 minute at a time, for a total of 10 minutes per day, regained upon long rest.
*Trying to keep the weapon scaling depending on the wielder's individual power by Tier: 1st (+0), 2nd (+1), 3rd (+2), 4th (+3)

Getting Surprise is easy when you're invisible all the time. A weapon that granted something like the Bugbears Surprise Attack (additional damage when you surprise a foe) might be appropriate.

Alternatively, perhaps grant the ability to use Silence X/long rest, or perhaps even make it automatically cast Silence when you cast Invisibility or Greater Invisibility, to complement the Oni's native ability to become invisible.
Both are good ideas, but the Silence as a bonus when casting (greater) invisibility would possibly implicate that the wielder had to be a spellcaster to fully unlock the potential (granted, the character who would receive this is an Eldritch Knight). Maybe needs some more work, but for now, extra damage on surprise seems perfectly in line with at-will invisibility.
Edit: maybe the Glaive gives unnatural grace for the wielder, essentially granting advantage to Dexterity (stealth) checks, potentially negating disadvantage, if any.

Blindsight (or Truesight) anyone? Only of significantly broken use to someone that can spam Darkness themselves (or knows someone that can), if you limit it to "in areas of magical Darkness" or something, making the weapon godlike in the right hands (like those of an Oni), but merely useful to those that have limited use of the Darkness spell.
Truesight while within area of magical Darkness seems a bit too powerful, but maybe it could grant superior darkvision at all times, ignoring even magical darkness.

A weapons granting Resistance or Immunity to Cold damage seems at least vaguely appropriate and is in no way overpowered outside of particularly icy themed campaigns.
The Glaive could make the wielder gradually resistant to cold. Maybe start as reduction at 2nd tier, develop into resistance at 3rd tier, and ultimately to immunity at 4th tier?

And, because Oni in general, and in my campaign the long lost culture of Ogre Magi, absolutely love magic, as a niche bonus, if the weapon was attuned to by an arcane spellcaster, being able to use the glaive as a Spellcasting focus for their spells (including bonuses granted by tier) could be flavorful.

Created by Oni to Oni, the Glaive is larger than normal and feels painfully cold to touch, but the feeling is passing and harmless.
Influenced by the wickedness of Oni, whenever the wielder is presented by opportunity to act selfish or malevolent, the weapon hightens the urge to do so.
The Glaive also functions as a key to open a hidden vault, suggesting that the original owner (or owners if there are more of these weapons) was a guardian of some kind.

[JellyPooga]

Created by Oni to Oni, the Glaive is larger than normal and feels painfully cold to touch, but the feeling is passing and harmless.

Is it really harmless? Perhaps the hand that wields it slowly takes on a greyish-blue or green colour, the fingernails becoming black and suspiciously claw-like. As the "rot" spreads up the wielders arm(s), they struggle more and more to resist the siren call to do *bad* things. What will happen should the rot reach his head? How far will the transformation go? Will the wielder try to conceal the encroaching "disease"? Will it stop if he discards the weapon? Can he even bring himself to throw it away, or is there something stopping him; something tickling at the back of his head, whispering in his ear? What will he need to do to cure himself, if indeed he even wants to?

Is the weapon (partially) sentient? If so, perhaps it has powers it can use at inopportune moments. Casting Gaseous Form on the wielder in the heat of battle, for example, or Invisibility while trying to convince the King of something. Giving the wielder uncontrolled hints of the powers contained within (i.e. those of an Oni), but not willing access, could be an interesting twist but it's one you'd have to be careful of abusing and I'd advise some frank discussion on the subject with your player beforehand; if you can get the player in question to buy into it, the rest of the party could be in for some unpleasant (but fun!) surprises.

In addition, be sure to drop hints about the cruel and inhumane acts required to create such a weapon; blood of virgins, screams of the innocent, living unicorn horns and all that jazz. Make wielding it a moral dilemma, even a struggle. The weapons of the enemy are powerful, but using them is definitely one of those things that's on the slippery slope towards the Hot Place.

[Arkhios]

The Oni (I actually prefer calling them as Ogre Magi in the context of my campaign) have not been around for a few thousand years. Their ancient presence has been wiped out, but the ruins of their civilization still remain. Hidden and forgotten under numerous layers upon layers of new cities.
The Ogre Magi empire is not direct threat any longer.

The painful to touch was really from the Quirk table from DMG. It's supposed to be of minimal effect.
I prefer to leave the ominosity to the flavorful stage, it's only slightly uncomfortable to wield but not infectious by any means.

[JellyPooga]

The Oni (I actually prefer calling them as Ogre Magi in the context of my campaign) have not been around for a few thousand years. Their ancient presence has been wiped out, but the ruins of their civilization still remain. Hidden and forgotten under numerous layers upon layers of new cities.
The Ogre Magi empire is not direct threat any longer.

Ooo...that's some great material to expand upon and play with if you did want to toy with the idea of the glaive being cursed.

The PC finds a relic of this long-forgotten empire. Little does he know that the most powerful Ogre Magi of that empire contained their essence within such relics, much as a Lich contains his soul in a phylactery. By infecting the wielder with the curse, the particular Magi trapped in the glaive is looking to claim the body of the PC for his own, slowly transforming him into a form suitable to the task; corrupting the soul as much as the body along the way.

As the curse progresses, if the PC is strong enough to resist it, perhaps he can research a ritual (or something) to summon the Ogre Mage from the weapon (or even tearing it from his own body/soul, if the curse has progressed far enough) in order to kill it and free himself of the curse. How the Player deals with a super-powerful, potentially Undead, Ogre Mage from a long-dead civilisation could be very interesting indeed!

P.S. Thanks for the inspiration; I'm totally going to see about using this in one of my campaigns now!

[Arkhios]

Ooo...that's some great material to expand upon and play with if you did want to toy with the idea of the glaive being cursed.

The PC finds a relic of this long-forgotten empire. Little does he know that the most powerful Ogre Magi of that empire contained their essence within such relics, much as a Lich contains his soul in a phylactery. By infecting the wielder with the curse, the particular Magi trapped in the glaive is looking to claim the body of the PC for his own, slowly transforming him into a form suitable to the task; corrupting the soul as much as the body along the way.

As the curse progresses, if the PC is strong enough to resist it, perhaps he can research a ritual (or something) to summon the Ogre Mage from the weapon (or even tearing it from his own body/soul, if the curse has progressed far enough) in order to kill it and free himself of the curse. How the Player deals with a super-powerful, potentially Undead, Ogre Mage from a long-dead civilisation could be very interesting indeed!

P.S. Thanks for the inspiration; I'm totally going to see about using this in one of my campaigns now!

Feel free (not that I could stop you either) :)
If you're interested learning more of the campaign I'm running, let me know. I might give you a link to the Obsidian Portal site we have :)