Magic Item: Boots of the Pirate King

[BDRook]

So in 4e my party's bard played a very swashbucklery sailor. So when we converted to 5e he switched it to an Eldritch Knight/Bard multiclass. I wanted to give him a magic item that would fit with his sailor background, so I came up with these homebrew boots that:

1) Give advantage on Dexterity checks made to balance, and
2) Standing up from prone only costs 5ft of movement, rather than half.

The first bit was to give him an advantage if his ship was ever in a storm that would shake up his boat, but it didn't seem strong enough on it's own. I added the prone part to make it a little better, but I'm worried that it makes it too strong. What do you guys think?

[Gastronomie]

I cannot say for sure unless I look at the other characters' items as well, but there is nothing even remotely overpowered with these items. Wonderfully thematic and cool. You could even make them stronger and still have no problems.

[Joe the Rat]

Balance Advantage is fairly minor... normally. If the game is heavily boat-centric, that becomes a lot bigger.

the 5-foot kip is slightly better than the Athletic Feat feature. - and that's like 1/4 of the feat. It's not a killer trick. Overall I think you're okay for a Rare at best (as in no rarer than rare) item.

Attunement can be a useful balancing feature. If you think something is strong, requiring attunement makes using the item an investment - in many ways it makes the item a signature aspect of the character's story (if for no other reason than limiting you to two more attuned items).

[BDRook]

You could even make them stronger and still have no problems.

Thank you! What would you do to make them stronger and still fit thematically?

[Joe the Rat]

Hmmm...

Swim speed or Advantage on Strength checks for swimming
Advantage on Athletics for climbing ropes
Something something bonus for swinging on ropes.
Catlike Tread (advantage on stealth for quiet movement - see Boots of the Elvenkind). Singing component optional.


If you wanted to give it more oomph, you could add Jump or Water walking features. The first one (jump spell x/day, or simply double/triple jump distance) is more swashbucklery. Water walking is more potent, and more blatantly magical.