Magic item for a villain (Eiverhardt players don't read)

[FunSize]

One of the recurring villains in my campaign is a Tiefling Bard (Lore, if that matters) and one of her signature visual features is a harp she carries. Which also happens to be a magic item, go figure.

I'm not expecting the final showdown to happen for a while, but there will probably be a few encounters with her coming up so I need to figure out what this thing can do.

About the villain: she cleaves pretty well to the Spymaster Bard archetype with a dash of Joker Bard (is that still a thing?). Previous encounters with her have mostly been going up against her minions or her contacting them through sending spells, or showing up to threaten/taunt them and her Dimension Dooring away, and one hostage situation that went very, very badly.

Level-wise I'd say she's currently around level 12 (average party level right now is 5. She has a ways to go).

So back to her harp.

Here's the powers it's demonstrated so far:

--Making people into blissful mindslaves. Kind of works like a specific application of Dominate Person, but I decided this power takes too long to take hold for it to be practical in combat, mostly used to dangle hostages in front of their noses.

--One of the strings transforms into an extendable razor whip. I'm thinking it probably does 2d6+2 slashing and has a 20 foot reach, and POSSIBLY giving it the ability to ignore up to 3/4ths cover. Transforming the string is a bonus action I'm thinking. May be a little weak for a bbeg's personal weapon, but she's a spy master type villain and is more likely to use deception or magic when confronted.

Other powers that haven't been revealed that I'm considering:

Some form of subtle emotional control.

Entangling harp strings. (Maybe Dex save or be restrained and take damage at the end of your turn from the razor sharp wiry nature of the strings, Str check to break free).

I've considered giving it Shatter or a similar thunder damage effect, but maybe different from the spell in some way because she's likely to know Shatter anyway.

Some other mind-altering effect that requires her to use her actions to do nothing else but play. (So she can tie people up in her harp strings and break their minds with haunting music. Hey, she's evil.)

Any thoughts?

[ruy343]

So... you're describing a harp with a very Manga feel to it, with all sorts of abilities and impractical-yet-surprisingly-successful applications. This is in contrast to how I usually play (everything has a more sound sense of logic).

That said, I'll give it a try...



This harp once belonged to the famous musician Jaccord, who played it with incredible skill and whose music was said to enthrall the mind and the senses and touch one's very soul. Fearing that he would be separated from his instrument at death, he paid the powerful wizard Lachorio to infuse his soul into his harp when he died, so that he might live on through the music of the harp.

Although his methods were a bit extreme, he's a largely sane, chaotic good person harp, whose only goal in unlife is to continue to play music, enthralling his audiences by empowering the person plucking his strings. Any creature who is attuned to his harp gains proficiency and expertise in the performance skill, and has advantage on checks made to play with the harp because Jaccord's soul takes the help action to assist them.

Any creature who hears the music played by the harp for one minute must make a DC 16 Charisma saving throw against the harp's magic or become enthralled until the music ceases. Enthralled creatures cannot take actions or reactions, and cannot move unless instructed to dance by the creature playing the instrument in a language they understand. Dancing creatures can be directed to move to any location or to dance in place, moving at up to half their speed if necessary. Each minute that an unenthralled creature listens to the music, that creature must attempt a save again. A creature who is hostile to the player of the harp has advantage on the check, and creatures who take damage are allowed to make a saving throw at the start of their next turn to escape the enthrallment.

In addition to this enthralling music, Jaccord will act fiercely to protect himself and his harp. Typically, to avoid notice, he will behave like a normal harp, so that no silly bystander makes the mistake of believing this harp to be possessed with a devil or somesuch (although Jaccord was quite the handsome devil back in his day).

The Harp of Jaccord has the following stats:

Int: 14
Wis: 13
Cha: 19

HP: 35
AC: 16 (Natural Armor)

Jaccord is immune to most conditions (i.e. Poisoned, Prone, Charmed, etc.). Use your judgement. You're the DM.

Jaccord's Personality:
Traits:

Music is what I live for, and I seek to be played by those who are worthy harpists
I'm a bit of an artistic snob, and I harshly criticize the artistic talents of others, especially those who are better than I.

Ideal:

Expression: I want to share my great artistry with the world, one tavern at a time.

Bonds:

I am grateful to my old friend Lachorio for having helped me live on like this, and I hope to someday find him again so that I might play for him once again.

Flaw:

Rather than communicate with others, I'd rather charm or enthrall them, until they've proved themselves to me.

When rolling initiative, have Jaccord roll for himself (with no bonus) - he will participate in combats by performing one of the following actions:

Spellcasting: Jaccord can cast any of the following spells, and any spells that target himself can target both himself and the creature which is attuned to the harp:

Spellcasting:
Cantrips (at will): Blade Ward, Dancing Lights, Minor Illusion
Level 1 (4x/day): Animal Friendship, Heroism, Shield, Charm Person, Dissonant Whispers
Level 2: (3x/day): Enthrall, Calm Emotions, Hold Person, Magic Mouth
Level 3: (2x/day): Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Fear

Actions:
Breaking a string: Although Jaccord hates to do so, he can make a melee attack against creatures that are within 5 feet by breaking a string. This attack has a +7 to hit, and inflicts 1d4+3 damage. He may break up to three strings per round. For each string he breaks, the harp takes one damage, and the harp will have a -1 penalty per string broken on any performance checks until it is re-strung.

Does that give the kind of item you were looking for? I figured that by allowing the harp to take its own turns in combat, it'll have the ability to break the action economy the way you wanted, and still pack a load of surprises. I don't like the idea of a harp string being really stretchy like that, since harp strings don't behave like that (believe me, I know), though maybe it could have been a one-time exception. Of course, re-flavor this however you'd like - it's your campaign.