crazy magic weapon time

[kenposan]

I like scalable magic items. I don't want magic to be overly disposable "Oh, now I ditch my +1 sword for a +2 sword, sweet."

To that end, I started creating a sword that unlocks additional powers as the character advances. I started leafing through the DMG for inspiration and ended up with this stream of consciousness beast.

Straylight
Sword, legendary, requires attunement (blade pact warlock)
3 lbs. 1d8*slashing*- versatile (1d10)

Stories are told of a time in the distant past when the Undead reigned. Vampires ruled, and their undead armies maintained order through strength and fear, as the Shadowfell flowed into the Realms. Legend tells of the exploits of the brave who stood up to the undead and pushed back against the darkness. One such person was Maris Straylight, a great hexblade, who was said to have sold her soul in exchange for eldritch powers to defeat the undead scourge. To assist her in this goal, a weapon of great power was forged by the greatest Dwarven weapon smiths, aided by great Elven mages. Both Maris and her sword were lost to legend and the weapon now bears her name.

Magic Weapon.Straylight is a semi-sentient (and slightly mad) magical weapon. It reveals its power only as the wielder demonstrates its own power and commitment to Straylight's cause. See the chart below for powers.

Sentience.When Maris died fighting the Undead while sealing a portal to Shadowfell, Straylight absorbed a bit of her essence, attaining a limited sentience. Straylight is a neutral good weapon with an Intelligence of 10, a Wisdom of 10, and a Charisma of 10. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The weapon communicates by transmitting emotions, sending a tingling sensation through the wielder's hand when it wants to communicate something it has sensed. It can communicate more explicitly, through visions or dreams, when the wielder is either in a trance or asleep.

Personality.Straylight has taken some of Maris' personality, one that was dour and consumed by the need to free the Realms. Having been out of commission for nearly as long as it was wielded (and coming to grips with both solitude and sentience it wasn't meant to have), it now sees any threat to humankind as a problem. This can range from demons and devils to goblins or hordes of sewer rats, depending on its mood. Straylight will try to force its wielder to engage in any situation it believes is a threat, though that engagement does not necessarily require the use of force.

Magic glow. When drawn from its scabbard, Straylight's blade is bathed in eldritch flame. The color of the flame is chosen randomly (stray-light, get it?):
Roll Color
1 Red
2 Blue
3 Green
4 Purple
The light is no brighter than candlelight for the purpose of vision.

Curse.The sword bears a curse that affects any that becomes attuned to it. Even if the attunement ends, the curse remains. Upon attuning, the creature's physical appearance assumes that of Maris, a human woman of average height/weight, with black hair and red eyes. The creature neither loses nor gains any racial benefits from the curse. The physical change wrought by Straylight isn't considered magical in nature (and therefore can't be dispelled), but they can be undone by any effect that removes a curse, such as a*greater restoration*or*remove curse*spell. If a creature breaks attunement, Straylight will not allow it to attune again, having lost its trust and displaying its lack of commitment. Trying to attune again will cause 5d6 psychic damage, half as much on a successful Wisdom save, and Straylight will teleport back to where Maris perished and it gained sentience. It will then go dormant, waiting for another worthy creature to find it. <-- the curse is based off the Axe of Dwarvish Lords. When I gave it sentience and part of Maris' personality, this just seemed to fit thematically

Versatile.This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property — the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack.

As the wielder grows in power, Straylight reveals more of its power:

Tier 1 +1 to attack and damage
Tier 2 Healing: The first time per turn that Straylight is used to successfully make a melee attack in combat, the wielder is healed by 5 hit points.
Tier 3 +2 to attack and damage
Tier 4 Extra attack: you can make one attack with Straylight as a bonus action on each of your turns.


I don't know that I would ever put it into play, but curious on people's opinions. How ridiculous is it? :biggrin:

[Silkensword]

The healing is the only really powerful thing about it- the attack-with-bonus-action comes at a tier so late in the game that the players probably have other, and often better, things to do with their bonus actions. Additionally, the change in appearance is going to turn off a lot of players off of it, since it is a fundamental change for their character- the one thing players should have supreme agency over.
It's not ridiculous in any way, if anything i would change tier 4 and tier 2 around.

[kenposan]

the reason I put the bonus action attack so late is chances are the wielder took thirsting blade at 5th level for an extra attack. Didn't want it to step on fighter toes too much, hence the same tier and making a bonus action instead of a full on extra attack.

[danpit2991]

as for the appearance thing yea it could drive off players so how about something like this

Curse.The sword bears a curse that affects any that becomes attuned to it. Even if the attunement ends, the curse remains. Upon attuningonce attuned and when used in combat, the creature's physical appearance assumes is overlaid by a ghostly image that of Maris, a human woman of average height/weight, with black hair and red eyes. The creature neither loses nor gains any racial benefits from the curse. The physical change wrought by Straylight isn't considered magical in nature (and therefore can't be dispelled), but they can be undone by any effect that removes a curse, such as a*greater restoration*or*remove curse*spell. If a creature breaks attunement, Straylight will not allow it to attune again, having lost its trust and displaying its lack of commitment. Trying to attune again will cause 5d6 psychic damage, half as much on a successful Wisdom save, and Straylight will teleport back to where Maris perished and it gained sentience. It will then go dormant, waiting for another worthy creature to find it. <-- the curse is based off the Axe of Dwarvish Lords. When I gave it sentience and part of Maris' personality, this just seemed to fit thematically



that way it is cool but does not remove player agency

[Malifice]

I like scalable magic items. I don't want magic to be overly disposable "Oh, now I ditch my +1 sword for a +2 sword, sweet."

To that end, I started creating a sword that unlocks additional powers as the character advances. I started leafing through the DMG for inspiration and ended up with this stream of consciousness beast.

Straylight
Sword, legendary, requires attunement (blade pact warlock)
3 lbs. 1d8*slashing*- versatile (1d10)

Stories are told of a time in the distant past when the Undead reigned. Vampires ruled, and their undead armies maintained order through strength and fear, as the Shadowfell flowed into the Realms. Legend tells of the exploits of the brave who stood up to the undead and pushed back against the darkness. One such person was Maris Straylight, a great hexblade, who was said to have sold her soul in exchange for eldritch powers to defeat the undead scourge. To assist her in this goal, a weapon of great power was forged by the greatest Dwarven weapon smiths, aided by great Elven mages. Both Maris and her sword were lost to legend and the weapon now bears her name.

Magic Weapon.Straylight is a semi-sentient (and slightly mad) magical weapon. It reveals its power only as the wielder demonstrates its own power and commitment to Straylight's cause. See the chart below for powers.

Sentience.When Maris died fighting the Undead while sealing a portal to Shadowfell, Straylight absorbed a bit of her essence, attaining a limited sentience. Straylight is a neutral good weapon with an Intelligence of 10, a Wisdom of 10, and a Charisma of 10. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The weapon communicates by transmitting emotions, sending a tingling sensation through the wielder's hand when it wants to communicate something it has sensed. It can communicate more explicitly, through visions or dreams, when the wielder is either in a trance or asleep.

Personality.Straylight has taken some of Maris' personality, one that was dour and consumed by the need to free the Realms. Having been out of commission for nearly as long as it was wielded (and coming to grips with both solitude and sentience it wasn't meant to have), it now sees any threat to humankind as a problem. This can range from demons and devils to goblins or hordes of sewer rats, depending on its mood. Straylight will try to force its wielder to engage in any situation it believes is a threat, though that engagement does not necessarily require the use of force.

Magic glow. When drawn from its scabbard, Straylight's blade is bathed in eldritch flame. The color of the flame is chosen randomly (stray-light, get it?):
Roll Color
1 Red
2 Blue
3 Green
4 Purple
The light is no brighter than candlelight for the purpose of vision.

Curse.The sword bears a curse that affects any that becomes attuned to it. Even if the attunement ends, the curse remains. Upon attuning, the creature's physical appearance assumes that of Maris, a human woman of average height/weight, with black hair and red eyes. The creature neither loses nor gains any racial benefits from the curse. The physical change wrought by Straylight isn't considered magical in nature (and therefore can't be dispelled), but they can be undone by any effect that removes a curse, such as a*greater restoration*or*remove curse*spell. If a creature breaks attunement, Straylight will not allow it to attune again, having lost its trust and displaying its lack of commitment. Trying to attune again will cause 5d6 psychic damage, half as much on a successful Wisdom save, and Straylight will teleport back to where Maris perished and it gained sentience. It will then go dormant, waiting for another worthy creature to find it. <-- the curse is based off the Axe of Dwarvish Lords. When I gave it sentience and part of Maris' personality, this just seemed to fit thematically

Versatile.This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property — the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack.

As the wielder grows in power, Straylight reveals more of its power:

Tier 1 +1 to attack and damage
Tier 2 Healing: The first time per turn that Straylight is used to successfully make a melee attack in combat, the wielder is healed by 5 hit points.
Tier 3 +2 to attack and damage
Tier 4 Extra attack: you can make one attack with Straylight as a bonus action on each of your turns.


I don't know that I would ever put it into play, but curious on people's opinions. How ridiculous is it? :biggrin:


This sword gains a bonus to hit and damage equal to your proficiency bonus divided by 2 (round down).
When the swords bonus to hit and damage rolls rises to +2, you also gain resistance to necrotic damage.
When the swords bonus becomes +3 it also functions as a scimitar of speed (allowing an attack as a bonus action with it)

[Whit]

I like it. Very nice. I’m worried about dark vision 120.
In one way it lets the lock to pick another invok. And just cast darkness to heck everything or eb stuff. But it’s nice

[Theodoxus]

I once made a sword for a bladelock that converted temp hit points to real healing. The player loved it, as he was harder to kill, and I loved it because he no longer got pesky THP - if he wasn't hurt when he killed something, there was no additional benefit. Might be something to think about in regards to tier 2.

I'm a huge fan of legendary items that unlock additional abilities as they become more powerful. I've created arms, armor, miscellaneous items... It lets the players have more bennies than the typical 3 attuned items, and I can alter them if needed. I'll create the full list of abilities, but only let the players know just the ones they've unlocked. Thus, if I realize that an upcoming unlock is going to unbalance something, I can change it behind the scenes and they'd never know.

I started doing it that way after one player received all 20 levels of their item, and plotted on how to best synergize their character around their item, instead of playing more organically.