A homebrew item I’d like rated.

[Dualswinger]

So I’m making custom magic items for each of my players, and I’m getting stuck on my arcane trickster. How does this sound?

“On your turn you may take an action to prepare for an incoming strike. If an creature attacks you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to cause that attack to automatically miss, teleport to anywhere within 5ft of the attacking creature, then immediately make an attack against that creature with advantage. You can use this reaction three times per day.”


I’m also thinking of “upgrading” the item at higher levels to:

“At 17th level, this reaction can be used to teleport to within 5ft of any creature that targets you with an attack.”

[WhiteWolf]

Sounds ok to me, assuming the rest of the items are roughly equal in terms of power level. Giving up their action to avoid an attack and get an opportunity to sneak attack seems cool and I like the flavour for an arcane trickster.

[Kadesh]

So I’m making custom magic items for each of my players, and I’m getting stuck on my arcane trickster. How does this sound?

“On your turn you may take an action to prepare for an incoming strike. If an creature attacks you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to cause that attack to automatically miss, teleport to anywhere within 5ft of the attacking creature, then immediately make an attack against that creature with advantage. You can use this reaction three times per day.”


I’m also thinking of “upgrading” the item at higher levels to:

“At 17th level, this reaction can be used to teleport to within 5ft of any creature that targets you with an attack.”

Automatically Miss is pretty powerful, but it takes the action to do so, and there's no saying the creature is going to attack the guy holding the action, so that's fair.

It is also a nigh guaranteed Sneak Attack though, so that's 3 +9d6 damage if you are going through to 17th. The 17th level could do with a lot of clarifications - does it still require the action to be held, does it sti grant Advantage?

Also, bear in mind that this is doing something a specific Character Archetype is able to do: Shadow Monk. If you have other party members who want to use that it's going to step on their toes slightly (if not do it better) and if that is what you want to do and plan to go to 17th level, you have plenty of time to get the Shadow Teleport from the monk in any case.

Magic Items vary in use and effectiveness depending on the game and players, but if you are handing out choice abilities from other archetypes, I'd perhaps just ban multiclassing while not allowing people to recreate other abilities (bad experiences of a Wizard who got a Dagger that they could smite with and ancloqk that gave them Int to Saves). Alternatively, allow the multiclassing, but give the characters who toes get stepped on additional benefits if they want to use it. To use the Smite Dagger example, perhaps it could be used to roll twice on all damage dice and choose the highest)

[Contrast]

If they use the action but then no-one attacks them, does that expend one of the three uses? I assume not from the wording?

[nickl_2000]

Personally I would use this item as a way to trigger sneak attacks against an AoO. On my turn I use my action to prep the magic item then step away from the person. He triggers an AoO, I get a reaction to teleport to the other side of him (likely giving myself a more tactical position on the battlefield) and an attack at advantage (sneak attack). The opponent has now used his reaction, meaning that instead of bonus action disengaging, I can bonus action dash to get to the squishies for next round.

Sure I've burned my reaction for the round, but it absolutely worth it to be in a better position on the battlefield and a sneak attack when no one else is around.

[Silkensword]

I am for this, but under the condition that it is named "Nothing personell, kid"

[Galactkaktus]

Power
I rate it 3 out of 5
Design
I rate it 4 out of 5

I think you could almost recreate this with the haste spell use the haste attack to attack and your regular action to ready an attack to trigger a sneak attack out of turn. You whould lose the auto miss and the advantage and another benefit whould be no setup time since there is no need to cast haste anymore.

[Dragons_Ire]

It's strong, but I don't think it's game-breaking. As long as no one's playing a Shadow Monk it's absolutely fine.

I love the flavor too.