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Yack
2018-10-15, 12:01 PM
Hello GITP, I'm a little new to the forum, so don't sacrifice me yet.

My DM is starting a 5e ToA campaign. I'm trying to create Captain Ahab, the infamous whaler from Moby ****, in D&D. For those of you who don't know the character, he had his leg torn off by a monstrous whale and obsessively seeks to kill it someday. He wears a prosthetic leg made of whalebone (NOTE: This has no disadvantage to DEX since he's gotten used to it for almost 3 decades).

I'm thinking of creating a harpoon-style weapon, like a cross between a javelin and a grappling hook.

The character, as he stands now, is a level 3 Ranger/3 Barbarian (Monster Hunter and Sea Storm Herald) Variant Human with the Tough feat at lv1. The problem is, I have almost no clue what the hell I'm doing and could use some advice.
Thanks everyone!

Yack
2018-10-15, 12:03 PM
Sorry about the censored part, I was trying to say *D|ck :smallannoyed:

Man_Over_Game
2018-10-15, 01:42 PM
Hello, Yack, welcome to the forum!

You should talk to your DM about his plans for this weapon. Is he allowing you to create it, or are you trying to create something to suggest to him?

There's a few things we should focus on:


Make sure the item is not *much* better than other options
Make the item non-magical but still useful
Make the item more useful to you, but still useful to everyone.



Let's start with our core chassis, the Javelin:
Simple weapon, 1d6 piercing, 2 lbs., Thrown (range 30/120)

And you're looking to make a harpoon, something that can stick to the target. Our goal is going to either be


Have a weapon that can pull you to the enemy
Have a weapon that allows you to pull the enemy to you.
But, I say, why not BOTH?

To pull something like this off, the thing would probably have to be pretty heavy and strong. Push its weight to 4 pounds, and make its range a bit less, probably 20/60. I'd also make it versatile, so it'd be 1d6 piercing (1d8 versatile), to compensate for the weight and damage loss. So far, it's a pretty heavy weapon with some poor range but still usable. The reduced range and mediocre damage means it's not exactly the best ranged weapon, which will give us more balance room to work with on the special effects.

Lastly, we put on the special abilities. This one is a bit tricky, but here's my suggestion:

"
When you hit a target with this weapon while wielding it with two hands (thrown or melee), and if you prepared this weapon with some rope to grab on to, you can grasp onto the rope with all of your might by using a bonus action. Doing so means you make an Athletics check against the target's contested Acrobatics or Athletics check (their choice).


If you scored higher on the contested check and:
The target is small enough to grapple, the creature is considered Grappled by you.

The target is too large to grapple, the target's speed is halved and you can move up to your climbing speed towards the target on your turns as an action by climbing up the rope.

To maintain these effects, you must use your concentration to keep a grasp the rope with at least one hand.

The creature may attempt to break free either by using their action for another contested check, by attempting to attack the rope (AC 11, HP 5, vulnerability to Fire), or by moving further than 60 feet away from you.

If the object is inanimate, it is considered to have rolled a 10 on its check (effectively making this a grappling hook).
"

A bit wordy, but cool. I worded it this way so that the weapon doesn't benefit from things such as the Grappler feat, which would provide advantage on grapple checks. This isn't necessarily a grapple check, but an Athletics check that results in a grapple; a technicality that doesn't result in too many OP circumstances.

Notably, to tie in with one of our concerns, the athletics check will make it applicable to many, but especially useful to a raging barbarian (like yourself).

My final suggestion is to make it a martial weapon.

So, in total, here's my recommendation:


Harpoon of the Zealot, Martial/Exotic Weapon
30 GP, 1d6 piercing, 4 lbs., Thrown (range 20/60), Versatile (1d8), Special:

When you hit a target with this weapon while wielding it with two hands (thrown or melee), and if you prepared this weapon with some rope to grab on to, you can grasp onto the rope with all of your might by using a bonus action. Doing so means you make an Athletics check against the target's contested Acrobatics or Athletics check (their choice).


If you scored higher on the contested check and:
The target is small enough to grapple, the creature is considered Grappled by you.
The target is too large to grapple, the target's speed is halved and you can move up to your climbing speed towards the target on your turns as an action by climbing up the rope.

To maintain these effects, you must use your concentration to keep a grasp the rope with at least one hand.

The creature may attempt to break free either by using their action for another contested check, by attempting to attack the rope (AC 11, HP 5, vulnerability to Fire), or by moving further than 60 feet away from you.

If the object is inanimate, it is considered to have rolled a 10 on its check (effectively making this a grappling hook).
GET OVER HERE

Yack
2018-10-15, 06:02 PM
Man_Over_Game,

Thank you so much! This should be really useful in the future.
I was trying to work out the grapple mechanic, but you already solved it for me I guess!

Edit: I originally had a question about the Versatile option, but I get why it's STR-based now. The questions I have now are:

1. Do you damage the enemy when they still succeed on an Acro/Athl check? I assume this is just a special 'bonus' sort of thing.
2. How much time is required to tie the rope to the harpoon? Could I just tie a bunch of pre-roped harpoons to my belt and use them when necessary?
3. When anchoring myself to objects (or pulling them to me, assuming they weigh less than I do), is there a way other than the object presumably rolling a 10? I remember someone suggested a Ranged DEX attack roll to hit, followed by an Athletics roll to climb.
4. I like that the Grappler feat doesn't affect the check, but can you still grapple someone with it in point-blank melee?

Overall, fantastic job! I hope the DM thinks so too.
Thank you again, and let me know if I can help you with anything. :smallbiggrin:

Man_Over_Game
2018-10-15, 06:05 PM
Oh, and for reference, when you grapple at range, moving further away forces the enemy to move, but moving closer means they stay put. (https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/129581/if-i-am-grappled-by-an-enemy-with-10-reach-how-does-our-movement-work) Since dragging them requires twice the normal amount of distance, but moving towards doesn't require dragging and costs you the normal movement, you could effectively move 1 foot towards the enemy (costing 1 foot) and 1 foot back (costing 2 feet), so you could technically pull someone closer to you in this method by spending 3 feet for every 1 you want to move them, assuming you wanted to stand in place.

Kind of odd, I know. This means that a 40 speed Barbarian could pull someone in 10 feet closer to him and have 10 feet of personal movement left over and still have an action left, or he could Dash (putting possible movement at 80) and pull the target 25 feet while effectively standing still.

Man_Over_Game
2018-10-15, 06:13 PM
Man_Over_Game,

Thank you so much! This should be really useful in the future.
I was trying to work out the grapple mechanic, but you already solved it for me I guess!

I know I'm a Barbarian, but my other class is Ranger... I chose to prioritize my DEX over STR since a harpoon isn't quite thrown like a javelin. Instead of being designed as a heavy, sharp object you toss at the enemy, the harpoon is light and sharp, meant to hit accurately from fair distances (e.g. puncture a whale's fluke).

In the 19th century, when the book was written, harpoons were lighter and thinner, making them extremely aerodynamic. My question is, would the Light or Versatile properties be reasonable?

Overall, fantastic job! Thank you again, and let me know if I can help you with anything. :smallbiggrin:

Hmmm...a lighter version...

I suppose you could make it 1d4 (1d6 versatile), Finesse, Range 50/150. Light is generally for things that should be wielded with other Light weapons, and I don't really think this should be that kind of weapon.

I still recommend using Athletics as the skill of choice, as nothing else seems to reflect the power necessary, but a generous DM might make it a Constitution rather than Strength check, but the Strength would be more in your favor, as the Barbarian Rage gives you advantage on Strength checks.

I also still recommend requiring two hands to catch the rope. That's a balance concern, and any better than this is straight up pushing into uncommon+ magic power levels.

Notably, if you can get someone to cast Enlarge on you, you'd be able to pull in some freakishly sized monsters!

Let me know if there's anything else you have concerns about, though.

Yack
2018-10-15, 06:32 PM
I figured out a VERY simple way to resolve this.

I'll just use the original and switch my STR and DEX scores, and then swap some of my skill proficiencies.

Thank you though!