Does this demon sword make sense?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Here is a weapon I want to give to a big bad guy who has a chance to raise an undead army. How can I make this thing terrifying but not make it totally ridiculously overpowered in the hands of the players. They're level 7 to 8 btw.

Thanks in advance:


Legendary, requires attunement

Dreamscape Sword: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) slashing damage, and a non undead target must succeed on a DC 10 Intelligence save or be cursed. If it fails the save the target's thoughts are filled with horrible images and dreams causing disadvantage on attack rolls. The cursed target gains no benefit from finishing a short or long rest. The curse lasts until it is lifted by a remove curse spell or similar magic. If the target dies while under the curse of this object they may choose to attempt a DC10 Wisdom save or rise an an undead servant of their killer if their killer is still attuned to the sword. The wielder of the sword chooses the form of the undead servant. It must have a CR of up to half its level or CR in life and must have a similar physical form.

[Particle_Man]

So the tactic with this sword is to hit an enemy once and then run away?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

So the tactic with this sword is to hit an enemy once and then run away?

Darn. That is a possibility. I'll have to ad on a save a day or something.

[StoicLeaf]

some thoughts:

The branding is off
You're calling it a demon sword. Demon's are rage incarnate agents of destruction. The sword really doesn't reflect that.

The mechanics are a bit dull
I'd redo the attributes. The sword's curse could be a pretty nifty tension builder, both in combat and out, but at dc10 it's unlikely to ever occur. bump it up to ~17 and perhaps make it a con save. When the players eventually get the sword you could claim that the sword lost much of its power with the death of its creator (and then adjust the DC back down so your murderhobos don't abuse it).
The "hit & run" aspect of the sword feels a bit wonky; to flee combat you need a certain amount of control over the fight (the more you have the easier it is to flee) but then why flee at all and not simply finish your opponents off? You can make this work while the NPC has the sword but once the players get it it'll feel rather meh.

2 ideas to address this:

1) Add more necromatically themed abilities. Danse Macabre could be cool. perhaps the grim harvest necromancer corner stone; kill a dude, gain 1d4+con temp hit points. This could be a problem depending on how you view necromancy in your world; the generic 5e world considers necromancy to be evil.

2) Redeem the sword. Perhaps your villain is a fallen paladin and his order (or what's left of it) wanted him dead and to reclaim the sword. They have a quest for the PCs to cleanse it. You could then give the sword a more "heroic" set of attributes. I did a dream sequence once where the PC was given a string of what-if? scenarios where he simply chose what he wanted to do. Depending on his choices the weapon gained different attributes.

[MrStabby]

Well some of this depends on the world.

If clerical magic is abundant then an NPC needing remove curse is probably a pretty small cost for an encounter with a party of PCs high enough level to have access to a +2 weapon with extra abilities.

Likewise a DC10 save is passable by most bad guys. NPCs probably don't dump int as hard as PCs. This kind of depends on the campaign though and if you are having the PCs fight beasts a lot or if it is mainly people. Likewise disadvantage on attack rolls is a big deal for a fighter, less so for a caster forcing saves.

I would worry more about the in game balance of a +2 item rather than the special ability. Small adjustments to the campaign can keep the other aspects in check. More weaker enemies will lower the effect. Putting more defensive power in the ability to cast the shield spell rather than HP will lower the swords impact. Slightly higher int enemies, more fighting at range, more spellcasting or grappling enemies that are not relying on attack rolls... all have an impact. If you make the effect a fear or charm effect then you open up even more options for balancing its power in the hands of PCs by sprinkling in more immune enemies.

[Spore]

Here is a weapon I want to give to a big bad guy who has a chance to raise an undead army. How can I make this thing terrifying but not make it totally ridiculously overpowered in the hands of the players. They're level 7 to 8 btw.

Then make it powerful but it has to come at a cost.


Lich Blade
Legendary, requires attunement

You gain a +2 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls made with this Magic Weapon. When you hit nonundead creature with it, that creature takes an extra 2d10 necrotic damage. You heal for that amount, or gain temporary hit points, of the wielder's choice.

The Lich Blade slowly corrupts the user. It needs to feed on the life force of living beings. Every night, when it strikes midnight, if the attuned user has not used the blade to kill a creature this day, the blade drains away his life force. Reduce the wielder's maximum HP by 5. The hunger of the weapon increases. Every other day, the blade needs to deal a minimum of 10/20/30 and so forth necrotic damage or feed on its user.

Remove Curse destroys the magic of this item (or makes it a +1 weapon, your choice).

Basically they want to balance the drawbacks for the benefits.

[Man_Over_Game]

StoicLeaf has some good points. A few things I want to point out:

The standard damage is really high for a single handed weapon.

You want to implement a reason for this weapon to be valuable in both combat and out of combat, while also providing the means to help the paladin create an army without having much room for the players to do the same.

You want it balanced for level 7/8 players.

--------------

My recommendations:

Make it a Con DC15 to the creature to curse them upon touching the sword when not attuned to it. They do not benefit from long rests while cursed, as they are constantly being sent visions of their death by the weapon and them becoming an undead, and each attempt to rest has them attempt the DC again. If they succeed, the curse is lifted, otherwise the curse reduces their Constitution by 2. Additionally, when this weapon is used to attack one of these cursed creatures, it makes a critical hit on a roll of 18-20. If the creature dies from a critical hit or due to losing Constitution from the curse, they turn into an undead creature at the start of their next turn, who follows the actions of the wielder of the sword. If the sword is not nearby and the undead has not been demanded an action by the sword's wielder, the undead will travel towards the sword.

While attuned to the sword, your thoughts are muddled and your memories are filled with the dead's, and are unable to focus much on reality. As a result, being attuned to this sword halves the experience you receive.

Lastly, call it a Devil Sword. Demons are chaotic evil beasts that tear open your chest cavity to feed you your own heart. Devils would much rather watch you kill yourself as you sacrifice your friends for power for a relic that you begged for. Unless you plan on making this sword put you into some kind of blood frenzy, devilkin suits this weapon a lot better.

[SirGraystone]

I wouldn't bother with the dreaming curse, I would give the sword power to raise those it kill once by long rest. But I would make it an intelligent weapon, that whisper the wielder in his mind, pushing him to kill peoples around him "You really can't trust rogue, you should kill him before he stab you in the back" make the bad guy just a pawn control by the sword.

There's a very powerful weapon in the DMG Blackrazor, I let one group have it but once it start talking to them, noone dared to use it in battle.

[Chronos]

I'm not seeing an Int save on that curse. Depending on how it works, it sounds to me more like Cha, or maybe Wis. Int saves are mostly for figuring out that an illusion isn't real, whereas for this thing, the victim knows the visions aren't real; they're just so creepy that it doesn't matter. The fluff seems to be that it's corrupting the victim's soul, and soul-related things are usually Cha saves.

[TheAxeman]

How would a player character recover if they became a servant of the NPC? Is that a mechanic that's possible or is the character just gone.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

How would a player character recover if they became a servant of the NPC? Is that a mechanic that's possible or is the character just gone.

Another good point.

Wish seems too difficult. Is Greater Restoration too easy....

[thoroughlyS]

In order to judge this weapon effectively, it helps to have more context.

How are you planning to use this villain in your game? Are they going to make a few appearances, before a final confrontation with the party? Or are they going to make one grand appearance, where the stakes are already high? What is their plan? Does it have any connection to the weapon?

What kind of villain are they? I know they use a sword, but are they a full martial character, like a fighter? Are they an antipaladin or a death cleric? Are they an arcanist?

What is their strategy in combat? What about out of combat? Do they have an escape plan? Is that not an option?

Where did the weapon come from? What was it made for? Why does this character have it?