Eldritch Knight - Improved Weapon Bond

[Vorenus]

I really want to like the Eldritch Knight, but . . . I'm not going to rehash what a lot of other people have already talked about regarding how the Eldritch Knight currently functions. But I did have one thought that I wanted to share, and ask for people's opinions on. I think that for a lot of people, at least based on what I've read online on sites like this or Reddit or other gaming sites, many people want the Eldritch Knights to weave their magic into their martial combat and that doesn't seem to work that way. So I was thinking about how I could solve this and here is the idea I came up with:

Improved Weapon Bond

The Eldritch Knight gains this ability at ninth level. First, the Eldritch Knight may use his bonded weapon as a spell focus. Second, the Eldritch Knight has gained the ability to channel a portion of his magical energy into his bonded weapons once per short rest. The Eldritch Knight's bonded weapon crackles with magical energy. For one minute, he adds an amount of radiant or necrotic energy damage (the Eldritch Knight chooses the type of damage when this feature is gained) equal to his Intelligence bonus to his weapon damage when he makes a successful melee attack. The weapon also counts as a magical weapon for purposes of striking monsters that are normally immune to non-magical weapons. While this ability is active, the bonded weapon crackles with magical energy and shines with bright light to a radius of 20 feet and dim light to a radius of 40 feet. Finally, the Eldritch Knight may choose to use his second Weapon Bond to bond with a shield (after bonding with a martial weapon as normal for the first selection).


What does everyone think?

[Spacehamster]

Curious why it would not work with dual wield which is already an inferior weapon style in this edition? Bit like kicking somebody already lying down no? Other than that it seems like a good ability.

[Vorenus]

I felt like the dual-wield option would be too powerful. Maybe I'm wrong?

Also, I meant to add a sentence saying that the bonded weapon could be used as a spell focus, so I have edited the original post to add that.

[Spacehamster]

I felt like the dual-wield option would be too powerful. Maybe I'm wrong?

Also, I meant to add a sentence saying that the bonded weapon could be used as a spell focus, so I have edited the original post to add that.

Nah, since in this edition you just get one bonus action attack anyways and GWM feat and polearm master both gives bonus attacks there is no real reason to leave out dual wielders from the fun. :)

[Vorenus]

You make a good point. I have edited the original post to delete the limitation on dual wielding.

[Vogie]

I think it's way too much for a single ability that comes so late. Your Improved Weapon Bond has 5 pieces, and I'm not sure it needs all of them:

Weapon is a spell focus
Glow
+Int to damage
Bonded Weapon Counts as magical
Oh, Shields too

Weapon as a spell focus, that should be in Weapon Bond... if it needs to be happening at all. I'm not so sure it needs to, as EKs could simply pick up warcaster at levels 4, 6, or 8 if they need be. Or, in top of all that, even if an EK stows or drops their weapon (which doesn't take an action) cast a spell, they can just pick it up or, if dropped off a bridge, summon it back to their hand with a BA. So while it would be cool, it isn't necessarily a hard-fast NEED.

Next, the glowing blade. It's cool... but it's also just Light. If you want the blade to glow, just throw in an Arcane Trickster-esque note on the Spellcasting feature.

Bonded Weapon Counts as magical for the purposes of magic resistance. Druids and Monks get this at 6, and Warlocks get this at 3. I'd suggest if you're adding this, then add it at either 3 with Weapon Bond or 7 with War Magic.

I like the ability to add a shield with weapon bond, simply because when I learned 5e, I was told it already did that. I loved the idea of a magic warrior being able to literally summon a shield to their hand, and it be a physical one instead of a force field. I'd include this in OG Weapon Bond.

Now the actual crux of this feature is the ability to add your Int to your weapon damage. This makes sense, for a damage dealer, until you revisit your stated purpose of "Eldritch Knights [should] weave their magic into their martial combat and that doesn't seem to work that way". What this feature does, as written, is discourage the use of magic while this feature is active - you're just buffing the damage of all the attacks, not doing anything for the spells, or any of the EK features. However, it isn't all bad. You could, for example, take this "deal additional damage equal to your Int" feature, and:

place it in War Magic, so it incentivizes people to actually use the feature; or
Add it to Eldritch Strike as a mirror of its existing ability of making your strikes cause disadvantage on your spells.

Either one of those would give the "weave magic into martial combat" effect from your intended purpose. Also, I'd just pick a damage type. There's nothing holy or paladin-y about EKs, or potentially pick-a-card-y like Zealot Barbarians, so I lean that you'd just say necrotic (It is an ELDRITCH knight) for the damage. Or maybe force.

So, what you'd end up with is:

Spellcasting
You learn Light and two other cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn an additional wizard cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
(otherwise as written)

Weapon Bond
At 3rd level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between yourself and one weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon and forge the bond.

Once you have bonded a weapon to yourself, you can't be disarmed of that weapon unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon that weapon as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly to your hand.

You can have up to two bonded weapons (or one weapon and one shield), but can summon only one at a time with your bonus action. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.

War Magic
Beginning at 7th level, when you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action. On hit, this attack deals additional necrotic damage equal to your Intelligence Modifier.

In addition, your bonded weapons count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.


Voila! That's almost entirely your feature, but without creating a wholly separate paragraph-long ability. That for some unbeknownst reason was at level 9.

[Reaver25]

I think it's way too much for a single ability that comes so late. Your Improved Weapon Bond has 5 pieces, and I'm not sure it needs all of them:

Weapon is a spell focus
Glow
+Int to damage
Bonded Weapon Counts as magical
Oh, Shields too

Weapon as a spell focus, that should be in Weapon Bond... if it needs to be happening at all. I'm not so sure it needs to, as EKs could simply pick up warcaster at levels 4, 6, or 8 if they need be. Or, in top of all that, even if an EK stows or drops their weapon (which doesn't take an action) cast a spell, they can just pick it up or, if dropped off a bridge, summon it back to their hand with a BA. So while it would be cool, it isn't necessarily a hard-fast NEED.

Next, the glowing blade. It's cool... but it's also just Light. If you want the blade to glow, just throw in an Arcane Trickster-esque note on the Spellcasting feature.

Bonded Weapon Counts as magical for the purposes of magic resistance. Druids and Monks get this at 6, and Warlocks get this at 3. I'd suggest if you're adding this, then add it at either 3 with Weapon Bond or 7 with War Magic.

I like the ability to add a shield with weapon bond, simply because when I learned 5e, I was told it already did that. I loved the idea of a magic warrior being able to literally summon a shield to their hand, and it be a physical one instead of a force field. I'd include this in OG Weapon Bond.

Now the actual crux of this feature is the ability to add your Int to your weapon damage. This makes sense, for a damage dealer, until you revisit your stated purpose of "Eldritch Knights [should] weave their magic into their martial combat and that doesn't seem to work that way". What this feature does, as written, is discourage the use of magic while this feature is active - you're just buffing the damage of all the attacks, not doing anything for the spells, or any of the EK features. However, it isn't all bad. You could, for example, take this "deal additional damage equal to your Int" feature, and:

place it in War Magic, so it incentivizes people to actually use the feature; or
Add it to Eldritch Strike as a mirror of its existing ability of making your strikes cause disadvantage on your spells.

Either one of those would give the "weave magic into martial combat" effect from your intended purpose. Also, I'd just pick a damage type. There's nothing holy or paladin-y about EKs, or potentially pick-a-card-y like Zealot Barbarians, so I lean that you'd just say necrotic (It is an ELDRITCH knight) for the damage. Or maybe force.

So, what you'd end up with is:

Spellcasting
You learn Light and two other cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn an additional wizard cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
(otherwise as written)

Weapon Bond
At 3rd level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between yourself and one weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon and forge the bond.

Once you have bonded a weapon to yourself, you can't be disarmed of that weapon unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon that weapon as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly to your hand.

You can have up to two bonded weapons (or one weapon and one shield), but can summon only one at a time with your bonus action. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.

War Magic
Beginning at 7th level, when you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action. On hit, this attack deals additional necrotic damage equal to your Intelligence Modifier.

In addition, your bonded weapons count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.


Voila! That's almost entirely your feature, but without creating a wholly separate paragraph-long ability. That for some unbeknownst reason was at level 9.

Nicely put. Agreed.

[Tanarii]

After you get War Magic at level 7, every round an EK, or at least one that knows what it is doing, intermixing magic and physical attacks. This seems like a fix looking for a problem.

The only exception is if you allow GWM/PAM or SS in your games unmodified. But if you do that, you're trying to fix the wrong thing by modifying EKs.

[Vorenus]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Excellent suggestions.

[DarkKnightJin]

I think it's way too much for a single ability that comes so late. Your Improved Weapon Bond has 5 pieces, and I'm not sure it needs all of them:

Weapon is a spell focus
Glow
+Int to damage
Bonded Weapon Counts as magical
Oh, Shields too

Weapon as a spell focus, that should be in Weapon Bond... if it needs to be happening at all. I'm not so sure it needs to, as EKs could simply pick up warcaster at levels 4, 6, or 8 if they need be. Or, in top of all that, even if an EK stows or drops their weapon (which doesn't take an action) cast a spell, they can just pick it up or, if dropped off a bridge, summon it back to their hand with a BA. So while it would be cool, it isn't necessarily a hard-fast NEED.

Next, the glowing blade. It's cool... but it's also just Light. If you want the blade to glow, just throw in an Arcane Trickster-esque note on the Spellcasting feature.

Bonded Weapon Counts as magical for the purposes of magic resistance. Druids and Monks get this at 6, and Warlocks get this at 3. I'd suggest if you're adding this, then add it at either 3 with Weapon Bond or 7 with War Magic.

I like the ability to add a shield with weapon bond, simply because when I learned 5e, I was told it already did that. I loved the idea of a magic warrior being able to literally summon a shield to their hand, and it be a physical one instead of a force field. I'd include this in OG Weapon Bond.

Now the actual crux of this feature is the ability to add your Int to your weapon damage. This makes sense, for a damage dealer, until you revisit your stated purpose of "Eldritch Knights [should] weave their magic into their martial combat and that doesn't seem to work that way". What this feature does, as written, is discourage the use of magic while this feature is active - you're just buffing the damage of all the attacks, not doing anything for the spells, or any of the EK features. However, it isn't all bad. You could, for example, take this "deal additional damage equal to your Int" feature, and:

place it in War Magic, so it incentivizes people to actually use the feature; or
Add it to Eldritch Strike as a mirror of its existing ability of making your strikes cause disadvantage on your spells.

Either one of those would give the "weave magic into martial combat" effect from your intended purpose. Also, I'd just pick a damage type. There's nothing holy or paladin-y about EKs, or potentially pick-a-card-y like Zealot Barbarians, so I lean that you'd just say necrotic (It is an ELDRITCH knight) for the damage. Or maybe force.

So, what you'd end up with is:

Spellcasting
You learn Light and two other cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn an additional wizard cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
(otherwise as written)

Weapon Bond
At 3rd level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between yourself and one weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon and forge the bond.

Once you have bonded a weapon to yourself, you can't be disarmed of that weapon unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon that weapon as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly to your hand.

You can have up to two bonded weapons (or one weapon and one shield), but can summon only one at a time with your bonus action. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.

War Magic
Beginning at 7th level, when you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action. On hit, this attack deals additional necrotic damage equal to your Intelligence Modifier.

In addition, your bonded weapons count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.


Voila! That's almost entirely your feature, but without creating a wholly separate paragraph-long ability. That for some unbeknownst reason was at level 9.

I'm using this if someone at my table wants to play EK. I will give them these expanded options after they've locked in their pick, so it doesn't influence the decision, either.

[Vorenus]

[QUOTE=Tanarii;24094929]After you get War Magic at level 7, every round an EK, or at least one that knows what it is doing, intermixing magic and physical attacks. This seems like a fix looking for a problem.


Tanarii: Could you please expand on this? It seems to me that once a Fighter gets his/her third attack at Level 11, there is almost no incentive to mix magic and physical attacks from a tactical or optimization approach. From a roleplaying approach, sure, but that is a case of a player deliberately handicapping his/her character for flavor reasons--not that I am opposed to that, of course, that's solid roleplaying. But it seems like there should be a way to reward both the solid roleplaying and let the Eldritch Knight actually mix magic and martial combat. And, like I said, from Level 11 on the incentive just isn't there. I've seen some approaches online that let an Eldritch Knight substitute one of their attacks for a spell or cantrip. That seems fine to me, more flavorful, but of course it is not what the rules actually allow. Obviously my own attempt is not what the rules actually allow, either. My question for you, Tanarii, is how does an Eldritch Knight at higher levels (11+) mix magic and physical attacks and not lose combat effectiveness? Thank you.