DM seeking help balancing Artifacts

[dantiesilva]

Hello as the name implies I am a DM, and I need help balancing my homebrew world's artifacts (well only a few of them at the moment). At this time I am in the stages of fleshing out an island that no one goes to anymore because off all the giant monsters that kill people and the ships that go missing/get sunk if they get to close. I plan on six races calling this place home, each of them possessing a part of a much larger artifact. Also cool names for each would be helpful as saying what it is, is rather dull.

Long story short a linnorem (MM 2 creature) is asleep in the volcano (Godzilla style) and is doing so because a long time ago the seven tribes came together and crafted an artifact with the ability to control the beast (as up to that point it had been tormenting all of them and they were all on the verge of extinction). With their only mutual enemy gone the tribes once more began fighting among each other so before one tribe could awaken the beast and use it for their own power again the elders broke up the effigy, killing themselves in the process from the release of magical energy, and entrusted a piece to their apprentices. It has been over 100 years since that happened and the in fighting has become high once more. Not long after the pieces were separated an entire tribe was destroyed however their piece was never found or recovered.

So the mini artifacts Idea's I have (and the tribes they go to are)

3/day the wearer may use this helm to make a breath weapon attack as if it were the Linnorem, Constant 120 blindsense (Kobolds have this item) this obviously forms the head of the effigy

+5 Longsword that infects any foe struck by it is affected by the Linnorems poison (Blackscale Lizardfolk have this item) This will form the lowerbody/tail of the effigy +1 Inheritance Bonus to Dexterity,

5/day empower any of the wielders spells. [insert cool Out of combat ability here], +1 Inheritance bonus to Wisdom the staff forms the rest of the main serpentine body with the sword being able to be inserted at the bottom of the staff.

Grants wearer +8 Enchantment bonus to Natural Armor, 3/day allows the wearer to grow claws that deal 2d8+Str modifier damage for 10 rounds, +1 Inheritance bonus to Con (Troglodytes have this item) Forms the claws of the effigy

Grants wearer DR 10/+1 and SR 12+HD (Firenewts) This forms the "skin" that binds all the other parts of the effigy together and holds them in place, +1 Inheritence bonus to Str, 3/day Grant's the wielder the ability to Fly as if cast by a 17th level cleric


Both rings treat you as if you were a cleric 5 levels higher then you are, while one gives you access to the Destruction domain, and the Other the evil domain (Pterafolk), +1 Inheritence bonus to Int (bonus doesn't improve if you wear both rings unlike other set bonus items), Ring of Destruction can use Protection from arrows 3/day CL 17, Ring of Evil can use Contagion 3/day CL 17 The gems contained in the two rings form the eyes of the effigy

Set Bonus For each piece of the effigy you have the inherit bonus improves by +1

Then their is the possible 7th piece which I have absolutely no idea for, so please everyone help me make these items fun for my players to find and learn about while not allowing them to break the game (at least individually). Bonus points if you have ideas for "set" bonuses. As a reminder end goal with all pieces together is to be able to control the Linnorem.

[rferries]

1) Just to confirm, the linnorm is a gray linnorm (https://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/block/Linnorm,_Gray)? (as opposed to the other varieties)

2) What level is the party? At a glance most of the effects you mention might not be horribly broken at mid-levels, with the glaring exception of the rings (+8 levels of cleric casting is almost certainly going to be gamebreaking).

I really do like this idea - I suggest tailoring at least one of the items for each PC (e.g. the cloak for the party fighter), and have those be the ones that are obtained first by the party. Alternatively, have the items provide out-of-combat utility (healing, transportation, scrying, etc) so that no one PC overshadows the others.

Suggestions for other effects: stat boosts to physical ability scores, access to one of more of the linnorm;s spell-like abilities, enhanced senses/blindsight, access to the linnorms physical attacks (inclkuding crush and tail sweep, perhaps via polymorph effects).

[dantiesilva]

Hello rferries and thank you for responding.


1) Just to confirm, the linnorm is a gray linnorm? (as opposed to the other varieties)

Yes that would be correct, I had thought about using a Dread Linnorm for a short time but tossed the idea out as it would be a lot more difficult to fight if any party ever made it that far in a game.


2) What level is the party? At a glance most of the effects you mention might not be horribly broken at mid-levels, with the glaring exception of the rings (+8 levels of cleric casting is almost certainly going to be gamebreaking).

At the moment there is no party this is simply a place A party can chose to adventure in while playing in my homebrew world that I have been working on with using Hexographer, World Anvil and a few other tools to keep all my ideas in order. I would say a party playing in this game would be no lower then starting level 9 or 10 however as their first encounter would be with a Kraken who attacks and destroys the ship they are on (as the ship got to close to the island) and thats a CR 12 monster.

With the rings I used a monk's belt and the Shield of Prator (which is an artifact in the DMG) as a guideline. And as a grey Linnorm has CL 17 cleric with the Destruction and Evil domains I thought splitting it between two rings would be more balanced then giving it all to one person. I am open to your idea's on how to change it though.


I really do like this idea - I suggest tailoring at least one of the items for each PC (e.g. the cloak for the party fighter), and have those be the ones that are obtained first by the party. Alternatively, have the items provide out-of-combat utility (healing, transportation, scrying, etc) so that no one PC overshadows the others.

As I have no PC's to speak of at the moment I was simply making the artifacts that would be here that the tribes have been using. So giving the cloak something like Wind walk then x/day as it's a SLA of the creature and has OoC applications would be a good idea then? Honestly I hadn't thought about Out-of comabt utility.


Suggestions for other effects: stat boosts to physical ability scores, access to one of more of the linnorm;s spell-like abilities, enhanced senses/blindsight, access to the linnorms physical attacks (inclkuding crush and tail sweep, perhaps via polymorph effects).

The helm already gives the blindsense, Giving the cloak Fly or Wind walk would fit with the theme of the cloak I believe, Perhaps the whipsword gives you the ability to use the linnorem's tail whip attack x/day? As shapeshifitng into a CR 20 monster even for only 2 turns can be very powerful (unless you have other options or ideas then what I think you were going for?)

Perhaps have the amulet increase your size category by 1, and give you the crush ability on top of the NA bonus? Thus you would gain a bonus to str, con, and NA, but lose points in Dex, to attack, hide, and move silently?

Not sure what the staff or two rings would get in this situation however. Again more then open to suggestions.

[rferries]

Hm without a specific party level it might be hard to tailor them... I can only suggest the out-of-combat options then, or maybe a bonus that scales with level (e.g. instead of a flat natural AC bonus, a barkskin effect that improves with the bearer's level).

[dantiesilva]

Any party trying to do this game would be at least level 9 when it starts (probably 10-11 when they have a chance to get the first piece of the effigy) if that helps any.

Perhaps have the whipsword (as in theory someone would have to be very dexteritous to use it) gives a bonus to Dex (+6?)
The Amulet gives a bonus to Con and A natural claw attack if the creature doesn't already have one, and if they do it increases in damage by 1 category?
The Staff boost's wisdom
The Helm Charisma
and the Rings Int
Cloak Str

What OOC options would you suggest for each assuming

Cloak becomes in play around 11
Helm and Amulet 12-13
Sword 14-15
Staff 16-27
Rings 18

[rferries]

I'd try to use the following algorithm:

1) Keep track of which PCs seem to be lagging behind the others - the first artifacts acquired will "conveniently" give benefits tailored to those characters e.g. a Strength boost for the party fighter. The next set of artifacts will give out-of-combat benefits, and the last set will give benefits to the most powerful PCs.

2) The artifacts giving vanilla stat boosts give either a +2 enhancement bonus per six character levels (so +6 at 18th level) or a +1 inherent bonus per four levels (so +5 at 20th). This could also be scaled to how many of the artifacts the party possesses (for the set bonus you mentioned earlier).

3) If (for balance purposes) it isn't feasible to give benefits directly enhancing a character, give them "gestalt" benefits. e.g. the rings give X levels of cleric casting to a non-cleric, but to an actual cleric they give a simple Wisdom bonus or access to the domains.

I'll leave it at that, let's see if the rest of the forums chimes in. Good luck, I really do like the idea!

[dantiesilva]

3/day the wearer may use this helm to make a breath weapon attack as if it were the Linnorem, Constant 120 blindsense (Kobolds have this item) this obviously forms the head of the effigy

+5 Longsword that infects any foe struck by it is affected by the Linnorems poison (Blackscale Lizardfolk have this item) This will form the lowerbody/tail of the effigy +1 Inheritance Bonus to Dexterity,

5/day empower any of the wielders spells. [insert cool Out of combat ability here], +1 Inheritance bonus to Wisdom the staff forms the rest of the main serpentine body with the sword being able to be inserted at the bottom of the staff.

Grants wearer +8 Enchantment bonus to Natural Armor, 3/day allows the wearer to grow claws that deal 2d8+Str modifier damage for 10 rounds, +1 Inheritance bonus to Con (Troglodytes have this item) Forms the claws of the effigy

Grants wearer DR 10/+1 and SR 12+HD (Firenewts) This forms the "skin" that binds all the other parts of the effigy together and holds them in place, +1 Inheritence bonus to Str, 3/day Grant's the wielder the ability to Fly as if cast by a 17th level cleric


Both rings treat you as if you were a cleric 5 levels higher then you are, while one gives you access to the Destruction domain, and the Other the evil domain (Pterafolk), +1 Inheritence bonus to Int (bonus doesn't improve if you wear both rings unlike other set bonus items), Ring of Destruction can use Protection from arrows 3/day CL 17, Ring of Evil can use Contagion 3/day CL 17 The gems contained in the two rings form the eyes of the effigy

Okay I edited them to include the inheritance bonus as well as some new abilities that could be used for Out of Combat utility and removed the +8 bonus the staff gave as if its already giving an inherit bonus that improves for each piece you have that could become overkill rather quickly. However now the staff needs something for Out of Combat.

[dantiesilva]

Anyone else have any suggestions?