Best damage-boosting weapons in core-ish books?

[x3n0n]

Forked:


I'm AFB but I chose Flametongue because it's one of the better damage-boosting items in the game. If you have other suggestions I'm open to them! I'm not so interested in consumables though like above Potion of Fire Giant Strength because they only increase nova, not baseline.

I don't think the Nine Lives Stealer longsword (+2 to hit and damage, with a limited chance of instakill on a crit and failed DC 15 Con save) is more impressive than a Flametongue longsword, although on a greatsword that +2 is more important because GWM.

So, within core-ish books, do people have good general-purpose damage-boosting weapon (or weapon-adjacent) suggestions?

Here are a few that jumped out at me:

Melee:

+3 Weapon > +2 Weapon > +1 Weapon (all good for GWM)
Flame Tongue > Frost Brand, modulo damage type (combo with Oil of Sharpness, Magic Weapon, Kensei, etc)
Various with enemy-specific bonus damage dice (Dragon Slayer weapon, Mace of Disruption, etc)


Ranged:

As above, +3 > +2 > +1 (and all great for Sharpshooter)
Oathbow, for one enemy a day
Bracers of Archery


Other recommendations?

[nickl_2000]

Belt of Giant Strength - +5 str mod -> +9 is a huge difference
Holy Avenger Sword
Dagger of Venom - Not great, but it deserves a mention
Hovering Sword - Free bonus action attack
Scimitar of Speed - Free bonus action atack
Ioun Stone of + to attack stat
Manual of + to attack stat
Spell Storing Ring - Ally casts Hex of Hunter's Mark in it.
Staff of Striking

[x3n0n]

All good picks, thanks!

For more context (forked from the same original thread):

Honestly my big objection is that I'm increasingly dissatisfied with how poorly pure warriors scale, even with DMG magical gear. The fact that a 15th level Cavalier using a Flame Tongue longsword (one of the better magical items out there, for damage) does only 3 x d8+2d6+5ish (~50) damage per round, times hit rate (i.e. 24.15 DPR against a Goristro because they are AC 19 and fire-resistance Goristro), kind of bothers me.

Contrast that with a wizard abusing the biggest and best spells for 15th level (e.g. a wizard with three Planar Bound Armanites, each doing 20.15 DPR to that Goristro on average).

I don't mind that 5E makes magic items non-required, but as time goes on I feel like it's extremely under-ambitious in terms of what its very rare and legendary magic items do, except for Blackrazor. I think I want that Cavalier lusting after the possibility of someday growing to giant size (Huge) and using giant weapons (3d8 vorpal longsword +3) with giant Strength (Str 29, +9 to hit and damage) so he can do 3 x 3d8+12 damage (74.70 DPR to that Goristro with a pretty good chance each round of a insta-kill). Otherwise what is even the point of playing a high-level non-Sharpshooter Fighter? Another example: DMG Armor of Invulnerability that makes you immune to nonmagical damage for 10 minutes a day and resistant the rest of the time isn't cool enough IMO to be legendary, not when a wizard can just Magic Jar into a True Polymorph-created Goliath Werebear body and be immune all of the time.

Magic items shouldn't feel like small potatoes, but too many of them do, especially compared to the best spells. That doesn't seem right.


For @MaxWilson's example:

We have Belt of <various> Giant Strength.
We have Vorpal Longsword.

We don't have a hypothetical Ring/Helm/whatever of Size Changing. Say:
3 (?) charges; regains 1d3 (?) at dawn.
Spend a charge as a (bonus?) action to change to that size for 10 minutes (?) or until you choose to revert. (Caveat about fitting.)
All of your equipment changes with you, including weapons, which follow the DMG (?) weapon-size-change rules. (Reach?)

What other obvious gaps do we have for fun-and-effective items that a martial would benefit from more than anyone else?

[ProsecutorGodot]

Core-ish leaves options fairly bare (mostly covered already, I think) so I'll just add a personal favorite from GGtR - Sword of the Paruns. Our party Monk is in possession of a Vorpal Sword and has little use for their reaction, so it's used almost every turn to offer them another attack.

[borg286]

From my DPR analysis a caster's greater DPR comes from upcasting Scorching Ray and AoEs. Sorcerers dip Warlock for quickened Eldritch Blast, but even that dies off compared with the way monster HP scales. Casters can cast those really nice Planar Ally and chain lightning spells, but that is only 1/day. They get their spotlight and then it returns to the guys that can do 1/2 that damage round after round. The problem isn't with the game design, but is with the game not lasting enough encounters to give the rangers, fighters, rogues, and barbarians more opportunities to deal with more monsters. I do feel it was a bit of an overreaction from the arms race that was 4th edition.

[da newt]

That's a new one for me. It would be handy w/ a Rogue in the party or a Pali for smites with the off turn extra attack, or for a cleric who Dodges often - interesting.

Sword of the Paruns
Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica
p181
Martial weapon (longsword), melee weapon, very rare (requires attunement)
3 lb. 1d8 slashing - versatile (1d10)
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. Additionally, once on each of your turns, you can use one of the following properties if you're holding the sword:

*Immediately after you use the Attack action to attack with the sword, you can enable one creature within 60 feet of you to use its reaction to make one weapon attack.
*Immediately after you take the Dash action, you can enable one creature within 60 feet of you to use its reaction to move up to its speed.
*Immediately after you take the Dodge action, you can enable one creature within 60 feet of you to use its reaction to gain the benefits of the Dodge action.

[Yakmala]

I recommend the Sun Blade. A longsword with the finesse property is great for Rogues, as they can wield it two handed to make it a 1D10 weapon and still use it to sneak attack. +2 to hit and damage, radiant damage and extra damage to undead are also nice features. The blade also emits light which counts as sunlight, which can sometimes be useful when going up against creatures with sunlight sensitivity.

[Ir0ns0ul]

Wand of Paralysis?