[D&D 5e/Next] Meteorite Maul (rarity evaluation request)

[Arkhios]

Hi,

I had a sudden idea of a special magic item, intended mostly for druids or anyone capable of casting Shillelagh.

Meteorite Maul
[Tentative Rarity: Uncommon], Weight 10 lb.
This raw lump of adamantine is wrapped tightly in roots of darkwood.

When targeted with Shillelagh the roots grow to form a wooden handle, long enough to treat the Shillelagh as an adamantine maul for the spell's duration. It otherwise works like the spell.

How rare would be appropriate for a magic item like this?

How about +1, +2, and +3 versions?

After giving it much thought and thanks to everyone's help, I've decided to make this item rarer than uncommon because adamantine is rather rare metal. To be honest, given it's origin, it might as well be a legendary item.

Meteorite Maul
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement by a character capable of casting Shillelagh), Weight 10 lb.
Crafted from a meteorite of pure adamantine, wrapped tightly in hardened roots of darkwood, this item was created by ancient elven druids to a legendary champion in a time of great need.

When targeted with Shillelagh the roots grow to form a wooden handle, long enough to treat the Shillelagh as a +3 adamantine maul for the spell's duration. The wielder of Meteorite Maul gains proficiency with maul if they do not have it already. It otherwise works like the spell.

[gloryblaze]

Switching shillelagh from a d8 to 2d6 is on average a +2.5 damage boost, so you could call this a +0/+2.5 weapon. I don’t know the DPR math off the top of my head but I would imagine that the +1 accuracy of a generic +1 weapon either compensates or more than compensates for the extra 1.5 damage that this does, so I would say that this item is roughly as good as a +1 weapon and so I’d put it into the same rarity category (uncommon, iirc).

And of course we can’t forget that part of the value of a +1 weapon is that it’s magical at all, allowing it to bypass resistance/immunity, which shillelagh bypasses already, meaning that upgrading from shillelagh to this is actually a little bit less of an upgrade than from, say, a nonmagical weapon to a +1 version of the same weapon. Also, shillelagh can be used 1-handed with a shield if you have War Caster or don’t care about casting S spells, while this prevents you from using a shield, so the opportunity cost is also a bit higher.

So yeah, I’d put this on-par with a +1 weapon (and I’d put a +1 version on par with a +2 weapon, and so on).

[Arkhios]

Switching shillelagh from a d8 to 2d6 is on average a +2.5 damage boost, so you could call this a +0/+2.5 weapon. I don’t know the DPR math off the top of my head but I would imagine that the +1 accuracy of a generic +1 weapon either compensates or more than compensates for the extra 1.5 damage that this does, so I would say that this item is roughly as good as a +1 weapon and so I’d put it into the same rarity category (uncommon, iirc).

And of course we can’t forget that part of the value of a +1 weapon is that it’s magical at all, allowing it to bypass resistance/immunity, which shillelagh bypasses already, meaning that upgrading from shillelagh to this is actually a little bit less of an upgrade than from, say, a nonmagical weapon to a +1 version of the same weapon. Also, shillelagh can be used 1-handed with a shield if you have War Caster or don’t care about casting S spells, while this prevents you from using a shield, so the opportunity cost is also a bit higher.

So yeah, I’d put this on-par with a +1 weapon (and I’d put a +1 version on par with a +2 weapon, and so on).

Thank you. After thinking it through, I think this could be at least a +1 weapon, sort of reminiscent to the 3rd edition Shillelagh which made a quarterstaff or club effectively two size categories larger in regards to it's damage (if medium size, from 1d6 to 2d6) and gave it a +1 bonus to boot.

[whateew]

Worth considering who you're giving this to -

A +1 weapon gets its bonus used far more often on a fighter than (most) wizards, and as such magic weapons are more effective on martial characters.

If you are giving this to a druid, consider that most druids are generally ineffective users of magic weapons. Don't be afraid of giving them something that's a tad overtuned - they'll still likely be less effective than if they were instead focusing on casting.

In comparison, if you are giving this to a druidic warrior ranger, this is perhaps more significant.

[J-H]

I would call this uncommon by valuation/power level, except that of course there won't be a lot of them floating around, so it's really a very rare uncommon item.

[ff7hero]

I agree with the people saying uncommon works for this. I wanted to add that as written, this creates a "maul" that deals 1d8 damage. There should be an effect added (that most are assuming) that prevents Shillelagh from overwriting the damage die of the maul.

Also if this is for a Druid, they won't be natively proficient.

[thoroughlyS]

Like ff7hero, I assume the point of this item is that a character with shillelagh will get a 2d6 weapon instead of a 1d8 weapon. In a vacuum, the damage bump is less impactful than a +1 weapon. This item also requires the character to have a specific cantrip and forgo a shield. This definitely won't break anything.

In terms of flavor, is there a reason you want the character to wield a maul specifically? I would probably opt for a +1 quarterstaff over this, if all I wanted was for the character to have more damage.

[Frogreaver]

Wisdom attacking elf fighter here I come! ;)

[whateew]

A cool reason to not use a +1 staff, and have this instead - you can have a wis based Great Weapon Master! With tools like guardian of nature to give wis advantage at high levels, this would be very cool !

[Arkhios]

A cool reason to not use a +1 staff, and have this instead - you can have a wis based Great Weapon Master! With tools like guardian of nature to give wis advantage at high levels, this would be very cool !

Admittedly, I did get this sudden idea after talking about "Guardian of Nature: Great Tree" with a friend.

Or rather, he was talking about a specific character concept to utilize the spell (and Great Tree option).


In terms of flavor, is there a reason you want the character to wield a maul specifically? I would probably opt for a +1 quarterstaff over this, if all I wanted was for the character to have more damage.
Regardless of the above reason to inspire writing this down, there was really no specific character in mind. Just stream of consciousness. Flavor-wise though, I felt that this item might have been made by some ancient druids as a gift to a champion in a time of great need, fashioned from a whole meteorite, as it was found, wrapped in roots of a darkwood tree, seen as a gift from nature or gods (or both). Of course, it could just as well be a mace or a warhammer, but maul is just cool to the point of being bad-ass. For visual idea, think of how MCU-Thor's new axe appears, with the aid from Groot.

Also, I find it would be kinda funny to see a character haul a 10 pounds lump of starmetal around for no apparent reason, and then cast Shillelagh to dislodge jaws both literally and metaphorically with a massive hammer appearing seemingly out of nowhere.


Wisdom attacking elf fighter here I come! ;)

Who knows, maybe the champion of the ancient druids mentioned above was a wisdom attacking elf fighter! ;)

Technically Theoretically, any character can learn a new proficiency, including a weapon proficiency (subject to DM approval), by using their downtime on training, so it's not really a big deal if the meteorite maul didn't also grant proficiency while the spell is active. I might consider that as a DM, but I left it out on purpose on this item.

[Hytheter]

I'd call this uncommon. I'd say if you made it attunement, you could make it grant +1 and still be uncommon; if it's not attunement then make it rare, and obviously each additional +1 bumps up the rarity another level.

[Dork_Forge]

I'd go for uncommon, then raise it a rarity level per +1 bump. Allowing someone to use a 2d6 weapon with Wis is potentially very very nice for them, so the scaling seems appropriate.

[ff7hero]

Technically, any character can learn a new proficiency, including a weapon proficiency, by using their downtime on training, so it's not really a big deal if the meteorite maul didn't also grant proficiency while the spell is active. I might consider that as a DM, but I left it out on purpose on this item.

I apologize if you're referring to a house rule in your games or an actual rule I'm unaware of, but as far as I know the only Downtime Training (in XGE) is only for Languages or Tools.

[Arkhios]

I apologize if you're referring to a house rule in your games or an actual rule I'm unaware of, but as far as I know the only Downtime Training (in XGE) is only for Languages or Tools.

One could argue that a weapon is a tool of war, but point taken. It seems I have misremembered the rule, although I was referring to the original sources (DMG and PHB), not XGE.

[thoroughlyS]

A cool reason to not use a +1 staff, and have this instead - you can have a wis based Great Weapon Master! With tools like guardian of nature to give wis advantage at high levels, this would be very cool !
This syergy was something I hadn't considered in my first appraisal. With it in mind, I'd say this should be a rare item because it creates a new interaction. Not necessarily game-breaking, but novel.

Flavor-wise though, I felt that this item might have been made by some ancient druids as a gift to a champion in a time of great need, fashioned from a whole meteorite, as it was found, wrapped in roots of a darkwood tree, seen as a gift from nature or gods (or both).
If I was shown this backstory before the item, I would assume it to be a legendary item with more substantial properties. I don't think the backstory is bad, nor is the item you've designed, but I don't think they sync up. The item you've described sounds like something any druid circle could make if they had access to a lump of adamantine/cold iron/starmetal ore.

[ff7hero]

This syergy was something I hadn't considered in my first appraisal. With it in mind, I'd say this should be a rare item because it creates a new interaction. Not necessarily game-breaking, but novel.


I'd still put the original at Uncommon, since Druids don't tend to grab GWM so if I wanted a Druid to use this I'd want them to have it early.



If I was shown this backstory before the item, I would assume it to be a legendary item with more substantial properties. I don't think the backstory is bad, nor is the item you've designed, but I don't think they sync up. The item you've described sounds like something any druid circle could make if they had access to a lump of adamantine/cold iron/starmetal ore.

Honestly if I were going to homebrew this I'd making it a Legacy/Growing Weapon. It starts out as Common/Uncommon and becomes a Warhammer (granting proficiency) when Shillelagh is cast on it (and still does 1d10 when two handed). Seed your recipient with tales of the ancient stories of this weapon which has lost power over the ages. Work in the fact that it was bigger when "charged up." Or just tell the player OoC that it will upgrade into a Maul shortly.

They do a ritual, which might involve a sidequest or not depending on how often your table does individual character focused quests, and now it gets a power bump. It now becomes a Maul when Shillelaghed. This is the kind of item that can be character defining, so it should grow with the character.

If you give the +3 version to your Druid when they should be getting Legendary items they're pretty likely to shrug and point out they haven't cast Shillelagh in 3 levels, or they have a magic shield they worked hard to get (who makes magic wooden shields?) that they like using.

[Arkhios]

If I was shown this backstory before the item, I would assume it to be a legendary item with more substantial properties. I don't think the backstory is bad, nor is the item you've designed, but I don't think they sync up. The item you've described sounds like something any druid circle could make if they had access to a lump of adamantine/cold iron/starmetal ore.
Fair assessment. I suppose it could have some more substantial abilities.


I'd still put the original at Uncommon, since Druids don't tend to grab GWM so if I wanted a Druid to use this I'd want them to have it early.

Honestly if I were going to homebrew this I'd making it a Legacy/Growing Weapon. It starts out as Common/Uncommon and becomes a Warhammer (granting proficiency) when Shillelagh is cast on it (and still does 1d10 when two handed). Seed your recipient with tales of the ancient stories of this weapon which has lost power over the ages. Work in the fact that it was bigger when "charged up." Or just tell the player OoC that it will upgrade into a Maul shortly.

They do a ritual, which might involve a sidequest or not depending on how often your table does individual character focused quests, and now it gets a power bump. It now becomes a Maul when Shillelaghed. This is the kind of item that can be character defining, so it should grow with the character.

If you give the +3 version to your Druid when they should be getting Legendary items they're pretty likely to shrug and point out they haven't cast Shillelagh in 3 levels, or they have a magic shield they worked hard to get (who makes magic wooden shields?) that they like using.

That's a great idea! And again, fair point. As is, it might not be that amazing at higher levels.

Perhaps, as one of many powers, the spell's duration could be longer when cast on the lump of ore, depending on the character's level, tier by tier:
1-4: normal
5-10: 10 minutes
11-16: 1 hour
17-24: 24 hours