<span;>King Aedirn was once a benevolent king who had succumb to the dark and twisted and secretive occult of M<span;>ak Thuum Ngatha. The God of the Realm Far Beyond. Following his impulse, he designed and created an entire realm in the Deep Ethereal called the Emerald Keep and there he guarded his people, lands, and treasures. In his old age and madness, he w<span;>ished to sustain his mind, and so made a binding pact with Mak Thum Ngatha and bore his mind into union with the blade known as Aedirn's Dirk. It's maddening effects are known to cause unrest with the user and those around him or her, and especially to the wielder's enemies. If attuned to the artifact, you gain access at random to Aedirn's natural spellcasting abilities.
<span;>Legend has it that those who wield the blade run the risk of falling prey to Aedirn's mind, as he seeks to possess the wielder and return to the Emerald Keep.
<span;>- 1d6 base damage
<span;>- +1 to AC and +1d6 force damage <span;>- any nonmagical creature you damage with the dirk must make a DC 13 wisdom save or catch cackle fever.
<span;>Whenever the dagger is held in the hand, all creatures within 30 feet need to save against a DC 13 to avoid catching cackle fever.
<span;>magical weapon for purposes of dealing damage
<span;>- After attuning to the artifact, you gain a form of long term madness.
<span;>- After attuning to the artifact, you suffer immediately from cackle fever.
<span;>- Each day at dawn you determine your alignment with a d6 <span;>1-2 lawful, 3-4 neutral, 5-6 chaotic. <span;>second roll: <span;>1 to 2 is good, 3 to 4 is neutral, 5 to 6 is evil.
<span;>roll a d6 at the beginning of the day to determine the spell you can use. If the spell you rolled is expended, you take the next spell closest to the number, rounded down or the last one on the list. The spell is exhausted whether you cast it or not.
<span;>1 ice knife <span;>2 jump <span;>3 feather fall <span;>4 alter self <span;>5 melf's acid arrow <span;>6 Haste
<span;>After casting a spell, roll percentile dice; if the result is 90 to 99, then gain a short term madness. 100 is a long form madness. If one week passes without casting a spell from the list, then gain an indefinite madness.
<span;>After expending all slots, and before refreshing them, roll percentile dice, on a 1 - 69, the spell slots return as normal (levels 1-3) On a 70-90, the spells get replaced by level 4 to 5 spells.
<span;>On a roll of 91-97, the spells get replaced by level 6 to 7 spells.
<span;>On a roll of 98 or 99, the blade glows deep green and the spells get replaced by level 8 and 9 spells for one week before an indefinite madness is placed upon the user. The indefinite madness is placed on the user only after the 6 spells are expended, however they only last for 6 days, each day whether a spell is used or not, it gets expended. On a roll of 1<span;>00, King Aedirn takes control of your body and you become an NPC until a wish spell frees you.
<span;>All spells accessible on the blade are chosen by a d6 at dawn for that day as normal.
<span;>King Aedirn will speak to you and understand you telepathically in the common tongue when you attune it.
<span;>You always know of its whereabouts within 24 hours of losing it within 100 feet of you
This seems way too complex for a level 7 player, and doesn't seem particularly well balanced for a Barbarian. If I was given this weapon I would never use it, because the costs are way too high compared to the benefits. Also... what is Cackle Fever?
Overall, this seems like a major inconvenience that no well-meaning player would willingly use once they know how it works. This would only have value to a chaotic evil party murderhobo who enjoys screwing with the other players and entertains themselves by inconveniencing their party members.
There are going to be a lot of rolls for cackle fever throughout the game. Like enough to noticeably slow the game down. I always recommend against things that require extra rolls for every single attack.
Random alignment determination is just a whole bag of cats that I don't want to open. There are a lot of worthy objections to this, but my primary one is that players should determine the choices their character makes, not dice. That's what makes this a roleplaying game.
Not sure what the madness effects are, but I assume it's going to be bad for the whole party and not just the barbarian.
The spells offer vary wildly in utility and some of them require a spellcasting stat to reference for the purpose of determining attack values or DCs.
I get the idea - you want a high-risk, high-reward thing. However, between the dangerously shifting alignment, the constant rolls for cackle fever, and the accumulation of various madness penalties, the party is probably going to be ready to toss the barbarian over a cliff after 2-3 sessions with this thing. I say this jokingly, but it will absolutely cause a problem at the table. Don't propose a high-risk high-reward scenario where everyone assumes the risk and only one player gets the reward.
Cackle Fever: This disease targets humanoids, although gnomes are strangely immune. While in the grips of this disease, victims frequently succumb to fits of mad laughter, giving the disease its common name and its morbid nickname: “the shrieks.”
Symptoms manifest 1d4 hours after infection and include fever and disorientation. The infected creature gains one level of exhaustion that can’t be removed until the disease is cured.
Any event that causes the infected creature great stress — including entering combat, taking damage, experiencing fear, or having a nightmare — forces the creature to make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 5 (1d10) psychic damage and becomes incapacitated with mad laughter for 1 minute. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the mad laughter and the incapacitated condition on a success.
Any humanoid creature that starts its turn within 10 feet of an infected creature in the throes of mad laughter must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or also become infected with the disease. Once a creature succeeds on this save, it is immune to the mad laughter of that particular infected creature for 24 hours.
At the end of each long rest, an infected creature can make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, the DC for this save and for the save to avoid an attack of mad laughter drops by 1d6. When the saving throw DC drops to 0, the creature recovers from the disease. A creature that fails three of these saving throws gains a randomly determined form of indefinite madness, as described later in this chapter.
It does too much base damage for a dagger. It adds yet another die of damage and gives a bonus to armor class. Anyone you damage with it gets Cackle Fever. If you hold it in your hand, so much as put your hand on it, everyone in 30 feet can get Cackle Fever. It could still be in the sheath. It drives you crazy the moment you Attune it *and* you get Cackle Fever...
It changes your Alignment at random. It lets you cast a spell each day but once again, it drives you crazy. There's a little list of spells, but... at random, you can get an assortment of spells of higher level right up to and including 9th! You can get Wish! Of course it drives you crazy again. There is a 1% chance to get turned into an NPC and you will sure wish for that Wish, because that's what it takes to get your character back.
If I got it, I'd sure Wish that I never had it before, in fact I'd Wish that it never existed. I'm sure the DM would kill me for it. That would be better than using the dagger.
Yeesh, Cackle Fever is no joke. Yeah, even as a deliberately cursed item given to the party as a challenge for them to tackle, this knife is way too punishing.
Hm, ok too annoying to play with, I understand. I wanted something fun that embodies the theme of randomness and madness.
cackle fever and madness effects are in the DMG. I actually thought the weapon was overpowered because of its positive effects. What would be a way to balance this out and make it fun?
Hm, ok too annoying to play with, I understand. I wanted something fun that embodies the theme of randomness and madness.
cackle fever and madness effects are in the DMG. I actually thought the weapon was overpowered because of its positive effects. What would be a way to balance this out and make it fun?
First off, I’d make it a greatsword or something. If it’s a dagger, the barbarian might be unselfish enough to give it away to the party rogue or wizard, and that’s not the idea.
Second, a simple way to make it random would be to make it a simple +1 weapon, but have it roll a die to determine damage type. 1 is fire, 2 is cold, 3 is lightning, 4 is poison, and so on. Anything more than that is probably too much bookkeeping for you and the player.
Here's the biggest problem... if you're intending this to be given to your Barbarian, a Barbarian can't cast or concentrate on spells while Raging. So your Barbarian isn't going to be able to use any combat spells the weapon offers... so if you still want the weapon to provide spells, you need to limit it to outside of combat utility spells (like Jump, Feather Fall, or Alter Self)
Here's what I would do if I wanted to create a weapon like this to give some randomness to a Barbarian character...
Dagger of Aedirn
Very Rare, Requires Attunement
The Dagger of Aedirn is a Cursed Sentient Weapon possessed by the spirit of King Aedirn. Aedirn is Chaotic Neutral, and seeks to be taken to the Emerald Keep. Aedirn is capable of speaking telepathically to you while attuned to the dagger as long as you remain within 30 feet of the Dagger. While Cursed, you cannot willingly part with the Dagger, or cease your attunement unless the curse is removed, such as by the Remove Curse spell.
The Dagger holds up to 3 charges, and gains 1d4 Charges each day at midnight.
While Holding the Dagger, you can cast any of the following spells, expending one charge for each cast:
Jump
Feather Fall
Disguise Self (Save DC 15)
Alternatively, After Dealing Damage with a Melee Attack using The Dagger of Aedirn, you can choose to expend charges to increase the damage by 2d6 Force Damage for each charge spent in this way. However, when you use the Dagger in this manner, you immediately trigger a Wild Magic Surge.
Here's my logic... rather than deal with deliberate madness in any measurable sense... simply by making the weapon itself sentient, you as the DM can just kind of treat it how you want. Maybe the dagger is really annoying and the Barbarian might choose to fulfill the Dagger's desires just to shut it up. Maybe the dagger could be more manipulative and clever and slyly tricks the Barbarian to fulfill his desires. Maybe it offers promises of power that it might, or might not, be able to actually deliver.
I get the desire to give the barbarian some amount of spellcasting, so I tried to limit to just level 1 spells that have some really useful out of combat utility so that the Barbarian will actually use them. There are very few spells that are more useful to a Barbarian in combat than just raging and bum-rushing the enemy. These aren't spells that are going to trivialize every challenge you put in front of them, but it will allow the Barbarian to actually contribute outside of combat.
I also limited the damage boost to a limited resource, so this weapon probably won't be the Barbarian's go-to weapon, but it's something they'll pull out for special occasions. I think to add some of the chaos and risk/reward you were going for with the original concept I just added a Wild Magic Surge. Wild Magic is a ton of fun, but most people will never come across it since not every group wants to have a Wild Magic Sorcerer along. There's a good chance of the Wild Magic actually being helpful, since there are actually more positive side-effects on the Wild Magic table than negative, but there's still, y'know.. the chance that you'll drop a Fireball on yourself. Which, again... might be a good thing. Barbarians often have HP to spare and find themselves surrounded by enemies.
There's nothing wrong with TrasmorpherDDS's suggestion. I don't like Wild Magic, but that's a personal thing.
You want Randomness and Madness? Have Aedirn be insane. Maybe he's the one who died of Cackle Fever. Have him able to talk out loud, and babble about anything while cackling madly. Have the weapon itself look like a Dagger, but every time the Barbarian goes to use it the thing changes into a different weapon. Barbarians are proficient in all weapons. Give it 1d6 worth of damage of any type at random and have a color picked out for each. A +1 weapon that does an extra d6 of damage should be good enough to keep even with the drawbacks.
There's nothing wrong with TrasmorpherDDS's suggestion. I don't like Wild Magic, but that's a personal thing.
You want Randomness and Madness? Have Aedirn be insane. Maybe he's the one who died of Cackle Fever. Have him able to talk out loud, and babble about anything while cackling madly. Have the weapon itself look like a Dagger, but every time the Barbarian goes to use it the thing changes into a different weapon. Barbarians are proficient in all weapons. Give it 1d6 worth of damage of any type at random and have a color picked out for each. A +1 weapon that does an extra d6 of damage should be good enough to keep even with the drawbacks.
Ooh, I really like the idea of having it morph into different weapons. I'd probably pick a selection of 6 different weapons, roll a d6 and have it automatically change when activating Rage. I was realizing after I wrote up my concept that it's not really a particularly useful Barbarian weapon... it would be a lot more valuable for a Rogue.
These are all great ideas, and thanks for cleaning up the flavor text. I like the idea of rolling at dawn to determine spellcasting, and it is noted not to make that too complicated and they cant be concentrate spells. Having the dagger trade spells for force damage or changung weapon type are all great ideas too, but I really wanted a few drawbacks.
She picked it up in a shop that warned her of how dangerous it is to wield the weapon. I told her by next session I'll have the details worked out. I felt the alignment change thing would work well with her since it is something mentioned in the DMG for relics and I can imagine her actually enjoying the randomness of her character's change. She can choose to let go of it I guess if that doesnt seem fun... what do you think?
Forced Alignment Change is a very, very risky thing to include in a game. A lot of players are very attached to their characters... a full on alignment change is essentially forcing a player to play as a completely different character, especially since they have to roll for their new personality randomly every single morning. It's something that can happen in the game, but it should be something the player can prepare for or something that should be a major event that the players will have to deal with.
Still, it depends on your player. If you know for certain that your player would enjoy the unpredictable and random change to her character, then it could open up a lot of really fun or weird things for her to do. But if you have even a little worry that your player might hate this change, it's probably best to avoid that.
That said... I think an alignment change would work better if it's more of a gradual thing. Like... maybe there's a counter attached to the dagger: every time they use the dagger to deal extra damage the counter goes up, and when it reaches 100 the player has their alignment changed. Or you could drop the Wild Magic Surge concept and instead have using the Dagger to deal extra damage just automatically trigger an alignment change, but the change only lasts temporarily.
All right... Drawbacks. The version I mentioned makes a lot of noise. So much for sneaking around. The Rogue is *not* going to want it. Who would? It keeps changing shape, makes noise, glows, and provides nothing useful I can think of for a spell caster.
Alignment is a roleplaying thing. If she wants to randomly roleplay her Alignment changing, it is fine to have the dagger as an excuse, but it should never be a mechanical thing.
If you want it to be dangerous, then on a natural 1 on a hit roll, have it do damage to *her*. Probably just the elemental damage creeping off the blade and spreading over her body. Transmorpher's Wild Magic Surge idea would be great. The dagger could be famous enough that other people will want it (gods know why) and she can't get rid of it without a Remove Curse. Aedirn isn't going to want that.
She can be stalked by whatever you want. There could be a whole cult dedicated to finding that dagger and restoring it to its proper place.
And all the while, there is Aedirn, babbling. One of his favorite topics might be just how much he loves her. He can go on, and on, and on, in-between gales of mirth, about how much he wants to stay with her. "I love you and I want to stay with you and the stars are so pretty even if they aren't out right now and I can't see but isn't that guy's head like a softball? I used to play softball and I love you so if you keep me I will play softball with you only I don't have arms or legs and I can't see and I don't have a ball and we should go get some stew now. Right now. I want stew! I want to stay with you and I love you and I want... ooo... shiny!" He might not even have to be out of the sheath.
*Someone* is going to go crazy with all that going on.
There's nothing wrong with TrasmorpherDDS's suggestion. I don't like Wild Magic, but that's a personal thing.
You want Randomness and Madness? Have Aedirn be insane. Maybe he's the one who died of Cackle Fever. Have him able to talk out loud, and babble about anything while cackling madly. Have the weapon itself look like a Dagger, but every time the Barbarian goes to use it the thing changes into a different weapon. Barbarians are proficient in all weapons. Give it 1d6 worth of damage of any type at random and have a color picked out for each. A +1 weapon that does an extra d6 of damage should be good enough to keep even with the drawbacks.
Ooh, I really like the idea of having it morph into different weapons. I'd probably pick a selection of 6 different weapons, roll a d6 and have it automatically change when activating Rage. I was realizing after I wrote up my concept that it's not really a particularly useful Barbarian weapon... it would be a lot more valuable for a Rogue.
<span;>King Aedirn was once a benevolent king who had succumb to the dark and twisted and secretive occult of M<span;>ak Thuum Ngatha. The God of the Realm Far Beyond. Following his impulse, he designed and created an entire realm in the Deep Ethereal called the Emerald Keep and there he guarded his people, lands, and treasures. In his old age and madness, he w<span;>ished to sustain his mind, and so made a binding pact with Mak Thum Ngatha and bore his mind into union with the blade known as Aedirn's Dirk. It's maddening effects are known to cause unrest with the user and those around him or her, and especially to the wielder's enemies. If attuned to the artifact, you gain access at random to Aedirn's natural spellcasting abilities.
<span;>Legend has it that those who wield the blade run the risk of falling prey to Aedirn's mind, as he seeks to possess the wielder and return to the Emerald Keep.
<span;>- 1d6 base damage
<span;>- +1 to AC and +1d6 force damage
<span;>- any nonmagical creature you damage with the dirk must make a DC 13 wisdom save or catch cackle fever.
<span;>Whenever the dagger is held in the hand, all creatures within 30 feet need to save against a DC 13 to avoid catching cackle fever.
<span;>magical weapon for purposes of dealing damage
<span;>- After attuning to the artifact, you gain a form of long term madness.
<span;>- After attuning to the artifact, you suffer immediately from cackle fever.
<span;>- Each day at dawn you determine your alignment with a d6
<span;>1-2 lawful, 3-4 neutral, 5-6 chaotic.
<span;>second roll:
<span;>1 to 2 is good, 3 to 4 is neutral, 5 to 6 is evil.
<span;>roll a d6 at the beginning of the day to determine the spell you can use. If the spell you rolled is expended, you take the next spell closest to the number, rounded down or the last one on the list. The spell is exhausted whether you cast it or not.
<span;>1 ice knife
<span;>2 jump
<span;>3 feather fall
<span;>4 alter self
<span;>5 melf's acid arrow
<span;>6 Haste
<span;>After casting a spell, roll percentile dice; if the result is 90 to 99, then gain a short term madness. 100 is a long form madness. If one week passes without casting a spell from the list, then gain an indefinite madness.
<span;>After expending all slots, and before refreshing them, roll percentile dice, on a 1 - 69, the spell slots return as normal (levels 1-3) On a 70-90, the spells get replaced by level 4 to 5 spells.
<span;>On a roll of 91-97, the spells get replaced by level 6 to 7 spells.
<span;>On a roll of 98 or 99, the blade glows deep green and the spells get replaced by level 8 and 9 spells for one week before an indefinite madness is placed upon the user. The indefinite madness is placed on the user only after the 6 spells are expended, however they only last for 6 days, each day whether a spell is used or not, it gets expended. On a roll of 1<span;>00, King Aedirn takes control of your body and you become an NPC until a wish spell frees you.
<span;>All spells accessible on the blade are chosen by a d6 at dawn for that day as normal.
<span;>King Aedirn will speak to you and understand you telepathically in the common tongue when you attune it.
<span;>You always know of its whereabouts within 24 hours of losing it within 100 feet of you
This seems way too complex for a level 7 player, and doesn't seem particularly well balanced for a Barbarian. If I was given this weapon I would never use it, because the costs are way too high compared to the benefits. Also... what is Cackle Fever?
Overall, this seems like a major inconvenience that no well-meaning player would willingly use once they know how it works. This would only have value to a chaotic evil party murderhobo who enjoys screwing with the other players and entertains themselves by inconveniencing their party members.
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Yeah a couple red flags here:
I get the idea - you want a high-risk, high-reward thing. However, between the dangerously shifting alignment, the constant rolls for cackle fever, and the accumulation of various madness penalties, the party is probably going to be ready to toss the barbarian over a cliff after 2-3 sessions with this thing. I say this jokingly, but it will absolutely cause a problem at the table. Don't propose a high-risk high-reward scenario where everyone assumes the risk and only one player gets the reward.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
It does too much base damage for a dagger. It adds yet another die of damage and gives a bonus to armor class. Anyone you damage with it gets Cackle Fever. If you hold it in your hand, so much as put your hand on it, everyone in 30 feet can get Cackle Fever. It could still be in the sheath. It drives you crazy the moment you Attune it *and* you get Cackle Fever...
It changes your Alignment at random. It lets you cast a spell each day but once again, it drives you crazy. There's a little list of spells, but... at random, you can get an assortment of spells of higher level right up to and including 9th! You can get Wish! Of course it drives you crazy again. There is a 1% chance to get turned into an NPC and you will sure wish for that Wish, because that's what it takes to get your character back.
If I got it, I'd sure Wish that I never had it before, in fact I'd Wish that it never existed. I'm sure the DM would kill me for it. That would be better than using the dagger.
<Insert clever signature here>
Yeesh, Cackle Fever is no joke. Yeah, even as a deliberately cursed item given to the party as a challenge for them to tackle, this knife is way too punishing.
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Hm, ok too annoying to play with, I understand. I wanted something fun that embodies the theme of randomness and madness.
cackle fever and madness effects are in the DMG. I actually thought the weapon was overpowered because of its positive effects. What would be a way to balance this out and make it fun?
First off, I’d make it a greatsword or something. If it’s a dagger, the barbarian might be unselfish enough to give it away to the party rogue or wizard, and that’s not the idea.
Second, a simple way to make it random would be to make it a simple +1 weapon, but have it roll a die to determine damage type. 1 is fire, 2 is cold, 3 is lightning, 4 is poison, and so on. Anything more than that is probably too much bookkeeping for you and the player.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Here's the biggest problem... if you're intending this to be given to your Barbarian, a Barbarian can't cast or concentrate on spells while Raging. So your Barbarian isn't going to be able to use any combat spells the weapon offers... so if you still want the weapon to provide spells, you need to limit it to outside of combat utility spells (like Jump, Feather Fall, or Alter Self)
Here's what I would do if I wanted to create a weapon like this to give some randomness to a Barbarian character...
Dagger of Aedirn
Very Rare, Requires Attunement
The Dagger of Aedirn is a Cursed Sentient Weapon possessed by the spirit of King Aedirn. Aedirn is Chaotic Neutral, and seeks to be taken to the Emerald Keep. Aedirn is capable of speaking telepathically to you while attuned to the dagger as long as you remain within 30 feet of the Dagger. While Cursed, you cannot willingly part with the Dagger, or cease your attunement unless the curse is removed, such as by the Remove Curse spell.
The Dagger holds up to 3 charges, and gains 1d4 Charges each day at midnight.
While Holding the Dagger, you can cast any of the following spells, expending one charge for each cast:
Jump
Feather Fall
Disguise Self (Save DC 15)
Alternatively, After Dealing Damage with a Melee Attack using The Dagger of Aedirn, you can choose to expend charges to increase the damage by 2d6 Force Damage for each charge spent in this way. However, when you use the Dagger in this manner, you immediately trigger a Wild Magic Surge.
Here's my logic... rather than deal with deliberate madness in any measurable sense... simply by making the weapon itself sentient, you as the DM can just kind of treat it how you want. Maybe the dagger is really annoying and the Barbarian might choose to fulfill the Dagger's desires just to shut it up. Maybe the dagger could be more manipulative and clever and slyly tricks the Barbarian to fulfill his desires. Maybe it offers promises of power that it might, or might not, be able to actually deliver.
I get the desire to give the barbarian some amount of spellcasting, so I tried to limit to just level 1 spells that have some really useful out of combat utility so that the Barbarian will actually use them. There are very few spells that are more useful to a Barbarian in combat than just raging and bum-rushing the enemy. These aren't spells that are going to trivialize every challenge you put in front of them, but it will allow the Barbarian to actually contribute outside of combat.
I also limited the damage boost to a limited resource, so this weapon probably won't be the Barbarian's go-to weapon, but it's something they'll pull out for special occasions. I think to add some of the chaos and risk/reward you were going for with the original concept I just added a Wild Magic Surge. Wild Magic is a ton of fun, but most people will never come across it since not every group wants to have a Wild Magic Sorcerer along. There's a good chance of the Wild Magic actually being helpful, since there are actually more positive side-effects on the Wild Magic table than negative, but there's still, y'know.. the chance that you'll drop a Fireball on yourself. Which, again... might be a good thing. Barbarians often have HP to spare and find themselves surrounded by enemies.
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There's nothing wrong with TrasmorpherDDS's suggestion. I don't like Wild Magic, but that's a personal thing.
You want Randomness and Madness? Have Aedirn be insane. Maybe he's the one who died of Cackle Fever. Have him able to talk out loud, and babble about anything while cackling madly. Have the weapon itself look like a Dagger, but every time the Barbarian goes to use it the thing changes into a different weapon. Barbarians are proficient in all weapons. Give it 1d6 worth of damage of any type at random and have a color picked out for each. A +1 weapon that does an extra d6 of damage should be good enough to keep even with the drawbacks.
<Insert clever signature here>
Ooh, I really like the idea of having it morph into different weapons. I'd probably pick a selection of 6 different weapons, roll a d6 and have it automatically change when activating Rage. I was realizing after I wrote up my concept that it's not really a particularly useful Barbarian weapon... it would be a lot more valuable for a Rogue.
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These are all great ideas, and thanks for cleaning up the flavor text. I like the idea of rolling at dawn to determine spellcasting, and it is noted not to make that too complicated and they cant be concentrate spells. Having the dagger trade spells for force damage or changung weapon type are all great ideas too, but I really wanted a few drawbacks.
She picked it up in a shop that warned her of how dangerous it is to wield the weapon. I told her by next session I'll have the details worked out. I felt the alignment change thing would work well with her since it is something mentioned in the DMG for relics and I can imagine her actually enjoying the randomness of her character's change. She can choose to let go of it I guess if that doesnt seem fun... what do you think?
Forced Alignment Change is a very, very risky thing to include in a game. A lot of players are very attached to their characters... a full on alignment change is essentially forcing a player to play as a completely different character, especially since they have to roll for their new personality randomly every single morning. It's something that can happen in the game, but it should be something the player can prepare for or something that should be a major event that the players will have to deal with.
Still, it depends on your player. If you know for certain that your player would enjoy the unpredictable and random change to her character, then it could open up a lot of really fun or weird things for her to do. But if you have even a little worry that your player might hate this change, it's probably best to avoid that.
That said... I think an alignment change would work better if it's more of a gradual thing. Like... maybe there's a counter attached to the dagger: every time they use the dagger to deal extra damage the counter goes up, and when it reaches 100 the player has their alignment changed. Or you could drop the Wild Magic Surge concept and instead have using the Dagger to deal extra damage just automatically trigger an alignment change, but the change only lasts temporarily.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
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All right... Drawbacks. The version I mentioned makes a lot of noise. So much for sneaking around. The Rogue is *not* going to want it. Who would? It keeps changing shape, makes noise, glows, and provides nothing useful I can think of for a spell caster.
Alignment is a roleplaying thing. If she wants to randomly roleplay her Alignment changing, it is fine to have the dagger as an excuse, but it should never be a mechanical thing.
If you want it to be dangerous, then on a natural 1 on a hit roll, have it do damage to *her*. Probably just the elemental damage creeping off the blade and spreading over her body. Transmorpher's Wild Magic Surge idea would be great. The dagger could be famous enough that other people will want it (gods know why) and she can't get rid of it without a Remove Curse. Aedirn isn't going to want that.
She can be stalked by whatever you want. There could be a whole cult dedicated to finding that dagger and restoring it to its proper place.
And all the while, there is Aedirn, babbling. One of his favorite topics might be just how much he loves her. He can go on, and on, and on, in-between gales of mirth, about how much he wants to stay with her. "I love you and I want to stay with you and the stars are so pretty even if they aren't out right now and I can't see but isn't that guy's head like a softball? I used to play softball and I love you so if you keep me I will play softball with you only I don't have arms or legs and I can't see and I don't have a ball and we should go get some stew now. Right now. I want stew! I want to stay with you and I love you and I want... ooo... shiny!" He might not even have to be out of the sheath.
*Someone* is going to go crazy with all that going on.
<Insert clever signature here>
I've got just the thing!