Sorry if this is the wrong forum, I have never posted on here before. Im looking for advice. Heres the situation- One of my players wants to start with a minor magical item from her background (a chain bracelet) that she can basically use as a weapon. Should I let her start with it? Or veto it? Effectively, it is similar to a lock on a chain in appearance, and would deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage, and it would not have the reach property. Thanks for the feedback!
I would be hesitant to give mechanically functional magical items at campaign start. If you were to allow the opportunity for the PC to "unlock it's hidden potential" that would probably make for good story, and an opportunity to include the PCs background in the campaign. The second consideration that I would suggest is that if you can't accommodate the same starting function to everyone else in the party, I wouldn't. And lastly, be careful to not start off with a Monty Hall / Oprah magic item giveaway spree as it could sway combat encounters heavily later on, and doesn't give your party anything to work towards later in game either. If they already have their dream item, they don't have a reason to go find it.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
For context, the item you describe, is similar in scope to a Needle of Mending, which is a rare magical weapon that requires attunement. Instead of being a needle that transforms into a dagger, this would be a bracelet that could transform to function as a Flail (though it need not look like a flail). She would, of course, need to be proficient in flails for this to work as well.
So, with that in mind, if you let her start out with that sort of item, be ready to also be willing to farm out a single rare item to each other player for fairness. Otherwise, I would shy away from this.
EDI: You could reduce the power of the item by removing the +1 power bonus and limit the damage to 1d6 as you suggested, however, again, you will need to offer other players comparable gear to keep the balance of the game. As long as you are okay with that and your adventure can support that, this is fine.
The purpose is mostly for RP, and it is related to her backstory, so if necessary, I could let her have it and it not have any bonuses, but it would be preferable if i can find a way to let her use it as a weapon. It is basically an improvised version of a flail, full sized (about 14 inches of 3/8 chain wrapped around her arm, with a lock on the end. Right now, it has a couple very minor magical effects (it wont fall off unless it is purposefully taken off, and it has no functional weight, despite the whole thing realistically weighing closer to like 5-6 pounds). I forgot to mention up top, I am letting my characters reskin their starting gear, and this character wants to slightly change the whip. Would it be too overpowered for a third level character to start with?
The only power level issue you will likely run into is that, as a magical weapon, it technically bypasses the non-magic weapon resistances of some monsters that are supposed to be more challenging in that level range. Otherwise, no, there shouldn't be too much of a problem here, though if it is sort of molded after a whip, I'd suggest keeping it to a reach weapon that does 1d4 (bludgeoning instead of slashing).
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Sorry if this is the wrong forum, I have never posted on here before. Im looking for advice. Heres the situation- One of my players wants to start with a minor magical item from her background (a chain bracelet) that she can basically use as a weapon. Should I let her start with it? Or veto it? Effectively, it is similar to a lock on a chain in appearance, and would deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage, and it would not have the reach property. Thanks for the feedback!
I would be hesitant to give mechanically functional magical items at campaign start. If you were to allow the opportunity for the PC to "unlock it's hidden potential" that would probably make for good story, and an opportunity to include the PCs background in the campaign. The second consideration that I would suggest is that if you can't accommodate the same starting function to everyone else in the party, I wouldn't. And lastly, be careful to not start off with a Monty Hall / Oprah magic item giveaway spree as it could sway combat encounters heavily later on, and doesn't give your party anything to work towards later in game either. If they already have their dream item, they don't have a reason to go find it.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
For context, the item you describe, is similar in scope to a Needle of Mending, which is a rare magical weapon that requires attunement. Instead of being a needle that transforms into a dagger, this would be a bracelet that could transform to function as a Flail (though it need not look like a flail). She would, of course, need to be proficient in flails for this to work as well.
So, with that in mind, if you let her start out with that sort of item, be ready to also be willing to farm out a single rare item to each other player for fairness. Otherwise, I would shy away from this.
EDI: You could reduce the power of the item by removing the +1 power bonus and limit the damage to 1d6 as you suggested, however, again, you will need to offer other players comparable gear to keep the balance of the game. As long as you are okay with that and your adventure can support that, this is fine.
The purpose is mostly for RP, and it is related to her backstory, so if necessary, I could let her have it and it not have any bonuses, but it would be preferable if i can find a way to let her use it as a weapon. It is basically an improvised version of a flail, full sized (about 14 inches of 3/8 chain wrapped around her arm, with a lock on the end. Right now, it has a couple very minor magical effects (it wont fall off unless it is purposefully taken off, and it has no functional weight, despite the whole thing realistically weighing closer to like 5-6 pounds). I forgot to mention up top, I am letting my characters reskin their starting gear, and this character wants to slightly change the whip. Would it be too overpowered for a third level character to start with?
The only power level issue you will likely run into is that, as a magical weapon, it technically bypasses the non-magic weapon resistances of some monsters that are supposed to be more challenging in that level range. Otherwise, no, there shouldn't be too much of a problem here, though if it is sort of molded after a whip, I'd suggest keeping it to a reach weapon that does 1d4 (bludgeoning instead of slashing).
Thanks, this helps a lot!
As a DM, I would not be willing to give one character a powerful magical background item without offering the same option to the other players.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.