Howdy, y'all, recently I had my party go up against a Yggdrasti from the new Spelljammer compendium, and one of my druids decided to take a cutting from the felled tree. As part of the backstory, the player and I decided that the armor would be living vines and tree bark (just renamed/reskinned existing armor). The player knowingly put the cutting of the Yggdrasti in his armor and knows that there will be repercussions.
My question to y'all is: how should I reward or punish the player for this choice? I've had a couple of ideas, either granting the player lightning resistance or providing lightning damage in case of a hit (similar to Armor of Agythys); or the armor will morph into a Living Armor, and leech off of my player until the magic is dispelled. Any suggestions or ideas would be really appreciated! Thanks!
If it’s reasonable, you could say they now have +1 armor (or some other kind of magic armor). It lets them keep that cool flavor you developed, and gives them a bit better gear. Always great when you can find a way to level up old gear.
Just make sure they know it’s only going to work this one time. If they want better armor again, they’ll have to find something else.
Both let it have a damaging property, limited in uses to, for example, the prof. bonus a long rest, but make it use hp per usage or per round, depending on what you decide on.
My question to y'all is: how should I reward or punish the player for this choice? I've had a couple of ideas, either granting the player lightning resistance or providing lightning damage in case of a hit (similar to Armor of Agythys); or the armor will morph into a Living Armor, and leech off of my player until the magic is dispelled. Any suggestions or ideas would be really appreciated! Thanks!
What was the PC trying to do, and did they make a roll to actually attempt it?
I would say a success would give you armor that retaliates with lightning damage when struck (probably only around 1d6 with limited charges that recharge when you take lightning damage); given that a Ygddrasti that is hit by lightning applies the damage to anything it's grappling, I would not expect having a sliver of it in your armor would protect you from lightning, and might even make you somewhat vulnerable (treat as metal armor against effects that do lightning damage; I'm not sure that affects anything but shocking grasp).
A failure would probably have the armor shock its wearer instead of the attacker.
For this kind of thing I like to make a unique magic item that has advantages and disadvantages. I would rule that when you take damage from any physical (Blunt, Pierce, Slash), the armor will randomly pick someone within 30 ft of it and they get must save vs Dex DC 13, 7d8 lightning damage.
30 ft is small enough that the players can take steps to mitigate the effect, but not small a range that they can negate the risk entirely.
i personally would give him cure wounds once per long rest but, the continued use of this ability would further his connection to the nine gates in midgard, eventually that connection and loss of power in yggdrasil would attract the attention of the aesir believing that the party wishes ill on odin and his sons. that story arc would provide some good fights at least.
I think that giving them magical armour for sticking a bit of a dead enemy on their armour sets a bad precedent. Magical item crafting is really fun, but it's really fun when it takes a few sessions to achieve. This is just a by-product of an encounter.
Similarly, I don't think you want to punish a character for doing a bit of roleplay. I'd make the change purely cosmetic. This isn't a big enough investment to warrant combat affecting properties.
The Yggdrasti has False appearance and it is a tree. Does not need food, to breath, etc. Good argument that it is, to quote Billy Crystal, "only MOSTLY dead". That's why I had it's ability come close to what it does on it's own.
I think that giving them magical armour for sticking a bit of a dead enemy on their armour sets a bad precedent. Magical item crafting is really fun, but it's really fun when it takes a few sessions to achieve. This is just a by-product of an encounter.
Similarly, I don't think you want to punish a character for doing a bit of roleplay. I'd make the change purely cosmetic. This isn't a big enough investment to warrant combat affecting properties.
I think having a Yggdrasti be a component of a magic item is a good idea. Though I would probably have also had it cost some down time and ask if they wanted to do anything to it in order to make something really interesting.
Since the effort is small in my opinion the positive effects should be small too but not nothing because the creativity should be encouraged. I suggest letting the armor act as a spell casting focus maybe something like the [magic item]Lamannian Oak Focus[/magic item] and or maybe let them add the spell witch bolt to their spell list and cast it using the armor as a component since I think the yggdrasti fits the component description of a tree struck by lightning.
In the same vein I wouldn't want to discourage them by making the effect too instant or too deadly. The regrowing is an interesting idea and it could maybe be triggered or have a chance to trigger on taking lightning damage so it doesn't come up instantly.
I think that giving them magical armour for sticking a bit of a dead enemy on their armour sets a bad precedent. Magical item crafting is really fun, but it's really fun when it takes a few sessions to achieve. This is just a by-product of an encounter.
Similarly, I don't think you want to punish a character for doing a bit of roleplay. I'd make the change purely cosmetic. This isn't a big enough investment to warrant combat affecting properties.
I would go this route. RP choice, RP consequences. Otherwise you may have players gluing every monster they can find onto themselves for cool effects. I have tried a crafting system that does this and it balloons into a lot of work for you.
When they wake up after a long rest, their armor has rooted them into the ground and it takes a bit of effort to get free. When they emerge into the light after being in a cave for a while, the armor sends out leaves and tendrils towards the sunlight, that kind of thing.
Personally, i occasionally allow harvesting monster skin or carapace to make armor or shield, it's a staple of fantasy to me! In my campaign they aren't magic items, but extraordinary items with unique properties. Its usually not punishment but improvement as it most often require time and investment to find an armorer willing to make an armor out of itbut in the end that contribute to make PCs more unique and memorable this way.
I think that giving them magical armour for sticking a bit of a dead enemy on their armour sets a bad precedent. Magical item crafting is really fun, but it's really fun when it takes a few sessions to achieve. This is just a by-product of an encounter.
Similarly, I don't think you want to punish a character for doing a bit of roleplay. I'd make the change purely cosmetic. This isn't a big enough investment to warrant combat affecting properties.
I would go this route. RP choice, RP consequences. Otherwise you may have players gluing every monster they can find onto themselves for cool effects. I have tried a crafting system that does this and it balloons into a lot of work for you.
When they wake up after a long rest, their armor has rooted them into the ground and it takes a bit of effort to get free. When they emerge into the light after being in a cave for a while, the armor sends out leaves and tendrils towards the sunlight, that kind of thing.
Yeah, to make am uncommon magical item, I do something like the following:
Charater researches (divine communication, ancient tomes in a vast library, reads the runes in their own blood - whatever is appropriate) to get the plan
Harvest a specific monster body part (1-3 of these)
Harvest something from a magical location
Acquire purchasable materials worth not less than 500g (uncommon, more otherwise) that will likely involve some shenanigans
Conduct a ritual at a specified location - this will usually involve a combat encounter if the item is Rare or above, for Uncommon probs not
After each encounter, toss a 50/50 shot. Success means it 'grows' a little. Then have a growth chart that the player doesn't get to see. Every 2 or 3 get's a +1 to AC, every 7 or 8 get some ability of the original creature. For every 5 growths it eats a level of spell slot at the start of combat. At 10 it eats another level of spell slot every time it uses an ability. At 15 it becomes 'cursed' and cannot be removed by non-magical means. At 20 the PC becomes the monster.
Or, remove the poison & psychic and downgrade it to a rare item.
Or, maybe keep it as a very rare, remove poison/psychic, and make it sentient, communicates by emotion, etc if you want more RP involved in the decision. You could have it gain purpose for protecting Plant creature types, and have it start a troubled relationship with it's host that could develop into something more over time. I think I actually like this last option the best & would probably go with that if I were DMing that situation.
But give it the full Symbiotic nature detriment.
Thematically, I'd see it growing its roots into the character desperately trying to cling to or regain life, essentially becoming a symbiote at the players expense, but giving some measure of power in return. If it's sentient, you could have it act like an Alarm spell if anything came into it's senses range while the character is sleeping for flair.
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Howdy, y'all, recently I had my party go up against a Yggdrasti from the new Spelljammer compendium, and one of my druids decided to take a cutting from the felled tree. As part of the backstory, the player and I decided that the armor would be living vines and tree bark (just renamed/reskinned existing armor). The player knowingly put the cutting of the Yggdrasti in his armor and knows that there will be repercussions.
My question to y'all is: how should I reward or punish the player for this choice? I've had a couple of ideas, either granting the player lightning resistance or providing lightning damage in case of a hit (similar to Armor of Agythys); or the armor will morph into a Living Armor, and leech off of my player until the magic is dispelled. Any suggestions or ideas would be really appreciated! Thanks!
What level are they?
If it’s reasonable, you could say they now have +1 armor (or some other kind of magic armor). It lets them keep that cool flavor you developed, and gives them a bit better gear. Always great when you can find a way to level up old gear.
Just make sure they know it’s only going to work this one time. If they want better armor again, they’ll have to find something else.
Both let it have a damaging property, limited in uses to, for example, the prof. bonus a long rest, but make it use hp per usage or per round, depending on what you decide on.
What was the PC trying to do, and did they make a roll to actually attempt it?
I would say a success would give you armor that retaliates with lightning damage when struck (probably only around 1d6 with limited charges that recharge when you take lightning damage); given that a Ygddrasti that is hit by lightning applies the damage to anything it's grappling, I would not expect having a sliver of it in your armor would protect you from lightning, and might even make you somewhat vulnerable (treat as metal armor against effects that do lightning damage; I'm not sure that affects anything but shocking grasp).
A failure would probably have the armor shock its wearer instead of the attacker.
For this kind of thing I like to make a unique magic item that has advantages and disadvantages. I would rule that when you take damage from any physical (Blunt, Pierce, Slash), the armor will randomly pick someone within 30 ft of it and they get must save vs Dex DC 13, 7d8 lightning damage.
30 ft is small enough that the players can take steps to mitigate the effect, but not small a range that they can negate the risk entirely.
i personally would give him cure wounds once per long rest but, the continued use of this ability would further his connection to the nine gates in midgard, eventually that connection and loss of power in yggdrasil would attract the attention of the aesir believing that the party wishes ill on odin and his sons. that story arc would provide some good fights at least.
I think that giving them magical armour for sticking a bit of a dead enemy on their armour sets a bad precedent. Magical item crafting is really fun, but it's really fun when it takes a few sessions to achieve. This is just a by-product of an encounter.
Similarly, I don't think you want to punish a character for doing a bit of roleplay. I'd make the change purely cosmetic. This isn't a big enough investment to warrant combat affecting properties.
The Yggdrasti has False appearance and it is a tree. Does not need food, to breath, etc. Good argument that it is, to quote Billy Crystal, "only MOSTLY dead". That's why I had it's ability come close to what it does on it's own.
I think having a Yggdrasti be a component of a magic item is a good idea. Though I would probably have also had it cost some down time and ask if they wanted to do anything to it in order to make something really interesting.
Since the effort is small in my opinion the positive effects should be small too but not nothing because the creativity should be encouraged. I suggest letting the armor act as a spell casting focus maybe something like the [magic item]Lamannian Oak Focus[/magic item] and or maybe let them add the spell witch bolt to their spell list and cast it using the armor as a component since I think the yggdrasti fits the component description of a tree struck by lightning.
That said per the crafting rules in xanathars, a cr 7 like the yggdrasti is in the recommended range for an uncommon item.
In the same vein I wouldn't want to discourage them by making the effect too instant or too deadly. The regrowing is an interesting idea and it could maybe be triggered or have a chance to trigger on taking lightning damage so it doesn't come up instantly.
It could be light armor, AC 13 + Dex with properties of being resistant to lightning and vulnerability to fire.
I would go this route. RP choice, RP consequences. Otherwise you may have players gluing every monster they can find onto themselves for cool effects. I have tried a crafting system that does this and it balloons into a lot of work for you.
When they wake up after a long rest, their armor has rooted them into the ground and it takes a bit of effort to get free. When they emerge into the light after being in a cave for a while, the armor sends out leaves and tendrils towards the sunlight, that kind of thing.
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
Personally, i occasionally allow harvesting monster skin or carapace to make armor or shield, it's a staple of fantasy to me! In my campaign they aren't magic items, but extraordinary items with unique properties. Its usually not punishment but improvement as it most often require time and investment to find an armorer willing to make an armor out of itbut in the end that contribute to make PCs more unique and memorable this way.
Yeah, to make am uncommon magical item, I do something like the following:
Personally I'd do both.
After each encounter, toss a 50/50 shot. Success means it 'grows' a little. Then have a growth chart that the player doesn't get to see. Every 2 or 3 get's a +1 to AC, every 7 or 8 get some ability of the original creature. For every 5 growths it eats a level of spell slot at the start of combat. At 10 it eats another level of spell slot every time it uses an ability. At 15 it becomes 'cursed' and cannot be removed by non-magical means. At 20 the PC becomes the monster.
I'd use the Living Armor from ERLW as a template as for the repercussions.
+1 AC, Lightning Resistance instead of Necrotic, + Poison & Psychic resistance.
Or, remove the poison & psychic and downgrade it to a rare item.
Or, maybe keep it as a very rare, remove poison/psychic, and make it sentient, communicates by emotion, etc if you want more RP involved in the decision. You could have it gain purpose for protecting Plant creature types, and have it start a troubled relationship with it's host that could develop into something more over time. I think I actually like this last option the best & would probably go with that if I were DMing that situation.
But give it the full Symbiotic nature detriment.
Thematically, I'd see it growing its roots into the character desperately trying to cling to or regain life, essentially becoming a symbiote at the players expense, but giving some measure of power in return. If it's sentient, you could have it act like an Alarm spell if anything came into it's senses range while the character is sleeping for flair.
Panentheist veneratring a numinous natural multiverse, seeking esoteric enlightenment in biology, geology, physics, philosophy, history, cooking & carpentry.