I made a Blades of Chaos weapon like the ones from God of War as a magical weapon to give to the paladin in my party when he nearly dies. Basically, the whole party except for one player is level 3, and the weapon deals 1d6 fire and 1d6 slashing damage with every swing with 20ft of range, because of the chains attached to the blades. The range is the big problem, It's the only distance that really makes sense for the weapon but it makes it impossible for them to be really hit by melee focused enemies. I can't find a way to nerf it without making it feel less powerful than it should. I've thought of adding a upgrading system to it, but I just can't fit it into lore. I really need help to fix this cause it's just gonna ruin the Underdark sessions I had planned for them. I don't want to nerf the mechanics but really just find a way to make a huge debuff or drawback if that's even possible.
Don't give a legendary item to a level 3 character? How is it going to be handed to the player? Are they going to be told that they have only a limited lifespan after taking ownership?
Don't allow it to go beyond your 10 ft range (and thus reduced damage) until level 10.
Don't allow it to be used against targets that are less than 10 ft away from the wielder (and targets moving from beyond 10 ft to less than 10 ft do NOT count as moving out of your reach for such things as Opportunity Attacks).
It's supposed to be a gift from their god of war in return for his eternal servitude when he's about to die. The limited life thing would be interesting but I envisioned the servitude to a god of war as a way to continue the campaign if they don't feel all achieved after they finish the main plot. The campaign has moved along further than I've thought and they've gotten into a dangerous area where he'll probably die. And yeah I should nerf the range but he's supposed to have range with the weapon, 20 ft is insane and yeah I should make higher level scaling, I don't really know why I couldn't think of that before. Thanks for the suggestion, yeah I probably shouldn't give a legendary item to a level 3 character.
You could make it less powerful than it is and then scale it up as he does. It can still be a sign of his servitude and a reward for faithful service. But giving a legendary item even as a reward at level 3 seems a game breaker.
Tie the weapon to the paladin smite ability. When the player uses smite, they get the weapon's effect instead of the smite. That limits its use per day.
Drop its range to 10ft (in other words, just make it a reach weapon).
And tell the player (not the character), "Look, I thought this would be cool when I made it, and it is cool, but it's going to upset the challenge of the game. I need to change it."
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I made a Blades of Chaos weapon like the ones from God of War as a magical weapon to give to the paladin in my party when he nearly dies. Basically, the whole party except for one player is level 3, and the weapon deals 1d6 fire and 1d6 slashing damage with every swing with 20ft of range, because of the chains attached to the blades. The range is the big problem, It's the only distance that really makes sense for the weapon but it makes it impossible for them to be really hit by melee focused enemies. I can't find a way to nerf it without making it feel less powerful than it should. I've thought of adding a upgrading system to it, but I just can't fit it into lore. I really need help to fix this cause it's just gonna ruin the Underdark sessions I had planned for them. I don't want to nerf the mechanics but really just find a way to make a huge debuff or drawback if that's even possible.
Here's the weapon sheet.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/7137193-the-blades-of-chaos
Don't give a legendary item to a level 3 character? How is it going to be handed to the player? Are they going to be told that they have only a limited lifespan after taking ownership?
Don't allow it to go beyond your 10 ft range (and thus reduced damage) until level 10.
Don't allow it to be used against targets that are less than 10 ft away from the wielder (and targets moving from beyond 10 ft to less than 10 ft do NOT count as moving out of your reach for such things as Opportunity Attacks).
It's supposed to be a gift from their god of war in return for his eternal servitude when he's about to die. The limited life thing would be interesting but I envisioned the servitude to a god of war as a way to continue the campaign if they don't feel all achieved after they finish the main plot. The campaign has moved along further than I've thought and they've gotten into a dangerous area where he'll probably die. And yeah I should nerf the range but he's supposed to have range with the weapon, 20 ft is insane and yeah I should make higher level scaling, I don't really know why I couldn't think of that before. Thanks for the suggestion, yeah I probably shouldn't give a legendary item to a level 3 character.
You could make it less powerful than it is and then scale it up as he does. It can still be a sign of his servitude and a reward for faithful service. But giving a legendary item even as a reward at level 3 seems a game breaker.
Tie the weapon to the paladin smite ability. When the player uses smite, they get the weapon's effect instead of the smite. That limits its use per day.
Drop its range to 10ft (in other words, just make it a reach weapon).
And tell the player (not the character), "Look, I thought this would be cool when I made it, and it is cool, but it's going to upset the challenge of the game. I need to change it."