I'm currently planning on creating a 3 part campaign where the BBEG is a solar, and I need magic Items that could counter one. I know arrows of slaying and armor of resistance(radiant) would work, but I need Items that could be specifically used to counter and combat a solar. Could you all let me know what magic Items I could use?
Are you looking for RAW magic items that are in the DND books, or homebrew things that would work? You'll get two very different answers, based on your choice.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
My immediate instinct is that you just create one yourself. Don't give it any special stats, but have it crafted of some rare extraplanar material that means only that weapon can kill the BBEG. That makes it such that this weapon is the only thing in the world that can kill a solar.
Then, I do tend to keep this stuff simple. It just makes it so much easier for me as a GM. D&D is already SOOOO much admin, why overcomplicate it for myself?
I don’t know that, by RAW, there is much special to them that would mean the PCs need anything specific. They’re immune to poison and radiant damage, but that’s no big deal. I might want to throw death ward on the wizards or other party members with less than 100 hp. The melee folks will want to be able to fly. But those are the sorts of things you don’t give the party, per se. You let the party find out about the solar’s powers, and decide for themselves which ones they want to protect themselves against.Then they seek out the items they want to help them in the battle. But by the time they’re facing a cr21, the characters will have plenty of options for dealing with a solar, even if you’re just rolling randomly on the treasure tables.
And, beyond that, if you do introduce some homebrew items, or even that arrow of slaying, you risk the fight being over quickly and being pretty anticlimactic.
I don’t know that, by RAW, there is much special to them that would mean the PCs need anything specific. They’re immune to poison and radiant damage, but that’s no big deal. I might want to throw death ward on the wizards or other party members with less than 100 hp. The melee folks will want to be able to fly. But those are the sorts of things you don’t give the party, per se. You let the party find out about the solar’s powers, and decide for themselves which ones they want to protect themselves against.Then they seek out the items they want to help them in the battle. But by the time they’re facing a cr21, the characters will have plenty of options for dealing with a solar, even if you’re just rolling randomly on the treasure tables.
And, beyond that, if you do introduce some homebrew items, or even that arrow of slaying, you risk the fight being over quickly and being pretty anticlimactic.
I don't know so much there are some very simple homebrews that are possible if you just take inspiration from other places.
For example, let's say that the weapon is a very simple Longsword that happens to be made of Brimstone infused Steel. In all other respects you have it function as an ordinary longsword. This weapon wouldn't instantly kill a Solar, but you simply set it so that this weapon is the only thing that can strike a killing blow. In other words you have the enemy unable to be knocked below 1 hit point unless struck by a weapon crafted from Hellish Brimstone infused Steel.
Similarly, you could have this particular enemy be one that simply cannot be harmed by anything unless it is made from or focused through brimstone infused steel. In reality that means that the casters would all need to acquire spellcasting foci made of brimstone infused steel, the martials would need to acquire weapons made of this steel. The fight then carries on as it normally would but you answer the question why only our heroes can kill the enemy.
To be fair, this is where the limitations of systems like D&D come in if GMs don't ever branch out to other systems. You can get locked into D&D's set of standard damage and items. By coming up with a contrivance like the enemy needing to be slain by a particular weapon or particular material...well you solve the problem of the fight being over quickly.
I don’t know that, by RAW, there is much special to them that would mean the PCs need anything specific. They’re immune to poison and radiant damage, but that’s no big deal. I might want to throw death ward on the wizards or other party members with less than 100 hp. The melee folks will want to be able to fly. But those are the sorts of things you don’t give the party, per se. You let the party find out about the solar’s powers, and decide for themselves which ones they want to protect themselves against.Then they seek out the items they want to help them in the battle. But by the time they’re facing a cr21, the characters will have plenty of options for dealing with a solar, even if you’re just rolling randomly on the treasure tables.
And, beyond that, if you do introduce some homebrew items, or even that arrow of slaying, you risk the fight being over quickly and being pretty anticlimactic.
I don't know so much there are some very simple homebrews that are possible if you just take inspiration from other places.
For example, let's say that the weapon is a very simple Longsword that happens to be made of Brimstone infused Steel. In all other respects you have it function as an ordinary longsword. This weapon wouldn't instantly kill a Solar, but you simply set it so that this weapon is the only thing that can strike a killing blow. In other words you have the enemy unable to be knocked below 1 hit point unless struck by a weapon crafted from Hellish Brimstone infused Steel.
Similarly, you could have this particular enemy be one that simply cannot be harmed by anything unless it is made from or focused through brimstone infused steel. In reality that means that the casters would all need to acquire spellcasting foci made of brimstone infused steel, the martials would need to acquire weapons made of this steel. The fight then carries on as it normally would but you answer the question why only our heroes can kill the enemy.
To be fair, this is where the limitations of systems like D&D come in if GMs don't ever branch out to other systems. You can get locked into D&D's set of standard damage and items. By coming up with a contrivance like the enemy needing to be slain by a particular weapon or particular material...well you solve the problem of the fight being over quickly.
That’s all true, but I didn’t get the impression the OP was looking for homebrew solutions. They asked what items the PCs should have, not what items we could invent. Particularly not homebrew items to solve a problem created by giving the enemy a homebrew power.
The big annoyances with the solar are its extreme mobility (150' flight, radiant teleport), tendency to strike everyone blind, and ability to bypass death checks with its slaying bow. None of those have particularly good item counters.
You could of course give the PCs a iron flask, meaning the way to beat it is "pass the flask between the PCs until it runs out of legendary resistance", but I don't particularly recommend it.
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I'm currently planning on creating a 3 part campaign where the BBEG is a solar, and I need magic Items that could counter one. I know arrows of slaying and armor of resistance(radiant) would work, but I need Items that could be specifically used to counter and combat a solar. Could you all let me know what magic Items I could use?
Are you looking for RAW magic items that are in the DND books, or homebrew things that would work? You'll get two very different answers, based on your choice.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
My immediate instinct is that you just create one yourself. Don't give it any special stats, but have it crafted of some rare extraplanar material that means only that weapon can kill the BBEG. That makes it such that this weapon is the only thing in the world that can kill a solar.
Then, I do tend to keep this stuff simple. It just makes it so much easier for me as a GM. D&D is already SOOOO much admin, why overcomplicate it for myself?
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
I don’t know that, by RAW, there is much special to them that would mean the PCs need anything specific. They’re immune to poison and radiant damage, but that’s no big deal. I might want to throw death ward on the wizards or other party members with less than 100 hp. The melee folks will want to be able to fly. But those are the sorts of things you don’t give the party, per se. You let the party find out about the solar’s powers, and decide for themselves which ones they want to protect themselves against.Then they seek out the items they want to help them in the battle. But by the time they’re facing a cr21, the characters will have plenty of options for dealing with a solar, even if you’re just rolling randomly on the treasure tables.
And, beyond that, if you do introduce some homebrew items, or even that arrow of slaying, you risk the fight being over quickly and being pretty anticlimactic.
I don't know so much there are some very simple homebrews that are possible if you just take inspiration from other places.
For example, let's say that the weapon is a very simple Longsword that happens to be made of Brimstone infused Steel. In all other respects you have it function as an ordinary longsword. This weapon wouldn't instantly kill a Solar, but you simply set it so that this weapon is the only thing that can strike a killing blow. In other words you have the enemy unable to be knocked below 1 hit point unless struck by a weapon crafted from Hellish Brimstone infused Steel.
Similarly, you could have this particular enemy be one that simply cannot be harmed by anything unless it is made from or focused through brimstone infused steel. In reality that means that the casters would all need to acquire spellcasting foci made of brimstone infused steel, the martials would need to acquire weapons made of this steel. The fight then carries on as it normally would but you answer the question why only our heroes can kill the enemy.
To be fair, this is where the limitations of systems like D&D come in if GMs don't ever branch out to other systems. You can get locked into D&D's set of standard damage and items. By coming up with a contrivance like the enemy needing to be slain by a particular weapon or particular material...well you solve the problem of the fight being over quickly.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
That’s all true, but I didn’t get the impression the OP was looking for homebrew solutions. They asked what items the PCs should have, not what items we could invent. Particularly not homebrew items to solve a problem created by giving the enemy a homebrew power.
The big annoyances with the solar are its extreme mobility (150' flight, radiant teleport), tendency to strike everyone blind, and ability to bypass death checks with its slaying bow. None of those have particularly good item counters.
You could of course give the PCs a iron flask, meaning the way to beat it is "pass the flask between the PCs until it runs out of legendary resistance", but I don't particularly recommend it.