I'm running a dungeon of my own devising that involves an artifact. (Dolzak's Claw)
This artifact possesses the ability to hold a planar portal open theoretically indefinitely. However, it's also useful to the party (who is trying to destroy it). It's doing the "Artifact tempts its wielder" thing, and one of the powers it's granting its wielder (the rogue) is 1d6hp/turn regeneration. However, the artifact is eldritch horror-themed, so I decided that this is the main way it corrupts its wielder; it twists their body a little bit every time they regenerate. If the rogue regens enough from this I'm considering mutating him permanently. Any ideas for how this could work?
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I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
If it's going to mutate someone every six seconds, each "unit" of mutation will likely have to be very small. For example, even if each "unit of mutation" is only 0.1 percentage points, a total of 6 hours of regeneration would have the person about 1/3 mutated. ...But at an average of 3.5 HP per regen, that would be 210 HP, which is substantial. It would depend on whether the mutation effect happens whether or not the user is at full HP. If the effect doesn't happen when the person is at full, that extends the length of time it can be used.
Consider the balance between amount of mutation and amount of healing.
Also, one possible idea is that the regeneration is addictive despite the drawbacks, and the user will have to do wisdom saves to resist the addicting effect. Perhaps if they fail enough of them, the user will start cutting themselves to trigger the healing, accelerating their transformation.
EDIT: Also, I second everything Xalthu says below.
My big caution would be to really telegraph the change. Enough so the player has a chance to make a decision about it. For one, agency is important. But also, it’s much more interesting if the player makes a choice to corrupt the character, instead of it being forced on them, or them being tricked into it.
I’d also add, 1d6 per turn (assuming you mean per turn for the character, not on every single turn of every creature) is really not that much. If it were me, it’s going to take a much bigger benefit to tempt me with some kind of unknown risk of mutation. 1d6 isn’t likely enough to make much difference in most situations. Maybe if they were level 1-3, but past that, 1d6 is next to nothing.
I mean, the artifact also has much more interesting abilities, like adding 1d6 psychic damage to weapon attacks and functioning as a +5 whip, or granting its wielder psychic immunity.
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I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
1d6 damage is also kind of trivial. I’d consider giving both the healing and damage boost a way to scale up if you want it to stay interesting. A +5 to hit is a bad idea. Artifact level weapons in this edition only go to +3. Giving +5 will break open the game math.
Turning a color helps, but not a lot. Setting aside that hit points are an abstraction and not every point of damage translates to a physical wound. But, if I’m the player, I start turning purple, ok. That’s not giving me a lot of information. I’d find some way to encourage the player to look into the item — maybe getting someone to cast legend lore or finding a sage who can tell them about it. Or maybe the item itself tells what it’s going to do. Side note: Sentient weapons are interesting. And you can say it only works properly when the character is doing something that aligns with the artifact’s goals. Either way, it’s a better, more interesting choice if the player understands the consequences. Instead of, it will turn your skin purple, you can lay it out: You will be horribly disfigured and have disadvantage on any skill checks involving charisma. Or, you will grow extra fingers making it awkward to use your hands, but you’ll be quicker at things. You can now pick locks as a bonus action, but it will be at a -5 when you do so ( doing it as an action will be as usual). Also holding your weapon is awkward, but you’ll can get a bit more leverage. You now have a -2 to hit and a +2 to damage on all melee attacks. Try to be very clear with the player about the choices.
See, I kind of want to find a medium between "aagh what happened to my broken arm!" and "oh no this thing is going to mutate me". I kind of want to give the player a warning that something is happening, but they don't know what until they either get someone who knows about the Claw and ask them what the heck is happening, or they ask the claw itself. So maybe I'll tell them exactly what's happening after they do their homework, but until then I kind of want to have an aura of mystery.
About the stats. 4e had an artifact mechanic where the artifact's powers would scale off of how happy it was with its wielder. It might also unlock new abilities afterward.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
It can also come gown to the player. Can you tell the player what’s going on and trust them not to metagame?
Or when they turn purple, if others see it, maybe give the group a history check to see if someone remembers the old story about it. They don’t remember a lot, but it can be that first breadcrumb.
They remember as much as you need them to so they can move things along. An artifact level item will have stories about it floating around. Maybe once it starts doing its thing, you give the history checks, and someone remembers hearing a story about a legendary whip called Dolzak’s Claw. This whip is doing things that sound like the stories they heard about that. If the players want to know more, maybe they cast Legend Lore, or they go to the city with the big library, or the sage somewhere to find someone to ask about it.
Side benefit: If they start asking questions and showing it off, word is bound to spread and attract the attention of someone who wants to take it from them.
At its discretion basically means at the DM’s discretion, so that should be fine. Allowing the character to activate it could get to be a problem. But mostly just because you don’t want the players up and deciding to take a trip to another plane when you’re not ready for it. That’s really the main point of the tuning fork component is to give the DM control over when and how the spell is used. Seems like your idea would get you to basically the same place.
i would recomend it starting off like a small thing and they barely notice eventualy they catch on at that point they can fix with greater restoration and unatuning next it becomes more potent and it takes higher level spells or specific rare magic items and at that point if they hept using the heal then it becomes permenant and they kind of had it coming
Grim Hollow has rules exactly for this sort of thing. There are transformations that go through 4 different phases that can be tied to character level or some other milestone where the player gains "boons and flaws" at each level.
They have rules for transforming into vampires, lycanthropes, liches, fiends, and aberrant horrors. Sounds like you could use the Aberrant Horror transformation rules.
For example, at Level 1 of the transformation, you just get bonuses to Strength and Constitution as your "Boon", but you get the "Flaw" of unstable mutations where every day you have to roll on a table of mutations which includes things like "your legs are unresposive, your movement speed decreases by 10 feet" or "your body becomes difficult to control, disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws".
At level 2, you can gain tendrils or regeneration or some other ability as your "boon" with the level 2 "flaw" of having a hideous appearance that causes most creatures to treat you in a hostile way. The boons and flaws get greater at levels 3 and 4...
I think it would be a good idea if you filled out the lore on the item and it's ultimate goals and effects. At the moment, you've only mentioned 1d6/turn vs mutation - but you haven't mentioned what sort of mutation - is it something the character could live with/role play or is it something that would turn the character into an NPC? Is the mutation so undesirable that no one would ever want it for the meagre benefit of a few hit points or is the effect something that is balanced - not too powerful that would unbalance your game and irritate other players or turn the character into the focus of the story?
For example ...
The claw could have some form of limited sentience. It attempts to turn the form of its user into a suitable host so that the claw can replace an appropriate appendage. This explains why the creature is being mutated. One of the benefits of the mutated form is the enhanced regeneration already discovered. Perhaps once the mutated form is complete it also has enhanced senses - darkvision 120', blindsight 10' - ability to go without breathing for 1 hour, webbed fingers and toes, claws. Swim and climb speeds = move speed. Perhaps advantage on stealth checks due to chameleon type skin when not wearing armor or clothes (if you need something more).
The claw replaces a hand and the final configuration allows the character to increase a physical stat by 1 while decreasing another physical stat by one ... or perhaps, increase a physical stat by one while decreasing a mental stat by one.
However, the mutated form could look scaly or perhaps like Venom ... causing disadvantage on charisma checks. Perhaps the character needs to be immersed in water for at least 10 continuous minutes every 24 hours ... if not they start to suffer from a level of exhaustion. Gaining one/day as long as they are not immersed.
There are lots of possible ideas - this is just one example. However, if you want to make it interesting, it should be something that might tempt a character with enough down sides that it doesn't disrupt the game or bother other players too much.
Each mutation is both a blessing and a curse; maybe a fourth arm joint that increases your reach but penalizes some Dexterity stuff.
I thought about the lore and goals. It doesn't want to reattach to Dolzak, because that would erase its own sentience, but it does want to free him. It will do this by mutating a wielder into a "suitable host", then go to Dolzak's prison, make the wielder perform a certain ritual to free him, then chaos ensues.
The claw isn't aquatic-themed, so I might not do the water immersion weakness. Some kind of weakness like that makes sense though.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Dolzak had an unstable anatomy that he used in combat, plus various forms of magical transportation. These rendered him nearly impossible to capture. I was considering that the mutated form would grow new/various temporary mutations to fit the situation.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
I'm running a dungeon of my own devising that involves an artifact. (Dolzak's Claw)
This artifact possesses the ability to hold a planar portal open theoretically indefinitely. However, it's also useful to the party (who is trying to destroy it). It's doing the "Artifact tempts its wielder" thing, and one of the powers it's granting its wielder (the rogue) is 1d6hp/turn regeneration. However, the artifact is eldritch horror-themed, so I decided that this is the main way it corrupts its wielder; it twists their body a little bit every time they regenerate. If the rogue regens enough from this I'm considering mutating him permanently. Any ideas for how this could work?
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
If it's going to mutate someone every six seconds, each "unit" of mutation will likely have to be very small. For example, even if each "unit of mutation" is only 0.1 percentage points, a total of 6 hours of regeneration would have the person about 1/3 mutated. ...But at an average of 3.5 HP per regen, that would be 210 HP, which is substantial. It would depend on whether the mutation effect happens whether or not the user is at full HP. If the effect doesn't happen when the person is at full, that extends the length of time it can be used.
Consider the balance between amount of mutation and amount of healing.
Also, one possible idea is that the regeneration is addictive despite the drawbacks, and the user will have to do wisdom saves to resist the addicting effect. Perhaps if they fail enough of them, the user will start cutting themselves to trigger the healing, accelerating their transformation.
EDIT: Also, I second everything Xalthu says below.
My big caution would be to really telegraph the change. Enough so the player has a chance to make a decision about it. For one, agency is important. But also, it’s much more interesting if the player makes a choice to corrupt the character, instead of it being forced on them, or them being tricked into it.
I’d also add, 1d6 per turn (assuming you mean per turn for the character, not on every single turn of every creature) is really not that much. If it were me, it’s going to take a much bigger benefit to tempt me with some kind of unknown risk of mutation. 1d6 isn’t likely enough to make much difference in most situations. Maybe if they were level 1-3, but past that, 1d6 is next to nothing.
The mutation only happens while regenerating health.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
I mean, the artifact also has much more interesting abilities, like adding 1d6 psychic damage to weapon attacks and functioning as a +5 whip, or granting its wielder psychic immunity.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
"You notice that the wound regenerated from that slash to your arm isn't hurting anymore, but it looks like a bright purple bruise now. Huh, weird."
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
1d6 damage is also kind of trivial. I’d consider giving both the healing and damage boost a way to scale up if you want it to stay interesting.
A +5 to hit is a bad idea. Artifact level weapons in this edition only go to +3. Giving +5 will break open the game math.
Turning a color helps, but not a lot. Setting aside that hit points are an abstraction and not every point of damage translates to a physical wound. But, if I’m the player, I start turning purple, ok. That’s not giving me a lot of information. I’d find some way to encourage the player to look into the item — maybe getting someone to cast legend lore or finding a sage who can tell them about it. Or maybe the item itself tells what it’s going to do. Side note: Sentient weapons are interesting. And you can say it only works properly when the character is doing something that aligns with the artifact’s goals.
Either way, it’s a better, more interesting choice if the player understands the consequences. Instead of, it will turn your skin purple, you can lay it out: You will be horribly disfigured and have disadvantage on any skill checks involving charisma. Or, you will grow extra fingers making it awkward to use your hands, but you’ll be quicker at things. You can now pick locks as a bonus action, but it will be at a -5 when you do so ( doing it as an action will be as usual). Also holding your weapon is awkward, but you’ll can get a bit more leverage. You now have a -2 to hit and a +2 to damage on all melee attacks. Try to be very clear with the player about the choices.
See, I kind of want to find a medium between "aagh what happened to my broken arm!" and "oh no this thing is going to mutate me". I kind of want to give the player a warning that something is happening, but they don't know what until they either get someone who knows about the Claw and ask them what the heck is happening, or they ask the claw itself. So maybe I'll tell them exactly what's happening after they do their homework, but until then I kind of want to have an aura of mystery.
About the stats. 4e had an artifact mechanic where the artifact's powers would scale off of how happy it was with its wielder. It might also unlock new abilities afterward.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
It can also come gown to the player. Can you tell the player what’s going on and trust them not to metagame?
Or when they turn purple, if others see it, maybe give the group a history check to see if someone remembers the old story about it. They don’t remember a lot, but it can be that first breadcrumb.
I'm not sure if I can, to your question. I prefer to err on the side of caution with these things.
What would they remember?
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
They remember as much as you need them to so they can move things along. An artifact level item will have stories about it floating around. Maybe once it starts doing its thing, you give the history checks, and someone remembers hearing a story about a legendary whip called Dolzak’s Claw. This whip is doing things that sound like the stories they heard about that. If the players want to know more, maybe they cast Legend Lore, or they go to the city with the big library, or the sage somewhere to find someone to ask about it.
Side benefit: If they start asking questions and showing it off, word is bound to spread and attract the attention of someone who wants to take it from them.
Good point; maybe I'll do that. Also, how overpowered is an artifact that casts plane shift when it suits its purposes (seemingly at will)?
The claw is originally the arm of an eldritch horror famous for its ability to go anywhere quickly until its arm was torn off and it was imprisoned.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
At its discretion basically means at the DM’s discretion, so that should be fine. Allowing the character to activate it could get to be a problem. But mostly just because you don’t want the players up and deciding to take a trip to another plane when you’re not ready for it. That’s really the main point of the tuning fork component is to give the DM control over when and how the spell is used. Seems like your idea would get you to basically the same place.
Great, thanks. Thank you for all your ideas, I may consult for further advice depending on how my campaign goes.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
i would recomend it starting off like a small thing and they barely notice eventualy they catch on at that point they can fix with greater restoration and unatuning next it becomes more potent and it takes higher level spells or specific rare magic items and at that point if they hept using the heal then it becomes permenant and they kind of had it coming
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Grim Hollow has rules exactly for this sort of thing. There are transformations that go through 4 different phases that can be tied to character level or some other milestone where the player gains "boons and flaws" at each level.
They have rules for transforming into vampires, lycanthropes, liches, fiends, and aberrant horrors. Sounds like you could use the Aberrant Horror transformation rules.
For example, at Level 1 of the transformation, you just get bonuses to Strength and Constitution as your "Boon", but you get the "Flaw" of unstable mutations where every day you have to roll on a table of mutations which includes things like "your legs are unresposive, your movement speed decreases by 10 feet" or "your body becomes difficult to control, disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws".
At level 2, you can gain tendrils or regeneration or some other ability as your "boon" with the level 2 "flaw" of having a hideous appearance that causes most creatures to treat you in a hostile way. The boons and flaws get greater at levels 3 and 4...
Ooh, cool. I'll look at it.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
I think it would be a good idea if you filled out the lore on the item and it's ultimate goals and effects. At the moment, you've only mentioned 1d6/turn vs mutation - but you haven't mentioned what sort of mutation - is it something the character could live with/role play or is it something that would turn the character into an NPC? Is the mutation so undesirable that no one would ever want it for the meagre benefit of a few hit points or is the effect something that is balanced - not too powerful that would unbalance your game and irritate other players or turn the character into the focus of the story?
For example ...
The claw could have some form of limited sentience. It attempts to turn the form of its user into a suitable host so that the claw can replace an appropriate appendage. This explains why the creature is being mutated. One of the benefits of the mutated form is the enhanced regeneration already discovered. Perhaps once the mutated form is complete it also has enhanced senses - darkvision 120', blindsight 10' - ability to go without breathing for 1 hour, webbed fingers and toes, claws. Swim and climb speeds = move speed. Perhaps advantage on stealth checks due to chameleon type skin when not wearing armor or clothes (if you need something more).
The claw replaces a hand and the final configuration allows the character to increase a physical stat by 1 while decreasing another physical stat by one ... or perhaps, increase a physical stat by one while decreasing a mental stat by one.
However, the mutated form could look scaly or perhaps like Venom ... causing disadvantage on charisma checks. Perhaps the character needs to be immersed in water for at least 10 continuous minutes every 24 hours ... if not they start to suffer from a level of exhaustion. Gaining one/day as long as they are not immersed.
There are lots of possible ideas - this is just one example. However, if you want to make it interesting, it should be something that might tempt a character with enough down sides that it doesn't disrupt the game or bother other players too much.
Each mutation is both a blessing and a curse; maybe a fourth arm joint that increases your reach but penalizes some Dexterity stuff.
I thought about the lore and goals. It doesn't want to reattach to Dolzak, because that would erase its own sentience, but it does want to free him. It will do this by mutating a wielder into a "suitable host", then go to Dolzak's prison, make the wielder perform a certain ritual to free him, then chaos ensues.
The claw isn't aquatic-themed, so I might not do the water immersion weakness. Some kind of weakness like that makes sense though.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
Dolzak had an unstable anatomy that he used in combat, plus various forms of magical transportation. These rendered him nearly impossible to capture. I was considering that the mutated form would grow new/various temporary mutations to fit the situation.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.