Hello everyone, sorry about the large incoming text, but i have run into a roadblock and decided to seek a bit of help.
In my game i have been using a modified version of Futhark (runes) as the language of the ``ancient people'' and my players used a bit of logic and a word they knew to discern every letter in the alphabet. And since they like complicated magic weapons, i decided to make this magic sword: The Sword of Containmen
Backstory
The backstory is that it was created to contain a horde of Undead shadows, and then use them as a weapon, but over time the number of shadows inside became enormus, and the sword became very dificult to use. So it was sealed away.
Effect
Now here is the problem, i dont exactly know what it does... So far i have decided on the following.
The sword has seven rings, each contain 24 runes in a specific order (the alphabet)
If you turn the rings to spell the word RELEASE, you release a bit, or alot of the shadows inside, granting you some of their power, but each turn you must make a wisdom save, or 5 hostile shadows will be released for each ring.
R: Wisdom DC 5: The sword deals + 1d4 necrotic damage
E: Wisdom DC 8: The sword becomes a +2
L: Wisdom DC 11: Must now be wielded with 2 hands: You gain acces to the misty step spell as a bonus action. (worried about the balance of this one)
E: Wisdom DC 14: You gain advantage on your attacks
A: Wisdom DC 17: You release up to 10 shadows under your controll.
S: Wisdom DC 20: (no ideas)
E: Wisdom DC 23: If you make the save, 100 Shadows inside the sword is unleashed, and will attack all nearby living enemies. If you fail, they are hostile to everyone.
There are also incriptions for the words Ensnare and Enthral,, but i have not decided on what these words do (must be something relatively simple)
Does anyone have better ideas for the effects? Preferably something that is related to the Undead shadow monsters.
I like the idea and effort. But it seems massively complicated for a weapon one of your players will use every turn... and hugely over powered with some of the effects.
Can they RELEASE every turn? Once per day? Only at night? I’d think about how you’ll limit that.
Honestly, I’d have one effect for each word, that can be changed once per day. If they spell RELEASE on the hilt, it gets an enchantment bonus, and perhaps deals necrotic damage on hit.
As they figure out more words, you can add more effects to ‘set’ the hilt of the sword to. Once they learn ENTHRAL perhaps they get a bonus to Charisma and associated skills while the sword is being held.
But once they’ve chosen the word, they can’t change it again until a long rest. That way it makes it tactical - they’ll need to decide what they want the sword to do until they long rest again.
If you want to include a DC check, then I’d have them make it once - each time they change the word on the hilt. A failure could spawn a number of undead shadow monsters.
I agree with it being overpowered, it was more brainstrom ideas than anything else :)
The idea was that the user would have to make the will saves each turn, and that the first few rings would be easy to do, but the latter ones alot harder. So that if he wanted a +2 necrotic weapon he would need to make DC 8 wisdom throw each turn.
They usually like complicated weapons, but this is perhaps a bit over the mark.
Perhaps the runes should be on the scabbard rather than on the sword itself. How can you properly use the sword of if in holding the grip, you are always at risk of releasing more hostile shadows?
Make the sword a regular +1 longsword as the baseline weapon.
Spell "RELEASE" and the sword becomes +2 with the 1d4 necrotic damage (1d6 if held two handed to compliment the versatile damage). Lasts for 1 minute, recharges on a short rest.
On a hard wisdom check (I'll leave you to decide on the specifics), once per long rest (or day) the sword can summon 10 shadow creatures. Borrow from 4th editions "minion" mechanics to dictate how these function. 1 direct hit (regardless of damage) can kill it, and maybe cap its damage to be half the weapon users level.
I dident know about the minion mechanic, but i will look into that one.
I revised the sword to have a scaling effect with the saving throw dificulty, a failed save would sap the users str by the number of rings in use, and cancel the effect.
R: Wisdom DC 5: The sword deals 1d4 necrotic damage E: Wisdom DC 8: The sword becomes a +1 weapon, L: Wisdom DC 11: The sword deals 1d6 necrotic damage, but must now be wielded with 2 hands: E: Wisdom DC 14: The sword becomes a +2 weapon. A: Wisdom DC 17: The sword deals 1d8 necrotic damage S: Wisdom DC 20: The sword becomes a +3 weapon E: Wisdom DC 23: The sword deals 1d10 necrotic damage
But it does seem to be too complicated, and i should probably change it to an effect that only happens when the whole word is spelled like you suggest.
If you want to make it a little more complicated, keep the "streamlined" ideas, but maybe have the rings able to spell different words for different effects? Part of the fun then can be figuring out what words can be spelled and what good (or bad?) things can happen as a result.
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Hello everyone, sorry about the large incoming text, but i have run into a roadblock and decided to seek a bit of help.
In my game i have been using a modified version of Futhark (runes) as the language of the ``ancient people'' and my players used a bit of logic and a word they knew to discern every letter in the alphabet. And since they like complicated magic weapons, i decided to make this magic sword: The Sword of Containmen
Backstory
The backstory is that it was created to contain a horde of Undead shadows, and then use them as a weapon, but over time the number of shadows inside became enormus, and the sword became very dificult to use. So it was sealed away.
Effect
Now here is the problem, i dont exactly know what it does... So far i have decided on the following.
The sword has seven rings, each contain 24 runes in a specific order (the alphabet)
If you turn the rings to spell the word RELEASE, you release a bit, or alot of the shadows inside, granting you some of their power, but each turn you must make a wisdom save, or 5 hostile shadows will be released for each ring.
R: Wisdom DC 5: The sword deals + 1d4 necrotic damage
E: Wisdom DC 8: The sword becomes a +2
L: Wisdom DC 11: Must now be wielded with 2 hands: You gain acces to the misty step spell as a bonus action. (worried about the balance of this one)
E: Wisdom DC 14: You gain advantage on your attacks
A: Wisdom DC 17: You release up to 10 shadows under your controll.
S: Wisdom DC 20: (no ideas)
E: Wisdom DC 23: If you make the save, 100 Shadows inside the sword is unleashed, and will attack all nearby living enemies. If you fail, they are hostile to everyone.
There are also incriptions for the words Ensnare and Enthral,, but i have not decided on what these words do (must be something relatively simple)
Does anyone have better ideas for the effects? Preferably something that is related to the Undead shadow monsters.
I like the idea and effort. But it seems massively complicated for a weapon one of your players will use every turn... and hugely over powered with some of the effects.
Can they RELEASE every turn? Once per day? Only at night? I’d think about how you’ll limit that.
Honestly, I’d have one effect for each word, that can be changed once per day. If they spell RELEASE on the hilt, it gets an enchantment bonus, and perhaps deals necrotic damage on hit.
As they figure out more words, you can add more effects to ‘set’ the hilt of the sword to. Once they learn ENTHRAL perhaps they get a bonus to Charisma and associated skills while the sword is being held.
But once they’ve chosen the word, they can’t change it again until a long rest. That way it makes it tactical - they’ll need to decide what they want the sword to do until they long rest again.
If you want to include a DC check, then I’d have them make it once - each time they change the word on the hilt. A failure could spawn a number of undead shadow monsters.
I agree with it being overpowered, it was more brainstrom ideas than anything else :)
The idea was that the user would have to make the will saves each turn, and that the first few rings would be easy to do, but the latter ones alot harder. So that if he wanted a +2 necrotic weapon he would need to make DC 8 wisdom throw each turn.
They usually like complicated weapons, but this is perhaps a bit over the mark.
Perhaps the runes should be on the scabbard rather than on the sword itself. How can you properly use the sword of if in holding the grip, you are always at risk of releasing more hostile shadows?
I would streamline it as such:
Make the sword a regular +1 longsword as the baseline weapon.
Spell "RELEASE" and the sword becomes +2 with the 1d4 necrotic damage (1d6 if held two handed to compliment the versatile damage). Lasts for 1 minute, recharges on a short rest.
On a hard wisdom check (I'll leave you to decide on the specifics), once per long rest (or day) the sword can summon 10 shadow creatures. Borrow from 4th editions "minion" mechanics to dictate how these function. 1 direct hit (regardless of damage) can kill it, and maybe cap its damage to be half the weapon users level.
Thanks for the reply, this is a very good idea.
I dident know about the minion mechanic, but i will look into that one.
I revised the sword to have a scaling effect with the saving throw dificulty, a failed save would sap the users str by the number of rings in use, and cancel the effect.
R: Wisdom DC 5: The sword deals 1d4 necrotic damage
E: Wisdom DC 8: The sword becomes a +1 weapon,
L: Wisdom DC 11: The sword deals 1d6 necrotic damage, but must now be wielded with 2 hands:
E: Wisdom DC 14: The sword becomes a +2 weapon.
A: Wisdom DC 17: The sword deals 1d8 necrotic damage
S: Wisdom DC 20: The sword becomes a +3 weapon
E: Wisdom DC 23: The sword deals 1d10 necrotic damage
But it does seem to be too complicated, and i should probably change it to an effect that only happens when the whole word is spelled like you suggest.
If you want to make it a little more complicated, keep the "streamlined" ideas, but maybe have the rings able to spell different words for different effects? Part of the fun then can be figuring out what words can be spelled and what good (or bad?) things can happen as a result.