I¨m running a game where a PC will soon find an ancient plate armor belonging to one of his ancestors! The party is level 8.
The stats are as following:
Full Plate mail +1 Resistance of Ancients: This armor lets you choose an elemental damage type to which you gain resistance. Once per day you can change this resistance to another element. This will require 1 hour spend in meditation.
I would add Requires Attunement, and even then it would be classed as Very Rare or possibly Legendary. You might also make it sentient, which wouldn't make it less rare but, depending on the personality of the armor, might make it less useful as it would insist on certain behaviors by its wearer (presumably upholding the family's honor or similar).
I don’t think it’s OP, especially since they have to choose the resistance once a day, and it requires an hour to do it. They really have to make a choice, versus, letting the resistance change once per day as a reaction, which is far more op.
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Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
It is not OP but I would also have the item require attunement due to the additional abilities.
As characters gain levels their general power level increases. This armor represents a typical increase over starting AC of 2 (assuming the character has Scale armor already which only costs 75gp) which is reasonable enough by level 8.
Increasing AC by itself doesn't break anything as long the encounters include some effects that don't target AC (saving throws, ability checks)
Thanks for the feedback, i will let them find it in the ancient family crypt! :) Nice idea about making it sentient! I really value alot the feedback from this nice community :)
Do you think it would be too OP to add a second effect? Eg. the ability to cast a certain spell?
I'm thinking about the following:
Once per day you can cast "Dispel Magic" or "Revivify" - this ability resets at dawn?
Honestly? It could be OP depending on the spell. What do you want the armor to be? Who created it/wore it and why? That should inform the choice but be very sure NOT to pick a spell like revivify that has a material component that is used up, cause they are categorically OP if you take always that component
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Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
I want the armor to have been worn by a righteous "Uther Lightbringer like" paladin guy :-) OK revivify is off the list..
But i'm thinking about a Spell of 3rd-ish level that will have some kind of impact on a battle. Not a direct damage spell but a buff / debuff..
I think its hard balancing the OP-ness of items considering rarity. Because an "Armor of resistance", which this basically is (but upgraded) is considered very rare.. So this would almost be a legendary item...
I don’t pay much attention to keeping rarity locked behind tiers of play, everyone likes to find super rare items. I would look in the paladin spell list, crusader’s mantle is pretty good and fits the vibe, or you could even do Bane or Bless at 3rd level?
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Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
I just had the idea, you could blend your resistance idea WITH the spell and have the armor have like 3-5 charges that could be used to cast the spell absorb elements? Then it makes it a little less rare but also boosts the damage output?
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Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
Do you think it would be too OP to add a second effect? Eg. the ability to cast a certain spell?
It's an item at over the power level of the PCs, so it will make them somewhat more effective than is 'expected' for their level, but it's not like you can't just adjust encounters to match, and remember that a relatively small portion of PC power in D&D comes from items to start with. What you really need to be careful of is other players feeling that you're showing favortism towards a particular player. What that mostly means in this case is it's fine to give a PC something special, but next time you hand out something exceptional, make sure it goes to someone else.
Hello everyone!
I¨m running a game where a PC will soon find an ancient plate armor belonging to one of his ancestors!
The party is level 8.
The stats are as following:
Full Plate mail +1
Resistance of Ancients: This armor lets you choose an elemental damage type to which you gain resistance. Once per day you can change this resistance to another element. This will require 1 hour spend in meditation.
Do you guys think this is too OP for a level 8?
Not terribly, so long as you aren't only attacking with one element at the time.
I would add Requires Attunement, and even then it would be classed as Very Rare or possibly Legendary. You might also make it sentient, which wouldn't make it less rare but, depending on the personality of the armor, might make it less useful as it would insist on certain behaviors by its wearer (presumably upholding the family's honor or similar).
Yes, Panta, in my game, this armor would require attunement.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I don’t think it’s OP, especially since they have to choose the resistance once a day, and it requires an hour to do it. They really have to make a choice, versus, letting the resistance change once per day as a reaction, which is far more op.
Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress
Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
It is not OP but I would also have the item require attunement due to the additional abilities.
As characters gain levels their general power level increases. This armor represents a typical increase over starting AC of 2 (assuming the character has Scale armor already which only costs 75gp) which is reasonable enough by level 8.
Increasing AC by itself doesn't break anything as long the encounters include some effects that don't target AC (saving throws, ability checks)
Thanks for the feedback, i will let them find it in the ancient family crypt! :) Nice idea about making it sentient!
I really value alot the feedback from this nice community :)
Do you think it would be too OP to add a second effect? Eg. the ability to cast a certain spell?
I'm thinking about the following:
Once per day you can cast "Dispel Magic" or "Revivify" - this ability resets at dawn?
What do you guys think?
Honestly? It could be OP depending on the spell. What do you want the armor to be? Who created it/wore it and why? That should inform the choice but be very sure NOT to pick a spell like revivify that has a material component that is used up, cause they are categorically OP if you take always that component
Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress
Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
I want the armor to have been worn by a righteous "Uther Lightbringer like" paladin guy :-)
OK revivify is off the list..
But i'm thinking about a Spell of 3rd-ish level that will have some kind of impact on a battle. Not a direct damage spell but a buff / debuff..
I think its hard balancing the OP-ness of items considering rarity. Because an "Armor of resistance", which this basically is (but upgraded) is considered very rare.. So this would almost be a legendary item...
I don’t pay much attention to keeping rarity locked behind tiers of play, everyone likes to find super rare items. I would look in the paladin spell list, crusader’s mantle is pretty good and fits the vibe, or you could even do Bane or Bless at 3rd level?
Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress
Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
I just had the idea, you could blend your resistance idea WITH the spell and have the armor have like 3-5 charges that could be used to cast the spell absorb elements? Then it makes it a little less rare but also boosts the damage output?
Corinne Hemlock: Dhampir courtesan and dusk huntress
Kraig Bronzeaxe: Dwarven archaeologist and guerilla archer
It's an item at over the power level of the PCs, so it will make them somewhat more effective than is 'expected' for their level, but it's not like you can't just adjust encounters to match, and remember that a relatively small portion of PC power in D&D comes from items to start with. What you really need to be careful of is other players feeling that you're showing favortism towards a particular player. What that mostly means in this case is it's fine to give a PC something special, but next time you hand out something exceptional, make sure it goes to someone else.
Crusaders mantle sounds like the perfect match! :) Maybe i will make it useable only once per 3rd day or so :)
Panta, indeed! The other players are also going to receive items of equal power in some sessions :)
THX for the feedback everyone! :-D