I wanted to create a magic item that thematically fit a villain that my players may encounter soon, and what I wound up doing was transpose the abilities of the Robe of Eyes onto a +1 shield, with some tweaking to have it make sense. Since my players may end up eventually defeating and looting this villain, and since the Robe of Eyes seems to be considered quite powerful for a rare item, I wanted to kind of get an idea of how powerful of an item this could wind up being. Here are the properties I gave it:
-You gain a +1 bonus to AC when wielding this shield (in addition to a shield’s normal AC bonus of 2)
-You have darkvision, and can see invisible creatures and objects, as well as see into the Ethereal Plane, out to a range of 120 feet (in a cone) in whatever direction you point the shield (including backward, if the shield is carried on your back and uncovered).
-The “eye” on the shield can’t be closed. Although you can close your own eyes, you are never considered to be doing so while wielding this shield. You can “avert” the eye of the shield by using an item interaction on your turn. As with averting your real eyes, you won’t be able to use the shield to see whatever creature or object you are averting your gaze from until the start of your next turn. Additionally, if you are averting the shield’s gaze from a creature, the shield’s AC bonus does not apply to that creature’s attacks.
-While you are carrying the shield, a Light spell cast on the shield or a Daylight spell cast within 5 feet of the shield causes you to be blinded for 1 minute. At the end of each of your turns, you can make a Constitution saving throw (DC 11 for Light or DC 15 for Daylight), ending the blindness on a success.
I'd say that it's an overall downgrade from the Robe of Eyes, since it grants vision in a cone rather than 360 degrees, though one of its drawbacks is somewhat mitigated by the ability to "avert" the shield away from things you don't want to look at (medusas, umber hulks, etc). So what do you think? What level of party would this be appropriate for? What features might you adjust to make it less powerful if you had to? Personally, I'm not married to the invisible/ethereal sight so I might just bump it down to giving darkvision in a cone.
The item seems well balanced. I'm not sure what the question is. If it is "What rarity should the shield be?" I would suggest rare, just like Robe of Eyes.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
I wanted to create a magic item that thematically fit a villain that my players may encounter soon, and what I wound up doing was transpose the abilities of the Robe of Eyes onto a +1 shield, with some tweaking to have it make sense. Since my players may end up eventually defeating and looting this villain, and since the Robe of Eyes seems to be considered quite powerful for a rare item, I wanted to kind of get an idea of how powerful of an item this could wind up being. Here are the properties I gave it:
I'd say that it's an overall downgrade from the Robe of Eyes, since it grants vision in a cone rather than 360 degrees, though one of its drawbacks is somewhat mitigated by the ability to "avert" the shield away from things you don't want to look at (medusas, umber hulks, etc). So what do you think? What level of party would this be appropriate for? What features might you adjust to make it less powerful if you had to? Personally, I'm not married to the invisible/ethereal sight so I might just bump it down to giving darkvision in a cone.
The item seems well balanced. I'm not sure what the question is. If it is "What rarity should the shield be?" I would suggest rare, just like Robe of Eyes.
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"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Yeah, rare.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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