I want a character in a campaign I'm thinking about to carry a taser. Here's my working idea:
Wondrous Item, Rare
The taser is a melee finesse weapon. Activate the Taser using 1 charge, which is expended on a hit or miss. Attempt to hit, adding your DEX modifier and proficiency. On a hit, the taser deals 1d8 lightning damage and the target must make a DC 14 CON saving throw. On a failed save the target is stunned until the end of your next round.
3 charges. Regains 1d3 charges on a long rest.
I know the language is clunky, I'll work on it. But is this viable? I originally had the DC at 16, but was told that's too high. I just hate it when opponents' saving throws seem guaranteed to succeed. Thanks for any help.
The Storm Boomerang is effectively a single-use item that can stun with a DC10 Constitution saving throw.
The Robe of Scintillating Colors has a 1d3 recharge with a DC 15 Wisdom Saving Throw, but is an AOE effect.
Given this, I'd say your item would be a high-end Rare, or a low-end Very Rare. However, most items of this nature require an action to activate. If this item can be used multiple times during an Attack action, then it should probably be Very Rare. If it can only be triggered once per Attack action, it's probably fine being Rare.
The Stunned condition is a powerful one, so it needs to be carefully balanced. One on its own might not be a problem, but if it's cheap enough for everyone in the party to start dual-wielding them, then they'll just Stun-Lock every enemy from the start. The most practical path for creating a "Taser" would be to model it off of Shocking Grasp, which has already been balanced for spamming.
Edit: The lowest level Stun spell is the 5th level Contagion. However, spells like Hold Person produce paralysis, which is a more severe effect.
Edit2: The Wand of Paralysis (Rare) may be the best existing analog for a stun gun in the game. DC 15 Con, 60ft range, 7 charges. (Requires attunement by a spellcaster)
Ok, that's all very helpful, thank you. I was planning to keep supply of them extremely limited. I've tinkered with it, how does this sound?
Weapon, Very Rare
The taser is a melee finesse weapon with 3 charges. Can be activated once per round as part of the attack action, using one charge. The charge is expended on a hit or miss. On a hit, the taser deals 1d8 lightning damage and the target must make a DC 16 CON saving throw. On a failed save the target is stunned until the end of your next round. On a successful stun, the electricity has been discharged and all charges are expended. Regains 1d3 charges on a long rest.
If dual-wielded with another taser, the proximity causes them to short circuit each other.
Your revised version just seems to up the saving throw difficulty?
It's overly powerful, in that Stunning a powerful creature is extremely strong: very few character classes get the ability to do this easily. Part of the problem is that this is not just an item that helps a single character, it buffs the entire party because a stunned creature isn't affecting anyone. The saving throw is too high.
A mid level fighter with this item will probably action surge, making a Shove attack followed by up to 3 attacks with this item, making the chances of stunning the most important enemy creature very likely in the first turn of any combat that follows a Short Rest.
I'd change it to being a melee weapon that casts shocking grasp as was suggested earlier in the thread. Alternatively, I'd give it 5 charges and make it impossible to regain charges so that once it's gone, it's gone. That would help limit its power somewhat.
- Success expends all remaining charges (i.e. once per day)
- No dual-wielding
- Increased DC
As written, it's strictly weaker than the other items. The only thing that really justifies making it Very Rare is its lack of Attunement. I suggest letting it retain the full 1d3 uses per day, as well as the ability to be dual-wielded, but require attunement. It's a nice item, but not worth multiple attunement slots, and definitely not worth an attunement slot on more specialized characters.
The Stunned condition is a powerful one, so it needs to be carefully balanced. One on its own might not be a problem, but if it's cheap enough for everyone in the party to start dual-wielding them, then they'll just Stun-Lock every enemy from the start. The most practical path for creating a "Taser" would be to model it off of Shocking Grasp, which has already been balanced for spamming.
I'd change it to being a melee weapon that casts shocking grasp as was suggested earlier in the thread. Alternatively, I'd give it 5 charges and make it impossible to regain charges so that once it's gone, it's gone. That would help limit its power somewhat.
I echo these suggestions. But I wouldn’t even make it a “weapon,” I would make it as a “Wand of Shocking Grasp” instead. Spend 1 charge as a full action to cast the cantrip doing 2d8 lightning damage. Pass a DC 13 Arcana check to spend up to 2 charges which would increase the damage to cast shocking grasp for 3d8 lightning damage and give them disadvantage on their next attack too (the extra rider from frostbite). Pass a DC 15 Arcana check to spend up to 3 charges at once which and cast shocking grasp for 4d8, impose disadvantage on their next attack, and reduces the creature’s speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn (the extra rider from ray of frost). A maximum of 3 could be expended at a time. I’d give it, I dunno, maybe half a dozen charges or so, with a recharge condition of “Other.”
It would only recharge if you could replace the battery somehow, or if someone were to actively charge it with something that does lightning damage, pro’ly 1 charge for a cantrip, or other ability less powerful than a 1st-level spell, and if a 1st-level or higher spell (or equivalent other ability) is used to recharge it, then a number of charges equal to the spell level +1. If it gets “overcharged,” roll a d20. On a 1, the wand explodes, all creatures within 10 feet of the device when it explodes must succeed at a DC 13 DEX save or take a number of d6 lightning damage equal to its max charges plus’s one to all creatures within 10 feet. After which, the wand is destroyed.
That could still come in as a Rare item, is good, feels like what a taser might really do in D&D terms, but also isn’t too powerful for the rarity. (That’s just a rough idea, it likely needs to be tweaked down somehow.)
I want a character in a campaign I'm thinking about to carry a taser. Here's my working idea:
Wondrous Item, Rare
The taser is a melee finesse weapon. Activate the Taser using 1 charge, which is expended on a hit or miss. Attempt to hit, adding your DEX modifier and proficiency. On a hit, the taser deals 1d8 lightning damage and the target must make a DC 14 CON saving throw. On a failed save the target is stunned until the end of your next round.
3 charges. Regains 1d3 charges on a long rest.
I know the language is clunky, I'll work on it. But is this viable? I originally had the DC at 16, but was told that's too high. I just hate it when opponents' saving throws seem guaranteed to succeed. Thanks for any help.
The existing items that include stunning are the following:
Storm Boomerang(Uncommon)
Staff of Thunder and Lightning(Very Rare)
Robe of Scintillating Colors(Very Rare)
The Storm Boomerang is effectively a single-use item that can stun with a DC10 Constitution saving throw.
The Robe of Scintillating Colors has a 1d3 recharge with a DC 15 Wisdom Saving Throw, but is an AOE effect.
Given this, I'd say your item would be a high-end Rare, or a low-end Very Rare. However, most items of this nature require an action to activate. If this item can be used multiple times during an Attack action, then it should probably be Very Rare. If it can only be triggered once per Attack action, it's probably fine being Rare.
The Stunned condition is a powerful one, so it needs to be carefully balanced. One on its own might not be a problem, but if it's cheap enough for everyone in the party to start dual-wielding them, then they'll just Stun-Lock every enemy from the start. The most practical path for creating a "Taser" would be to model it off of Shocking Grasp, which has already been balanced for spamming.
Edit: The lowest level Stun spell is the 5th level Contagion. However, spells like Hold Person produce paralysis, which is a more severe effect.
Edit2: The Wand of Paralysis (Rare) may be the best existing analog for a stun gun in the game. DC 15 Con, 60ft range, 7 charges. (Requires attunement by a spellcaster)
Ok, that's all very helpful, thank you. I was planning to keep supply of them extremely limited. I've tinkered with it, how does this sound?
Weapon, Very Rare
The taser is a melee finesse weapon with 3 charges. Can be activated once per round as part of the attack action, using one charge. The charge is expended on a hit or miss. On a hit, the taser deals 1d8 lightning damage and the target must make a DC 16 CON saving throw. On a failed save the target is stunned until the end of your next round. On a successful stun, the electricity has been discharged and all charges are expended. Regains 1d3 charges on a long rest.
If dual-wielded with another taser, the proximity causes them to short circuit each other.
Your revised version just seems to up the saving throw difficulty?
It's overly powerful, in that Stunning a powerful creature is extremely strong: very few character classes get the ability to do this easily. Part of the problem is that this is not just an item that helps a single character, it buffs the entire party because a stunned creature isn't affecting anyone. The saving throw is too high.
A mid level fighter with this item will probably action surge, making a Shove attack followed by up to 3 attacks with this item, making the chances of stunning the most important enemy creature very likely in the first turn of any combat that follows a Short Rest.
I'd change it to being a melee weapon that casts shocking grasp as was suggested earlier in the thread. Alternatively, I'd give it 5 charges and make it impossible to regain charges so that once it's gone, it's gone. That would help limit its power somewhat.
The changes made were:
- Once per action
- Success expends all remaining charges (i.e. once per day)
- No dual-wielding
- Increased DC
As written, it's strictly weaker than the other items. The only thing that really justifies making it Very Rare is its lack of Attunement. I suggest letting it retain the full 1d3 uses per day, as well as the ability to be dual-wielded, but require attunement. It's a nice item, but not worth multiple attunement slots, and definitely not worth an attunement slot on more specialized characters.
I echo these suggestions. But I wouldn’t even make it a “weapon,” I would make it as a “Wand of Shocking Grasp” instead. Spend 1 charge as a full action to cast the cantrip doing 2d8 lightning damage. Pass a DC 13 Arcana check to spend up to 2 charges which would increase the damage to cast shocking grasp for 3d8 lightning damage and give them disadvantage on their next attack too (the extra rider from frostbite). Pass a DC 15 Arcana check to spend up to 3 charges at once which and cast shocking grasp for 4d8, impose disadvantage on their next attack, and reduces the creature’s speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn (the extra rider from ray of frost). A maximum of 3 could be expended at a time. I’d give it, I dunno, maybe half a dozen charges or so, with a recharge condition of “Other.”
It would only recharge if you could replace the battery somehow, or if someone were to actively charge it with something that does lightning damage, pro’ly 1 charge for a cantrip, or other ability less powerful than a 1st-level spell, and if a 1st-level or higher spell (or equivalent other ability) is used to recharge it, then a number of charges equal to the spell level +1. If it gets “overcharged,” roll a d20. On a 1, the wand explodes, all creatures within 10 feet of the device when it explodes must succeed at a DC 13 DEX save or take a number of d6 lightning damage equal to its max charges plus’s one to all creatures within 10 feet. After which, the wand is destroyed.
That could still come in as a Rare item, is good, feels like what a taser might really do in D&D terms, but also isn’t too powerful for the rarity. (That’s just a rough idea, it likely needs to be tweaked down somehow.)
That’s my “off the top of my head” thought.
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Thanks for the advice everyone! It was a huge help.