I've been reading the Dresden Files recently and got an inspiration for a nice little magic item. I would love any feedback anyone has to offer. The description of spell is as follows...
This Kinetic Ring has been enchanted so that it stores very small amounts of kinetic energy generated by the wearers day to day movements. All of this stored force can be released as a wave of concussive force in a time of need.
When you hit a creature with an unarmed attack, you may use your reaction to release all of the stored force within the ring, causing a concussive force to explode from the ring into the hit creature.
Each day at dawn the ring gains one charge from the kinetic energy accumulated from the day-to day movements of the creature wearing the ring over the previous 24 hours. If the wearer spends 12 or more hours in the day in an incapacitated form, the ring does not gain a charge. The ring can store up to a maximum of 20 charges.
When a creature removes the ring, all stored kinetic energy is safely released, resetting the ring to zero charges.
When discharged each charge of stored energy is equal to 1d4 of force damage.
Do you think I need to explicitly state that activation of the ring uses ALL of the charges, and that the player can't choose how many charges to use?
If anyone one want to point out that a similar ring already exists in the form of the Ring of the Ram, I am aware of that and it's not exactly what I had in mind.
Wow…. That’s redonculous. Remember that 20d4 will result in a minimum of 20 damage, a max of 80, and an average result of a whopping 50 damage. To put it into perspective, that’s equivalent to between 5-20 commoners worth of HP, with an average roll high enough to theoretically kill 12 & ½ Commoners with one punch. That’s a lot of “potential kinetic energy.” (🤣😂🤣 Pun totally intended.)
I would suggest having the damage scale with Rarity to reflect the evolution of the item in the novels. In book 13 or 14 we learn that Harry has added three more rings, one on each finger of that hand, and each of the rings is 3 intertwined together. In D&D though, the Attunement requirements would be an issue for PCs. However, if it only stored, say, 7 charges, and the Uncommon version used d4s, the Rare used d8s, and the Very Rare version used d12s, that would balance things out a bit. The Uncommon would do 7-28 damage with an average of 17.5; the Rare 7-56 averaging 31.5; and the V Rare 7-84 with an average of 43.5 damage.
In addition, to bring the mechanics of your design more in line with the source material (and to make it a bit more user friendly) I also suggest a slight revision:
The Kinetic Ring
Ring, varies (requires attunement)
This Kinetic Ring has been enchanted so that it stores very small amounts of kinetic energy generated by the wearers day to day movements. All of this stored force can be released as a wave of concussive force in a time of need.
This magic item can hold a maximum of 7 charges at any one time. At the start of each long rest, add a charge to this ring (up to its maximum) as long as the following conditions have been met since the end of your last long rest:
You have worn and been attuned to this ring the entire time.
If you either remove this ring or end your Attunement to it, this item looses all of its current charges.
Whenever you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike or an attack with one of your Natural Weapons, you can use your reaction to spend all of this magic item’s currently stored charges, and deal additional force damage to the target. When you do so, roll a number of dice equal to the number of expended charges. The size of these dice is determined by the ring’s rarity:
RARITY
BONUS
Uncommon
d4
Rare
d8
Very Rare
d12
I suggested having the charges get added at the start of each long rest because that’s the end of the PC’s Adventuring Day when they would have been doing all of that movement from which the ring skims. I also suggested dropping the prohibitive duration for the incapacitated condition to a span that might actually be relevant in game, and added in another caveat regarding shot rests as well since it seemed appropriate too. That language is still a li’l rough, so if you decide to use my suggestions you will have to keep an eye out during playtesting to see if any of the verbiage needs adjustment.
Hey All,
I've been reading the Dresden Files recently and got an inspiration for a nice little magic item. I would love any feedback anyone has to offer. The description of spell is as follows...
---------------------------------------------------------
This Kinetic Ring has been enchanted so that it stores very small amounts of kinetic energy generated by the wearers day to day movements. All of this stored force can be released as a wave of concussive force in a time of need.
When you hit a creature with an unarmed attack, you may use your reaction to release all of the stored force within the ring, causing a concussive force to explode from the ring into the hit creature.
Each day at dawn the ring gains one charge from the kinetic energy accumulated from the day-to day movements of the creature wearing the ring over the previous 24 hours. If the wearer spends 12 or more hours in the day in an incapacitated form, the ring does not gain a charge. The ring can store up to a maximum of 20 charges.
When a creature removes the ring, all stored kinetic energy is safely released, resetting the ring to zero charges.
When discharged each charge of stored energy is equal to 1d4 of force damage.
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Do you think 20 Charges is too many/few?
Do you think I need to explicitly state that activation of the ring uses ALL of the charges, and that the player can't choose how many charges to use?
If anyone one want to point out that a similar ring already exists in the form of the Ring of the Ram, I am aware of that and it's not exactly what I had in mind.
Wow…. That’s redonculous. Remember that 20d4 will result in a minimum of 20 damage, a max of 80, and an average result of a whopping 50 damage. To put it into perspective, that’s equivalent to between 5-20 commoners worth of HP, with an average roll high enough to theoretically kill 12 & ½ Commoners with one punch. That’s a lot of “potential kinetic energy.” (🤣😂🤣 Pun totally intended.)
I would suggest having the damage scale with Rarity to reflect the evolution of the item in the novels. In book 13 or 14 we learn that Harry has added three more rings, one on each finger of that hand, and each of the rings is 3 intertwined together. In D&D though, the Attunement requirements would be an issue for PCs. However, if it only stored, say, 7 charges, and the Uncommon version used d4s, the Rare used d8s, and the Very Rare version used d12s, that would balance things out a bit. The Uncommon would do 7-28 damage with an average of 17.5; the Rare 7-56 averaging 31.5; and the V Rare 7-84 with an average of 43.5 damage.
In addition, to bring the mechanics of your design more in line with the source material (and to make it a bit more user friendly) I also suggest a slight revision:
I suggested having the charges get added at the start of each long rest because that’s the end of the PC’s Adventuring Day when they would have been doing all of that movement from which the ring skims. I also suggested dropping the prohibitive duration for the incapacitated condition to a span that might actually be relevant in game, and added in another caveat regarding shot rests as well since it seemed appropriate too. That language is still a li’l rough, so if you decide to use my suggestions you will have to keep an eye out during playtesting to see if any of the verbiage needs adjustment.
I hope that helps.
Edit: typo
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
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So what did you end up deciding?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting