Currently my campaign is taking place in Baldur's Gate and is going to deal heavily with the Dead Three. I'd like to give my party the opportunity to acquire a dagger blessed by these Gods but I'm not sure if the mechanics I have in store are fair.
The plan is for them to encounter an enemy using a +1 magic Dagger that has 3 charges, allowing the wielder to damage themselves instead of attacking the enemy. The target will suffer double the amount of damage as the wielder. I plan to give the dagger 3 charges per day.
Does this sound fair and useful? Should I give them unlimited charges or maybe force them to make an AC check on the attack against themselves? Is there a magic item associated with these characters I could use instead?
This is really interesting actually, personally I wouldn't bother with the charges; I think having to inflict damage upon yourself is already a limiting factor to the weapon. To really exploit it you'd need to have a party member pouring healing into you, or intentionally cripple your own AC to make hitting yourself easier (presumably you still roll for that?), and I think because of the way it works it shouldn't be possible to stack damage onto it too excessively; for example, Hex presumably wouldn't work unless you specifically chose to curse yourself?
I would maybe tweak the wording to clarify the targeting, for example "Instead of attacking an enemy with this weapon, you may attack yourself and choose a visible enemy within 5(?) feet. The enemy will suffer double the damage you inflict upon yourself."
Basically avoid using the word target in a way that might conflict with other effects; i.e- since you're attacking yourself, you are the target, the enemy selection is a bonus.
The only awkward case might be Green Flame Blade, which at later levels deals extra damage to the target, plus doing damage to another target within 5 feet. In theory that would mean dealing triple GFB damage onto the enemy you choose, which could be a bit much. I'm not sure what the best way to word around that would be, maybe something like "Bonus damage inflicted by the attack is also transferred to the chosen enemy, unless the bonus damage applies to multiple targets"? Feels a bit clunky, but the idea is that bonuses that might already be applying to the enemy don't get tripled as that might get a bit too much?
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Currently my campaign is taking place in Baldur's Gate and is going to deal heavily with the Dead Three. I'd like to give my party the opportunity to acquire a dagger blessed by these Gods but I'm not sure if the mechanics I have in store are fair.
The plan is for them to encounter an enemy using a +1 magic Dagger that has 3 charges, allowing the wielder to damage themselves instead of attacking the enemy. The target will suffer double the amount of damage as the wielder. I plan to give the dagger 3 charges per day.
Does this sound fair and useful? Should I give them unlimited charges or maybe force them to make an AC check on the attack against themselves? Is there a magic item associated with these characters I could use instead?
This is really interesting actually, personally I wouldn't bother with the charges; I think having to inflict damage upon yourself is already a limiting factor to the weapon. To really exploit it you'd need to have a party member pouring healing into you, or intentionally cripple your own AC to make hitting yourself easier (presumably you still roll for that?), and I think because of the way it works it shouldn't be possible to stack damage onto it too excessively; for example, Hex presumably wouldn't work unless you specifically chose to curse yourself?
I would maybe tweak the wording to clarify the targeting, for example "Instead of attacking an enemy with this weapon, you may attack yourself and choose a visible enemy within 5(?) feet. The enemy will suffer double the damage you inflict upon yourself."
Basically avoid using the word target in a way that might conflict with other effects; i.e- since you're attacking yourself, you are the target, the enemy selection is a bonus.
The only awkward case might be Green Flame Blade, which at later levels deals extra damage to the target, plus doing damage to another target within 5 feet. In theory that would mean dealing triple GFB damage onto the enemy you choose, which could be a bit much. I'm not sure what the best way to word around that would be, maybe something like "Bonus damage inflicted by the attack is also transferred to the chosen enemy, unless the bonus damage applies to multiple targets"? Feels a bit clunky, but the idea is that bonuses that might already be applying to the enemy don't get tripled as that might get a bit too much?
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.