I’m replying as a player here, my character has made some poor decisions and kinda unleashed something he shouldn’t have. In the process he was killed. However due to unintentional time manipulation he’s been ripped away from death. He worships the raven queen and went to a temple to figure out if he needed to return to death, or if he could take care of the problem first. One nat 1, a luck point, and a nat 20 later, I’ve been given two holy avengers and a condition that I must return when I have handled this. It was a super cool story moment

It would be nice if we could modify this to be other weapon types.  I was looking at the customization options and you can't change properties like reach or damage type.

i hand them out as Holy demolishers with less bonuses

It is a plus three remember that it's almost guarantees a strike with this weapon almost, I would have it be a hidden relic only used in times of emergency like a tide turning battle or a crusade into the nine hells where the deity, pope, or grand priest would bestow this legendary power to a worthy wielder then when they return it would be placed back in its place of revelry till it's need a rises

Make it a relic from a god after a long and arduous quest kinda like a vestige deal, the more powerful the faith the more it gives back letting it level up with a player as long as they remain true going from a +1 spear to +3 spear of idk... Thor so it grants you resistance to thunder damage and you can throw it and it returns or you throw it in the air and when it strikes back down. It does a chain lighting idk 

DM question: would you allow for a paladin who has acquired a holy avenger scimitar to build out a pole handle for it to turn it into a holy avenger glaive? 

Make it a ritual with something like ceremony instead or take it to a dwarven temple of the forge to recraft it but sure. 

As compared to previous editions of the game, it has lost some of it’s potentcy

I would make it so it's bound to the dungeon that it's in so the party's paladin can use it while they're in there but after they get out the weapon teleports back to where it was

I had a fighter who inspired to become a Paladin but kept making questionable decisions. He had a magic sword, (can't remember the attributes) that was by all means a good weapon by anyone's standards. Anyway, years later after the campaign I was talking to the DM and he told me that the sword was the Holy Avenger and if I was ever able to convince the Warrior God to change my Alignment and Class from fighter to Paladin that it would have been made known. In my ignorance it never did materialized.

Reminder.

A Battlesmith artificer can use a Holy Avenger at lvl 14 and still benefit from the original aura. it just wont extend

I'm worried about the number of people in these comments suggesting handing out legendary items at levels well below 17; the Dungeon Master's Guide specifically states that legendary items are not intended to be available before level 17. There are so many great items of lesser rarity to give players at earlier levels, let them progress to the high level stuff. 😝

My GM gave this to my Paladin around level 9, after she was following a quest given to her from Bahamut himself. After finding herself imprisoned by mind flayers with them testing her mind for 2 months seeing if she would give up Bahamut, she never did and she was rewarded with this sword to help her take them out (she had a Flame tongue sword that crumbled in the mind flayer lair, and holding the hilt and praying to Bahamut, the sword magically turned into the Holy Avenger). Having this sword then named her The Claw of Bahamut as only one paladin of Bahamut would have it at a time. :)) it was pretty amazing...even so I just got it tattooed on my arm in remembrance of her and this story <3 

can you kill an ancient hydra titan dragon from a different dimntion with this thing? hopefully.

And there's the advice that the rules can be broken.  An example in a column here discussed handing out such items a low levels, including giving a 'ring of invisibility' to a first level rogue.  Not that Bilbo was first level by that point, but many an epic adventure is centered on the person too low level for his item having to take on the quest because he was the one available.  I would treat it as a general rule that can be broken if a specific situation warrants it.

Quote from The_Clark_Side >>

Counter question! When do you give it to a battle smith artificer or a thief rogue? (Probably 14th and 13th level respectively).

 It can only be attuned to by a Palladin

Quote from Raivorus >>

Quote from plopped123 >>

Is it just me or is this really underpowered?

 Just you.

 Definitely just you

add smite and a belt of giant strength so the undead and fiends get hit so hard they turn to dust. 

So does the “+3 to attack and damage” only apply to undead/fiends as well, or is that ANYtime I swing and hit with it??….

It is generally a +3 weapon no matter what it hits.

I actually like the mechanic it is a +1 in other peoples hands but a +5 in the hands of a Paladin.