Like CRs2

Quote from EffingRooster >>

As a GM, when would you consider handing out a Holy Avenger and under what circumstances? Of course each campaign is unique and dependencies on magic items shift, but I’m after personal views.

Would you give it out earlier and have it as an item that give the Paladin legitimacy, letting them bond to this renowned weapon and uphold its legacy? Or do you hand this out to a high level player who has fought hard and been true to their oath even when it’s meant following the harder path, finally having this legendary sword deservedly bestowed upon them?

Does their god or order of knights award this to them? Or do they unearth it from a tomb that has been lost for centuries?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

 What a fantastic question!

It depends on the table and the game, I think. Personally, it would be awesome to give someone a sword that can potentially "become" a holy avenger if the paladin using it does lots of cool stuff for their deity. Start out at +1 and not give the aura, then after a couple of levels or a particularly amazing fight it could "grow" to +2 and gets the aura, then at some other point it goes up to +3. The rest (17 levels in paladin) is built in.

I have a pretty high-level campaign going right now and one of my players picked up a holy avenger as a gift for taking a big quest. It started as a +3 weapon, but didn't have the aura until after they got into the fight with the big bad. PC Paladin gave a particularly inspiring speech, so I said, "Why the heck NOT?!" and boosted it. It was epically appropriate and probably made things too easy. But damn, it was cool. :)

My players can buy it from a shop pretty early on, but that isn't a big balance issue because it is somewhat underwhelming compared to almost every other weapon in the campaign. It also costs just as much as an immoveable rod, and knowing my players, they will probably buy that first. I feel like having the holy avenger in a shop really sets the tone for what they will obtain in the future

This version of the Holy Avenger is much weaker then previous editions. I do not like that they have removed the Dispel Magic ability  in the hands of a Paladin from this version. Also the extra radiant damage.should be a flat +10 against.all chaotic evil creatures not just +2d10 vs undead and fiends.

Has anyone created a Holy Avenger Battleaxe for say a Dwarf Paladin? I understand in terms of swords but an Axe version which would fit Dwarf Paladins would be great!

Fetch quest

In my campaign, I just found it as a part of a randomized treasure table roll (!!).  Quite the opposite of the whole deliberately-placed approach.  Of course, it was in the treasure vault of a mysteriously abandoned keep in a mysteriously abandoned city, so I would say it was not an inappropriate place to find a Holy Avenger, even if it was randomly rolled. 

I play a NG character and I'll be using this bit of random treasure as inspiration to become a paladin.  It was even randomly rolled as a rapier, which fits perfect with my character, who is a 8th level water genasi sea bard.  Given the fact that there is an Oath of the Open Sea option for paladins, the switch to be become one seems obvious. I'm just happy to have a legitimately believable way to adapt the sword to character!

When I add Holy Avenger as an item in my character profile, it is not requiring me to Attune. What gives? Is this a glitch or is there something I'm missing. 

would you say as a level 8 paladin i could obtain this sword with 110 000 gp and a wish (don't ask how i obtained both of them)

I had this same idea

Is it just me or is this really underpowered?

 

As a martial weapon, it's not the most powerful but it does decent damage vs undead/fiends. The secondary ability is what makes it legendary, however.

Good luck getting a spell to land on the pally and his allies.

I would be more willing to hand it out earlier if they made lesser versions that could grow... like, even without the +3 this is still incredibly good.

Just gave my Paladin a reskinned Holy Avenger at level 7, scaled back its abilities until he reaches higher levels. He’s fulfilling mission for his god and so was gifted it by one of his angels

Personally, would not like to give someone a scaled-down version early to a player, because it mentally checks off the slot of weapons to strive for throughout a long campaign (and, without copious abuse of milestones, the journey to level 15+ should be a fairly arduous one). Better to let them look forward to all sorts of wondrous things along the way, culminating with the holy level 12-15 quest to find the Holy Avenger.

 Allright

The sword is named a Holy Avenger. It requires attunement by a paladin. It has the highest possible bonus in the game, deals a lot of radiant damage to fiends and undead and has a protection aura against spells that extends when the paladin is high level.

If you want to determine how or when to give this blade to make it meaningful you have to analyse each part.

Paladins are holy warriors, they’re charismatic leaders, the tip of the spear in the fight against evils with support skills to help their comrade face evil.

Holy, in the name of the sword, stands for the spiritual leader part. Avenger stands for the fighter against evil part.

You give the sword to a paladin who has to fight evil. If your player never encounters undead or fiends, he won’t really need it. Also, the paladin has to face magic and have companions. If he fights alone against creatures without magical powers, the sword will be less useful.

Finally, since the sword is very powerful, the threat must be at least a worldwide menace. Remember, level 1-5 covers regional heroics, 6-10 country wide and 11-15 are worldwide. Awarding a +3 bonus weapon before lv 11 can be done, but it has consequences on balance and scale of the fights.

So, lets sum up for starters:

• Fiends and undead
• Companions and harmful magic
• Worldwide threat (or threat that grows to at least worldwide scale)

All these say "War" to me. A Holy Avenger could be the sword of a battalion leader in a conflict against evil. If the players fight side by side in a war with an npc who holds such a sword, the aura helps them survive the attacks of warmages, and the power of the sword helps the players defeat undead and fiends that are higher challenge than them. So for me its definitely the sword of the cool npc that you follow in batlle against difficult odds.

Now, if you want to go deeper.

This object is very powerful. It has high offensive, defensive, support and situational powers. It’s probably the last sword a paladin will have. The paladin won’t probably find any better weapon, and even if he did, it will probably mean renouncing a very powerful aura for his team. I mostly feel that such an item should come at a price, especially if given before the paladin is lv11.

Holy is a high spiritual standard. It means a deep connection to the divine. Since the sword is exclusively meant for paladin and connected to the class, we can think about what makes a paladin stand out from the other class. The essence of the holiness of the paladin stands in its oath.

Avenger means that the sword is meant to right wrong. It means there was a wrong, an evil deed that was done and that must be corrected. The path of the avenger is also a strenuous one that requires dedication and sacrifice.

Maybe such a paladin sword springs into the material plane with a purpose. When an injustice or a slight to a paladin’s oath is committed by evil forces, the sword appears and finds a servant of that oath to fix things. Hence the sword comes with a quest. If the sword is linked to a specific paladin’s oath, then maybe the swords appearance could vary.

For exemple, let’s say an evil necromancer corrupts sacred ruins in an ancient forest and there is nobody to stop it. The nearest worthy paladin following the Oath of the Ancient is chosen, finds an holy avenger linked to that oath and the sword guides him to defeat this evil. Once the job is done, the sword disappears, or gives the paladin another quest. Since the sword is linked to the Oath of the ancient, its blade is blue steel like the waters of a lake and decorated with leaves and flowers.

I also feel like the sword should put pressure on the paladin to accomplish its goals, drain his energy and even punish him if he strays from the quest it has given him.

Attunement to the Holy Avenger could come at the price of an enchantment spell put on the paladin, like Geas for exemple, to push him to do the quest. Since it’s a holy sword, that price shouldn’t be hidden, and the paladin should accept the quest and the price knowingly during the attunement ritual. Its not the paladin that uses the sword, it’s the Gods that use the paladin like a tool with the influence of the sword.

If the paladin is under lv11, the prolonged use of the sword could age him rapidly, or inflict exhaustion level, or shift his personality to neglect things and people who are not related to the quest.

Maybe the players encounter such a paladin. The sword Is using him to defeat evil but the strain has proven to strong and the challenge too great. The man is close to become an empty shell. He seeks someone else to pass it on and succeed where he failed but  - warns them about the price.

The holder of a Holy Avenger could also gain disadvantage on its social interaction with fiends and undead, since the sword drives him to destroy them, and/or the creatures instinctively fear/distrust whoever holds such a sword.

Thank you for reading!

Is it possible to exist "Holy Avenger Double-Bladed Scimitar"?

Back in the day I had a level 10 lawful good paladin with a holy avenger that was gifted to me by a DM (rest in peace Chuck). He was a great DM and when you'd get too big for your britches he'd turn you into a chaotic evil troll 😅🤣😂 and the have an 8 armed monster kill you.I loved my holy avenger.