Death Throes. When the balor dies, it explodes, and each creature within 30 feet of it must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 70 (20d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The explosion ignites flammable objects in that area that aren’t being worn or carried, and it destroys the balor’s weapons.
Fire Aura. At the start of each of the balor’s turns, each creature within 5 feet of it takes 10 (3d6) fire damage, and flammable objects in the aura that aren’t being worn or carried ignite. A creature that touches the balor or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 10 (3d6) fire damage.
Magic Resistance. The balor has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. The balor’s weapon attacks are magical.
Multiattack. The balor makes two attacks: one with its longsword and one with its whip.
Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d8 + 8) slashing damage plus 13 (3d8) lightning damage. If the balor scores a critical hit, it rolls damage dice three times, instead of twice.
Whip. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d6 + 8) slashing damage plus 10 (3d6) fire damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 25 feet toward the balor.
Teleport. The balor magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
Note that the Death Throes trait does not specify what should happen to the Longsword and Whip if the Balor is disarmed. Knowing that the range of the explosion is 30 feet applies to destroying the weapons. So potentially a Battlemaster with the Disarming Strike maneuver could take a Balor's whip or sword. There are a number of ways this could be achieved other than with the Battlemaster Fighter but let's say a character has acquired one of the weapons and it is outside the range of 30 feet explosion I'd say let them keep the magic weapon with the stats intact. (Adjust for strength modifiers, proficiency, etc. of course). If the players are at a level where they can slay a Balor, keeping its weapons as well earned loot of victory should be a reasonable reward your players will genuinely value.
I don’t think that’ll work that well. The Balor is a huge creature and its weapons are scaled as such. A typical party will have little use for such weapons except as trophies or valuables to sell, if they even have the means to transport such heavy and large items in the first place.
i won’t argue if the weapons remain after its death if they’re outside the explosion, because I also agree with it. It just seems like a moot point, as disarming a creature has the item drop to their feet. And typically with the range and aura of a balor, unless you reposition the balor before it can pick it back up, you won’t get to it before the fiend explodes and destroys it anyways.
Size huge would make the weapons unwieldy unless they were reduced in size to match the size of a creature attuning to the Balor's weapons. The weapons are powerful as heck and at the 3rd tier of play would be very effective against a variety of enemies. Disarming rules are as you have stated. You know the rules quite well, but at the games I run rules are a suggestion and creative problem solving is rewarded. Disarming an enemy, grabbing the weapon off the ground, and moving away from the Balor (with or without disengaging) can all be done in one turn. Not only can attacks and disengaging be bonus actions but interacting with an object is considered either an action or a minor 'interact with object' action.
All in all, if having a level 11 rogue with a flaming whip like the Balor's doesn't work, then it don't work. You got me thinking now for sure @Dumbgamer99
Oh by all means, if your game only takes the rules as suggestions then sure: go nuts and arm the party with the Balor’s armaments if they’ve creatively put in effort to acquire it. It’s just unfortunate that as the rules are written, it’s practically impossible. A lot of homebrew and alternate rulings required.
I do personally find it interesting how lax your action economy is in games, especially to the point of allowing things like people disengaging as a bonus action if they lack the feature for it (this is possible speculation as you’ve mentioned a 11th rogue already but unclear if it’s just for that character or not). Glad I’ve made you think mate! I love 5e immensely.
(P.S.: if you have a 3rd-tier party fighting a Balor with a CR19, they’re either crazy powerful, overwhelming in numbers, or catching that fiend on a very bad day!)
They would need the feature for bonus action disengage. Monks, Rogues, and Sorcerers using Tempestuous Magic or <spell>Expeditious Retreat<spell/> could do it. As for a 3rd tier party of 3-6 taking on a Balor with its 2 attacks and aura, a lot can shift the dynamics of the fight. Like if the Balor has 2 minions of CR1/2. Action economy often tilts the scales. I also feel comfortable throwing bigger monsters at my party because they gain max hit points when they level up. Short Rests are either 8 hours or 10 minutes. Long Rests always require a week but allow downtime activities.
These are just how I run games. Your insights have given me much to ponder though. Cheers dude. I need to consider how creatures like a Balor could potentially utilize Bonus Actions better.
Im planing on using this in a death match. ill just grab somebody and strangle them while they take fire aura damage.
I had players who were fighting a balor while wearing flying boots so the entire party was in the air with the balor and the fighter did a disarming strike and the balor failed. The sword dropped 80 feet to the ground and the balor was unable to get it back before being sent back to the abyss. If the party is high level enough to take a balor in a fair fight then there's a good chance they have access to flying items.
When I had this happen the druid also created a maelstrom underneath the balor in a previous round to limit the movement of some driders. The giant balor sword fell into the maelstrom and the player asked if he just accidentally created a giant magic blender. I said yes and rolled some dex saves for the driders, many of them failed. It was a fun moment that I did not anticipate but it was fantastic.
Honestly, I saw what this thing can do in 3.5, during a YouTube series, and even nerfed this thing stresses me out
Can someone tell me how to calculate the crit damage on the long sword please. The wording for roll the damage die three times always confuses me, as i figure most people just double the initial amount rolled. Would it technically triple?
As per the standard rules, you roll all damage dice twice on a critical hit, but a lot of people like to simply roll once and double the result. If you do the former, you simply roll damage dice three times for the balor's sword; if you double rolled damage on a crit, I would triple it for the balor's sword.
ME.
Is it just me or are these things really really underpowered when it comes down to other things in its weight class. I mean most ancient dragons would obliterate this thing in three maybe four rounds. It just seems really weak for a general of the abyss.
Well its resistances and immunities make it really tough for a Dragon to take down, only Black and Copper Dragons would be able to deal full damage with breath weapons and everything but red, brass, and gold would take tons of damage from the fire aura (I personally like to increase the fire aura range because the Balor is huge). I only used one of these against my really epic level party after they took down Demogorgon, and it wasn't too tough there but my party was absurd. If you think something is weak you can always buff it (I buffed Demogorgon for that game) and it really depends on the party. Some parties might not be able to do anything others might be fine, depending on what damage types they can deal and take.
well at that point if the fighter is lvl 20 it can make 12 attacks in one turn with a vorpal greatsword
How do you get 12 (without outside help) I can see 10, great weapon and a crit then a samurai with the level 15 ability. But I cant think of a way to get 12. I'm probably overlooking something or it could be with things like haste or something. You tell me, just want to know.😁
If you can get to 12 attacks then great but you take the damage from the Fire Aura from each hit so you're going to be really low when its time for the Balor to fight back. And if you do kill it then you need to not die to its Death Throes after taking all that damage from hitting it a bunch. Unless you're wearing Efreeti Chain then you're going to be really hurting from all that
I really think they underpowered a lot the greater demons and dragons in 5e. He should have like 400 hp.
I am new to 5e but the rules on weapons are pretty restrictive and poorly thought out now. Like heavy medium weapons like a great axe can never be used one handed even with a feat and no matter how much strength you have. So I suppose if you cast enlarge and where able to become Huge in size yourself, you could use the weapons and be non proficient in them with serious negatives when attacking. Another issue is how to disarm a huge creature with a +8 on STR checks with advantage. It might be easier to just have them return to the abyssal plane after the fight.
I personally think that a PC who manages to attain huge size, should be able to wield the Balor’s weapons, assuming they were able to steal them.
Scaling a monster weapon for a player is easier than you think. Remember that magical items scale and adapt to the wielder.
I would reduce it's damage die to the typical 1d8 for a longsword. 1d8 for the lightning. Keep the triple damage on a crit and make it a +2.
Maybe even give it the Balor's Teleport ability as an action.