D&D 5E monk magic weapon

[nswanson27]

Resistances and Immunities are against non-magical attacks according to the Monster Manual errata.

That means if monk unarmed attacks are magical for the purpose of bypassing them, that they are magical attacks - at the very least, so long as attacking an enemy that has such a resistance or immunity to bypass.

Ki-empowered strikes is a case of a specific exception to a general rule. Sorry, but I feel like both the DMG and sage advice has been clear on "if something doesn't say it's that thing, then it isn't that thing" (paraphrase). Unarmed strikes is considered magical for one and only one context. Any other extrapolations from that is not permitted. I guess I could just change the description to "nonmagical attacks and unarmed strikes" and avoid this whole issue.

At any rate, I think this item wouldn't actually be more thrilling to my players than some other magic weapon that doesn't rise and fall in effectiveness with the whims of their d20. I envision both irritation that they missed some attacks so they aren't getting much out of the magic item on the attacks that did hit, and irritation that they finally got up to 4d4 damage from repeated hits and rolled 4 damage among them undercutting what is supposed to have felt like a bonus by not continuing their luck with dice one roll further.

I'm sure there are lots of people who think certain magic items don't suit their fancy. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Here, let me try re-writing your magic weapon so that it says what it needs to to work how you want, and doesn't cause any confusion:

Gravity Essence Weapon
Weapon (any), <insert rarity here>
<insert fluff here>

When you hit with an attack using this magic weapon, or with an unarmed strike in the same turn you attack using this magic weapon, the target takes an extra 1d4 force damage. This extra damage is increased by 1d4 for each attack using this weapon or an unarmed strike with which you have previously hit during this turn.

You could restrict the weapon to monk-flavor only even more by restricting it to being Weapon (any monk weapon) instead of Weapon (any).

 

[nswanson27]

Here, let me try re-writing your magic weapon so that it says what it needs to to work how you want, and doesn't cause any confusion:

Gravity Essence Weapon
Weapon (any), <insert rarity here>
<insert fluff here>

When you hit with an attack using this magic weapon, or with an unarmed strike in the same turn you attack using this magic weapon, the target takes an extra 1d4 force damage. This extra damage is increased by 1d4 for each attack using this weapon or an unarmed strike with which you have previously hit during this turn.

You could restrict the weapon to monk-flavor only even more by restricting it to being Weapon (any monk weapon) instead of Weapon (any).

Yes, I think would do, although I think this would require the unarmed strikes to come before the second weapon attack?

 

[NotActuallyTim]

Yes, I think would do, although I think this would require the unarmed strikes to come before the second weapon attack?

Nah, I think he's using the same language as Shield Master.

 

[nswanson27]

Nah, I think he's using the same language as Shield Master.

Ok, so the restriction is that this wouldn't work with only unarmed strikes, and there would need to a weapon attack before any unarmed strikes for the unarmed strikes to benefit from the magic item.
Anyways, I do like the phrasing and language better than my version. I appreciate the help.

 

[Lanliss]

Here, let me try re-writing your magic weapon so that it says what it needs to to work how you want, and doesn't cause any confusion:

Gravity Essence Weapon
Weapon (any), <insert rarity here>
<insert fluff here>

When you hit with an attack using this magic weapon, or with an unarmed strike in the same turn you attack using this magic weapon, the target takes an extra 1d4 force damage. This extra damage is increased by 1d4 for each attack using this weapon or an unarmed strike with which you have previously hit during this turn.

You could restrict the weapon to monk-flavor only even more by restricting it to being Weapon (any monk weapon) instead of Weapon (any).

What happens if a fighter/monk uses it? Not even gonna do the math, that will be some insane damage. Do you think the pile-up of D4s might be a bit much without a max limit?

 

[NotActuallyTim]

Ok, so the restriction is that this wouldn't work with only unarmed strikes, and there would need to a weapon attack before any unarmed strikes for the unarmed strikes to benefit from the magic item.

That's not how Shield Master works.

You can do the stuff in any order, basically.

 

[nswanson27]

What happens if a fighter/monk uses it? Not even gonna do the math, that will be some insane damage. Do you think the pile-up of D4s might be a bit much without a max limit?

Keep in mind the additional stacks each require a successful attack roll. Yes it's possible for insane damage but increasingly unlikely as you consider more attacks, since they all have to connect. Also, think of the case where only 1 hit lands. In that case it's below a lot of other magic weapons. Finally, I intentionally left off +hit for sorta this reason.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

That's not how Shield Master works.

You can do the stuff in any order, basically.

Correct. I wrote the item on the assumption that because I didn't specify timing that it did not matter what order things happen in - just as the system assumes with other timing concerns.

What happens if a fighter/monk uses it? Not even gonna do the math, that will be some insane damage. Do you think the pile-up of D4s might be a bit much without a max limit?

I'm not the guy that thought up the item, I just re-wrote it to match the way magic items are written up in the DMG without changing its effect from what the person that thought it up decided for it to be.

That said, a fighter/monk isn't going to have enough additional attacks compared to a straight monk for the stacking up of the d4 to matter all that much in comparison since it takes so many levels to get to the point that a fighter/monk has more attacks than a straight monk does and at that point (11th level onward) an additional d4 isn't that big of a difference.

 

[Lanliss]

Correct. I wrote the item on the assumption that because I didn't specify timing that it did not matter what order things happen in - just as the system assumes with other timing concerns.

I'm not the guy that thought up the item, I just re-wrote it to match the way magic items are written up in the DMG without changing its effect from what the person that thought it up decided for it to be.

That said, a fighter/monk isn't going to have enough additional attacks compared to a straight monk for the stacking up of the d4 to matter all that much in comparison since it takes so many levels to get to the point that a fighter/monk has more attacks than a straight monk does and at that point (11th level onward) an additional d4 isn't that big of a difference.

Hmm, fair enough. I had forgotten you can only flurry once, despite the fighter having so many attacks, because it is a bonus action. I was thinking of a flurry per attack action, which could have been scary.