D&D 5E Blessed Weapons in 5e

Quickleaf

Legend

• Apr 13, 2016

• #1

I have a lycanthrope in 5e that will be facing a low-level party, and according to the lore blessed weapons bypass its usual resistance to damage.

Not an auto-kill like the rakshasa, just bypass damage resistance.

Looking at the 5e rakshasa, "blessed weapons" seem to be handled as magical weapons wielded by good creatures.

I don't want to use that approach exclusively for two reasons:
(1) First, at low-level the party won't have magic weapons.
(2) Second, it makes alignment more of a factor than this edition seems to go for, and I'm not convinced equating "good" and "blessed" is accurate in terms of the mythology.

In fact, I'm curious about setting up a couple ways a weapon could be treated as "blessed".

So I'm curious how others have interpreted blessed weapons in 5e? Is it a magical weapon wielded by someone who is good? Is it a weapon wielded by someone under the effects of a bless spell? Is it some intrinsic property of a magical weapon forged by celestials? Is it enough to anoint a blade in holy water to make it blessed?

What has worked for you? Or what do you think would work?

 

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jaelis

Oh this is where the title goes?

• Apr 13, 2016

• #2

Standard rules say silvered weapons are effective, you are looking for an alternative?

 

Quickleaf

Legend

• Apr 13, 2016

• #3

jaelis said:

Standard rules say silvered weapons are effective, you are looking for an alternative?

Click to expand...

I do realize that. This is a lycanthrope that first appeared in AD&D. A loup du noir.

From the original source:

It [the loup du noir] suffers damage from silver weapons or weapons that have had a bless spell cast upon them, but wounds from normal weapons heal too quickly to cause any damage. Magical weapons can harm the loup du noir, but unless they are made of silver or have had a bless spell cast upon them, they only cause half damage.

 

M

MechaPilot

Explorer

• Apr 13, 2016

• #4

If a weapon is "blessed" or not is largely a matter of fluff. I've considered weapons to be blessed if coated in angel's blood (i.e. celestial blood), if blessed (as in a ritual blessing that normally has no mechanical significance is performed on the weapon) by a priest, and I've had one instance where a weapon buried with a paladin was considered blessed because it had absorbed his violent hatred of evil (and of fiends in particular).

You could also say a weapon is blessed if it's forged on holy ground, or during holy days, or the blade was quenched in holy water, etc.

 

jaelis

Oh this is where the title goes?

• Apr 13, 2016

• #5

I'd say the obvious thing is to create a bless weapon spell that makes a weapon effective against this creature.

 

AntiStateQuixote

Enemy of the State

• Apr 13, 2016

• #6

Why not just let the bless spell work? Target a single weapon instead of 3 creatures. It's an alternative casting of an existing spell that most parties will have ready access to. By making it target a specific weapon you can reduce the availability. Maybe require an INT (religion) check DC 15 to recognize the need and how to use the spell for this purpose.

 

K

Koren

Explorer

• Apr 13, 2016

• #7

jaelis said:

I'd say the obvious thing is to create a bless weapon spell that makes a weapon effective against this creature.

Click to expand...

You could write a conversion of: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/blessWeapon.htm but modeled after how magic weapon or shillelagh work. Or simpler, consider any spell which changes a weapon's attack or damage profile. Magic weapon, shillelagh, elemental weapon, would all be non-alignment-focused equivalents of older editions' "blessing" a weapon.

 

Psikerlord#

Explorer

• Apr 13, 2016

• #8

I was looking at this about a month ago on a related topic, trying to make some non-magical qualities for weapons for a low magic setting. I ended up going with cold iron (good vs undead and demons/fey), silvered (good vs lycanthropes and aberrations), mithril and adamantine.

I initially had sacred/blessed/sanctified in there too, as a fifth option. But later I felt like it was more of a "magical" quality than the others. I fluffed it as being quenched in sacred oils and a special ceremony when forged/created, so not something that could be done on the fly.

In hindsight however I quite like the idea of say dousing a blade with holy water, giving it a "blessed" quality for 2d4 rounds or something just long enough to fight off the relevant creature. Hmm or perhaps it could be like applying poison, lasts just one hit, but you could then reapply more holy water to the weapon next round (taking an action, or an ally's action), and repeat..?

 

M

MechaPilot

Explorer

• Apr 13, 2016

• #9

Psikerlord# said:

In hindsight however I quite like the idea of say dousing a blade with holy water, giving it a "blessed" quality for 2d4 rounds or something just long enough to fight off the relevant creature. Hmm or perhaps it could be like applying poison, lasts just one hit, but you could then reapply more holy water to the weapon next round (taking an action, or an ally's action), and repeat..?

Click to expand...

If you're going to go with something that you apply to a weapon, especially if you plan on it lasting more than a single hit, I'd recommend holy oil instead of holy water.

 

Kobold Stew

Last Guy in the Airlock

Supporter

• Apr 13, 2016

• #10

What about any weapon attack where the power comes from (what used to be called) a divine source?

- Druid's Shillelagh
- Cleric's Spiritual Weapon
- Paladin's Sacred Weapon or Smite (etc.)