I homebrewed Reinhardt's Rocket Hammer from Overwatch. Would like some opinions.

I have a player who modeled his character's appearance after Reinhardt from Overwatch and named his character after him. I thought it'd be fun if I made a weapon that would essentially allow him to be Reinhardt for real, but we've had issues with OP magic items in the past and I wanted some advice before I thought about introducing it. So, without further ado, here it is.

Rocket Hammer
Legendary Maul (Requires Attunement)
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Flavor:

Forged by an ambitious (and slightly mad) Goblin tinkerer named Gerald Firesprocket, the Rocket hammer uses a volatile and unstable experimental substance (gunpowder. Gunpowder doesn't generally exist in my world but, you know, goblins and stuff.) to allow its bearer to swing it with great force. It also features a magical shield that produces a wall of force in front of the wielder.

Features:
Characters gain +3 to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.

Cleave:
Allows the bearer to cleave through enemies. On a hit, enemies that are adjacent to a target take half the damage dealt to the primary target. This feature works with Rocket Boost.

Rocket Boost:Characters who wield the Rocket Hammer may choose to take a -5 penalty to their attack roll in order to deal 10 extra bludgeoning damage on hit.

Barrier Field:
This weapon starts with 4 charges. As an action, a character can expend one charge to produce a 15 ft Wall of Force in front of themselves that absorbs all damage until the start of their next turn. The character's speed is halved, and the barrier moves with the character. The character cannot attack while the barrier is activated. The character specifies which direction the barrier faces when they use this feature. The barrier only blocks damage from that direction. It also protects any allies standing behind the wall and provides total cover for them.
This weapon regains 1d4 charges at dawn.

Earthshatter:
The character can use its action to slam the Rocket Hammer into the ground, shattering the earth in a 15 ft cone in front of him. Enemies caught in the effect must make a Dexterity Saving throw. On a failure, they take 4d6 Bludgeoning damage and are knocked prone. On a success, they take only half damage and are not knocked prone. This feature cannot be used again until the next dawn.
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The idea is to simulate Reinhardt's abilities as close as possible. I decided not to include a fire strike type ranged attack. My main concern is the definition of cleave as used here. It's supposed to replicate Reinhardt's area of effect melee attack but I'm wondering if it's too powerful. We don't use the variant cleave rule as written in the DMG so maybe I could just apply that to the hammer. I'm planning on ruling that the Barrier Field will protect against cone and line effects like breath weapons and lightning bolts. I'm also considering putting in a small penalty for rolling critical failures on attack rolls because of its goblin-make. Maybe the character takes 1d6 fire damage because the rocket boosters backfired.
So what do you think?

EDIT: Someone made a good point that not all of these abilities come from the hammer itself. I've decided to split it up into multiple items. Makes it more of a adventure if The player has to go through a whole questline to get all of Reinhardt's abilities. The Barrier will be its own item, as sort of a modified Cube of Force with less abilities using fewer charges. I'll make a Plate armor that provides a charge like ability, and the weapon itself will lose the +3 bonus, have its abilities consume charges from a pool of 7, and have a Fire Strike-like ability, the listed Rocket Boost ability, and Earthshatter. It'll be the last thing the PC gets, like an ultimate reward for a major questline. probably around level 15-16, since they are lvl 10 right now. Thanks for all the ideas! I'll post an update with the new design soon.

Update: Here's the Reinhardt item set, which I'm calling the Crusader set.

Mark of the Crusader: (requires attunement)
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This insignia is about 4 inches across and made from silver formed into the shape of a circle containing a partial triangle.
The Mark begins with 25 charges and regains 1d20 charges daily at dawn. You can use an action to activate the Mark, causing a 15ft square barrier perpendicular to your facing for up to 1 min with the effect and expending charges listed below. The Mark cannot be used if it does not have sufficient charges.

1.Barrier Field (5 charges): Nothing can pass through the barrier. Walls, Floors, and Ceilings can pass through at your discretion.

While the barrier is activated, you cannot attack, and all terrain is considered difficult terrain. At the end of your turn, you choose which direction the barrier faces, including upwards, and it remains in that orientation until the start of your next turn. You can use your action to deactivate the barrier.
If the barrier comes into contact with a solid object that can't pass through, you cannot move closer to that object.
The mark loses charges if the barrier is targeted by one of the following spells.

In addition, any damage greater than or equal to 20 depletes 1 charge +1 additional charge for every 10 additional damage beyond 20. The barrier fails if it has 0 charges and sustains an effect that would cause it to lose charges.
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Crusader's Armor: (requires attunement)
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Flavor:
A suit of armor crafted by one of the multiverse's most brilliant (and possibly most insane) Goblin artificers. This armor features a built in mechanism capable of propelling its wearer forward with great force.

Charge:

You may use your action to make a charge attack fueled by explosive force. You charge up to your full speed, if possible, in a straight line along the ground in a direction of your choosing. Each creature within the line must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the creature takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage and is pinned to you. It moves with you until the end of this effect. If multiple creatures fail the saving throw, only the creature closest to the effect's point of origin is pinned, and the rest take the damage and are pushed 5ft to one side (you choose). On a successful save, no damage is dealt and the creature moves into an adjacent square of its choosing. If the charge is stopped prematurely, such as by impact with a wall or similar solid object, any creature pinned by this effect takes an additional 4d8 bludgeoning damage.
This effect cannot be used again until you complete a long rest.
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Crusader's Might: (requires attunement to Mark of the Crusader and Crusader's Armor)
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Flavor: Forged by Goblin artificer Gerald FireSprocket as the centerpiece of his greatest invention, Crusader's Might harnesses the explosive power of an unstable experimental substance to allow its wielder to crush its enemies with enhanced force.

Features:

This weapon starts with 7 charges and regains 1d6 charges after a long rest. You can use one of the following abilities, expending a number of charges based on the ability used.

Fire Strike: (1 charge)
You use your action to unleash a fiery projectile in a 30 ft line. Creatures within the line must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, they take 2d6 fire damage, or half on a success.

Crusader's Wrath: (1 charge)
You may choose to take a -5 penalty to your next melee attack roll in order to deal +10 extra bludgeoning damage if you use this ability.

Earthshatter: (3 charges)
You may use your action to slam Crusader's Might into the ground, shattering the earth in a 15 ft cone originating from you. Enemies caught in the effect must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, they take 4d6 Bludgeoning damage and are knocked prone. On a success, they take only half damage are not knocked prone.

If you roll a critical failure on an attack roll made with this weapon, its boosters backfire and you take 2d6 fire damage.
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I don't know the specific weapon you are trying to emulate, but I would make the Wall of Force 10 ft (just protecting the PC and a little more) and immobile. Having a moving wall allows for too much OP play IMHO.

Now I have to go research Overwatch ;-)


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Reinhardt is certainly a fun character. You're doing a bit more than creating his hammer, you're almost attempting to create him. Nonetheless, here's my ideas:

I'd change your wording of "until the next dawn" into "after finishing a long rest. I'd also reduce the amount of charges down to three, as four just seems like a lot. The cleave affect, in my opinion, should work the same as it does in other uses of similar features; namely, if the rocket hammer kills/knocks unconscious an enemy, a second attack is made towards an second target. While Reinhardts hammer does do aoe attacks in overwatch, Reinhardt isn't fighting Ogres, Giants, Dragons and other creatures clad in heavy armor and wielding shields and the such things that would prevent a cleave from happening every time he makes an attack.

Another idea is to give a couple more charges to the item, but have each of these abilities take one charge. This, I think, would balance the weapon much more. For instance: a Rocket-Swing attack could consume one charge, and function similarly to hordebreaker. The Barrier could consume one charge per round, allowing for the barrier to be up for multiple rounds as an advance is made. Earthshatter could consume 3 charges - it's a pretty powerful crowd control effect, when you think about it. And, your flamestrike could be made as a 15ft ranged attack which consumes a charge as well. Then, after a long rest the weapon would regain 2d4 or whatever amount of charges.

Zipster said:

Reinhardt is certainly a fun character. You're doing a bit more than creating his hammer, you're almost attempting to create him. Nonetheless, here's my ideas:

I'd change your wording of "until the next dawn" into "after finishing a long rest. I'd also reduce the amount of charges down to three, as four just seems like a lot. The cleave affect, in my opinion, should work the same as it does in other uses of similar features; namely, if the rocket hammer kills/knocks unconscious an enemy, a second attack is made towards an second target. While Reinhardts hammer does do aoe attacks in overwatch, Reinhardt isn't fighting Ogres, Giants, Dragons and other creatures clad in heavy armor and wielding shields and the such things that would prevent a cleave from happening every time he makes an attack.

Another idea is to give a couple more charges to the item, but have each of these abilities take one charge. This, I think, would balance the weapon much more. For instance: a Rocket-Swing attack could consume one charge, and function similarly to hordebreaker. The Barrier could consume one charge per round, allowing for the barrier to be up for multiple rounds as an advance is made. Earthshatter could consume 3 charges - it's a pretty powerful crowd control effect, when you think about it. And, your flamestrike could be made as a 15ft ranged attack which consumes a charge as well. Then, after a long rest the weapon would regain 2d4 or whatever amount of charges.

Click to expand...

You're right, I was trying to create him as a character basically, but I do think most of his abilities can be explained by the boosters on his hammer. I like the idea of just having everything take charges. Kind of plays on the idea of having "Fuel." Maybe 7 charges to start with, so each ability can be used at least once before they have to rest? I think I'll definitely use your suggestion for the Barrier, and a Hordebreaker effect sounds perfect in this situation. Thanks for the input!

Overwatch is a very fun game, and I sometimes wonder how it would play out in D&D.

This is a "proper" emulation of this hammer. However, it is *very* powerful, and only suitable for high level play. I would remove the +3 to hit and damage, they aren't needed to emulate the item. Even without that, it's still extremely powerful.

Reinhart it a high level character

I'm only passingly familiar with the character, but I think you should decide if you want to allow your players character to become Reinhardt or to have a hammer that does thematically similar things. Does every one of those effects come from the hammer itself? The wall doesn't seem like a very hammer thing from an outsiders point of view. The Rocket jets and cleave seem to almost be exactly the same thing thematically as well. I'd also like to add that you don't need bonuses to hit and damage to make a weapon cool. With cool abilities players won't care about the bonuses as much.

I think you could balance any concerns of power by making it two separate items, the Force field and the Hammer. on the hammer, I would make cleave more of a choice thing, along the lines of

When you make an attack with this weapon you can choose to split the damage between two adjacent enemies. Your Strength modifier is added for both of these attacks.

I would also probably add an athletics check to make sure the hammer does not fly out of your hands when you activate it. After all, Rein is basically an ogre, plus about a hundred pounds of turbo-armor. A bit harder to shift than your average 15-20th level adventurer. Also, for the Sonic Strike, you could give the Hammer 1d4 charges, which throws a Projectile for 1d8 Radiant damage 60/180 feet.

Force field looks fine, but I would cause it to lose a charge every time it is hit. You can keep it up for all 4 charges, or you can let it break and have to wait for it to recharge. You also don't lose a charge every time you activate it on the chance of an attack.

I'd suggest something more similar to the Abjuror's Ward for the barrier field, where the shield itself has temporary HP that can be depleted by attacks it stops until it breaks.
Something like: As an Action, the user can create or maintain a barrier perpendicular to the user's facing, giving three-quarters cover to the user's space and anyone adjacent to them.
Maintaining this barrier requires the user's action and while it is in effect, they count all ground as difficult terrain. They have to choose their facing at the end of their turn, and the barrier remains at this orientation until the beginning of their next turn.
The barrier has 50* maximum hit points. Attacks aimed at targets granted cover by the barrier that miss that target deal their normal damage to the barrier. While not activated, the barrier regains HP at a rate of 5*/round.
*Actual numbers to be adjusted based on the power level that you want.

The ranged blast Reinhardt does is probably a 60ft line attack dealing xd6 Fire damage with a reflex save for half.

His charge could be a Str(Athletics) check while moving and taking the Dash action in a straight line. Anyone along that line must make a reflex save to avoid the charge. If they fail, they need to make an athletics check to beat Reinhardt's. If an opponent wins the check, Reinhardt stops moving in the space in front of them. If Reinhardt wins he continues onwards, pushing the people he has beaten in front of him. If he is stopped by an opponent, or if he encounters a solid object, all creatures that are being pushed in front of him take x damage for every 10ft Reinhardt moved before being stopped.
I'd suggest that this ability refresh after a Long or Short rest.

Overall, Reinhardt's abilities would come from two or three sources: His hammer, his armour, and his shield if you consider that separate from his armour.

2 things:

1: Overwatch is free to try this weekend! Go ahead folks, you won't regret it.

2: I think the firestrike as presented is too weak, it's not worth using. Give it more range, more damage, but if you make a reflex save you take no damage, which would mimick the game pretty well.