D&D 5E Why is "Frost Brand" rarer than "Flame Tongue"?

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Now tell me why I'm supposed to create something as intricate and vastly complex when I'd rather have WotC designers do the work for me.

The answer is pretty simple, in my opinion: Because what they have already made which are dissatisfied with is their answer to being asked for what you are asking for.

It's like telling McDonald's you don't like their burgers, then asking them to make you another - it's not going to come out significantly different from the first, and expecting it to doesn't make much sense.

 

[Caliban]

The title says it: Why is "Frost Brand" rarer than "Flame Tongue"?

What are your thoughts?

Name brand items usually come at a premium compared to generic items?

 

[LordEntrails]

Besides all the valid reasons others have given that such a magic pricing book will not be created by WotC, keep in mind 2 things;
- WotC has a fraction of the employees it had a few years ago
- Releasing all of this optional material is what the DMsG is for.

 

[Bacon Bits]

The title says it: Why is "Frost Brand" rarer than "Flame Tongue"?

Flame Tongue deals +2d6 damage, while Frost Brand deals +1d6 damage.
Frost Brand gives resistance to fire damage ... okay, that's a bonus. Frost brand can extinguish nonmagical flames ... that could come in handy.
Oh, and Flame Tongue requires a bonus action to activate the damage, while Frost Brand doesn't.

It still doesn't seem like Frost Brand should be that much more rare than Flame Tongue.

What are your thoughts?

I would assume it was a throwback.

In 2e, Frost Brand used to be a +3 sword (+6 vs fire using/dwelling creatures) that also counted as a ring of fire resistance (which itself was... if not better then still fairly impressive). The extinguishing property also just kind of worked. It had a 50% chance to extinguish any flame within 10'... including non-instantaneous magical effects like wall of fire. There wasn't any stipulation about how long you had to wait to extinguish the flame if it didn't work, either, so you could just kind of keep trying. The blade appeared on the very rare weapon table. The table you really wanted to roll on. The one with the +4/+5 Defender, +5 Holy Avenger, Sharpness, Vorpal, Life Stealing, Quickness, etc.

The Flame Tongue was a +1 sword (+2 vs regenerating, +3 vs cold, flammable, or avian, +4 vs undead). It burned like a torch, and that's it. The Flame Tongue appeared on the uncommon weapon table. The only other great weapons on the same table as it was the Sun Blade and the Luck Blade.

Also, fire creatures were generally more common than ice creatures.

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

The Flame Tongue was a +1 sword (+2 vs regenerating, +3 vs cold, flammable, or avian, +4 vs undead).

Why avian, I wonder? Are birds more vulnerable to fire than mammals or reptiles?

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Why avian, I wonder? Are birds more vulnerable to fire than mammals or reptiles?

It is probably just because feathers burn pretty easily (they even make a little machine that heats up an adjustable wire so that you can use it to "cut" fletching on arrows by sticking them into the machine arms and giving them a slow spin).

 

[ChrisCarlson]

It is probably just because feathers burn pretty easily (they even make a little machine that heats up an adjustable wire so that you can use it to "cut" fletching on arrows by sticking them into the machine arms and giving them a slow spin).

Well, I suppose there's that. But really... who doesn't love fried chicken!

 

[Guest 6801328]

The Big Book of Magic Item Creation I *would* like to see would be one in which each item had one page and the "recipe" was really more of a mini-adventure. That is, a list of rare items to collect, difficult conditions to be met (e.g. rare astronomical events), and other hoops to jump through. Plus a chapter with ideas on where such recipes could be found.

In other words, a Big Book of Adventure Hooks.

That would be just fine (or better?) as a 3rd party supplement. WotC doesn't have to make it.

 

[Celebrim]

I know a lot of people who think that should be "...requires the destruction of the idiot to detach the sword". Priorities, people, priorities...

In a recent play session, a player fumbled his cursed 'berserking' sword while in flight 3000' above a canyon floor. If there was ever a time when you had a good excuse to easily lose a cursed weapon that even the player admits will eventually be the death of the PC this would be it. But no, the damage capabilities of this powerful legacy weapon (it's a +2 eager keen rapier of swiftness) are just too sweet. So naturally he burned a life saving destiny point to reroll the failed DEX check (he has like 22 Dex) in order to save his sword, and if he had failed that (failing two 4+ rolls in a row) in his own words, "he would have dived after it".

Priorities.