Dragon Slayer Longbow?

[Hatox]

Hello everyone,

before I get into my question just some base knowledge:
Currently playing a 5e homebrew campaign with 5 players. The characters are lvl 12 and their world is currently facing a dragon crysis. This part of the plot is a lot about our ranger who just found out that she was a great archer in a past life, that fought in the dragonwar (~1000 years past) and that her adoptive father was actually an ancient gold dragon who, forseeing the crysis, trained her for it.

Now they found out about this by meeting her adoptive father again after about 4-5 years (the ingame time it took them to get from lvl 1-12) where he revealed it. I thought this would be a cool moment to use the "other rewards" that are described in the DMG since he is technically a creature thats powerfull enough to bestow charms.

While I was looking through the possible charms I instantly noticed the "Charm of the Slayer" which is able to transform one sword into a dragon slayer sword. Storywise this would be a great fit but there are a few concerns I have and I wanted to ask you what you think about it.

a. RAI a Dragon Slayer needs to be a sword, now while she does carry shortswords, she nearly never uses them since she got sharpshooter (Playing the Revised Ranger, Beastmaster and shooting her bow 99% of the time)

b. I know of course as the DM I can just bend the rules and give her a Dragon Slaying Longbow, but the problem there is that, since playing a revised ranger and choosing dragons as her greater favoured enemy, she already has +4 damage on attacks against dragons. Now I fear giving her a weapon that does an extra 3d6 on top of that might be overkill. Not that her character is too strong compared to the enemies(I can always make the enemies stronger too) but that her character is too strong compared to her other teammates, making them feel less usefull. Since this part of the campaign will probably take at least 3 levels I really want to make sure this doesnt happen.

So as I see it I have 3 options:
1. Give her a dragon slayer shortsword that she probably wont use much
2. Give her a dragon slayer longbow that might be very strong for a few levels (playing after RAI exp rules so these are probably gonna take a looot of sessions)
3. Give her another charm, that doesnt fit the story as well but is easier to balance, like a charm of heroism or a charm of vitality

TBH I think giving her such a bow wouldnt be too bad, since its only about +10 dmg on each attack against dragons (and she only has 1 attack/round since its the revised beastmaster), but I still wanted to get some other opinions

 

[aco175]

change the damage it does or give it another power. I would make it a bow so the ranger can use it and maybe tie it to the 1000 year past. You can always boost it in a few levels saying it has awoken to the PC after being separated for so long.

I might just give it another power like on a crit it does +3d6 damage and give it a 1/rest power like an extra attack as a bonus action or free action if against a favored enemy.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Give her the dragon slaying bow but then don't ever have them encounter another dragon.

Mwuhahahahahahahahaha!

 

[delph]

It's not bigger dmg than Rogue with sneak. I think it's fair dmg to favored enemy.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

How about Arrows of Dragon Slaying? Give her 20 uses of a unique and over-powered ability at her discretion. The fact that it is limited and in her control also adds tension, making the decision to use her gift meaningful and less arbitrary.

 

[Radaceus]

Basically, you are talking about an Oathbow, with the wielder's sworn enemy being a dragon. An Oathbow is very rare and has a lot more to offer than the rare Dragon Slayer sword. I'd compromise between the two, tweak down an Oathbow to become a Bow of Dragon Slaying ( or even of Chromatic Dragon Slaying??)

Side by side comparison:

Dragon Slayer, +1 magic weapon ( sword), which deals an extra 3d6 to any creature with the dragon type tag

Oathbow, +0 magic weapon, speak the command and declare a sworn enemy, until it dies you gain advantage on attacks, the target gains no benefit from cover, and you suffer no disadvantage from long range (your ranger already has these last two benefits from sharpshooter). Deals an extra 3d6 damage to the sworn enemy.

-----
Some idea suggestions
Dragon Slayer Bow:

• +1 Magic Weapon, deals an extra 3d6 damage to X type of dragons.
• +0 Magic Weapon, has advantage on attacks against X type of dragons, deals an extra 3d6 damage to X type of dragons.
• +0 magic weapon, deals an extra 3d6 damage to X type of dragons, when an X type of dragon is damaged by this weapon they have disadvantage on saving throws until the next turn (This one is probably the most powerful option against your BBEG endgame...).
• similar to any of the above but deals less damage and affects all types of dragons

 

[delph]

Basically, you are talking about an Oathbow, with the wielder's sworn enemy being a dragons. An Oathbow is very rare and has a lot more to offer than the rare Dragon Slayer sword. I'd compromise between the two, tweak down an Oathbow to become a Bow of Dragon Slaying ( or even of Chromatic Dragon Slaying??)

Side by side comparison:

Dragon Slayer, +1 magic weapon ( sword), which deals an extra 3d6 to any creature with the dragon type tag

Oathbow, +0 magic weapon, speak the command and declare a sworn enemy, until it dies you gain advantage on attacks, the target gains no benefit from cover, and you suffer no disadvantage from long range (your ranger already has these last two benefits from sharpshooter). deals an extra 3d6 damage o the sworn enemy.

-----
Some idea suggestions
Dragon Slayer Bow:

• +1 Magic Weapon, deals an extra 3d6 damage to X type of dragons
• +0 Magic Weapon, has advantage on attacks against X type of dragons, deals an extra 3d6 damage to dragons
• +0 magic weapon, deals an extra 3d6 damage to X type of dragons, when an X type of dragon is damaged by this weapon they have disadvantage on saving throws until the next turn ( This one is probably the most powerful option against your BBEG endgame...)
• similar to any of the above but deals less damage and affects all types of dragons

What about +1magic weapon and to dragons Will ve +3

 

[Radaceus]

What about +1magic weapon and to dragons Will ve +3

I personally like this kind of item, harkening back to the old days, ye old +1,+3 vs lycanthropes and etc
This is also a viable candidate, the problem is that in 5E a +3 is also a very rare weapon

I was trying to quantify a rare version of a dragon slayer oathbow

 

[Draegn]

An alternative to direct damage; have the bow negate dragon abilities on a successful hit. This could be to prevent breath weapons, prevent fear aura, force to remain on the ground. Each making it easier for the party to slay the dragon.

 

[delph]

I personally like this kind of item, harkening back to the old days, ye old +1,+3 vs lycanthropes and etc
This is also a viable candidate, the problem is that in 5E a +3 is also a very rare weapon

I was trying to quantify a rare version of a dragon slayer oathbow

Meet and survive Dragon Is very rare too :-D and it five you choice between +3 Attack And +7 dmg (favored enemy + magic dmg) or -2 Attack and +14 dmg (favored enemy + sharpshooter)