D&D 5E Can YOU Balance this Magic Item??

[TaranTheWanderer]

Seems like reasonable mechanics. I personally think the charge costs are a bit steep, but its a +1 sword with reach that every blue moon you pull out an area attack when circumstances are just right. A perfectly fine magic item. I would never ever ever sacrifice a magic item to restore the charges, but as an initial cost for the attunement, if magic weapons are rare in the campaign I'd do it.

We have plenty so no worries there. We could have a garage sale. "Let me go in the back and grab one of my old spare magical swords."

 

[Falcordragon]

Here is the finished product after consulting the dm. He likes to add stuff to his homebrew items. Essentially, he replaced the AoE with Thunderwave.

>>Horus Heresy Tungsten Blade<<

How did it end up turning out? Did it end up feeling overpowered? Balanced? Sorry, I know this is an oldish thread, but I just came across it and I worked up my version just for giggles... I like what you ended up with, I went a slightly different route and like others have said, it definitely only really fits a particular type of campaign... but it certainly looks fun for that kind of campaign. Lemme know what you thought about my version.

Like others said, not sure about the weight though if you just had them drag it when not using it for comedic effect, as I mentioned below, it wouldn't matter so much.

I like the reach, but I’d say only for a single target, and I really like the AOE aspect but like others have said 24 squares is a bit too much, why not say it’s only the usual 5-foot reach for AOE but 10 for a single target, (per attack obviously) as you extend farther in to reach that one target.

The sword burst cantrip idea for 1 charge sounds reasonable. The original I was leaning towards was having the sword require 1 charge for each person within the range that it hits, so that would be up to 8 with the normal reach. Or if you go with the cantrip route, maybe use the cantrip scaled damage (This spell's damage increases by 1d6 (and 1 charge) when you reach 5th level (2 charges, and 2d6), 11th level (3 charges and 3d6), and 17th level (4 charges and 4d6)) And he can only channel the extra charges through when he reaches the levels listed (treat it as the longer he’s bonded with the sword the more the can do... etc..)

Definitely only 2 handed.

Call to hand in most campaigns is a flavor thing more than anything because many just treat items you’re not wielding as “in the backpack” but with a weapon like that obviously, it wouldn’t fit... but I kind of love the idea of the fighter actually describing it as hauling that huge-ass weapon behind him, dragging it along, leaving a trench in the ground behind him, Maybe using a charge to make it disappear instead of appearing and allowing him to only summon it if he used the charge to make it go away.

The knockdown looks good at 2 charges because it has a powerful-ish effect depending on timing, and gives a good reason to delay actions to allow maximum attacks on downed opponents.

As far as the number of charges I’m leaning towards more as you leveled up along the same lines as the cantrips (more at 5, 11, and 17 to represent closer bonding with the item) And maybe even “unlocking” new powers at those levels as well instead of just the extra cantrip damage.... but that would require more thought/tweaking than I have the energy for tonight. LOL.

Anyway, I would love to hear how it all ended up playing out! Thanks for sharing this rather unique item!

 

[glass]

LTTP, but since the thread has popped up again I will say this: It reminds me a lot of daiklaives in Exalted. They are oversized swords that require something very-much like attunement to wield, at which point they feel massively lighter to their wielders (but still feel their full weight to anyone struck by them).

Of course, Exalted may have been the OP's friend's inspiration in the first place.

_
glass.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Hi, thanks for the interest.

the player uses it but he doesn’t use any of its abilities since he feels that doing straight attacks is almost always better than using any of the AoE abilities. Especially now at 13th level.

Thunder wave is underwhelming over all.

he has several weapons that do more damage but uses this weapon because it ‘looks’ cool and has flavour.

the flying into the hand (returning)never gets used because he never got disarmed. The weapon teleports to his hand but the player wanted it to fly from its location and into his hand because he thought it would look cooler but it teleports instead.

 

[Falcordragon]

Hi, thanks for the interest.

the player uses it but he doesn’t use any of its abilities since he feels that doing straight attacks is almost always better than using any of the AoE abilities. Especially now at 13th level.

Thunder wave is underwhelming over all.

he has several weapons that do more damage but uses this weapon because it ‘looks’ cool and has flavour.

the flying into the hand (returning)never gets used because he never got disarmed. The weapon teleports to his hand but the player wanted it to fly from its location and into his hand because he thought it would look cooler but it teleports instead.

Yeah at that level the AOE would be mainly only really worth it when surrounded by swarms of minions or low health guys before taking on the main bad guy... And the knock down is underwhelming unless you make sure to use the strategy of holding the action til just before your allies attack so they get advantage and all the benefits of attacking someone prone. And like I said in my post unless you scale the damage up like the cantrips do it'll fall way behind and be fairly useless like you said.