D&D 5E CoS: Blood Spear OP?

[pukunui]

When I ran this adventure, what made this spear OP for me was the +2 to hit/dmg, not the THP. My player loved it but that +2 meant he rarely missed with it. It was one of the reasons I've resolved to limit the number of +x magic items in my games.

 

[touc]

Now that we've cleared up temporary HP mechanics, I ran COS and my players got the spear. The only character who could make good use of it was our Ranger. Even though he'd specialized in ranged fighting, the +2 of the weapon was SO good that he used this all the time.

As to whether you'd allow a squirrel to trigger the ability, no. This is where DM common sense steps in. The weapon was passed down through generations of barbarian chieftains to reward them for carnage. It's not a weapon of executions or cheese. Either you slay something aiming to slay you and become stronger, or you get nothing.

 

[Fenris-77]

Even if the character rarely misses with it it's still only a d6 damage, plus whatever. Setting aside the THP, that's only a little bit better on average than Archery Style and a Longbow with decent Dex. I don't think it's OP or anything. I like that it's a Spear and not a Longsword too.

 

[pukunui]

Even if the character rarely misses with it it's still only a d6 damage, plus whatever. Setting aside the THP, that's only a little bit better on average than Archery Style and a Longbow with decent Dex. I don't think it's OP or anything. I like that it's a Spear and not a Longsword too.

D8 if you use it two-handed

 

[jgsugden]

D8 if you use it two-handed

It may also be of use to a monk who may do more damage with it at higher levels. Polearm master also works with spears.

Regardless - far from broken.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Isn't the point of magic items to be overpowered? I thought powering up the user was their entire purpose.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Remember that this is Ravenloft. You can slaughter innocent squirrels to drain their life energy, but it's going to have an addictive and corrupting effect on the wielder.

And the wildlife in Barovia isn't always harmless. The party would never live it down if they where defeated by a swarm of vengeance-crazed vampiric squirrels.

 

[Flamestrike]

I was looking at the stats for the Blood Spear in Curse of Strahd. It says, "When you "hit with a melee attack using this magic spear and reduce the target to 0 hit points, you gain 2d6 temporary hit points."

There's no cap on the maximum number of hit points and no requirement for the target to be any certain level. So in the hands of a munchkin player, I could see this leading to "Before our next battle, I get up early and go out in the woods and kill squirrels until I have triple HP." It would be cheesy as all get-out, but there's nothing to actually prevent that, right?

Temporary HP dont stack (if you gain them, they replace ones you already have or you can keep the ones you already have, up to you).

Additionally, a player that had his character walk off into the woods to kills squirrels with this weapon in my games would never be seen again.

In all likelyhood, neither would the player at the table either.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Eh, I would simply rule that the temp hp that you gain cannot exceed the max hp of the creature killed. Go ahead and hunt squirrels.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

In all likelyhood, neither would the player at the table either.

This is often the best advice for table problems: play with cool people; don't play with uncool people.

Different people have different definitions of cool. Find people who share yours.

That's how I've always played, and I've never had any trouble with my players.