D&D 5E Hey should this be rare or uncommon?

[The Crimson Binome]

Remember, rarity isn't the same thing as power level. A sword +2 with a weird conditional should always be more rare than a generic sword +2, unless there's some reason in the setting for why someone is cranking out this particular variant.

It kind of reminds me of the old Drow gear, which was super cool magical loot that disintegrated in sunlight. For someone like a vampire, the fact that it only works at night would be more of a security feature than a limitation.

 

[Langy]

I disagree; Rarity in D&D 5e is directly about power level and price; you should never have an item that's significantly less powerful than another but that's listed as a higher rarity, no matter whether or not one of the items is a unique one-off or a standard piece of kit for the largest army around.

Look at what Rarity means in terms of game-play - it primarily defines the price at which you can sell the item, along with having a suggested level at which it would be appropriate to hand the item over. These are intertwined (as handing over a Rare item is essentially equivalent to handing over a small quest to get 250-5000 gold and thus it's level-appropriate when that sort of quest would be appropriate), and neither have anything to do with how rare the item is in the game world.

Besides, items are always more interesting if they are functionally unique - in my campaign, there are no generic magic items - each one is unique in some way. Labeling each one as being 'Very Rare' or 'Legendary' because each one is unique would be silly.

 

[Horwath]

If it requires attunement then uncommon, if not then almost rare. Slap on something usefull on it.

Like 3 charges of moonbeam spell. At night only,

1 charge, 2nd level moonbeam,
2 charges, 3rd level,
3 charges, 4ht level,

recharges at sundown.

 

[Bladecoder]

Thanks I'll do that.

 

[Bladecoder]

Yes I thought that also. But then someone pointed out to me that the item power usually scales linearly to the rarity.

 

[merwins]

Rare. No question in my mind.

100% of the time, it foils resistance and immunity to non-magical weapons.
50% of the time, it gives you a +2.
Attunement is not required, so it doesn't consume an attunement spot.

And, as others have pointed out, you generally get to dictate when you engage in combat.
I do agree that a simple +2 is kinda bland. Personally, I think the 5+10 ft of light is more harm then help (in combat situations).

Getting creative with a moonblade that has nonstandard effects might include triggering lycanthropic transformations, affecting the tide, and so on.

 

[Uchawi]

Not much to add, except it would be cool if the blade was tied to the cycles of the moon, similar to the Krynn moon cycles. I do miss some Krynn on occasion.

http://www.dlnexus.com/fan/rules/11899.aspx

 

[Langy]

Rare. No question in my mind.

100% of the time, it foils resistance and immunity to non-magical weapons.
50% of the time, it gives you a +2.
Attunement is not required, so it doesn't consume an attunement spot.

And, as others have pointed out, you generally get to dictate when you engage in combat.
I do agree that a simple +2 is kinda bland. Personally, I think the 5+10 ft of light is more harm then help (in combat situations).

Getting creative with a moonblade that has nonstandard effects might include triggering lycanthropic transformations, affecting the tide, and so on.

Oh, yes. If it doesn't require attunement, then it's definitely Rare.