D&D 5E Magic Items for Monks!

[NotActuallyTim]

The only thing I thought might have been an issue was that (at first) I felt it made more sense for the Dragon to deal radiant damage, but then I considered that you can get resistance to radiant damage, which would defeat the purpose of risk/reward. So that is a moot point.

Personally, I will be making it require attunement, to avoid the inevitable quest to "get inked". Not to mention, a group of monks that each have three of these would make for an interesting encounter, without giving them a bunch of Magic stuff that is just waiting to be looted.

I'd make it so getting more than one tattoo was inherently dangerous, and continued to place strain on a persons body afterwards. Con saves versus death, starting at DC 15 and increasing by 1 with each new tat, and after 3 tattoos the wearer would constantly have their Ki become unaligned, causing violent insanity and eventually spiking their Ki points to above their normal threshold whenever they rest, resulting in the 10d10 force damage per turn effect from the Dragon tattoo (20d10 if they have Dragon tattoo).

 

[Lanliss]

I'd make it so getting more than one tattoo was inherently dangerous, and continued to place strain on a persons body afterwards. Con saves versus death, starting at DC 15 and increasing by 1 with each new tat, and after 3 tattoos the wearer would constantly have their Ki become unaligned, causing violent insanity and eventually spiking their Ki points to above their normal threshold whenever they rest, resulting in the 10d10 force damage per turn effect from the Dragon tattoo (20d10 if they have Dragon tattoo).

That is another good way to go with it. The reason I jumped on the attunement side is lore related, because the Chinese zodiac, and most lore, is directly related to balance in the universe, and energy working in harmony rather than dissonance. This says to me that an incarnation of Zodiacal power would be on a similar wavelength, or even a strengthening wavelength, with another incarnation of the same power. Of course, it could also be read as the wavelengths building each other to a point where they are too strong for a mortal to handle.

 

[procproc]

Ink of the Heavens [WIP]
Dragon

The Dragon grants great power. The wearer may gain Ki points by killing living creatures using their Monk abilities or Unarmed Strikes. 1 Ki is gained per creature slain. However, the Dragon is dangerous in its' own right. Should the wearer gain more Ki than they can hold, their body turns on itself, and they begin taking 10d10 force damage each round until they spend their excess Ki.

This doesn't seem very dangerous to me. For starters, as written, it reads as a "may" ability, so a monk at her ki cap could simply choose not to gain the additional ki. Second, there's no randomness involved, and the monk is keeping track of her own ki, so she's going to know if she's about to go over.

I think the way to fix this is to have it provide a variable amount of ki -- d6 or d8 or d10 whenever a creature is killed. I'd also be fine changing it to radiant damage, since that seems more appropriate and the ability to abuse radiant resistance against 10d10 damage per round seems pretty low.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

The Tyrants Hand
Artifact, requires attunement by a Lawful Evil character with the Extra Attack class feature

This dark gauntlet draws the eyes of all who see it, inspiring terror and obeisance in all who see it.

The gauntlet grants a 100 ft fear aura, with a DC based on the Wisdom score of the bearer (8+proficiency+Wisdom Modifier). Those who willingly and knowingly submit to the bearers rule are immune to the Aura and gain 25*number of attacks per attack action temporary HP when entering the Aura for the first time each day (lasts 24 hours, also applies to bearer).

A Monk who wears this Gauntlet deals 2d6 additional necrotic damage with each unarmed strike, in addition to their normal unarmed strike damage. By spending Ki, they may also bend the universe to their will: 1 Ki point to cast Misty Step, 2 Ki to pull enemies of the same size or smaller towards the Monk from up to 400 ft away (Strength save to resist) or to pull the Monk towards larger opponents (no save) and 3 Ki to cast Haste or Slow.

A Fighter who wears this Gauntlet becomes able to ignore a number of spells of the Fighters choice of any kind equal to their Charisma modifier (for example, if a Wizard True Polymorphs themselves into another form, the Fighter ignoring the spell may attack against the Wizards orginal AC, remove HP from the Wizards original HP, and only take damage from the Wizards attacks if they would hit using the Wizards normal stats, and then only by the amount the Wizard would deal normally when hitting something with the Wizards normal weapons). They can summon a Nightmare to act as their steed whenever they choose. Finally, they are immune to Radiant damage and Sneak Attacks.

Oh, and they blow up Druids automagically with anti-Druid eyebeams as a free action, for infinite damage of the Metal Album cover type. [Still very, very WIP]

A Barbarian [WIP]

A Paladin (Oathbreakers only) [WIP]

A Ranger (Should I even bother?)

 

[NotActuallyTim]

This doesn't seem very dangerous to me. For starters, as written, it reads as a "may" ability, so a monk at her ki cap could simply choose not to gain the additional ki. Second, there's no randomness involved, and the monk is keeping track of her own ki, so she's going to know if she's about to go over.

I think the way to fix this is to have it provide a variable amount of ki -- d6 or d8 or d10 whenever a creature is killed. I'd also be fine changing it to radiant damage, since that seems more appropriate and the ability to abuse radiant resistance against 10d10 damage per round seems pretty low.

Or I could just change 'may' to 'must.'

The force damage represents the body tearing itself apart uncontrollably. More blood and guts than lightshow.

 

[Lanliss]

Dragon

The Dragon grants great power. The wearer may gain Ki points by killing living creatures using their Monk abilities or Unarmed Strikes. 1 Ki is gained per creature slain. However, the Dragon is dangerous in its' own right. Should the wearer gain more Ki than they can hold, their body turns on itself, and they begin taking 10d10 force damage each round until they spend their excess Ki.

I just thought of another issue that may arrive here. The recent thread talking about the Fist of Unbroken Air says that the ability does not specify a limit on the amount of ki you can expend. So a player could build their ki using the Dragon tattoo, potentially up to ridiculous levels of they have a dedicated healer or two. Then blow all 50 ki on a single attack against BBEG, for a devastating 53d10 damage. Maybe set it at a limit of max ki+5, or increase the damage taken with every 5 you have over max.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

I just thought of another issue that may arrive here. The recent thread talking about the Fist of Unbroken Air says that the ability does not specify a limit on the amount of ki you can expend. So a player could build their ki using the Dragon tattoo, potentially up to ridiculous levels of they have a dedicated healer or two. Then blow all 50 ki on a single attack against BBEG, for a devastating 53d10 damage.

Yes. It's a Legendary magic tattoo for a reason. And an average of 291.5 damage is nothing compared to what Paladins are already capable of.

Magic items make people better. The game isn't balanced around them anymore.

 

[Lanliss]

Yes. It's a Legendary magic tattoo for a reason. And an average of 291.5 damage is nothing compared to what Paladins are already capable of.

Magic items make people better. The game isn't balanced around them anymore.

But is a Paladin capable of nearly 300 damage, average, in a single turn? Or, at the most simple, one shoting literally anything in the DMG. Given, it is a bit tricky to exploit, with a chance of failure, but it still could be scary.

EDIT: oops, I meant "anything in the MM"

 

[NotActuallyTim]

But is a Paladin capable of nearly 300 damage, average, in a single turn? Or, at the most simple, one shoting literally anything in the DMG. Given, it is a bit tricky to exploit, with a chance of failure, but it still could be scary.

Actually, a Paladin, particularly a MCed one, can probably dish out a damage of around 300 I mean, a 20th level pally can smite twice for 54 points of Radiant damage without even trying, and if they add a Banishing Smite spell on top, they get another 27.5 points of force damage. From there, it's just a matter of Power Attacks, Haste spells, Poisons and so forth, until they hit that magic number.

Furthermore, in order to get that much Ki, a monk would need to:
-be 20th level
-kill 30 creatures (not super difficult, but sort of time consuming)
-resist 10d10 damage every round until they actually find something to punch (that's 55 damage a round or so, potentially for hours, depending on how hard it is to find whatever it is you need to punch)
-Deal with that damage not only after killing 30 creatures, but while killing them, since it's a flat 10d10 even if you're only 1 point over the top.
-Not spend any Ki at all until they get to wherever it is they need to go, unless they intend to kill more creatures while undergoing crippling pain.

Also, it's Force damage, so as far as I know, there's no way to be immune to it. Even with a level 20 Life Cleric, that's a lot of healing to do, for an extended period of time.

It's one of those 'maybe if we set things up using multiple teleports, a prison full of squirrels and a Dragon trapped under a tiny net' plans that winds up sacrificing viability for theory.

 

[Lanliss]

Of course, since there is no limit, it can also go higher than 50. Why not get a thousand squirrels, and four dedicated life clerics? Go one shot a terrasque, just for giggles. Maybe have someone to throw disadvantage on the throw too. This is how you build the One Punch Mans sickly cousin.