Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="NotAYakk" data-source="post: 9815017" data-attributes="member: 72555">I'd remove the auto-leveling.A sentient weapon should be akin to an NPC hanging around with the party.  Rather than auto-leveling, I'd have some kind of unlocking process.+1d4 lightning damage; I'd make the die not a 1d4.  I like making the extra damage on a weapon not match the base dice of the weapon; this makes rolling damage a bit easier (esp on tabletop).  So make it 1d6.A +3 to hit, +1d4 lightning damage weapon is worse than a +3/+3 weapon.  It never is legendary scale.Retaliate doesn't need the once per round; ways to get more reactions aren't that common.  Another 1d4 in damage makes tracking damage more annoying.Retaliate: When you take damage, you can expend your reaction to make a melee weapon attack with Backlash on the source of the damage, assuming they are in range of the whip.I'd drop the extra damage on Retaliate.  It is easy to forget, annoying to add on an VTT (another attack macro), and doesn't have a huge impact on its quality as a weapon.The purposes is sort of mundane.The damage it does does nothing but deal damage.  Nothing about it yells "lighting weapon" or the like.BacklashWhip, rare (requires attunement)This whip is made from short silvery metal rods connected together with wire.  It shimmers with a strange energy, and gives off dim light in a 5' radius (you can dim or activate this light as a bonus action).  When you attack, the energy rushes down the whip and the crackling energy produces a flash of light that provides bright light within 10' and dim within 20'.You gain +1 bonus to attack rolls with this whip, and have advantage when attacking a target wearing metal medium or heavy armor or who is significantly made of metal (such as an iron golem).  This whip deals an extra 2d6 (7) lightning damage the first time it hits any specific creature on a turn.Retaliate: When you or someone within 5' of you are hit by an attack, if the attacker is within your whip's reach, you can expend your reaction to attack them with Backlash.  If you hit with this reaction, the attacker is grabbed by you (escape DC 15) until you attack a different target with Backlash or they are no longer within Backlash's reach.Sentience: Backlash has recently developed sentience.  It has 10 in all mental attributes, and has vision and Darkvision of 60 feet.  It can communicate telepathically by sharing its emotions and is neutral good in alignment.Purpose: The whip has fallen in love with a specific person and seeks to protect that person's family or clan.This weapon can be awakened by fulfilling its wishes, usually involving the clan or family of the person Backlash is in love with.  Backlash can only communicate emotionally, which makes this more difficult.Advancement (Very Rare): Extra Lightning damage increases to 3d8 (13).  Creatures hit by Backlash cannot take reactions until the end of your next turn, and creatures are restrained Retaliate grabs them.  Escape DC of Retaliate increases to 16.Advancement (Legendary): Extra Lightning damage increases to 4d10 (22).  This weapon's reach increases to 15', and you can try to move a creature up to 10' when you hit them.  They can refuse to move, taking 10 lightning damage if they do so.  Once successfully moved you cannot try to move them again until your next turn.  Escape DC of Retaliate increases to 17.---1. I grant +1 to hit and never any more.2. I scale the damage bonus, and use a different die, with higher tiers.3. The higher tiers require some action by the PC.4. The whip has a goal that doesn't automatically align with the PC's.5. The reaction grabs and restrains, which is very whip-flavored, instead of doing damage.6. The legendary breaks base game assumptions with a 15' reach.  This works well with other features.  It also has a "whip them around" ability.7. The extra damage is "per creature per turn".  This means it doesn't scale crazy fast with multiple attacks, which in turn means I could have it ramp up faster.  Creatures with multiple attacks can whip multiple targets to get repeats of the damage, however, and it applies to both the attack and the reaction.  I wanted this to be a viable rogue weapon, not just a fighter weapon.8. You can Retaliate on attacks on you or adjacent creatures.  This makes it better at protecting people.Vines on an axe make me think about throwing it with the vines attached.  This weapon doesn't even return.The purpose seems vague.  Also, it doesn't seem like it would conflict that much with a PC quite often.  Which is a bit of a waste.+3 to hit and no damage is a bad legendary weapon.  I also find scaling +X to hit/damage to be boring if extremely powerful; the amount of "power space" that not having it opens up is quite good.The description eneds work.  "in other locations".I'd use a fixed DC on Vines, or scales with the tier of the weapon.  Simpler.As a focus it sucks.It is called Thorn and ... doesn't have Thorns.  I'd add ... poison damage maybe?  And maybe have the thorns bite the wielder in some mechanic.  The poisoned condition is also good, maybe on a critical hit.I like Biting Sarcasm.  Might be helpful to not use the word reaction, as it might confuse someone it costs their reaction.I'd drop the proficiency bonus to damage.  Static bonuses aren't as "fun" as they don't scale with crits and you are rolling anyhow.  Might as well use fun clacky dice.  At 13 you have a +5 prof, it only scales to +6 anyhow.Purpose, again, not enough conflict with PC there?  Giving it more drive, like trying to learn about great old ones, as well as being opposed to suppressing knowledge?Almost no connection to its name (Starlight), which is a shame.  Even its glow is brighter than starlight.  I might be tempted to take inspiration from the Crown of Stars spell (not the spell itself, it is too strong), and have it gather motes of starlight (with the light emitted growing?), maybe from hitting/damaging or even killing foes?  Dunno.At the end of your turn, if you delt damage to a creature with Starlight on your turn, Starlight gains a mote.  Motes (except the last one) last for 1 minute, and Starlight can have up to 3 motes; the last mote never fades with time.  Starlight glows with a dim light for 5' per mote, and deals +1 radiant damage per mote.As a bonus action you can make a +7 attack bonus ranged spell attack with the motes.  On a hit the attack deals 1d12 radiant damge per mote expended.  If the attack misses no motes are expended as they return to the blade.I think that is a fun minigame.  You can change the max motes to be based on unlocked levels of the blade, or the damage dice etc.Again adding proficiency bonus needlessly.  Just throw another d10 at it.  Less static numbers, more clicky-clack dice, more fun.I'd be tempted to limit its language to Celestial only.  Because that is a fun problem.I'd also be tempted to give it some detect extra planar and undead abilities, sort of like a Paladin's divine sense, with limited uses; except, it always knows when it hits a creature, and when it does so it uses Purity of Sacrifice automatically.  These abilities can all consume the HP of the weilder.The hammer is all about destroying evil ... but it considers all undead and everything from another plane on the prime evil.I usually strip away +X to attack and damage as well.  Make it a flat +1 to hit, and have it deal a scaling extra die of damage (1d4, 1d8, 1d12) as it gets stronger.  To make Purity of Sacrifice less "weapon damage", what if it was a beam of light AOE centered on the caster?  The wielder loses 2d10 HP (increasing to 3/4 d10), and then every other creature within 15' must make a con save or take the same amount of radiant damage as the wielder took.This isn't ally friendly to make it extra annoying, and triggers involunterially when you hit an undead, celestial, fiend, abbiration or fey.  (any celestial attacked is presumed to be fallen, or why would the hammer be hitting them?)</blockquote>

Verification