D&D General Manablade: Magic wand/blade rolled into one?

[Silam]

Has anyone seen any examples in any book of a magic weapon which also functions as a wand, and provides a +1 to +3 bonus both to melee attack rolls and damage rolls, as well as spell attack rolls (as a Wand of the War Mage would)? Given that it would act as a wand, it could serve as an Arcane Focus too, of course.

It is easy to design such a custom item, but I’m just wondering if there is any guidance on the rarity and other details of such item?

The magic weapons and WotWM are both rated as uncommon to very rare, depending on their bonus. Would you have any concerns in keeping the same rarity even though the bonus now applies to two things, or should the rarity be bumped up a notch?

And only the WotWM requires attunement, so the combined item would not be a way to skirt around attunement limits, though I assume the combined item should also require attunement.

 

[J-H]

The Staff of Power has what you're looking for. +2 to attack, damage, AC, saves, and spell attack rolls. The only thing it doesn't boost is spell DCs.

 

[Silam]

The Staff of Power has what you're looking for. +2 to attack, damage, AC, saves, and spell attack rolls. The only thing it doesn't boost is spell DCs.

Thanks, that’s a useful reference point.

The Staff of Power is like a +2 weapon, +2 WotWM and +2 ring of protection all rolled into one, and it has a bunch of abilities to spend its charges on, all of which adds up to a very rare item (compared to a +3 weapon or +3 WotWM being rated very rare).

So, given all of the extra stuff it provides beyond just the weapon/wand bonus, I would think an item which is just the weapon/wand part need not have a rarity bump.

Of course, a staff of power re-skinned from a quarterstaff into a sword would be pretty swell too.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think that a magic weapon with a ruby of the warmage would work, and the dmg notes that combining magic items to make a new one is a solid way to make a unique item.

Also, if the character who would be using it jas the abilitg to use a weapon as a focus, maybe you (or the dm if that isnt you) could simply houserule that the bonus to attacks also applies to spell attack and save dc, and to damage (adding to one damage roll only)?

 

[TwoSix]

Relatively few characters mix both melee attacks and spell attacks, so I’d be inclined to price it out like a wand with maybe a 10-15% price increase.

Since 5e doesn’t have that level of granularity within its rarity tiers, it’s be inclined to rate it the same rarity as a wand of the war mage of the same +X bonus, just remembering it’s a slightly better item.

 

[Silam]

Thanks for the inputs!

Looking at the Staff of Power further, it seems that going from 2014 to 2024, it lost its ability to spend a charge to add 1d6 force damage on a hit. This would be nice for a gish character, and almost certainly useless for a classical mage. Oh well.