D&D 5E Mordenkainen's Sword is Limp and Made of Tinfoil

[Greg Uke]

Here's what I did.

Removed concentration.
Made the duration 8 hours.
It can be grabbed and wielded as a melee weapon by the caster at will, in which case extra attacks can be made with it (valor bard).
When not 'attacking' the sword becomes invisible and incorporeal.
Damage, attack, speed, everything else is the same.

Functionally it's like having an extra cantrip attack each round. The super long duration and the fact that it can't be 'damaged' like Bigby's Hand makes it a worthwhile investment of a 7th level spell slot.

I made this ruling because of Mindblank. A player sacrifices their precious 8th level spell slot to gain the long-term benefits of Mindblank during the adventure. A floating 'attack dog' force sword that increases your passive damage output every round feels like a worthy investment of its own.

 

[Schmoe]

IIRC, the spell has always been a stinker going back to 1e. In 5e they made it especially stinky, though. I don't know why the Wizards of the Coast hate on Mordenkainen so much. Maybe 'cause he wouldn't let them in the Circle?

 

[jgsugden]

I made my own spell for my wizard:

Cruddle's Blade

7th-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S, M (a miniature platinum sword with a grip and pommel of copper and zinc, worth 250 gp)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Choose a creature that you can see within range. You create a circular saw blade shaped plane of force that hovers above that target until the spell ends, regardless of where (or how) the target moves. When the blade appears, you make a melee spell attack against the target creature. On a hit, the target takes 3d10 force damage. On a miss, the target takes half damage. Whenever the creature uses an action, repeat the attack. When the spell ends, repeat the attack.

*********

It delivers a little damage each turn using only one action on your initial turn, but it ties up your concentration. It is best used on a combatant that is facing another of your allies. 36d10 potential damage over 10 rounds (about 200 points) - but it is unlikely to deal all of that damage as the creature can elect to not take actions (reducing it to only 6d10 damage for a 7th level spell) or can force you to lose concentration early, or it may die well before it is all dealt. I like the nice little rub that after the foe falls and you end your concentration, it takes one more cut on the downed enemy. Bonus actions and movement do not trigger the extra attacks - only actions.

 

[Hashim]

That's an excellent idea, thanks! How does one contact them, do they have a way through their website? I'll go look now.

As a big fan of Greyhawk and Mordenkainen, this really irks me, by Boccob!

Pft for some reason Mordenkainen gets the shaft in 5e. Not only is his sword spell ridiculously weak, not only does his signature 9th level spell does not exist, but he also gets a LOUSY (imho) treatment in a certain official ...misty... adventure

 

[Stalker0]

It is strange that this spell is so weak, since its been called out as weak several times in previous editions, so you would think WOTC would have given a special look as they did with some other stinker spells.

 

[epithet]

Seems like the concentration requirement should be considered a typo that they just haven't caught yet. A plane of force, like a wall of force, should effect ethereal and incorporeal targets, and probably be invisible, or nearly so. As such, it should get advantage on its attacks unless the target has true sight, blind sight, etc.

Read correctly (ie, my way) it's a pretty cool spell.

 

[schnee]

Off topic, but another thing I want to do is add a subsystem for Injuries, since the idea that characters heal all their injuries after a good night's sleep kinda bugs me (it makes me picture a Fighter just sleeping off a broken leg or punctured lung and waking up fine and dandy.) I want to make a simple table of Injuries that can be sustained whenever you are dropped to 0 Hit Points (meaning that all of your defenses, skill, and luck has been whittled away and you've taken an actual real wound,) broken down by damage type that caused you to drop to 0 HP. You'll have to make a Constitution save of some DC or another or end up with an Injury, that won't go away after just sleeping for a night. Something like a broken leg would reduce your movement and reduce your Max Hit Points by 1/4, a punctured lung would give you Disadvantage on all physical Skill checks and combat rolls and reduce your Max HPs by 1/2, stuff like that. The Injuries will take a real world amount of time to heal, or a Restoration spell to fix them. I'm still thinking it through and will test it the next time I run a game.

The way the 5E rules are designed it would be simple to add plugins like that. I'm actually hoping the DMG might actually have some kind of alternate rule in it that would cover it. (Really looking forward to that book.)

It does. Page 272.

 

[Aaron L]

It does. Page 272.

Yup, it sure does, and I am very happy about that... but at the time I wrote that, the DMG hadn't yet been released!

 

[CapnZapp]

It is strange that this spell is so weak, since its been called out as weak several times in previous editions, so you would think WOTC would have given a special look as they did with some other stinker spells.

So... "because nostalgia", then?

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Coroc]

To my best knowledge in former Editions it used to attack independently also it was mighty on + ( i think +4 or so) so it could hit some Major Mobs invulnerable to + less also it could be wielded w/o prof by the wiz.,

In 5E i would totally houserule it to not require concentration to balance it with clenched fist or spiritual weapon and make it overcome every damage resistance.