D&D General Need Magic Longbow Ideas

[Meech17]

A +2 would be fine, but I would add something else.

Perhaps it allows the (attuned) wielder to cast guardian of nature once per day? I might even add that to what @EzekielRaiden posted above.

I like the idea of expanded criticals. Something we saw in 3.xe that was kind of forgotten. If you're wanting to make it a little more powerful you could allow it to crit on a 19 or 20.

My initial thought looking at it was to attach either Ensnaring Strike or Grasping Vine to the bow as a 1/day ability.

 

[James Gasik]

Half way through reading your ability here I was imagining the cruel death of having a tree grow up and through the enemies body.

I've had a player in my games use Quaal's Feather Token (Tree) to nasty effect enough times I don't let him have those anymore. And that's not even getting into what he did with the Swan Boat...I still have PTSD!

 

[James Gasik]

I like the idea of expanded criticals. Something we saw in 3.xe that was kind of forgotten. If you're wanting to make it a little more powerful you could allow it to crit on a 19 or 20.

My initial thought looking at it was to attach either Ensnaring Strike or Grasping Vine to the bow as a 1/day ability.

I've been wanting to expand critical ranges in my 5e game, the main thing stopping me is the fact the system seems to think that's a huge benefit when it really isn't for most characters- but it is for some.

Like, a Fighter with a 18-20 crit isn't really a big deal. Wow, 15% of attacks do extra dice of damage. Even if that's 2d6, what does that boost their DPR by? 1 per attack?

But you give a sword that crits on a 19 to a Rogue or Paladin, and that could have a disproportionate benefit, and I'm just not sure I like that imbalance.

 

[aco175]

Nature's Call, a silly name for a weapon of great fame, but in the hands of those that can use it is deadly.
+1 longbow that creates magical arrows at-will when drawn. These last for one round before fading away.
On a critical roll, add (+2d8) lightning. This is a reflection from the creation of the bow and the ash tree being split by lighting in a storm.
Storm-Call 1/rest: Make one attack roll at each target in a 30ft cone. This damage becomes lightning based.
Storm-Fury 1/day: You cast lightning bolt as per the spell with a DC of 14

 

[Meech17]

I've been wanting to expand critical ranges in my 5e game, the main thing stopping me is the fact the system seems to think that's a huge benefit when it really isn't for most characters- but it is for some.

Like, a Fighter with a 18-20 crit isn't really a big deal. Wow, 15% of attacks do extra dice of damage. Even if that's 2d6, what does that boost their DPR by? 1 per attack?

But you give a sword that crits on a 19 to a Rogue or Paladin, and that could have a disproportionate benefit, and I'm just not sure I like that imbalance.

For sure. I don't know if I'd give the Paladin an expanded crit weapon. Instead I gave my Paladin a shield that allows them and their allies to use a 1hd healing surge whenever THEY'RE struck by a critical hit.

 

[Shardstone]

Every time the bow damages a specific target, that target gains a mark of Hunted. If they gain 3 marks of Hunted before finishing a short or long rest, all further attacks made by the bow against them are considered to be critical hits. Critical hits made with the bow always do maximum damage x2, so a d8 would deal 16 + Dex mod. When the bow kills a creature with a critical hit, it gains a temporary boost in its damage dice (d8 -> d10 -> d12 -> 2d6 -> 2d12) that lasts until a short or long rest.

 

[Lanefan]

Nature's Call, a silly name for a weapon of great fame, but in the hands of those that can use it is deadly.
+1 longbow that creates magical arrows at-will when drawn. These last for one round before fading away.

I was also thinking "self-loading", as in the bow provides its own ammunition.

And that could tie in to the leaves too: each "leaf" is an arrow. The bow grows new leaves each night such that each morning it has 20 (or whatever set number you like), then each time you draw the bow a leaf turns into a nocked arrow, ready to fire. Leaf-arrows stick into the target on a hit, doing d6/round ongoing damage if the target is alive. If Nature's Call runs out of leaves during the day you have to provide your own ammo thereafter, which functions as it normally would.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I like the idea of expanded criticals. Something we saw in 3.xe that was kind of forgotten. If you're wanting to make it a little more powerful you could allow it to crit on a 19 or 20.

My initial thought looking at it was to attach either Ensnaring Strike or Grasping Vine to the bow as a 1/day ability.

If you know which pc you're giving the weapon to, you can decide if expanded/improved criticals are tooo much, and you can lock the attunement to the right class.

 

[NotAYakk]

Living Bow
Requires Attunement
Ranged weapon (martial, bow)
Damage: 2d8
Damage Type: Piercing
Properties: Ammunition, Range, Two-Handed
Range: 300/600
Weight: 4

The Living Bow resembles a tree branch wrapped in vines more than a bow. It will string itself and when drawn, create its own arrows, also made of living wood.

When the damage dice of the Living Bow roll doubles, the Living Bow can cast a spell corresponding to the rolled value. The save DC of this spell is 12 plus the wielder's proficiency bonus, its attack bonus is 4 plus the wielder's proficiency bonus, and the Living Bow can only maintain concentration on one such effect at a time. The spell is cast on the target regardless of range requirements.

1: Thorn Whip (damage dice rolled is based on wielder's level)
2: Entangle (centered on target)
3: Spike Growth (centered on target)
4: Grasping Vine (adjacent to the target)
5: Roll 1d4 and use that effect.
6: Pick any effect from 1 through 4.
7: Roll 1d4 twice, and trigger both effects (even if both require concentration).
8: Wrath of Nature (centered on target)

Once you have used one of these abilities (from 1 to 8) you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest. If the spell allows you to take further actions to control the spell, you can do so while wielding the bow.

In the event of a critical hit, if more than one pair is rolled choose one pair to trigger.

---

Design points:
1: +X items are powerful but boring in comparison to the power level, especially accuracy buffs.
2: No need to exclude smols from this weapon. So no Heavy keyword.
3: Offensive abilities on a weapon are good.
4: Minigames where the actual pip values on dice matter are good. But they have to come up reasonably often; not too often or too rarely.
5: This weapon should lean into the "living plant material" vibe.

At 2d8 damage it is tempting to use even without the spells: as +2 damage is worth about +1 accuracy, the +3.5 damage on this weapon over a longbow makes it on-par with a +2 longbow.

The spells trigger 1 in 8 attacks (~13%) and ~60% of crits (100%-8Choose4/8^4), enough to be happening often you won't forget about it, but not every turn. The "once per rest" restriction keeps it from getting ridiculous, and makes "spamming it out of combat" less silly.

I also gave it a 300 short range. This is an accuracy boost, but not a numerical one.

And the fact that most crits give you a spell effect is a fun side effect of the "any pair of dice" mechanic.

 

[Lanefan]

Living Bow
Requires Attunement
Ranged weapon (martial, bow)
Damage: 2d8
Damage Type: Piercing
Properties: Ammunition, Range, Two-Handed
Range: 300/600
Weight: 4

The Living Bow resembles a tree branch wrapped in vines more than a bow. It will string itself and when drawn, create its own arrows, also made of living wood.

When the damage dice of the Living Bow roll doubles, the Living Bow can cast a spell corresponding to the rolled value. The save DC of this spell is 12 plus the wielder's proficiency bonus, its attack bonus is 4 plus the wielder's proficiency bonus, and the Living Bow can only maintain concentration on one such effect at a time. The spell is cast on the target regardless of range requirements.

1: Thorn Whip (damage dice rolled is based on wielder's level)
2: Entangle (centered on target)
3: Spike Growth (centered on target)
4: Grasping Vine (adjacent to the target)
5: Roll 1d4 and use that effect.
6: Pick any effect from 1 through 4.
7: Roll 1d4 twice, and trigger both effects (even if both require concentration).
8: Wrath of Nature (centered on target)

Once you have used one of these abilities (from 1 to 8) you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest. If the spell allows you to take further actions to control the spell, you can do so while wielding the bow.

In the event of a critical hit, if more than one pair is rolled choose one pair to trigger.

---

Design points:
1: +X items are powerful but boring in comparison to the power level, especially accuracy buffs.
2: No need to exclude smols from this weapon. So no Heavy keyword.
3: Offensive abilities on a weapon are good.
4: Minigames where the actual pip values on dice matter are good. But they have to come up reasonably often; not too often or too rarely.
5: This weapon should lean into the "living plant material" vibe.

At 2d8 damage it is tempting to use even without the spells: as +2 damage is worth about +1 accuracy, the +3.5 damage on this weapon over a longbow makes it on-par with a +2 longbow.

The spells trigger 1 in 8 attacks (~13%) and ~60% of crits (100%-8Choose4/8^4), enough to be happening often you won't forget about it, but not every turn. The "once per rest" restriction keeps it from getting ridiculous, and makes "spamming it out of combat" less silly.

I also gave it a 300 short range. This is an accuracy boost, but not a numerical one.

And the fact that most crits give you a spell effect is a fun side effect of the "any pair of dice" mechanic.

Confused: when you say "When the damage dice of the Living Bow doubles..." are you referring to when a crit doubles the damage dice or when the two dice for normal damage each show the same number (as in two 3s, two 5s, etc.)?

Soem clarity might be handy here.