D&D 5E Overpowered Items and GM Expectations

[Stalker0]

My still active, inaugural 5e campaign is something I have wanted to try for 30 years,
it features the Swords of Power...as inspired by the works of Fred Saberhagen.

Trial and Error experimentation is needed. A weapon like Townsaver....a longsword that becomes a +5 Weapon and grants the wielder something like a Zealot Barbarian's Rage Beyond Death power isn't as difficult to balance, as one may think.

Now, Stonecutter, which as an action could either create a Passwall effect, or
Move Earth effect...was vastly more disruptive than Townsaver.

I personally believe artifacts should place a target on the wielder's back.

A fantasy world church, with a footprint In the campaign similar to the Catholic Church, might be heavily motivated to recover the death shroud of the earthly incarnation of the god they worship. If that artifact is in the hands of the PC, some complications will happen.

I love the Deck of Many things, and have included the artifact in almost every game I have ran. Eventually, someone is going to turn over a malignant card at the wrong time, probably more than once.

This usually leads the players to agree that the deck is too unpredictable to use safely.

I definitely agree that the “mess with things” type item are much more disruptive than a really powerful weapon.

For example, I let my players have a cube of force for 1 adventure As I wanted to try it out. Never again...it just completely disrupts normal encounters, you have to make special adjustments or just assume the encounter is auto win.

it was a fun change of pace for an adventure, but would never allow it for a campaign

 

[Guest User]

Yeah in a 3e game I had a player hold on the card from the Deck of Many Things, that let you rewind time one round, for years. (actual real life years).

The player used it in the final battle of the campaign when the party had a near TPK in round one of the concluding adventure for the campaign.

 

[Fauchard1520]

I definitely agree that the “mess with things” type item are much more disruptive than a really powerful weapon.

For example, I let my players have a cube of force for 1 adventure As I wanted to try it out. Never again...it just completely disrupts normal encounters, you have to make special adjustments or just assume the encounter is auto win.

it was a fun change of pace for an adventure, but would never allow it for a campaign

This is more or less what I'm worried about. With this kind of item, even a modicum of creative usage undoes the careful balancing act that is 5e. The notion of "just make the monsters stronger" doesn't really change that.

In this specific case, maybe a cube that doesn't regain charges could work out better...?

 

[billd91]

This is more or less what I'm worried about. With this kind of item, even a modicum of creative usage undoes the careful balancing act that is 5e. The notion of "just make the monsters stronger" doesn't really change that.

In this specific case, maybe a cube that doesn't regain charges could work out better...?

To be honest, cubes of force kind of tore apart 1e encounter expectations as well.

 

[Guest User]

Writing for myself, I have no problem with parties that use powerful artifacts in clever fashion being able to trivialize some encounters. That is, somewhat the point of artifacts.

Roleplay/Narrative consequences I think are the best way to balance super powered items.

In The Silmarillion, even millennia after Feanor's death, his children would mount crusades to research and recover any of the The Silmarils that were loose in the world.

I, as a player, have certainly refused to loot a Githyanki Silver Sword. Starting an interplanar war was just not worth the boost, especially when the inevitable loss of innocent lives was factored in.

I've also had players, take a Silver Sword, and watched their Castle and City they founded, burn in Red Dragon fire as a Githyanki Invasion force came to recover it, and punish everything nearby.

Artifacts might bring weal at first, but as Tolkien amply shows, eventually, most powerful devices result in Woe.