D&D 5E Targeting Their Attunement

[GuardianLurker]

The only real problem I can see is if your more powerful monsters have a "requires magic to damage" flag set; then things get really nasty, as every attack is a sacrificial one.

Also, to counterbalance the table-flipping, you might want to provide "Ancient Magics" item versions of their gear - perhaps with their appearances remixed. The trait might looking something like:

Ancient Magics: A magic item with this trait cannot be attuned if the character is also attuned to a non-Ancient Magics item. When attuning an Ancient Magics item, the character takes 1d10 damage unless they succeed at a DC 10 Charisma saving throw. If they succeed at this saving throw three times in succession, they no longer take damage from this item during attunement.

 

[CleverNickName]

The only real problem I can see is if your more powerful monsters have a "requires magic to damage" flag set; then things get really nasty, as every attack is a sacrificial one.

And even that isn't much of a problem. Most magical weapons don't require attunement, and there are plenty of cantrips and low-level spells that can turn ordinary weapons (or sticks, in the case of Shillelagh) into magical weapons. Yes, it means the paladin will have to go without his favorite toy until they take a short rest, but that's a minor inconvenience for 10th and 11th level characters. They take short rests after every other battle.

I like the idea of having different "flavors" of magic item attunements, too. I might implement something similar, to help reinforce the 'things work differently here' vibe that I want this adventure to have.

 

[el-remmen]

Most of my magical weapons in the 5E era have been +1 or +2 weapons that grant some bonus ability if you attune to it, otherwise, just a vanilla +1 Longsword, or whatever.

 

[kigmatzomat]

You mention liking non-hp effects, perhaps movement would be a good one. Reduce their movement by 1ft per "new magic" item or maybe 5ft/attuned item or active "new" spell. Similarly, traps/constructs could either push or pull PCs based on their magic items/spells.

 

[M_Natas]

I like the Idea.

I would construct it a little different.

I would give the constructs charges to use their special abilities and depending on how hard you want it to be or what makes sense you can start with 0 charges or 1 charge or more ... and the ancient constructs regain charges by attacking the PCs and shutting down attunments.

Like ...

Mana Drain. Melee Spell Attack. +10 to hit, reach 10ft, one target. Hit 12 (2d6+5) force damage. If the target is a creature that is attuned to any magic item, the creature must succed a DC 14 wisdom saving throw or looses the attunment of one randomly determined magic item it is attuned to. If that happens the [Name of Magical Construct] gains one Manacharge. A magic item that got its attunement broken that way can't be reattuned until 24 hours has passed.

So the breaking of the attunment represents the Construct stealing the magical energy of the magic item to fuel its own powers.

 

[Starfox]

Ideally, the players will realize that their magic items are causing problems, and they'll unattune them. Once they do, these monsters and traps will become nearly toothless. But I might have to paint them a picture to get them to realize that.

Depending on the number of items in your game, I'd advice balance these effect around the premise that all characters have their full allotment of magic items attuned, because this is most certainly going to be the default situation. This makes de-attuning an advantage, rather than punishing attunement. Its similar to exploiting something like vulnerability to cold, except you gain extra defense rather than extra damage.

About spells, punishing buff spells can work for a short jaunt, but if this is going to play out over multiple sessions, you risk making certain characters (most bards, many clerics) useless, as they cannot use their main utility, buffing. Spontaneous casters can't dodge this at all, and even prepared casters will be nerfed until their next long rest.

You may also want to tip the players off in advance about needing to watch for this kind of effect. I don't know your table, how often does your player notice if a creature has a damage vulnerability and exploit that? If they don't, don't expect them to catch this either.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm writing an adventure where the heroes are exploring an ancient crypt...a very very ancient crypt, one that predates the previous age--it's tens of thousands of years old. Older than the elves. Older than dragons. Older than many of the gods. When this crypt was built, the continents were still connected. I'm talking OLD MAGICK.

(It's part of a larger archaeological "Indiana Jones meets Laura Croft" plot arc in my campaign for the resident Artificer. The party consists of 5 characters, between 10th and 11th level.)

So one of the first thing the characters are going to discover about this adventure is that this Old Magick isn't exactly compatible with their own. Specifically, modern magic items will malfunction or backfire in this dungeon. The constructs that patrol this crypt, and the magical traps that were placed here by the Ancients, tend to disrupt and interfere with the magic item attunement of modern magic items.

MONSTER ABILITIES
Here are a collection of abilities that I'm considering for my group of constructs. The weaker constructs (CR 4 or 5) will probably only have Overload or Reverberate, with the rest going to the stronger constructs (CR 7 or 8). But I'll fiddle around with it.

Reverberate (Recharge 5-6)
If the construct takes damage from a magic item or weapon that requires attunement, it may use its Reaction to deal 2d10 points of psychic damage to the creature that dealt the damage, plus 1d10 for each magic item the creature has attuned. (This is intended to be mechanically similar to Hellish Rebuke, but scales with attunement slots instead of spell level.)

Overload (Action, ranged attack)
The construct fires a crackling beam of red light at a target within 30 feet. If this ranged attack hits, the target takes 5 (1d10) points of force damage for every magic item they have attuned. Targets that do not have any magic items attuned do not take damage. (This is mechanically similar to the Firebolt cantrip, but it scales with attunement slots instead of Hit Dice/Level.)

Disruption Beam (Recharge 5-6)
As an action, the construct emits a beam of purple light in a 30 foot cone. All creatures within this beam must make a Charisma saving throw for each magic item they have attuned or lose their attunement to that item.

Stun Ray (Recharge 5-6)
The construct fires a beam of blue light at a single target within 30 feet. If this ranged attack hits, the target takes 6 (1d12) points of force damage and must make a Charisma save or be Stunned until the end of their next turn.

A creature hit by this beam can use their Reaction to end their attunement to one magic item of their choice. If they do, they take no damage and are not stunned.


BOOBYTRAPS
Don't get me wrong, the same old "Dex for half damage" is a classic, but I'm looking for something a little more interesting than simple hit point attrition. Since the premise of this adventure is "incompatible magic", I've decided that these magical traps in this crypt would react strangely to the 'modern' magic items and the way that they are attuned.

Synaptic Shock Trap
An octahedron-shaped purple crystal is hidden in a corner of the room near the ceiling, covered by years of dust and cobwebs. A DC 15 Investigation check will allow a character to find the trap, and a DC 15 Arcana check will allow a character to safely disarm it.

If a living creature approaches within 5 feet, it emits a burst of purple light. All creatures within 30 feet of the crystal take 18 (4d8) points of psychic damage, or 26 (4d12) points of damage if they have one or more magic items attuned. A successful DC 15 Charisma save reduces this damage by half.


Disruption Burst Trap
An octahedron-shaped purple crystal is hidden in a corner of the room near the ceiling, covered by years of dust and cobwebs. A DC 15 Investigation check will allow a character to find the trap, and a DC 15 Arcana check will allow a character to safely disarm it.

If a living creature approaches within 5 feet, it emits a burst of purple light. All creatures within 30 feet of the crystal must make a DC 15 Charisma save or lose attunement to one magic item. If the character has more than one magic item attuned, the player may choose which item they lose attunement to. Characters who are not attuend to any magic items are unaffected.

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That's all I've got so far, but I'm looking for new ideas if you've got 'em. And if you have any feedback on what I've got written here, I'd love to hear it.

According to official lore, there seems no such thing as "before Dragons", at least as far as the 5e default Forgotten Realms understands. During the "First World", Dragons and Giants moreorless cause the Material Plane to come to existence. Then, all of the official settings are shards from the shattering of the First World. Mainly, this explains why Dragons and Elves seem to exist in every official setting.

If working within the 5e default setting, to describe something as "before Dragons", it might make more sense to refer to an obscure plane or planar region that somehow got grafted into the Material Plane.

 

[CleverNickName]

According to official lore, there seems no such thing as "before Dragons", at least as far as the 5e default Forgotten Realms understands. During the "First World", Dragons and Giants moreorless cause the Material Plane to come to existence. Then, all of the official settings are shards from the shattering of the First World. Mainly, this explains why Dragons and Elves seem to exist in every official setting.

If working within the 5e default setting, to describe something as "before Dragons", it might make more sense to refer to an obscure plane or planar region that somehow got grafted into the Material Plane.

No argument from me; that definitely conforms to the default 5E lore that most people use.

My campaign doesn't use the default setting...instead, I use a custom one, loosely based on the "Seas of Vodari" (published by Tribality Games) but with elements borrowed from about a dozen other campaign settings and fantasy works. In this world, gods created the dragons and giants and undead and worse--but even those gods didn't exist until people manifested them, similar to how the 'new gods' came to be in Neil Gaiman's novel "American Gods."

Anyway. I think the "official lore" of D&D is interesting and incredibly detailed, but I didn't really use the history or the timeline.