D&D General Weapons should break left and right

[Micah Sweet]

While item is cool, from practical side, it does 5 more damage. Bonus to hit is better in long run since +2 gives you 10% more chance. It's trade off, but some people value more smaller damage that's more reliable than higher damage with less chance to land. Resistance to psychic sounds cool, but in reality, it's among rarest types of damage in the game. Now, if it gave resistance to all physical damage (BPS) or if you are in campaign fighting mindflayers, that would be another story.

Makes you want to just stop having accuracy bonuses be a part of magic weapons. Too tempting.

 

[rmcoen]

That's right! Thank you for the correction.

I think it would mesh well. Your weapons and armor have a quality. It could be as simple as having a crit fail reduce the quality, or receiving a critical hit for an armor. When it's at 0 quality it's broken. It can be repaired. You might find equipement that's already damaged in dungeons.

But I think I'd like for it to be more frequent.

I would love this, my players would range from "meh" to "ugh" to "I didn't remember to track that". And under it all, "F No!" unless there was a similar mechanic that limited/impaired the magic users (all flavors).

 

[Lanefan]

I would point you in the direction of The Griffon's Saddlebag - Reddit - The heart of the internet - there are a mountain of really interesting magic weapons there. For example, one I gave out in my Phandelver campaign was a magic axe that negates Incorporeal for 1 minute. A minor magic item - uncommon IIRC. But, so much more interesting for a character that was focused on undead hunting than a flaming sword.

/edit to add. Poke for @Lanefan. Here's one of the, IMO, best repositories of magic items out there. This is all I ever use.

Early returns on the irst dozen or so I can see (I have neither a reddit nor patreon account and don't really want either) look great! I've already yoinked one item outright and am scooping ideas for lots of others.

I mean, I gave a helmet to the party that lets you pull off your own head and fly around, headless horseman style while breathing burning hands spells. To me? That's a MAGIC item.

A one-use magic item, I'd think, given that removing one's head tends to slay one in the process.

 

[Lanefan]

This. I mean, if you, as a designer, decide "character of level X needs Y attack bonus"* then just give that to them. Don't introduce the possibility that someone could end up struggling because they didn't get the +2 weapon at whatever level. Magic items are one of the coolest things about D&D, but ever since the very beginning, a powerful item or lack of one at a given level of play has always been problematic.

3rd level character with +3 plate? Problem. 17th level character whose most powerful item is a Bag of Tricks? Potential problem.

3rd level character with +3 plate isn't a problem if items can be destroyed; sure it'll keep the character safe for a while but sooner or later it'll inevitably go boom or get disenchanted somehow.

And high-level characters with no magic soon enough restock themselves, as I've seen recently as both player and DM when characters have lost everything to the Talons card. In the meantime, one is certainly forced to use one's wits.

**there's also C), something I ran into recently. The Fighter in my game has a +2 magic weapon, which isn't really an issue because he so rarely misses it's really just a couple extra points of damage. But when they found a powerful magic weapon, the Mindsword, that granted resistance to psychic, could be summoned to hand like an Eldritch Knight's bonded weapon and inflicted 7 additional psychic damage on a hit (14 on a crit), the Fighter decided it wasn't worth it because "it doesn't have a bonus to hit"! (?!)

Were I playing that Fighter, if I had the cash to afford it I'd claim the Mindsword but I'd also keep me ol' trusty +2, and use them siuationally. If I was forced to choose one or the other it'd be a tough one, and would probably depend on how many times the character had previously been hammered in his career by psychic damage.

 

[M_Natas]

So, I hammered out a system of how a breaking system could look like.
It’s probably not perfect, but it’s a solid starting point.


In this variant, your weapon (on a natural 1) or armor (when hit by a critical hit) can degrade in quality or even break.
There are several quality tiers: Broken → Shoddy → Poor → Standard → Reinforced → Masterwork.


Each tier affects the item’s attack or AC bonus, chance to break, and cost. Gear can be repaired or reforged, but it takes time, materials, and skill, so weapon and armor maintenance become part of the adventuring experience again.

I also included:
• A full price table for every weapon and armor type, scaling with quality.
• Rules for repairing and crafting items.
• A few new feats (Mighty Blow, Overloaded Shot, and Mighty Throw) that let you push your gear for big damage at the risk of breaking it.

The goal was to make mundane equipment progression meaningful again, so players can go from battered scrap to legendary masterwork gear without jumping straight into magic items.


Feedback is very welcome! Does this feel balanced for your tables? Are the break chances too punishing, or about right?

 

[Hussar]

Maybe not the greatest example, as I would not consider a broom intrinsically less interesting than boots.

The more solid comparison would be "Do I buy a +2 weapon, or a +1 weapon with an enhancement that is only occasionally better than another +1?" And why buy an Arrow of Gazebo Slaying when you aren't really expecting to ever run into a Gazebo that you need to kill?

Not quite my point though. The players will look at the items that grant flight and will choose the item that is the "best" of any option. At cheapest, fastest, and easiest to use, the Broom of Flying beats out any other choice by a mile. And they will get a Broom of Flying LOOOOOONG before an item that might be fun/interesting but nowhere near as practical.

Again, I totally understand why they do it. Totally makes sense given the pricing of magic items. Which is why I'd like to pretty much junk the entire list of magic items in the DMG and only go with bespoke magic items. You cannot buy a +1 Sword because those don't exist. You want a magic weapon? You gotta either find it and take it from whoever has it now, or you find someone who can make something for you.

I have to admit the quirks table for magic items does go a long way.

 

[Lanefan]

So, I hammered out a system of how a breaking system could look like.
It’s probably not perfect, but it’s a solid starting point.


In this variant, your weapon (on a natural 1) or armor (when hit by a critical hit) can degrade in quality or even break.
There are several quality tiers: Broken → Shoddy → Poor → Standard → Reinforced → Masterwork.


Each tier affects the item’s attack or AC bonus, chance to break, and cost. Gear can be repaired or reforged, but it takes time, materials, and skill, so weapon and armor maintenance become part of the adventuring experience again.

I also included:
• A full price table for every weapon and armor type, scaling with quality.
• Rules for repairing and crafting items.
• A few new feats (Mighty Blow, Overloaded Shot, and Mighty Throw) that let you push your gear for big damage at the risk of breaking it.

The goal was to make mundane equipment progression meaningful again, so players can go from battered scrap to legendary masterwork gear without jumping straight into magic items.


Feedback is very welcome! Does this feel balanced for your tables? Are the break chances too punishing, or about right?

Looks good.

The only thing that seems really counterintuitive is that the base price doesn't apply to "standard", i.e. new out of a shop, but instead to "poor-worn", i.e. secondhand.

 

[Maxperson]

problem is, if it can be made, it has a price.
unless only the maker can use the item.
that can be a cool setting rule.
IE: if you want to make a magic sword for yourself, the hot steel must be quenched in fresh blood of at least Large Dragon.
You define how "fresh" the fresh blood must be.

Easily solved by making them unable to be made. Or just blow the prices up through the roof. Sure it has a price, but there are so few who can make it, and those really don't want to be bothered to make it, that the Flaming Sword you want is 50,000 gold.

I've long felt that the 5e prices were way too low already, so items in my game, when you can find them, are much more expensive than the DMG, and there's no regular chart for how much something costs. Wizard Chandly might charge you 50,000 for the item, but Wizard Monroviary really hates doing it, so he charges 110,000 for the same item.

well, people use what us useful.
maybe we need more creative and useful items.
In what ever house that I went there was a fridge, a freezer, a stove of some kind, microwave, washingmachine, hair dryer, etc...
OFC, if PCs can buy items, they will first stock up on the basics and then if there is gold left, maybe some unusual things.

Just about every magic item is useful. The problem isn't whether it's useful or not. The problem is that players want to optimize the heck out of their items, so 99% of the useful items fall by the wayside.

If you want less optimized items to be used, sales have to be largely curtailed or even completely stopped.

If I will battle whatnot in melee combat my whole career, then I want the best weapon and armor that I can get my hands on.
I want to make my job as easy as possible, and have best chance of surviving said job.

And perhaps the best you can get your hands on is the fabled Longsword of Digit Removal. Every hit forces a DC 14 con save or one of the digits on a hand or foot vanishes for 24 hours, causing a loss of 1 point of dexterity, to a minimum of 3.

 

[Maxperson]

never randomize.
while it sounds logical, it just uses your time without any payout for anyone.
especially if you spent time to create a custom, cool item.
at best it will be vendored if found as loot as a glorified platinum bar, at worse if for sale, simply ignored.

Not if you stick with it. As soon as the players realize they aren't getting the best shiny version of everything they want and these random items are it, they start using them, because it's that or have no magic items.

 

[Maxperson]

HOW DO THESE KEEP GETTING THROUGH?! ARE YOU PEOPLE MAGIC?!

They shelled out the gold for an Amulet of Filter Evasion. Not optimal, but fun!