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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 9765386" data-attributes="member: 50987">Several years ago, when 5E was brand-new, I created a new magic item.  It was a longsword whose blade had been forged from strange blue glass...it functioned in combat like a longsword +2, and on a nat-20 it would deal critical damage plus some extra force damage.  However, on a nat-1, it also scored a critical hit, and also dealt the extra radiant damage...but then it shattered.The fighter in the group loved that sword.  So when she finally rolled a nat-1 with it and it broke, she was understandably sad.  The wizard tried to help.  "Um, I have the mending cantrip," he said hopefully. "And the fabricate spell.  Can one of those fix it?"  The fighter piped up, "I can help!  This is the moment I've been waiting for...I have glassblowing tools!"  And everyone at the table looked across the battlemat at me with puppy-dog eyes.Now (1) I had intended for this sword to be a temporary item and it was going to be replaced later with a different weapon, and (2) these spells don't restore magic items per the rules.  But I changed my mind because (1) the replacement wasn't better, just different for no reason, and (2) magic items aren't supposed to shatter on a nat-1 per the rules, either.So I allowed it.  "Sure.  It'll have to be done over a long rest, though."  Cheers and high-fives all around.It turned out to be a pretty interesting mechanic.  The sword worked great in combat but there was always a chance of it going AWOL for the rest of the day on a bad roll.  To help counter this, the character took the Lucky feat at the first opportunity, and Cutting Words was always at the ready.  But even with these precautions in place, the possibility of having to resort to using one's sidearm to finish a battle was still there.  It still broke from time to time, and there was always an interesting story about it.So my advice?  If you're thinking about adding weapons that break to your game, drop this glass sword into your next dungeon and see what your players think of it first.  A little test-drive, if you will.</blockquote>

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