Hiatus

Going on hiatus, so I won't be able to update this blog with D&D designs.

Here's the living document of all of my magic items so far:

    emulca's Magic Items

My rogue subclasses:

    Steeplejack

    Operative

    Savant

Subclass: Steeplejack

I worked on a Roguish Archetype today! Some feedback I got was that the climbing felt too similar to the Thief, but I think a little overlap is fine since this archetype focuses on heights while the Thief is basically a pickpocket, burglar, and dungeoneer all rolled into one. I boosted the Steeplejack's dungeoneering abilities (detect traps, resistance to poison, advantage on Dex saves) to intentionally outmatch the Thief. I figured that the Thief is such a versatile bag of tricks that stepping on some toes couldn't hurt.

Item: Amulet of Endurance

I was thinking about an item that plays with the exhaustion mechanic, and the first iteration was pretty much just the Potion of Vitality, which isn't anything new or interesting. The second iteration prevent levels 5-6 of exhaustion, which felt overpowered. Exhaustion is a cost that you must pay if you don't manage it (and this is most pronounced with the Berserker Barbarian). It also granted advantage on Constitution saving throws against exhaustion, but I realized that some exhaustion effects don't offer a save.

Item: Electrified Armor

Otherwise known as the Smiter's Bane! This item punishes heavy hitters and prompts them to attack you with multiple small hits rather than a single big hit.

Item: Emblem of Service

This one was initially inspired by the Redemption Paladin's aura, but then I realized that there is a monster in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes that had the wording that I needed: the merregon's loyal bodyguard trait. The theme of this item reminds me of all those times in video games when you had to escort an important NPC, like Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite, or Farah from Prince of Persia. Since I thought it might look like a badge you wore on your lapel, I couldn't help but envision a Secret Service bodyguard.

Item: Wraps of the Mummy Lord

I was initially looking at the Conquest Paladin's aura feature, and thought that I might try a persistent damage aura fueled by your own health, like a deal with the devil. I was told that playing with the Hit Dice mechanic for anything other than healing during a short rest is a bad idea. Though I really like the theme of this item, it still has some kinks I'll need to work out.

Item: Thunderbird Amulet

Here's another item that's triggered by low health, similar to the Cornered Beast items and the Ghost Walkers. My inspiration is from the legendary nova shield in Borderlands 2, except I thought that elemental fire is too overused in games. Thunderwave adds a knockback, so it can be good defensively if you're under a lot of heat.

Item: Rod of the Necromancer

The in-combat spellcasting to get your undead servants back feels like it's possibly stealing the thunder from danse macabre. However, I thought that this ability would be useful for players who don't use Xanathar's Guide, or perhaps want to free up their prepared spells. I matched the healing amount from the second ability to Hit Dice healing during short rests. You can only do this once a day, which limits it to sane levels.

Item: Totem of the New Moon

I'm using a new format on GM Binder. Going to keep it clean and simple. This item is like a antimagic field, but more specific and actually suppresses shapechangers (which isn't a magical trait). I thought the flavor of a black rock symbolizing the "new moon" fits the mechanic well.

Item: Etched Bottle

I was inspired by the idea of a fantasy vacuum, so I looked up all of the gaseous effects in 5e (shown in the d10 table). I picked apart elements from the Iron Flask and Ring of Spell Storing. I decided on legendary rarity because there's nothing stopping a player from casting gaseous form on ANY creature and storing it inside the bottle, which puts it on the same power level as an Iron Flask. Portable mount, anyone?

Item: Mighty Weapon

Didn't have much time today. This item appears simple, but could be a game changer. It robs the enemy of their turn for 1 round (including Tarrasques!), and does it automatically without a save. Still unsure about the rarity.

Item: Face of Nightmares

I was looking into how to remix the dragon's Frightful Presence and the Mace of Terror into something new, and came up with this. In addition to the principal fearing effect, I really like the endless tripping (stand up, move 15, fall, repeat) and the cascading terror. To be honest, I was thinking about The Ring for cascading terror, and that movie was terrifying. Also, the burlap sack is pretty much inspired by the Scarecrow.

Item Updates (and Reddit)

I got onto Reddit yesterday (specifically r/UnearthedArcana). Going to try to post there daily and see about getting more feedback. This social media business is hard! You're constantly fighting thousands of other voices trying to stay afloat.

Anyway, per feedback on Reddit, I've updated Chaos Gauntlet to be a +1 to put it more in line with the Ioun Stone of Mastery. I've also revised Totem of the Thrill and the Vile Cloak (which is now called Cloak of the Pariah).

* UPDATE *

Item: Bringer of Undeath

This item gives you the Wight's animate dead ability, but I decided that it would come with a subtle cost to keep things interesting. If you ever wanted to end attunement for this item (say, to free up an attunement slot), you had better send the zombies away or they will eat your brains!

I like the imagery of this small army of zombies that do as you command, but yet linger too close for comfort, watching you with blank expressions. Are they friend or foe? These are the undead! They should creep you out!

Item: Collar of Subjugation

Wow, this one got wordy. The initial idea was a magic saddle that gave you the ability to mount a wider range of beasts, but then I thought, "Let's just mount everything! Including pit fiends!" At the very least, this item is a weaker version of a 9th-level Dominate Monster, but can be used many times.

Item: Beast Master's Flute

It's almost universally agreed that the Beast Master is underwhelming compared to all of the other options in D&D. I wanted to address some of its issues without making drastic changes.

First, increase the companion size to Large. This opens up the options to include the following beasts from the Monster Manual: Axe Beak, Camel, Constrictor Snake, Draft Horse, Elk, Giant Bat, Giant Fly (DMG), Giant Lizard, Giant Owl, and Riding Horse. They're still CR 1/4 and not overly powered. Large beasts can also be mounted by non-halfling/non-gnome rangers because let's face it, mounting your beast companion is the only reason why you took Beast Master!

Second, the beast companion has crappy hit points, so rangers are going to need new ones pretty often. The 8 hour wait time is unreasonably punishing, so I changed it to an hour, the equivalent amount of time to a short rest. Companions are a class FEATURE, so this rightfully allows rangers to stay relevant throughout the adventuring day.

Finally, the crappy action economy! Why on earth would you ever sacrifice one of your own precious actions to have your companion do anything?!

Find Familiar at least gives you attack advantage without sacrificing a turn. Animate Dead at least gives you more options as a bonus action. Find Steed at least gives you a mount that could Dash, Disengage, or Dodge for free.

As a Beast Master, you need help to stay relevant (without overshadowing the Fighter). With this flute, you could dish out 2 attacks on your turn (free companion attack + your own attack action) starting from level 3. This beats the Fighter to the punch who only gets Extra Attack at level 5. But you max out at 3 attacks per turn, whereas the Fighter climbs up to 4. Is this imbalanced? Does a Beast Master with a tweaked action economy steal the Fighter's limelight?

Item: Robe of the Reluctant Mage

This item was initially inspired by the Aquila Cuirass from Diablo 3, an item that encourages more careful resource management. I decided on a maximum AC of 20 because I wanted the item to be comparable to a high Dex character with both Mage Armor (13 + Dex) and Bracers of Defense (+2). I also decided against Warlocks being able to use the item because it leans towards a cantrip-heavy build and a Warlock with 20 AC and enhanced Eldritch Blasts just sounds insane.

The fiction that I had in mind for this "reluctant mage" is either a sorcerer that hasn't yet come to terms with his power, or a wizard who was sent to wizarding school against his wishes. If the description of the robe doesn't give it away...

 

Yup, the Dude in his iconic bathrobe. Or even Arthur Dent.

*UPDATE*
I just realized that a multiclass character with a dip in sorcerer/wizard or even a 13th-level Thief could bypass the item requirements. Should I lower the AC?

Item: Nemesis Pauldrons

I wanted to build on the idea of the cornered beast items, but this time in reverse. For all those annoying times when no one in your party can seem to deal any damage to a monster during a round, either because of bad rolls or because of the monster's ridiculous defense, this item bypasses all of that.

Think of all the memorable moments when beefed up first strikes (such as the barbarian's brutal critical or the paladin's divine smite) deal massive damage in one single blow. It's awesome.

Item: Cape of the Cornered Beast

This is a straightforward item inspired by Diablo 3's Shi Mizu's Haori.

"While below 25% Life, all attacks are guaranteed Critical Hits."

Rolling a 1 still automatically misses, to preserve the dread of rolling a 1. I also expanded the triggers to include harmful conditions to reinforce the theme of a cornered beast. I'm still unsure about the rarity of the item; it seems like it should be a "very rare".

*UPDATE*

Here's a variant of the cornered beast as a dagger. Since the ability is limited to only this dagger and since daggers deal such low damage, I thought that the rarity could be justified.

Item: Battlegear of Frostkind (Item Set)

Here's the full item set for Battlegear of Frostkind. I've revised all 3 items, so this post will contain the most up to date text moving forward.

Item: Frostheart

Completing the Frost set is Frostheart, legendary plate armor (set item 3 of 3). I'll write up the set bonuses tomorrow. I revised Frostshard and Frostwall, and will post those tomorrow as well.

Item: Frostwall

I had this idea that I would make 2 more items in addition to Frostshard and give a set bonus if you're attuned to all 3, which (surprise!) is a mechanic taken from Diablo 3. So here's Frostwall (set item 2 of 3), a huge tower shield that freezes enemies if they fail to deal damage to you.

Item: Flaming Flense

Multiple inspirations for this one. I was really into the idea of the battle master's Sweeping Attack, and thought that it could relate to the Crusader's sweeping flail attacks from Diablo 3. Then I thought about Diablo 3's Butcher and his dragging attack, so decided that a whip would serve the theme more than a flail. Finally, I figured that a magic weapon needed to have more oomph than a regular weapon, hence fire damage. A whip that deals fire damage, sounds familiar...

Yup, the Balrog's whip.

Item: Frostshard

I was inspired to design an item that had a similar feature to vorpal sword's instant kill (with conditions). I tried to balance Frostshard using vorpal sword as a baseline. I figured that if vorpal sword had a 5% chance to instant kill, that I would double the chance for Frostshard and not include the +3 hit/dam rolls. Here's my table from AnyDice:

Frostshard needs two critical hits in a row to instant kill. The second attack must be made before the start of your next turn (hence this sword is best used by fighters with extra attack), but is made with advantage since the target is petrified. To reach the 10.40% chance of instant kill, I set the crit range to 17-20. Also, since vorpal sword ignores slashing resistance, I thought that I would copy that effect by giving Frostshard +1d8 cold damage (which is a longsword's damage dice).

The icing on the cake for Frostshard is its wand-like property. All in all, this sword is probably overpowered, but only playtesting can tell.

Item: Natasha's Doll

Felt like doing another weird one. This item is named after Natasha (Tasha) of the Tasha's Hideous Laughter spell. I thought that I would follow the theme of named spells and make it tied to this item's triggering mechanism. Named spells are spells like Melf's Acid Arrow, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, or Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion.

Item: Kinetic Armor

I wanted an item that made taking damage give good feels. Most of the time you want to avoid taking damage, but at least with this item there's a delayed benefit to it. I specified plate armor because I assume the "tanky" characters would go for it.

Item: Dueling Weapon

I was able to focus on getting some focused time today, so I give you a bonus weapon that focuses on keeping your focus on the target, with effects that encourage that focus.

Item: Monster Slayer's Suit

For all those times you dreaded getting eaten by an ooze or a tarrasque, you can now stick it to them with this armor that probably tastes like activated charcoal!

Item: Infernal Harness

The inspiration for this item came from a theme I was imagining of a post-apocalyptic wasteland and gasoline. Since Descent into Avernus was announced, I thought it especially fitting if this was a devil's belt of fiery destruction. I combined the utility of a few spells: the area-of-effect of create bonfire's flames and grease's slick surface, the automatic damage without saves from cloud of daggers, and the explosive damage from fireball as well as from staff of the magi.

Item: Covetous Cap

Got a weird one for today. I wanted to confer the benefits of the fighter's second wind feature (and a standard potion of healing) without limit, but at a great risk.

Item: Helm of True Strike

Didn’t have time and was away from keyboard this Memorial Day weekend, so I came up with something quick using my phone. I wanted an item that made the true strike spell relevant again (which many agree is underpowered and a waste of a turn), without changing the text of the spell itself. I thought that dealing critical damage should cover for the turn casting true strike, so that if you’re down to one spell slot for a spell attack, you could try to make that last shot count.

Item: Aegis Boots

Another day, another item inspired by Diablo 3. But this time by the game's respawning mechanic. When designing items, I spend 5% of my time on hashing out the general idea and 95% of my time on carefully wording it using WotC's language to try to cover all bases and prevent exploits. I had the most trouble with this part:

"When you leave the Ethereal Plane, you have 1 hit point and 0 temporary hit points, and any spells or effects affecting you also end."

Rules-as-intended, I want characters to come back as a clean slate such that any effect placed on them (i.e. being poisoned, affected by sanctuary, or in barbarian rage) would not carry over. Did I miss anything?

Item: Vile Cloak

Bonus item for today inspired yet again by Diablo 3! Pox Faulds.

"When 3 or more enemies are within 12 yards, you release a vile stench that deals 492% weapon damage as Poison every second for 5 seconds to enemies within 15 yards."

I thought that it would be interesting to reinforce this item's theme by adding flies.

* UPDATE *

Item: Totem of the Thrill

Today, I was again inspired by an item from Diablo 3: the Warzechian Armguards.

"Every time you destroy a wreckable object, you gain a short burst of speed."

I liked the idea of a raging barbarian who is so amped from the rush of fighting that she will even smash objects in her way. Note that the effect of needing to howl gives away your position if any nearby enemies can hear you. But that's the point of a raging barbarian—you barge in head first like a honey badger.

* UPDATE *

Item: Chaos Gauntlet

The Chaos Gauntlet is my interpretation of the Convention of Elements from Diablo 3.

"Gain 179% increased damage to a single element for 4 seconds. This effect rotates through the elements available to your class in the following order: Arcane, Cold, Fire, Holy, Lightning, Physical, Poison."

My goal with the gauntlet was to encourage players to make strategic decisions when preparing their spells each day (hence the exclusion of cantrips), and also to influence their tactical decisions of what type of damage to deal on their turn.

Though the gauntlet can be attuned to by any class, the damage table clearly favors spellcasters. I still wanted martial classes to get utility out of it though, hence the roll 20 giving the choice of damage type to the player (as well as the +2 bonus to attacks). The other benefit of the roll 20 is that it promotes the idea of "rolling well," so that spellcasters with limited damage spells prepared still have a slim chance of choosing their preferred damage type. (Note that I made force damage less likely in order to balance the table. I assumed that it's somewhat acceptable because force damage has the least amount of resistances in the game.)

NPC: Ambrose Tharch

Ambrose Tharch is loosely inspired by Anton Chigurh, the unstoppable villain from No Country For Old Men. I went with locate creature/object because it is the closest D&D equivalent of Anton's beeping transponder, with physical limits.