“One, two! One, two! And through and through
Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.”
There is one more thing we must do with weapons. We can have all the weapon lists we want, but sooner or later the players will set their sights on something higher. No matter how good what they have is, they will want a magic weapon. We can work with that. It would be easy enough to adapt published magic weapons to our new weapon lists, and give them out as treasure. Players would be excited. They would update their character sheets or apps with the new numbers. Then, for the most part, they would forget about them. No matter how awe-inspiring the backstory, nor how epic the quest to recover them, most magic weapons in D&D are forgettable.
It is possible to make better magic items. To get there, we need to follow the road we started down in previous articles to it’s ultimate conclusion: the place where all the rules we earlier made are stretched, and then broken.
Forging Weapons of Wonder
Number Crunching
Magic item requirements in 5e are not nearly as bad as in other editions. The “Big Six” were such a ubiquitous requirement for Pathfinder characters that optional rules were published to just give those bonuses to PCs automatically as they advanced. The problem was that the game expected PCs to have the boosts. Magic items were not a bonus — they were a basic necessity. And the problem with essentials is that they are dull. There is nothing exciting about getting them, and there is a cause for frustration when you do not receive what you need.
5e swings in the opposite direction. Magic weapons are optional. The game maths is built around bounded accuracy — this means that bonuses on attack rolls do not scale rapidly to high numbers. This can be seen in proficiency bonuses and ability scores. At level 1, we can assume a PC has a key ability score of 16, while at level 20 it is capped at 20. When making checks they are proficient in, the first level PC will have a +5 bonus, and the level 20 PC will have a +11 bonus. A Pathfinder Fighter, by way of comparison, would have a +1 bonus at level 1, and a +20 bonus at level 20 even before ability scores are considered.
By operating over a smaller range of bonuses, 5e makes bonuses less essential, as succeeding at a check is almost certainly within the range of possible outcomes even without magic items. It also makes bonuses more significant, as a difference of 1 is a notable shift.
This all means that the normal range of attack bonuses on published magic weapons (+1 to +3) is actually pretty good. In all cases, PCs with magic weapons will be more powerful than the game anticipates, so should be more capable of overcoming monsters of appropriate difficulty. However, the bonuses are forgettable once they are written down. They are very effective, but they do not feel very effective.
Cool Stuff
The numbers give us a skeleton of an item. As a bare minimum, a magic weapon will have a +1 to +3 bonus to attack and damage. However, it must do something else.
Passive Powers
Some weapons have passive abilities, such as the Frost Brand, which provides resistance to fire damage. Passive abilities are good, because they are simple, but provide a distinct mechanical difference. Anyone can make an attack, even if they do not have a magic weapon with a bonus to attacks, but most PCs will not be resistant to fire damage. Whenever fire damage occurs, the player is reminded of how cool the weapon is.
However, passive effects do have a downside: they can normally only be used reactivity. The DM must create a scenario in which the effect is useful. The players will generally not be able to make use of fire resistance if nothing they encounter deals fire damage. As such, good passive effects need to be useful in situations that actually come up.
Active Abiliites
Other weapons, such as the Trident of Fish Command, provide active abilities: new powers or effects that can be triggered under certain conditions. Frequently, they allow a spell to be cast. This is a good way to introduce flavor, but often fails to make good magic weapons. The problem is that martial characters are generally at their most effective when using weapons to attack. Stopping to cast spells or trigger other effects is often less effective, so the cool abilities never get used. Good active effects must be carefully selected so as to compliment the kind of characters who will use the weapon — the Oathbow is a good example of this, although the high cost makes using it a costly gamble.
Damage, Damage, Damage
The Flame Brand deals extra damage. Although this effect is passive, extra damage is a special boost that merits it’s own category. Rather than just adding a static boost to damage, extra dice are rolled. A player using this weapon does not just use different mechanics — they take physically different actions. There is a corporeal reminder in the real world of how awesome the magic weapon is. This is how magic weapons should feel.
Tactical Options
Critical Role’s Whisper, in it’s Exalted State, is an example of a final class of weapons. The wielder can throw it and teleport to where it strikes. This introduces a new tactical option that would not otherwise be possible. Tactical options are an excellent bonus because they give players new choices. They are not just better at stuff they could otherwise try — they can do something no one else can. This is another excellent feature of magic weapons.
New Weapons
Now that we have an idea of what makes for a good magic weapon feature, we can put the theory into practice. It is time to forge some weapons. These weapons are taken from my home setting — as I continue testing them I will update these descriptions with new details.
Dwarven Blades
Scattered around the world are a number of ancient Dwarven sites called Crucibles. Daring explorers occasionally survive the lethal array of hazards and traps, reach the Crucible’s inner sanctum, and must confront an ancient guardian automaton. Should they survive and take down the machine, the rune-covered blade attachments can be salvaged and reforged into new weapons.
Dwarven Blades can be forged into melee weapons of any kind — they can be adopted into almost any martial build. They require attunement, but initially have no effect. While attuned, the weapon can grow in power. Landing the killing blow on a creature of appropriate difficulty causes the weapon to turn into a +1 weapon. Killing higher level monsters instead gives a bonus of +2 or +3. In addition, killing monsters with special powers may give the weapon new abilities. Killing a fire monster might add 1d6 fire damage. If multiple special effects have been unlocked, only one may be active at a time. The active special effect can be changed on a short rest.
These weapons have a number of exciting features. They lend themselves well to epic stories — from the recovery of the blade to each time it advances in power, the legend of the weapon grows. They also provide an array of choices to the player as they grow in power. This means they can choose whichever abilities are tactically useful, or the ones they find fun.
Oni Double-Glaive
Umorut is a hulking ogre mage. In addition to an array of dark supernatural powers, the Oni wields a brutal double-ended glaive decorated with the skulls of his many victims. If he can be bested, perhaps this weapon will fall into the hands of an adventurer…
The Oni Double-Glaive is an oversized weapon that needs two hands and special focus to use effectively, and requires attunement. Any creature that attunes to it is considered proficient. The weapon has a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls, and deals 2d8 slashing damage. A creature that takes the Attack Action can make an additional attack with the opposite blade as a Bonus Action. Once per long rest, the wielder can channel the power of the Oni and cast Invisibility on themselves.
This weapon breaks the pattern established by the weapon tables. It is superior to all two-handed weapons due to the unique damage dice, which gives a physical reminder to the player every time they roll damage. Invisibility is unlikely to be helpful in combat, but offers a solution to the heavy armour fighter’s stealth problem.
Finally, the bonus action attack adds a new, relatively simple, tactical option. This is superior to the Beserker’s Frenzy, as it avoids the exhaustion cost. Class features are a good starting place for reasonable abilities, so long as care is taken to avoid overshadowing. For example, a weapon that gave a non-rogue sneak attack would overshadow the rouge by duplicating its signature feature. Instead, adding a limited version like 1d6 of sneak attack gives a bonus without undermining the rogue’s unique powers. The Barbarian’s signature features are Rage and Reckless Attacks, so allowing a bonus action attack does not overshadow them.
Weapons of the Future
I have outlined a few reflections on making magic weapons. The key point, however, is that magic weapons break the rules. That is what makes them fun. It also means I cannot describe a process or mechanism for making and balancing them.
Now it is your turn. What kind of magic weapons do you want to see? How important is the item’s backstory — is it just flavor, or a source of inspiration? Which rules of the game does it break? Be creative, and show us what you come up with!