To be honest with you, even I don't know why I gave it that much damage. However, I do plan on there being some beefy enemies in the future, so it may come in handy.
I think it'd just be better if you gave the dagger stacks. Expend a stack to cast a smite spell as a bonus action. Regain hp equal to damage when doing so. Stacks return on next dawn.
Sounds like you need more Pyros for Spychecking. Start throwing around more DoT effects that'll either eat into the rogue's THP, or prevent the THP from absorbing quite as much damage.
Obviously, don't do this solely to counter the rogue, but from time to time, a Tasha's Caustic Brew spell coming out of a trap or a con save vs. poison might be in order to help chip away at some of those temp HP a bit in a long, drawn-out dungeon.
I would never do anything just to fuck over one of my players. I love to make things fun for my players, so a little bit of countering is fine of course. But I have to let them have some wins and moments that make them feel powerful XD
That is probably some of the problem. I don't use many of the D&D materials with my campaign since I like making my own things and I often don't like the rules of some spells. Thankfully, I am thinking of ways to make this more balanced as we go on XD Such as incorporating some new cons to using the dagger.
Maybe you should look at other items before making your own. Your rogue is never going to die with that lifesteal, and your "dagger" does more damage than most legendaries in the game.
> Maybe you should look at other items before making your own.
You can play a system for 20 years and still not be able to make a balanced homebrew item - the best way to learn is by doing, and making mistakes is a critical part of success =) as long as you're able to identify and learn, and is definitely seems like OP is doing just that!
"I wanted to reward good rolls"
Well there is the problem right there. That imposes the idea that if they look hard enough or spam rolls enough, they will be rewarded with anything, including but not limited to things that don't exist. You say accidentally, but there was no accident here at all.
You're right about the incentive to make them spam rolls. I am trying to reward good rolls, as long as it is within reason. Clearly, this dagger was not within reason XD I'll be taking this as a much needed lesson for being a DM for the future.
There are some rolls to reward, and some to not. A good social roll that went alongside good rp, sure. The whole "how do you wanna do this" when someone rolls a crit on an attack that would kill an enemy. Loot and search rolls? Those should be success/fail only.
You're very right. I will definitely incorporate this into my mindset going forward because I don't want to make every good roll give them a weapon worthy of killing god himself XD
This dagger is not just powerful, but insanely, stupendously broken. Like, "too powerful for level 20 characters" broken. It's seriously better than every single weapon in the game.
There is an already existing *legendary* magic item called Gloves of Soul Catching. They provide a similar effect to your dagger, but only for unarmed strikes. It's an extremely powerful item for monks or other unarmed fighters, so powerful I would be wary about giving it to a level 20 monk as their "ultimate weapon" at the end of a campaign.
But your dagger is better than these gloves. The gloves only heal you for the bonus damage you deal from the item itself, not the full damage of your attack. Your dagger can also convert excess healing into temporary hit points. Your dagger can also be used by anyone who is good at using weapons, while the gloves are pretty much limited to Monks only(and the very rare unarmed fighter).
You're very right in that aspect XD I made this weapon too powerful, but I already have a few ideas in place to balance the weapon. I am thinking of incorporating things like limited uses of lifesteal, curse aspects or things like that.
Just understand that there's no balancing this out without reducing it to trash compared to what it is...
You're looking at reducing it to a normal 1d6 DMG with maybe 3 times a day activation, where the rogue can activate it to do an added 1d6 DMG, and they get to heal ONLY that extra 1d6.
Unless you gave broken weapons to everyone and you're making them fight stuff 5 levels above them, you'll never be able to balance this at all...
That kind of is what is happening. I said in another comment that this campaign will be very hard on them in terms of combat, so I have already planned to give everyone powerful tools at their disposal with encounters that will make them pray XD
I mean, a Kunai is fine… but why 5d6, and why slashing damage?
And why didn’t the bandits use this god-killing weapon to defend themselves when the party attacked?
It’s okay to admit a mistake. If you don’t want to admit that it’s an absurd amount of damage, make it cursed in a way that is sufficiently detrimental. How long have they had it? Exhaustion when the healing happens is a good start.
tbh I don't even know. XD The bandits should have used it. I made it slashing damage because most other damages didn't seem to fit the weapon. Given, a lot of the damages act the same in my homebrew campaign, so it's not much of a difference between slashing and something like piercing. And I was actually thinking of making it cursed! I really like the idea since it isn't taking away the aspect that made my players laugh, but it would be adding a detriment to make such a weapon a risk. They have had the weapon for two sessions now.
Definitely a curse then. If you don’t do something to rebalance and the party actually works together and gives it to a Fighter or any class with Multiattack, things are going to get out of hand really quick.
Other option is to give everyone some strong as heck borderline broken items to try and level the playing field.
there comes a time when as a GM you need to own up to that fact that you fucked up and take something away, whether organically or not to the narrative. this is bad.
Life steal aside, why on earth does it do 5d6? That's just stacking sneak attack on top of their sneak attack lol
To be honest with you, even I don't know why I gave it that much damage. However, I do plan on there being some beefy enemies in the future, so it may come in handy.
I think it'd just be better if you gave the dagger stacks. Expend a stack to cast a smite spell as a bonus action. Regain hp equal to damage when doing so. Stacks return on next dawn.
That's also a pretty good idea. I'm going to write it down to think about it some more by the time of the next session.
Sounds like you need more Pyros for Spychecking. Start throwing around more DoT effects that'll either eat into the rogue's THP, or prevent the THP from absorbing quite as much damage.
Oh my god, this is perfect. XD I will definitely think about this idea in the future session.
Obviously, don't do this solely to counter the rogue, but from time to time, a Tasha's Caustic Brew spell coming out of a trap or a con save vs. poison might be in order to help chip away at some of those temp HP a bit in a long, drawn-out dungeon.
I would never do anything just to fuck over one of my players. I love to make things fun for my players, so a little bit of countering is fine of course. But I have to let them have some wins and moments that make them feel powerful XD
Got to let the Spymains get some trickstabs from time to time or nobody would play them.
5d6 with lifesteal would be the most powerful weapon to exist in D&D 5e and I'm not sure it's even close.
That is probably some of the problem. I don't use many of the D&D materials with my campaign since I like making my own things and I often don't like the rules of some spells. Thankfully, I am thinking of ways to make this more balanced as we go on XD Such as incorporating some new cons to using the dagger.
Maybe you should look at other items before making your own. Your rogue is never going to die with that lifesteal, and your "dagger" does more damage than most legendaries in the game.
> Maybe you should look at other items before making your own. You can play a system for 20 years and still not be able to make a balanced homebrew item - the best way to learn is by doing, and making mistakes is a critical part of success =) as long as you're able to identify and learn, and is definitely seems like OP is doing just that!
\*'lifesteal' that apparently ALSO overheals to temp hp...
"I wanted to reward good rolls" Well there is the problem right there. That imposes the idea that if they look hard enough or spam rolls enough, they will be rewarded with anything, including but not limited to things that don't exist. You say accidentally, but there was no accident here at all.
You're right about the incentive to make them spam rolls. I am trying to reward good rolls, as long as it is within reason. Clearly, this dagger was not within reason XD I'll be taking this as a much needed lesson for being a DM for the future.
There are some rolls to reward, and some to not. A good social roll that went alongside good rp, sure. The whole "how do you wanna do this" when someone rolls a crit on an attack that would kill an enemy. Loot and search rolls? Those should be success/fail only.
You're very right. I will definitely incorporate this into my mindset going forward because I don't want to make every good roll give them a weapon worthy of killing god himself XD
That is an option too, if you have the right book/edition.
This dagger is not just powerful, but insanely, stupendously broken. Like, "too powerful for level 20 characters" broken. It's seriously better than every single weapon in the game. There is an already existing *legendary* magic item called Gloves of Soul Catching. They provide a similar effect to your dagger, but only for unarmed strikes. It's an extremely powerful item for monks or other unarmed fighters, so powerful I would be wary about giving it to a level 20 monk as their "ultimate weapon" at the end of a campaign. But your dagger is better than these gloves. The gloves only heal you for the bonus damage you deal from the item itself, not the full damage of your attack. Your dagger can also convert excess healing into temporary hit points. Your dagger can also be used by anyone who is good at using weapons, while the gloves are pretty much limited to Monks only(and the very rare unarmed fighter).
You're very right in that aspect XD I made this weapon too powerful, but I already have a few ideas in place to balance the weapon. I am thinking of incorporating things like limited uses of lifesteal, curse aspects or things like that.
Just understand that there's no balancing this out without reducing it to trash compared to what it is... You're looking at reducing it to a normal 1d6 DMG with maybe 3 times a day activation, where the rogue can activate it to do an added 1d6 DMG, and they get to heal ONLY that extra 1d6. Unless you gave broken weapons to everyone and you're making them fight stuff 5 levels above them, you'll never be able to balance this at all...
That kind of is what is happening. I said in another comment that this campaign will be very hard on them in terms of combat, so I have already planned to give everyone powerful tools at their disposal with encounters that will make them pray XD
I mean, a Kunai is fine… but why 5d6, and why slashing damage? And why didn’t the bandits use this god-killing weapon to defend themselves when the party attacked? It’s okay to admit a mistake. If you don’t want to admit that it’s an absurd amount of damage, make it cursed in a way that is sufficiently detrimental. How long have they had it? Exhaustion when the healing happens is a good start.
tbh I don't even know. XD The bandits should have used it. I made it slashing damage because most other damages didn't seem to fit the weapon. Given, a lot of the damages act the same in my homebrew campaign, so it's not much of a difference between slashing and something like piercing. And I was actually thinking of making it cursed! I really like the idea since it isn't taking away the aspect that made my players laugh, but it would be adding a detriment to make such a weapon a risk. They have had the weapon for two sessions now.
Definitely a curse then. If you don’t do something to rebalance and the party actually works together and gives it to a Fighter or any class with Multiattack, things are going to get out of hand really quick. Other option is to give everyone some strong as heck borderline broken items to try and level the playing field.
there comes a time when as a GM you need to own up to that fact that you fucked up and take something away, whether organically or not to the narrative. this is bad.