This idea started as many of my homebrew nonsense starts: With one of my players asking about something a NPC said they could get for them.
In this case, one of my players had just gone through some juicy character development and their paladin went from being a Hate-filled Vengeance Paladin, to one of Radiant Glory. Part of the in-game reason for this was they were being sponsored by another Paladin of the same order. That paladin said they could get them some..'equipment'. So, now faced with actually needing to come up with what that stuff was, the idea was born.
The Initial Idea
A set of items that were tied to this order of Knights, and embodied their tenets. Each item should do something different, but also complement each other.
So, with that in mind, I turned to the many resources I had at my disposal when it comes to sourcing magical items. Thus came the first decision I had to make, and one that I struggled with initially.
Which items?
Initially I thought of giving the Paladin a weapon, shield, and then 'something else'. That lead me to think on the effects that would have. The character has previously had a very powerful weapon, and it unbalanced encounters a little too much for my liking. They are already in plate armor, and giving them a magical shield that may also improve their AC would make them all but unkillable. In combination with a Dope Sword(TM), the character might outshine others on the field.
Then I remembered an earlier discussion between myself and the player where they had expressed interest in using a greatsword, instead of the usual sword and board deal. That gave me some direction. With some more consideration, I took the initial thought of a shield and instead went with 'armor' instead. A gleaming suit of plate armor sounds good! Really fits in with the vibe I was going for. The third item though...took a while.
I went back to looking through items, and came across a Battle Standard. That tickled my imagination. With the other ideas floating around my head with what the items could do, the idea of plunging the battle standard or flag into the ground and rallying their allies together with a war cry! Really liked it. Unfortunately, the idea almost immediately fell apart after I tried tying it together with the set. Thematically it didn't work, not every Knight of this order was carrying around a Battle standard. Mechanically it also felt clunky. Where are they storing this huge standard? I guess I could have it attached to the mount, but what if the mount dies? What if its 'pocket dimension'd '. All that aside, the usability of it was crap. The character would have to drop or sheath their weapon, pull out the standard, then use an action (or bonus action) to plant the thing. THEN pull out their sword again, and now they are back to being Battle Ready. That is already way too much text, and wonkiness. So I tossed the idea.
I briefly entertained the idea of the third item being a helm, or ring, or even something mount realated. Like a bit and bridle, or barding for their mount. The mount idea, combined with my browsing of wonderous items led me to think....
What if they could turn their mount into a dragon?
Eureka! A horn could do that! Blow the horn, it turns their mount into a dragon and they could fly about on it and it'd be super cool! Maybe. I didn't want to nail down the specifics, but I had my third item. A horn of some sort. Fits into the War-theme of the campaign, and similar to a Battle standard, but portable! Now that I have an idea of which items they are, I can get to the real Juice(TM).
What Blessings?
At this point I had which Items I wanted to give out, and actually started writing them down in a notepad. The information I put in was, really crude.
Blessed Sunmetal Blade
- Sunmetal: Extra Radiant damage
- Blessed: Teleporting strike, can combo with aerial strike.
Blessed Dawnblade Plate
- Dawnblade Plate: Aegis - Protects others from one spell/effect in an area.
- Blessed: Temp Dragon Wings
Blessed Dragon Horn
- Dragoncaller: Something
- Blessed: Bonus Action, AOE Lay on Hands
Now there’s a lot of information there, and a lot of decisions packed into just a few lines. Let’s start at the beginning. The naming convention I took inspiration from NetHack (shoutout to MC!) and probably Diablo 4. I’ve been playing a lot of that. Then the Material. What’s Sunmetal? Some fancy fantasy material I have in my world. It’s properties are nebulous, but its only found in the homeland of the Knight Order my Paladin PC is now joining, so…tie in!
I wanted to avoid each item just being called the ‘Dawnblade X’, even if the items were all related to that order. I couldn’t call it Dawnbringer, as that’s a different thing. So this one gets an exception. The weapon is generic enough that it would make sense that every Knight gets one. The fact that this one is blessed is its own thing.
The horn, though, that was where my naming of it started to inform the design. When I thought of it as turning the mount into a dragon, I couldn’t come up with a good name for it. Dragon…changer? Horn of The Dragon? They were terrible. But, ‘Dragoncaller’ sounds Dope AF. So when it came to coming up with what it could do, the Blessing was updated in my notes to this:
Blessed Dragoncaller Horn
- Dragoncaller: Summon a dragon spirit
- Blessed: Bonus Action, AOE Lay on Hands
Now that sounds cool! Not to mention I can lean on the design done by others, and not build everything from scratch. There’s already several ‘Summon X Spirit’ spells in 5E, and I believe there was one specifically for Dragons. My memory of Lou Wilson’s character in Exandria: Calamity summoning a dragon probably inspired me to some extent. So I made a note of the spell, and got to creating the items themselves now that I had a better idea of what they were, and what they did. Except I had a small problem.
What is a Blessing?
That was something I had to figure out now. It was more than just an ‘enchantment’. Having come across several very dope looking items only for me to scroll through their item description and see ‘CURSED’ at the bottom really annoyed me. So, naturally the opposite of a Curse is a Blessing. A blessed item should work similarly to a Cursed one except without the secret nature.
I pulled up a Cursed item, and inverted some of its text to come up with the ‘Blessed’ portion of an item:
Blessed: This Blade is blessed by Serenae's Knights of the Dawn and attuning to this weapon extends the blessing to you. As long as you remain blessed, you are unwilling to ignore the presence of evil, seeking to destroy it at all times. You remain so blessed as long as you are attuned to the weapon and uphold the tenants of your Oath. This blessing can be removed from the weapon, which turns it into a +1 weapon with no other properties.
As I was doing this, I noticed that a Cursed item usually has four components to the actual curse:
A compulsion of some sort that persists as long as the Curse does.
A curse removal condition, or method.
The negative effects of the curse, outside of the compulsion.
What happens to the cursed item if it is un-cursed.
Fifth Edition is a bit wordy when it comes to spelling out exactly what this means to the player, but I am far more trusting of the player that’s to receive these items. So I didn’t spell everything out, but the implication of some greater meaning still remains. Breaking down each part of a curse and my counterpart like so, I can see that more clearly:
Curse Compulsion: You are unwilling to remove the item, or part with it.
Bless Compulsion: You are unwilling to ignore evil, seeking to destroy it.
Curse Removal: Remove curse spell, or similar magic. Becoming un-attuned to the item.
Bless Removal: Breaking your Oath, becoming unattuned to the weapon.
Uncursed Item: The weapon becomes a +1 weapon with no other properties.
Unblessed Item: Goes from a +3 to a +1 weapon with no other properties.
Yet there’s one piece that’s missing. The material the sword is made from grants it extra radiant damage once per turn on a hit, and either its expert craftsmanship, or minor enchantment grants it a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. It currently is a +3, but that doesn’t seem enough for the weapon to be Dope.
So, I go back to the item that sort of inspired me. Its basically a katana, and requires you to sheath it before performing a draw-strike that teleports you forward. Really invokes a Virgil from DMC vibe, or really any Shonen anime featuring swords. The idea of it sounds really cool! So, I tweak it a bit to fit the actual sword:
In Her Name: While Blessed, you can use an action to make a special attack with this weapon. You shout an invocation at one creature you can see within 30ft of you that has an unoccupied space within 5ft of it. You then flash forward in a brilliant beam of light that is 5ft wide, harmlessly moving through any creatures between you and your target without provoking opportunity attacks. When you arrive at the new unoccupied space, make an attack roll with advantage using the sword against the creature you targeted. On a hit, the target takes an extra 4d12 radiant damage and seven motes of sunlight explode from within it, or four motes burst from the blade on a miss. These motes can help allies or hinder enemies within 60ft of the target of the attack. A friendly with a mote can add 1d8 per mote to any roll, whereas a hostile creature subtracts 1d8 per mote from their next roll. The mote is then expended.
Hit or Miss, you then regain hit points to your Lay on Hands pool equal to twice your Paladin level. Once this property has been used, it can't be used again until the next dawn.
As far as secondary properties go, this is pretty powerful, but not game breaking. It’s once per day, and deals a decent amount of damage on a hit, but not too much more than a usual smite would do anyway. Initially the ‘motes’ were going to be healing motes, or damaging motes for hostiles. I couldn’t figure out how to word it properly that wouldn’t make the item’s text even longer. That, and it is already doing a decent amount of damage in the hands of a Paladin who can dump smites and Channel Divinities,etc. So, a more controlling effect is what I landed on.
I considered just saying the motes were similar to Bane and Bless, but I know my players, and I don’t want to answer “What die is Bless again? What can I use it on?” a dozen times after this gets used. So, simplify it: Any roll, 1d8. I considered it being a compulsion, similar to how Guiding Bolt is consumed on the next attack regardless of whether you wanted it to or not. The idea of one or more characters suddenly rolling one or more d8s for, say a Perception check , was not as cool though. So, there is some freedom there. Does that mean they could send all of the motes into one character to really amp them up? Sure! Could they send them at an enemy to reeeally wreck their next turn? Sure!
Both of those outcomes sit well with me. Time will tell if the d8 is a bit too big though. I can come back and reduce it to a d6 if its a bit too swingy. Maybe just limit the number of motes a character can have to 1, and turn down how many are generated. There’s plenty of room!
Now I have nailed down one item almost entirely just by going through figuring out each part of what I had envisioned. Two more to go!
Another One
Next up: The armor.
I knew that it would be plate armor, and that it’d probably have a bonus to its AC equivalent to wielding a shield. This would alleviate the loss of one, especially since the player had a +1 shield! I could have left this out entirely, considering the other effects of it. Considering the attack bonuses of the enemies they’ll be fighting the 5% difference between the armor now, and the previous setup shouldn’t be that bad. Cutting it entirely would be more like a 15% difference, and that would be felt.
So I want the armor to embody the following concepts, thematically and mechanically:
The Sun, and Light
Protecting others
Gold Dragon, patron of the Order.
The Sun and Light are the easiest to implement. Make it glow! I add a command word glow similar to the Light spell and move on. I already have the other two areas covered with my notes on the item, so now to actually figure out how that works. At this point I realize that the idea of the Aegis being inherent to the armor is a bit too powerful. Swapping them should be good enough!
Serenae's Wings. As a bonus action you can speak a command word to produce a pair of draconic wings of pure light from the armor. As part of the same bonus action, they launch you 60ft in a direction of your choice. They grant you a flying speed of 10ft (hover) until the end of your next turn, at which point you descend slowly to solid ground before they vanish. If you already have a flying speed when you conjure these wings, it is instead doubled for their duration. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier.
The idea that when they appear they beat once and launch the character in any direction interesting. Then, with the sword, a dive-bomb like attack is possible! I didn’t want to give the item true flight, as that would make it a very mobile piece of kit. But, just in case they need some maneuverability, the flying speed should be fine. If they only launched the character while they already had a fly speed then it’d be fine, but the idea of a temporary doubling of it gives back that maneuverability, as it requires the character to spend two different resources to achieve.
It’s at this point that I consider the items as a set, and potentially what I could do if there was some benefit to being attuned to all three of these items. It takes up all of their attunement slots, and since the Blessings can be removed, a potentially temporary boost. Even as I am writing this I can see some issues with its current implementation, but that’s another article!
The actual blessing is worded different, and its additional effect will be the Aegis itself:
Blessed: This Armor is blessed by Serenae's Knights of the Dawn and attuning to this armor extends the blessing to you. As long as you remain blessed, you are unwilling to ignore the plight of the innocent, seeking to protect them at all times. You remain so blessed as long as you are attuned to the armor and uphold the tenants of your Oath. This blessing can be removed from the armor, which turns it into a non-magical suit of plate armor with no other properties.
The idea that each blessed piece of equipment requires the paladin to more strictly adhere to the tenets of their Order is appealing. This implementation implies the Blessing is what is giving the armor most of its magical properties. This felt right in the moment, but I may come back and rework/reword it. For now, it works for my purposes.
So for protecting others, and nailing down Aegis, I came up with the following:
By Her Grace: While Blessed , In reaction to one or more friendly creatures being subjected to a harmful spell or effect, you shout an invocation of protection. Serenae's wings of pure light burst from the armor to form an Aegis around you and your allies within your aura. They ignore all effects of the spell or harmful effect, and you are considered its target even if you were not before. You suffer the effects of a failed saving throw against the triggering effect, even if you would normally succeed.
Once this feature has been used, it can't be used again until the next dawn.
The players naturally gather into the Paladin’s aura to get that sweet bonus to saves. The bonus is so high, that to challenge my players I have had to change which effects I throw at them. Now they aren’t save or suck, which always feels bad. Taking half damage on a successful save is great, but what if you could prevent all damage? That was the idea behind the armor. The mental vision of the paladin bursting towards a downed ally on wings of light to protect them from the enemies deadly spell…chef’s kiss. Negating all effects for everyone felt a bit too much, so limiting to the aura, and making it so the Paladin fails regardless, was a nice trade off.
Sneakily, this means that if they were likely to fail the save anyway, using the ability to protect others isn’t as much of a self-sacrifice. The effects are getting simpler, but I think that reflects my improved understanding of what I want these items to do (or fatigue!). That was it, onto the last item.
The Horn
The horn was mostly designed as soon as I put the name down. I thought of it changing the mount summoned by Find Greater Steed into a dragon or something similar. Then I realized I’d have to severely limit it, as those mounts don’t actually attack. I could have taken some inspiration from the Arcadia Articles on Mounted combat, but that felt like a lot of work. As I mentioned, there was already something that fit my needs exactly. So, I just took the bones of the Summon Draconic Spirit spell, and put it into the horn. I made sure to word it so it was not a spell (no counter spelling it!), and that it didn’t require concentration.
As a contrast to the spell, it has a set resistance since it is the spirit of a specific dragon. Also, that spirit is semi-independant, so it ‘will follow your verbal directions to the best of its ability’. The idea of any mortal ordering a true dragon around, even its spirit, is insane to me. So, if the dragon is left alone, it’ll just attack the nearest evil creature.
If this is all it did, the horn would be pretty good as a standard magic item. That was the idea, to take a magic item and turn its power up a bit by double-enchanting it, essentially. So, the Blessing is similar to the others in wording:
Blessed: This horn is blessed by Serenae's Knights of the Dawn and attuning to this horn extends the blessing to you. As long as you remain blessed, you are unwilling to ignore the cries of the injured, seeking to ease their pain when possible. You remain so blessed as long as you are attuned to the horn and uphold the tenants of your Oath. This blessing can be removed from the horn, which turns it into an ornate horn with no other properties.
I didn’t think anything of this at first, but now that two of the items are becoming non-magical, it might be that, at least in my world, these items are ‘Divine Enchantments’. Since religious orders are a bit on the rarer side, and getting an actual Blessed item requires a person being pretty high in the order, or an ally of someone high up in the order, this is at least consistent. It might break the other conventions I’ve established though, so maybe it needs a revision.
I am pretty proud of the actual benefit that the blessing confers though:
With Her Voice: As a bonus action, you can blow through this horn to ease the pain of your allies that can see or hear you within 60ft. You may spend any number of hit points from your Lay on Hands pool. A number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier are healed by that amount. Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until the next dawn.
With that, the three items have a nice theme of turning the paladin into a Champion of the Dragon god this order serves. It boosts the healing properties of the Paladin, by at least providing a quick way to bring his allies back from the brink. The wording may need some work, but it was understood easily enough by the player, and that’s all I really cared about. It translated the initial idea I had some…couple thousand words ago, and tied together the thematic vision I had very nicely.
This wasn’t all the work I did on the items, though. As I came up with them, I had the idea that the set worn together would be even stronger. Now that’s another topic though, so next time I’ll go over how I came up with the Set bonus of Dawnblade’s Regalia.