In my home D&D 5e game, I have a rule: if you want something that is not in the books but is reasonable, the answer is, “sure.” Several of my players have taken me up on that so far. One has a longbow that uses Strength instead of Dexterity. Another wields a punching shield as a melee weapon; all I did for that one is take a warhammer and rename it “punching shield” and called it a day. We agreed it doesn’t give a shield bonus to her AC. I do this because what matters to the players is how they see their characters. What do I care if someone wants to wield a gnomish razor whip that has identical stats to a short sword? It is mechanically balanced and the player gets to imagine their character using their whip to wrap multiple razors around a troll’s arm instead of a blade slashes across the troll’s chest.
But now they are level 9. They are well into the time where they’ve left mundane weapons behind unless absolutely necessary. So they want custom magic items. I thought I would share them here and let people comment on them. Today, we have Cegra’s boomstick. It is based on the javelin of lightning with this character’s specialized wacky flavor.
Some background first: I’ve defined a boomerang as a club that has the thrown (range 20/60) property, returns to the wielder, is a martial weapon, and costs as much as a longbow. So the line in the weapons table reads:
Boomerang 50 gp 1d4 bludgeoning 2 lb. thrown (range 20/60), returning
Cegra’s Boomstick
Weapon (boomerang), uncommon
This boomerang is a magic weapon. When you hurl it and speak its command word, it whistles as through the air. Make a ranged weapon attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes damage from the boomerang plus 4d6 thunder damage. All creatures within 10 feet take 4d6 thunder damage or half as much on a successful DC 13 Constitution saving throw.
The boomerang’s property can’t be used again until the next dawn. In the meantime, the boomerang can still be used as a magic weapon.
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Jon Brazer Enterprises 