There’s an issue with magic weapon in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. It’s not that they’re bad or poorly designed, but simply that there’s not enough of them – especially at the first tiers of play (character levels 1-10), where we have less than a handful unique uncommon and about a dozen rare magic weapons. Not nearly enough to satisfy millions of fresh-faced adventurers!
Today, we have published Nybor’s Tome of Enchanted Weapons, to help deal with this issue and put some more magic weapons in the hands of your characters. The book features 100 uncommon and rare magic weapons, 30+ common magic weapons, and 4 sentient personalities for your weapons. It also has a character’s guide to enchanting weapons, which is an expansion to the rules for crafting magic items in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
Most notably, perhaps, the tome also features a complete system for putting magic weapons together to create new and unique magic weapons in a matter of seconds. Each of the 100+ magic weapons in Nybor’s Tome of Enchanted Weapons can serve as magic weapons on their own, but are also treated as ‘enchantments’ – magic properties that can be combined to create new and more powerful magic weapons.
Below we’ll give an example of how that works when we create three sample magic weapons you can use in your own game.
Creating Magic Weapons
The 100 uncommon and rare enchantments in Nybor’s Tome of Enchanted Weapons are divided into two groups – prefixes and suffixes. A prefix goes in front of the weapon’s type – such as an athlete’s greatsword – while a suffix goes behind the weapon’s type – such as a greatsword of the heavens. The book contains pages with tables (and a little step-by-step guide to using them), which enables you to create unique and interesting weapons with a prefix and a suffix in a matter of seconds.
In this example, we’ll create weapons for a diverse group of adventurers– a barbarian who likes heavy weapons, a ranger wielding a bow, and a cleric who likes to use his weapon occasionally. Since I know their preferred weapon types, I’ll start by choosing a weapon for each – a maul for the barbarian, a shortbow for the ranger, and a spear for the cleric.
Now, here’s where the fun begins – choosing a prefix!
Choosing Prefixes
There’s 50 prefix enchantments in Nybor’s Tome of Enchanted Weapons – 25 uncommon and 25 rare. All prefixes are passive and unlimited, meaning that they confer static bonuses the characters can benefit from every turn. So, choosing from these 50 enchantments, I come out with three magic weapons:
I choose the Thrower’s-enchantment for the barbarian’s maul, because the player doesn’t want to bother with ranged weapons, but still sometimes find himself needing a ranged attack. By giving him a maul he can throw, he can have his cake and eat it too.
The ranger’s shortbow get’s the ‘Booming’-enchantment, because the player has been dissatisfied with their damage output. Additionally, the booming enchantment will allow them to make tactical choices in combat by striking creatures from afar and forcing them between moving or taking additional damage.
The cleric’s spear gets the War Mage’s-enchantment, which will make their attacks more effective when interspersed with spellcasting, which is their preferred way to fight.
Choosing Suffixes
Next comes the suffixes, of which there are also 50. Unlike prefixes, suffixes are all active and limited, meaning that it’s up to the wielder when to use them, and that they only have limited uses each day. However, their abilities are often more powerful and can even allow the wielder to cast spells. So choosing from the 50 suffixes and adding them to the weapons, I get:
The barbarian gets the Dragon-enchantment. It’s a nice thematic suffix, and it will give him two things he sorely needs: a way to deal non-physical damage, and a way to increase his mobility, through the fly spell. A worthy weapon for a mighty warrior!
With the ranger’s shortbow, we’ll stick with the thunder and lightning-theme, giving it the powerful roiling clouds-enchantment, which fits particularly well with the booming-enchantment. The ranger can now also put their enemies on their arse (where they’ll take damage when they stand up!) and gets superior mobility with the thunder step-spell when situations get sticky.
For the cleric’s spear, I’ve chosen the ‘Redemption’-suffix. It’s not the most powerful one, but it’ll give them even more incentive to use their spear, and seems to fit well on a holy person’s weapon.
Closing Thoughts
These weapons are just examples of the 2500 unique magic weapons with two enchantments you can make using Nybor’s Tome of Enchanted Weapons. If you go even further and use three enchantments – which the book does provide rules for – the combinations become near endless. Add to that the common and sentient enchantments that are also in the book, and creating unique, flavorful and interesting magic weapons for your characters become as easy as a roll of the dice.
Until the end of March, you not only get Nybor’s Tome of Enchanted Weapons at a reduced early-bird price of 4.95$, we will also donate 100% of our proceeds from the sales to WHO’s COVID-19 Response Fund. Update! Thanks to your amazing support, we’ve sold 168 copies – 416.14$ in proceeds – of Nybor’s Enchanted Weapons. We like round numbers, so we’ve sent 500$ to support WHO’s fight against COVID-19! That’s awesome!
Throughout April, we’ll be donating 25% of the proceeds from the sales of Nybor’s Tome of Enchanted Weapons to Doctor’s Without Borders. Proof will be provided in a post right here at the end of April.
Have any thoughts? Want clarification on something – or just want to pass the time? Leave a comment right here or shoot me an e-mail at jvaleur@eventyrgames.com. And, please, stay healthy, stay safe – and try not to forget to have as much fun, as your circumstances allow.
Best regards,
J. A. Valeur
Eventyr Games