Rough Tutor (5e Equipment)

Weapon (battleaxe), very rare (requires attunement by a creature with no proficiency in battleaxes) Rough Tutor is a majestic double-bladed battleaxe with a dark oaken handle. The very axe itself serves a dual purpose as a form of training manual: the surfaces of its blades are intricately decorated with coloured metals and ores in educational images of dwarves wielding battleaxes in various forms and techniques, with each image captioned in small Dwarvish letters describing the technique being illustrated. You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. It has the following additional properties. Tutor. Bizarrely, the sentience in this battleaxe rejects already-accomplished battleaxe users, and instead favours those who are novices in the weapon. Users who are proficient in the use of battleaxes do not benefit from their proficiency bonus when using this weapon. Meanwhile, those who have no battleaxe proficiency are considered to be proficient with this weapon while attuned to it. At the end of every 8 full weeks of being attuned to this weapon (cumulative if attunement is broken and regained during this period), the wielder has a 20% chance of “graduating”, permanently gaining proficiency with battleaxes but losing attunement to this weapon in the process, including all the benefits associated with attunement. Sentience. Rough Tutor is inhabited by a lawful good sentience of Intelligence 13 (+1), Wisdom 10 (+0) and Charisma 14 (+2) and a proficiency bonus of +4. It has darkvision and hearing to a range of 50 ft, and can understand, read and speak Common and Dwarvish. It benefits from the Dwarf Stonecunning trait, doubling its proficiency bonus in Intelligence (History) checks related to the origin of stonework, and furthermore it also doubles its proficiency bonus in any Intelligence checks related to axes, axe combat styles or notable figures in the martial history of axes. Personality. Rough Tutor is inhabited by the soul of a wizened Dwarf axe instructor who, nearing the end of his life and unwilling to part from his life’s work as a trainer, had his consciousness transferred into the weapon to continue his teachings. It will attempt to tutor and advise any novice wielder of the battleaxe attuned to it. It is a crude and a hard taskmaster, berating its wielder in comically-abusive manners for failure (and ignoring the disinterest of any attuned wielder who, by some madness, does not want instruction with the battleaxe), but it is nonetheless incredibly charming of character in its own coarse way. Rough Tutor will communicate with any other individuals in the vicinity who it is fond of, including those who do not wish to be instructed in the battleaxe or even those who are already proficient, especially those who are enthusiastic about axecraft. As its reason for existence is to teach new students in perpetuity, Rough Tutor will reject those it deems to be suitably proficient in the battleaxe. This does not necessarily mean Rough Tutor will show its “graduates” ill will; it will rationalise its rejection as “tough love”, believing that a former student cannot reach the next level of capability except by their own path. Indeed, Rough Tutor has been known to maintain friendships with former students and even provide advice from afar, though it will still categorically reject attempts by such capable individuals to use it. In fact, if an individual who is already proficient with battleaxes – or who Rough Tutor simply dislikes – attempts to wield it, it will yell protests and profanities and do all it can to sabotage its use. Rough Tutor will occasionally suffer to be handled by individuals who are not its students or who are already proficient in the battleaxe if they are familiar to Rough Tutor and it is fond of them, but will categorically object to being used in battle. Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Equipment → Magic Weapons