Talk:Athame (5e Equipment)

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Fairly new creation of mine. I'll need to add an image (preferably not just ripped from wikipedia, but that'll do in a pinch), and maybe a hair more flavor, but mechanically it should be good to go—it's not terribly powerful, it's not terribly glamourous, but it's simple, limited, and straightforwardly useful. —Salasay ♄ 13:15, 30 May 2023 (MDT)

• Comment — With the changes to this weapon's wording so it is more clear how this item works and so the item regains its property at dawn, I can almost support this item, though I have one last issue with it before that. Given that rituals do not consume a spell slot, shouldn't this weapon require attunement to prevent abuse of hording/making a bunch of these? --Blobby383b (talk) 21:13, 14 January 2024 (MST)

The original wording was drawn directly from the Scribe Wizard's ability, so I think it should mimic it, and "casting a spell as a ritual" already implies that it doesn't consume a spell slot. As for dawn vs long rest and to prevent stockpiling, my intention was for the "recharge" to be tied to the person (ie their blood), rather than the item. So multiple characters could share the athame, but each could only use it once per day. —Salasay ♄ 18:34, 15 January 2024 (MST)

• Comment — I am also concerned that the min-max potential isn't really addressed. For example adding a chaos factor where this doesn't end up casting the ritual (d6 before cast) could add a useful limit. --Green Dragon (talk) 10:34, 16 January 2024 (MST)

I'm not sure there is much of a min-max concern, especially if we revert it to be once per long rest (per user) rather than once per dawn (per item). Most ritual spells have casting times of a minute or longer already so it's still not useful in combat, and the few that have casting times of just an action are useful but not broken, especially once per day. The scribe wizard gets this exact feature at second level, and it's not even in the top three strongest features they gain at that level. —Salasay ♄ 15:27, 16 January 2024 (MST)

I do like your idea of pcs sharing this item, but in that case, I believe the item could be upped in rarity to a minor uncommon item, and the recharge wording changed to "Once a creature uses this property, they can not us it again until they finish a long rest.". I don't necessarily like using the recharge on long rest, but there is 1st party precedent in the hat of wizardry magic item in XGtE. In addition, it also makes more sense for this item to be based of pcs taking long rest versus at dawn recharge. With those changes the weapon should hopefully be done. --Blobby383b (talk) 13:57, 17 January 2024 (MST)

I like that wording, and I have no objection to fiddling with the rarity--I fully admit I don't have a strong grasp on evaluating rarity —Salasay ♄ 14:47, 17 January 2024 (MST)

• Support — This weapon is both a fun and interesting inclusions into many games, as it allows you to make more use of ritual spells which are often quite situational. In addition, with the recent changes, the item has a limit to how much you can use it and it should be balanced. --Blobby383b (talk) 17:55, 17 January 2024 (MST)