Talk:Ethereal Weapon (5e Equipment)

• What monsters have "parry" and "defensive reflex"? Or is this really supposed to be used against one specific homebrew class?
• What would trigger a reaction to transport the weapon to the etheral plane?
• How do you get it back once it's there?
• On a monster statblock it's not explicit what the AC contribution of armor is. How do you propose calculating this? Marasmusine (talk) 04:36, 8 July 2015 (MDT)

• A Knight does have the "parry" ability, and I am in the making of a Centurion monster with the "defensive reflex".
• The reaction is triggered by simply attacking, and it return to the material plane in the time to hit the enemy, just like the one in Sword Art Online called Demonic Sword Gram.
• Monsters that are not wearing armors, shields, or abilities. So this make this weapon is almost useless against non humanoids. Azernath (talk) 14:04, 8 July 2015 (MDT)

• I'm not sure which Knight you mean. Do you mean the Fighter's archetype, battle master? They can pick parry as one of their maneuvers, it's the only instance in the Player's Handbook. So in a vanilla game, this sword's primary use is to be good at fighting another player if they are a fighter and if they chose battle master and if they picked parry as one of their maneuvers. I suppose you could give this to a monster to fight that player, but it serves to deny that player one of their class features, which isn't much fun for the player. Although I did find two monsters with parry, erinyes and hobgoblin warlord.
• I think you mean "negate" rather than "neglect"
• Are you saying that you use the bonus action or reaction to activate the weapon abilities? Because it reads like a separate ability, i.e. transporting it to the ethereal plane and leaving it there.
• Idea: The whole negating AC and parry thing can be encapsulated by making an attack with this sword into a Dexterity save instead. "Once per turn when you make an attack with an ethereal weapon, you can make an ethereal strike. Instead of making an attack roll, the target makes a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes the weapon's damage. The save DC is 8 + your Strength modifier + your proficiency bonus."

This way, you don't have to specify "bonus action or reaction", because we've stated you can only use it once per round. The chance of hitting is based on Strength, like a normal attack. The target doesn't benefit from AC, or parry, or defensive reflex and we don't even have to specify these, and it covers any similar features. Unarmoured creatures aren't effected since their AC is based on Dexterity anyway. Marasmusine (talk) 02:06, 10 July 2015 (MDT)

• A Bandit Captain, Gladiator, Knight and Noble are NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS who have the Parry ability, not including those who have shields.
• The main target of this weapon is humanoids who have armors, because the weapon does NEGLECT shields and armors based on it rarity.
• It would be better if with every attack like you suggested, and keep the Dexterity save.
• If the ethereal weapon have the Finesse property then the DC is 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus.

Azernath (talk) 16:03, 10 July 2015 (MDT)

Ah, ha, thanks, I didn't look at NPCs. I always try to think of ways to do things that aren't reliant on the names of features, though (say if you come across a homebrew NPC that has the same feature under a different name)

Yes, it occurred to me after I posted, a finesse weapon would have the DC based on Dex. Marasmusine (talk) 16:37, 10 July 2015 (MDT)

• So if the weapon phases out of the material plane and passes through armor and parry attempts, how does it damage the enemy? Wouldn't it pass through them as well, since it's now in the ethereal plane? MyNamesWASABI (talk) 01:04, 28 December 2016 (MST)

I guess: Phase out, strike through armor, rapidly phase back in and out a bunch of times, phase out, withdraw weapon. Marasmusine (talk) 01:52, 28 December 2016 (MST)

I suppose that makes sense. MyNamesWASABI (talk) 13:01, 28 December 2016 (MST)