D&D 5E Creating new magical weapons

[Comyx]

Hello there.
I'm planning to run a campaign with a group of friends in the coming weeks/months, so I'm starting to put a little more detail into the world I'm building.
I'm a fan of the fantasy cliché "To defeat the bad guy you will need to retrieve the ancient weapons wielded by some good guys", so I wanted to craft some magical weapons instead of using those in the DM guide. Does any of you have tips? I'd love for the manual to have something like a point buy feature depending on the rarity of the items, but alas...
Anyway, I'm planning for the weapons to be first found around level 5-7 (ideally I'll have a party of 4), with the quest arcs for level 6 involving locating the first two weapons and level 7 for the other 2 weapons, with, later on, if the campaign will go on, another series of quests to "awaken" the power of those weapons in various ways.
Obviously, I'd rather avoid creating weapons that are TOO overpowered, as in beyond repair even by increasing the HP of the enemies.
As an example, some of the weapons I've come up with:

Level 5-7
Vengeance: it's a sentient longsword (it's in fact a being akin to a fire elemental that can take the shape of this blade), dealing an additional 1d6 Fire damage on hit, or 2d6 Radiant if the enemy is Demon or a Devil. It holds 2 charges, restored after a long rest. If the wielder is able to attack multiple times when using the Attack action (and it should unless the party somehow stumbles upon the resting place of the sword and defeats whoever is in there way before it's intended), he/she can forego one of the attacks to attack an enemy with a fiery beam (ranged spell attack with 30 ft range), though I'll probably make adjustments to the modifier in case a Fighter ends up wielding this), dealing 2d10 Fire damage.

Tharen'alas: a +1 longbow that deals an additional 1d6 Necrotic damage on hit. It conjures its own arrows out of thin air. It holds a single charge, restored after a long rest, and by expending it the wielder can turn the next arrow into a Dark Arrow. If the target of a Dark Arrow is a creature of a type (as in Dragon, Demon, Elemental etc) that the wielder of this bow has defeated/killed or helped defeat/kill (after finding it, he/she needs to do so with this weapon), that creature takes an additional 4d6 necrotic damage, or half of that if it succeeds a Constitution saving throw (DC13).

Irethilios: a spear that deals an additional 1d4 Lightning damage on hit and grants the wielder +2 Dex (and max Dex is now 22). It holds a single charge, restored after a long rest. By expending it, the wielder can, by using both an action and a bonus action, plant the spear into the ground. At the beginning of his/her next turn, a lightning bolt strikes the spear, empowering the wielder with the essence of lightning. For this turn, the movement speed of the wielder is increased by 15 ft, and he/she now moves through rapid blinks followed by a flash of lightning, preventing enemies from hitting him with opportunity attacks if he moves out of their reach (or I could simply turn this into Disadvantage). While the wielder is in this state, he/she can only attack with unarmed strikes (it's intended for a Monk), but he/she can attack 5 times, with each strike dealing an additional 1d6 of Lightning damage. At the end of this turn, there's a Constitution saving throw (DC15). If failed, the wielder suffers one level of Exhaustion.

 

[Satyrn]

I like where you're going with the special abilities.

When I make magic items, that's all they have. I don't use +1s of higher and I sparingly use bonus damage ( +1d6 and the like). Rather, I prefer weapons that add options for the player.

For the spear, I'd personally drop the +1d4 damage and the dex bonus. In exchange, I'd let the wielder cast a "lightning zap" cantrip (same as firebolt, but lightning damage) just by pretending to throw the spear at the target. And here's the other change I'd make: The chance of exhaustion on that "plant the spear" thing feels like a heavy cost, so I'd either a) let the wielder perform it as often as he dares; or b) drop the exhaustion cost. I might even up the charges to 5 and have it recharge like a wand (1d4+1 charges/long rest)

 

[Comyx]

I like where you're going with the special abilities.

When I make magic items, that's all they have. I don't use +1s of higher and I sparingly use bonus damage ( +1d6 and the like). Rather, I prefer weapons that add options for the player.

For the spear, I'd personally drop the +1d4 damage and the dex bonus. In exchange, I'd let the wielder cast a "lightning zap" cantrip (same as firebolt, but lightning damage) just by pretending to throw the spear at the target. And here's the other change I'd make: The chance of exhaustion on that "plant the spear" thing feels like a heavy cost, so I'd either a) let the wielder perform it as often as he dares; or b) drop the exhaustion cost. I might even up the charges to 5 and have it recharge like a wand (1d4+1 charges/long rest)

I thought that, considering the perks of the... let's call it Kanmuru, as it's similar to Killua's ability from HxH, a chance of level 1 fatigue could be a way to balance it out, but then again I tried to make it so that the damage dealt during that turn is similar to the damage done in 2 turns, but with the additional bonus of blinking around. Perhaps it is unneeded, after all.
As for the lightnintg bolt, I opted to not to gave it that ability simply because it reminds me of Vengeance's ability. Plus, the awakened version of the spear does have a Lightning spell that can be used in place of the lightning mode, although it's an AoE spell.
I'll think about the removal of either the Dex or the 1d4, though. Perhaps I'll keep one of them just so that the average damage doesn't fall short of other weapons (apart from special abilities), although as it is it's higher, so I guess, I could make the D4 into a +1 Lightning damage on hit instead.
Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Satyrn]

I'll think about the removal of either the Dex or the 1d4, though. Perhaps I'll keep one of them just so that the average damage doesn't fall short of other weapons (apart from special abilities), although as it is it's higher, so I guess, I could make the D4 into a +1 Lightning damage on hit instead.
Thanks for the feedback!

You're welcome.

I should maybe clarify something though. Removing the damage stuff is my personal preference, and that's why I was suggesting dropping it. You certainly do not need to do so for that spear. It's fine with the bonus damage, too. Especially if you're handing out other items with bonus damage, I would not drop the bonus damage on the spear.

See, I was rather just using the spear as an example. I would have continued on to drop the bonus damage from every other weapon, too.

In a way, I wasn't even suggesting that you change anything specific about the spear. I was using it as an example to illustrate how I make magic items. My goal with feedback is generally to give other ideas on how to do something so that you can say "hmm, I wonder if that will work for me" and reevaluate what you've got. If you use none of my ideas, but I've left you thinking "yeah, I like what I made" then I've succeeded.

 

[Comyx]

Ah, I see what you mean, I was misunderstanding.
And I'll probably end up giving it a try for the remaining weapons, if I can come up with some creative effects to give them.

 

[aco175]

By waiting until the PCs are 5-7 level you miss out on giving them weapons at the 3-5 level. It may make some monsters harder to defeat at the lower levels, like gargoyles and elementals. Most players want to start making their characters more powerful by getting a magic item at lower levels. A bag of holding is cool, but a magical longsword is cooler. I think most people find levels 1-3 fast and and a potion and maybe something small of magic shows up to wet the players appetite.

You shouldn't be afraid to give cool items to the PCs at low levels like in movies and the cartoon. A lot of movies the novice finds the master dying and needs to grab the cool item and seek revenge. You may also need to give them out earlier to set the tone for the campaign. PCs may go off the rails if the arc is not found out about too early.