D&D 5E Magic items - The Mage’s Apprentice Cloak and the Master Mage's Cloak

[Shrapp Hamnier]

Magic items - The Mage’s Apprentice Cloak and the Master Mage's Cloak

I'm planning on giving these to an NPCs which the party needs to defeat, then they can claim the cloaks for themselves. Thoughts? Balance corrections?


(Revised versions)

The Master Mage's Cloak
Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)

While this item is attuned, you may spend 8 hours of meditation and study to imbue it with a cantrip that yo know. After this is done, you can activate the cloak as a free action at the start of your turn, as long as you can take actions. When you activate the cloak, choose one (and only one) of the following alternatives:

1 charge: If you cast the cantrip with which the cloak is imbued, you have advantage on attack rolls and your opponents have disadvantage on their saves. This benefit lasts until the end of your turn.
3 charges: You can immediately cast the imbued cantrip without requiring any type of action. It is cast using your level, but you cannot apply the benefits of any feats, class features, or other special abilities to the spell. You do not need to supply verbal or somatic components for the spell, but you must have any required material components or spell-casting focus on your person.
7 charges: If you cast the imbued cantrip, you can treat any of your attack rolls as natural 20s, and any of your opponents' saves as natural ones. This benefit lasts until the end of your turn.

The cloak has 10 charges and regains 2d4+2 charges each morning up to its max.


The Mage’s Apprentice Cloak
Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement)

While this item is attuned, you may spend 8 hours of meditation and study to imbue it with a cantrip that you know which does not do damage. After this is done, you can activate the cloak as a free action at the start of your turn, as long as you can take actions. When you activate the cloak, choose one (and only one) of the following alternatives:

1 charge: Either you have advantage or your target has disadvantage on all rolls for that cantrip on your turn.
2 charges: The cloak may use the cantrip on a target you choose. The cloak uses your spell level, but it does not gain any benefits from your abilities or feats.

The cloak has 10 charges and regains 2d4+2 charges each morning up to its max.

 

[Mistwell]

I think if you make sure the cloak cannot use your feats and invocations when using the cantrip on it's own for 2 charges, it's otherwise fine. But a Warlock using Eldritch Blast an extra time with all the stuff they can stack on it would be pretty darn powerful.

 

[MarkB]

What sort of action is required to activate the cloak, if any?

 

[Shrapp Hamnier]

I think if you make sure the cloak cannot use your feats and invocations when using the cantrip on it's own for 2 charges, it's otherwise fine. But a Warlock using Eldritch Blast an extra time with all the stuff they can stack on it would be pretty darn powerful.

Good point, I didn't even think about feats and such.

What sort of action is required to activate the cloak, if any?

A free action. The point is that the cloak is its own entity acting somewhat independantly. The charges used to bolster your cantrip attack are supposed to be akin to characters assisting eachother.

Or perhaps instead of a free action, I'll say the cloak goes first, and you have the option of having the cloak make an action. That would be much simpler to explain.

 

[Harzel]

The Mage’s Apprentice Cloke
Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)

May spend one day of downtime to teach the cloak one of your cantrips. The cloak has 10 charges and regains 2d4+2 charges each morning up to its max. You may have the cloak take its own action immediatly before you, spending a number of its charges to do one of the following.
1 charge: You have advantage on all rolls for that cantrip on your turn.
2 charges: The cloak may use the cantrip on a target you choose. The cloak uses your spell level, but it does not gain any benefits from your abilities or feats.
8 charges: All rolls for this cantrip are natural 20s on your turn.

I think I might increase the cost of the second ability from 2 charges to 3 charges (to take the potential from 5x/day to 3x/day). On the other hand, the third ability sounds impressive, but I don't think it's that much better than the second, so I might reduce the cost to 6 charges.

Also, did you consider allowing the benefits to apply to (the few) cantrips that require saving throws instead of attack rolls (for the first and third abilities)? For the first, disadvantage on the saving throw would be ok; for the third, I guess no saving throw and vulnerability/double damage(?)

Oh, and 'cloke' is a legitimate, but archaic, spelling.

 

[Shrapp Hamnier]

I think I might increase the cost of the second ability from 2 charges to 3 charges (to take the potential from 5x/day to 3x/day). On the other hand, the third ability sounds impressive, but I don't think it's that much better than the second, so I might reduce the cost to 6 charges.

Also, did you consider allowing the benefits to apply to (the few) cantrips that require saving throws instead of attack rolls (for the first and third abilities)? For the first, disadvantage on the saving throw would be ok; for the third, I guess no saving throw and vulnerability/double damage(?)

Oh, and 'cloke' is a legitimate, but archaic, spelling.

I like the charge adjustment suggestions (though I'm going back and forth between 6, 7, or 8 on what is e for the last one).

As for the abilities, I feel simply saying "all rolls" covers what any cantrip does. To add extra bonuses to the cloak would make it much more powerful than it is supposed to be (I prefer avoiding making Legendary leveled items, not that adding bonuses would do that per say).

 

[Harzel]

As for the abilities, I feel simply saying "all rolls" covers what any cantrip does. To add extra bonuses to the cloak would make it much more powerful than it is supposed to be (I prefer avoiding making Legendary leveled items, not that adding bonuses would do that per say).

I might have been a little unclear. I am talking about cantrips such as Acid Splash. Suppose I teach my cloak Acid Splash. If I cast Acid Splash, I do not make any rolls - instead the target has to make a saving throw.

1 charge: You have advantage on all rolls for that cantrip on your turn.

So as written the first ability does me no good. (I don't want advantage; I want the target to have disadvantage.)

6 charges: All rolls for this cantrip are natural 20s on your turn.

And if I take the wording literally, not only does the third ability do me no good, it actually advantages the target. For Acid Splash, an (approximately) equivalent effect would be no saving throw for the target and making it vulnerable to acid (for that attack).

So I guess it would be fine to say, "Well, then don't teach your cloak Acid Splash." I was just suggesting that you could extend the wording to cover cases like Acid Splash as well. I guess that technically would increase the power of the cloak, but it seems pretty minimal.

 

[Shrapp Hamnier]

If I cast Acid Splash, I do not make any rolls - instead the target has to make a saving throw.

Ooooooh! Gotcha. Ya, I like saying the enemy at disadvantage, and all their rolls are 1 respectively

 

[aco175]

It sounds a bit powerful to be called an "Apprentice" cloak.

If it acts a bit like a living entity you can make it take the role of a familiar.

I would simplify it to a 1/rest power to grant advantage to an attack roll with a cantrip, or impose disadvantage to a saving throw with a cantrip. And a 1/day power to have it cast a cantrip as a free action. You can also give it a langurage it imparts to the wearer while wearing.

 

[Shrapp Hamnier]

It sounds a bit powerful to be called an "Apprentice" cloak.

If it acts a bit like a living entity you can make it take the role of a familiar.

I would simplify it to a 1/rest power to grant advantage to an attack roll with a cantrip, or impose disadvantage to a saving throw with a cantrip. And a 1/day power to have it cast a cantrip as a free action. You can also give it a langurage it imparts to the wearer while wearing.

Why can't an apprentice be powerful?

That is an interesting idea making the cloak a familiar. Although it isn't really alive, I just gave it an action of its own to simplify its mechanics, as two of its abilities modify the cantrip, while the other is an extra attack without taking the bonus action slot.

Also, isn't there a rule that there can only be one familiar attached to someone at a time? I feel like the cloak would need to be much more powerful or useful to make my players choose between it and the utility of a familiar. I've seen familiars used to the extreme of making entire quests essentially lower CRs.