The Workshop - Spear of the Wolf Den

wolfs_den_speedpainting — Art by Mark Molnar

Let’s make another magic weapon today. Again, my goal here is to create some unique magical weapons for weapon types that aren’t commonly used by characters. And while spears aren’t as uncommon as some other types of weapons, they still feel underrepresented in terms of unique magic weapons. So let’s fix that.

The inspiration for this one actually comes from a Twitch streamer that a buddy introduced me to last month, and I’ve been enjoying getting to know him and his community – you’d be hard pressed to find one that’s quite as cozy and welcoming to new people as this one is. And it’s quickly become one of my favorite places to hang out throughout the day.

I’ve been watching him do his first playthrough of Sekiro as he works his way through the catalogue of SoulsBorne titles and a running theme in this particular game has been increased difficulty in handling spear wielding enemies. I was discussing with some of his community members as to what “non-traditional” weapons they would like to see more unique magical weapon options for and the answer was overwhelmingly “polearms.” So, I decided to have a little bit of fun and created this – this one’s for you NorthWolf.

The Spear of the Wolf Den are weapons created by a group of warriors who banded together in the distant past to combat a powerful foe plaguing the countryside, proving to several local warlords that strength wasn’t just about numbers, but rather in the trust that those warriors placed in each other. And though that particular battle is the end of their mark in the history of the realm, that lesson continues to echo throughout the centuries and will likely continue to do so until the end of time itself as these spears are passed on from warrior to warrior.

I’ll admit that the middle paragraph is me poking a bit of fun, but I also wanted to create a fun ability that is still functional outside of the jokes. Reach weapons are few and far between in 5e, so giving an improved version of it to a weapon that doesn’t usually carry it feels like a lot of fun and can be especially devastating in the hands a Champion Fighter that has his Action Surge and feels like going crit-fishing. Maybe too powerful for a rare item at the end of the day, but a lower level wielder is still limited by their proficiency bonus in how many times per day they can accomplish this task.

And so there you have it – another new unique magical item for your D&D campaigns for those that find swords and bows boring, regardless of whether or not you know who I’m talking about. As always, what weapons would you like to see me explore with this series?

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Ben Erickson

Contributing Writer for d20 Radio

Mild mannered fraud analyst by day, incorrigible system tinker monkey by night, Ben has taken a strong interest in roleplaying games since grade school, especially when it comes to creation and world building. After being introduced to the idea through the Final Fantasy series and kit-bashing together several games with younger brother and friends in his earliest years to help tell their stories, he was introduced to the official world of tabletop roleplaying games through the boxed introductory set of West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game before moving into Dungeons and Dragons.