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Ignore the standard rarity in the block, that is a placeholder.

TASER-PISTOL

ranged weapon (simple, firearm)
Category: Items
Damage: 1d4
Damage Type: Lightning
Item Rarity: Standard
Properties: Loading, Range, Ammunition, Light
Range: 30/60
Weight: 5

Special: recharge(5-6)
When you hit a creature with this weapon, you can choose to overcharge the voltage, the target must succeed on a constitution saving throw of (8+PB+Damage modifier) or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Thomas Markov
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Tango_The_Bee
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    Does this differ from your other question? There is an answer regarding the Taser Pistol specifically there. Did you change the item, or is that answer unsatisfactory in some other way? – Upper_Case Jul 13 '21 at 20:08
  • I'd also recommend giving our homebrew review guidance a once over and incorporating some of the suggestions into your question: How can I ask a good homebrew review question? – Thomas Markov Jul 13 '21 at 20:08
  • it does differ from it slightly, the item has been changed aswell since then. i was happy with the answerd there, but i got complains that i should not bring up changes in the posts, comments or repost it just for the sake of opening it up. so i post this. which is short, to the point and its a changed version of the item from the other question – Tango_The_Bee Jul 13 '21 at 20:11
  • No worries Tango, I just wanted to double check (I missed the changes in my once-over). You're right that the changed item should be in a new question rather than editing the old one in a way that would invalidate existing answers. – Upper_Case Jul 13 '21 at 20:19
  • What do PB and damage modifier refer to here? – Cooper Jul 13 '21 at 22:04
  • PB= Proficiency bonus, Damage modifier = the damage that you added after rolling the 1d4, so if you have 16 dex (+3) and a +1 weapon the damage modifier would be +4. – Tango_The_Bee Jul 13 '21 at 23:13
  • That Damage modifier added to the DC could be problematic. Characters or foes with a high dexterity could push that DC to some crazy levels. – That_Knight_Guy Jul 14 '21 at 20:34

1 Answers1

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Very Rare

Hideous Laughter is a 1st level spell with a comparable effect to the Taser-Pistol's special ability.

Justification: It is a ranged spell, requiring a failed saving throw leaving the target incapacitated and prone. (For anyone targeting the creature in melee, this is similar to attacking a stunned creature; although the prone makes hideous laughter less useful for a ranged attacker.) Hideous laughter has an advantage of having a potentially longer duration if subsequent saving throws are failed; unlike the Taser-Pistol it doesn't require the player to also hit first. It also has the disadvantage of being ineffective against low Intelligence creatures.

The Taser-Pistol ability has a large advantage of being one effect of an attack of a light weapon; and so potentially just one of many things that can happen on an attack action.

If you accept this premise, then it is useful to look at other magic items which allow you to cast 1st level spells:

Eyes of Charming: Uncommon; 3 charges of Charm Person per day.

Ring of Obscuring: Uncommon; 1d3 charges of Fog Cloud per day.

Wand of Entangle: Uncommon; 1d6 + 1 Entangles per day.

Wand of Magic Detection: Uncommon; 1d3 charges of Detect Magic per day.

Wand of Magic Missiles: Uncommon; 1d6 + 1 charges of Magic Missile per day.

Staff of Healing: Rare; among other options, you could use this to cast 1d6+4 Cure Wounds a day.

Staff of Charming: Rare; among other bonuses, you could use this to cast 1d8+2 first level spells (Charm Person, Command or Comprehend Languages) per day.

The main distinction between the Uncommon and Rare magic items which can cast 1st level spells, is that the Rare items are a little more versatile. They all do something a little bit more than just casting the spell. I would argue that also being a functional weapon easily pushes the Taser-Pistol into the Rare category.

The other major difference between the Taser-Pistol and most magic items is that the effect has a recharge which doesn't require a rest. It is realistic to expect this to proc once or twice per combat, but for "boss fights" - potentially a lot more. If your DM is following the DMG guidance of 6-8 medium to hard encounters per day, that's more uses per day than most magic items have. If it were say "recharges during a short rest", I would call it a Rare item. As it stands the fact that this item has a large potential impact I would label it as Very Rare.

F1000003
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  • Thats quite the feedback, thanks. thought i am satisfied with having it catagorized in very rare other people tend to compare it to the rare item "wand of paralysis" which on average has a lowed dc than the taser pistol but makes up for it with a 1 minute duration paralisis condition with on average 4-5 charges each day. would you not say the tasers effect is weaker than this magic item with a similar effect? – Tango_The_Bee Jul 14 '21 at 19:38
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    I would say no, the taser is considerably stronger. In my experience 1 minute paralysis in the middle of combat is often overkill. The creature on the receiving end is often dead or otherwise incapacitated long before that one minute is up. While getting 2-3 uses 6-8 times a day results in way more 'charges' across a much larger number of targets. In addition, the wand can have it's effects shaken off early, while the tazer has no such limitation. – That_Knight_Guy Jul 14 '21 at 20:06
  • @Tango_The_Bee I think it's quite borderline between Rare and Very Rare; and I agree it has a weaker effect than paralysis. Depending on your group's play style, the difference between 4-5 charges per day and unlimited charges might not actually be that much in practice; but for some games - it's huge. A big difference as I see it though is in terms of action economy. The staff requires a whole action. The pistol is only an attack, (and you can have multiple attacks per turn as you level up)... Also worth noting the attunement slot cost on the wand. I certainly think it's a cool item though. – F1000003 Jul 14 '21 at 20:07
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    @F1000003 One thing that could be considered is the presence of the loading property. While that only limits it to one attack per action (still allowing multiple attacks per turn/round) that would greatly slow down usage. Also, ammunition could be rare. I would still consider it more powerful than the wand, but a careful GM could limit the scope of it's use. – That_Knight_Guy Jul 14 '21 at 20:26
  • I realize there is some confusion regarding the item present in these replies, I hope these will clear things up a bit. the (recharge 5-6) may only be rolled once at the start of your turn, not at the start of every attack. if you use the effect and the target makes the save, u cannot use it again until its recharged. in reply to @That_Knight_Guy " the wand can have it's effects shaken off early, while the taser has no such limitation." the tasers stun is guaranteed to wear off after one turn. – Tango_The_Bee Jul 14 '21 at 21:05
  • Yep; don't think I explained myself very well. I understood that you can only fire the Taser-Pistol once a round, and how the recharge mechanic works. My point was not about using the Taser-Pistol multiple times per round, but instead about holding multiple weapons and that in the hands of some classes, this can be one of many attacks in an action (Extra Attack); also the Light property means anyone can use it as a bonus action (Two-Weapon Fighting), i.e. the "cost" in terms of "things you can do in a round" to fire the weapon is often less than an action. That's significant at high levels. – F1000003 Jul 14 '21 at 21:55
  • @Tango_The_Bee I didn't make my position clear then. – That_Knight_Guy Jul 20 '21 at 16:12
  • The wand has a Maximum of 70 rounds of effective use per day. This number is often lower because of fewer available charges, the creature being defeated before the effect ends, or the creature making a successful save. There are 8640 'rounds' in a 24 hour day. Given infinite ammunition, and legendary rolls it is theoretically possible to get the stun gun effect on every single one of these rounds. Still given infinite ammunition, but average rolls, somewhere between 1/6 (1440) and 1/10th (864) that number is realistic. Still way more use than the wand. – That_Knight_Guy Jul 20 '21 at 16:31