Defender 5e
Weapon (any sword), legendary (requires attunement)
You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.
The first time you attack with the sword on each of your turns, you can transfer some or all of the sword’s bonus to your Armor Class, instead of using the bonus on any attacks that turn. For example, you could reduce the bonus to your attack and damage rolls to +1 and gain a +2 bonus to AC. The adjusted bonuses remain in effect until the start of your next turn, although you must hold the sword to gain a bonus to AC from it.
Commentary by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Want a sword that doubles as a shield? The legendary defender offers you the modality to swap between to-hit bonus and AC, making it an appealing little gem!
If you don’t attack with the sword on your turn, you can’t reduce its modifier to gain AC.
Swords typically are longswords, shortswords, and greatswords; occasionally, a DM may include daggers, rapiers, and other stabbing devices, all potentially being able to become Defenders.
The sword doesn’t care who or what you attack to switch to its AC mode- if you need the armor to bolster your defenses against incoming arrows, you could attack the ground or an object to switch the to hit to AC.
Thank you for visiting!
If you’d like to support this ongoing project, you can do so by buying my books, getting some sweet C&C merch, or joining my Patreon.
The text on this page is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
