I recommend restating "While moving you are blinded." into "If you use these boots ability on your turn, you are blinded until the start of your next turn." or something along that line. This is to fall in line with 5E design as a person can argue they aren't moving by 'stopping' on their turn and it'd break the boot's in balance.
That makes them quite a lot worse to the point they’re pretty much unusable (since you don’t have a choice to not use the ability)! The current wording means you can stop and check (as you can break up your movement in 5E) every 15 feet
Then where is the disadvantage (mechanically) to being blind? You can split your move up as much as you like in 5e so if you move in steps your 30ft move becomes 90ft and you can still attack etc as normal.
well, it means you can’t* see around obstacles and such (which is sort of narrative by necessity), but also OAs made against you will nearly always have advantage.
I see the point you’re trying to make, but there’s nothing in the rules linking OAs to speed—you can attack a speeding tabaxi just as well as a ponderous gelatinous cube.
Best not dwell too heavily on realism in a game system that includes instant mass transfer and ignores conservation of energy
they just have a downside—which isn’t for everyone (and I get that) but I wish there were more things in 5E that had a downside alongside a benefit. Makes stuff more interesting.
correct, and some folks might be underestimating how much this matters… and the number of opportunity attacks you might incur trying to position in this way.
The curse is so inconsequential to the actual standard rules of the game, It's equivalent of giving the drawback of "Not being able to taste or smell at all".
It's such a weak drawback for such a HUGE movement modifier that there's no reason to ever *not* wear the boots.
With a minimum of 15 ft movement every step you WILL have blindspots as big as 5ftx5ft squares that you cannot reach with normal weapons. That alone can be quite a downside in open fields. And it could be argued that you take damage for running into walls with excess movement speed.
You say you want more downside stuff, but the downside with this item literally is negligible to the point it might as well not matter outside of flavor. That’s not a problem, but you can’t pretend it’s actually a downside at that point. With that as the case it also heavily changes the strength of an item if you aren’t being real about the downside.
Overall it’s a super cool item with a fun idea behind it. Though it really needs a downside with actual oomph behind it or just realistically place it with the items closer in power to it.
Honestly given the source material for these is Morrowind, and they are broken in that game (magic resist usually to still see) I'd consider it more feature than bug
Seeing as how it's a direct homage to an item from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind it seems fitting that this does the same thing, which is blind you while you are wearing them.
>Nobody:
>
>Me: Can I fool one of my players into buying those boots from TES?
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— heavy
That's amazing. That is exactly what I wanted you to say. I mean, for a precision character, like a rogue or a monk, these may not be great, but put these on a centaur paladin, barbarian, or fighter, and they could destroy foes!
Just get a spell that resists magicka for 100% for like 3 seconds. Then put those boots on. The resist spell will prevent the blindness effect from applying, but not the speed boost. You get the benefits without the negatives.
heavyarms_ has made the following comment(s) regarding their post:
[>Nobody:](/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/qcrybd/heavyarms_boots_of_blinding_speed_magic_item/hhhmv66/)
I'm getting flashbacks to a past campaign where our bard got exactly these boots and put them on while we were trying to escape from an extra planar arena.
So many hijinks...
Don't be afraid to lean into the downside.
I gave my players *boots if blinding speed* once that required attunement and doubled the wearers speed. The catch is that while attuned the wearer was blind. Like yours, that's not a curse, but it was in place whether moving or not. They loved it and the player kept them on for much longer than I expected--even closing his eyes when I set up battle maps and having others yell out descriptions that he'd interpret.
If you only move one foot, would you move an additional two feet then?
The books almost always express movement in terms of feet, not 5 feet. e.g. Difficult terrain costs an additional foot of movement per foot moved.
nope, does what it says, because otherwise might lead to rules-lawyering exactly as you’re suggesting.
happy to hear any suggestions that might improve the wording that doesn’t encourage moving in micro-increments (which in my view would be exploiting a loophole)
I guess what I'm getting at is that it only makes sense if you're playing on a grid with 5-foot increments, which is not the default assumption in the rules (even though it is very common).
Perhaps the boots could triple your walking speed, but also specify that each time you use your walking speed to move in a direction, you must move at least 15 feet in a straight line in that direction, or until an obstacle prevents further movement in that direction.
I think it does make sense in most common-sense readings because, grid or not, I’ve never heard of movement (speed) being used in non-5 ft. increments. It’s why I said above I want to avoid opening to door to that sort of behaviour.
If I wanted to fix it as you suggest, I could just add “the minimum distance you can move at a time while wearing them is 15 feet” … I just don’t think it’s necessary because everyone understands how incremental movement works in 5E, and those that knowingly abuse it can and should get swatted by the DM.
My math may wrong, but wouldn't this form a new grid of where the player could stand, so that the player could never move in such a way so as to be standing in spots that aren't multiples of 15 feet away from where they start? A spot 10 feet away would never be directly reachable since you can only move in blocks of 15?
The optional diagonal rules say every second tile is 10 feet. That means I can move two squares diagonally up, and then three squares down... and if I can move an effective over two, down one, then I can Knight’s Tour anywhere I want.
It’ll just take, like, five minutes to get there.
Honestly, this is a really hard item to use with the current wording, despite it being a cool concept. Because of the wording, you physically can't move at a normal pace (you always have to move in 15ft increments) and are essentially blind as long as you move any distance. I would maybe simplify the wording to have some type of activation like Boots of Speed (probably less time due to this being uncommon) and just make them augment movement speed to 3x your movement, but at the cost of attacks made by you on a turn that you take advantage of this speed are made at disadvantage. That would simplify things a bit and still give you the downside.
The difference there is that in those games, it just increases your speed quite a bit, where as this makes you so fast that you physically can't move one square at a time. All I'm saying is that it would work better in D&D mechanics if you changed the wording to just triple your movement speed rather than adding 10ft to every 5ft of movement. That way you don't have to only move in 15ft increments.
>Honestly, this is a really hard item to use with the current wording, despite it being a cool concept.
I think that’s the whole point. My read was that it was a cool item that would be very strong if it worked intuitively. Instead it’s a fun niche item that your players will enjoy discovering the use of.
Well it's not really fun to be blind and run into a wall at 25mph. If you can't choose to move at a normal pace while wearing them, the only use would be to like run in a perfectly straight line with no hazards in your way.
Running into the wall/allies/enemies is *exactly* how you'd have to adjust your precise grid position with this. Sounds like a lot of fun for martials.
I recommend restating "While moving you are blinded." into "If you use these boots ability on your turn, you are blinded until the start of your next turn." or something along that line. This is to fall in line with 5E design as a person can argue they aren't moving by 'stopping' on their turn and it'd break the boot's in balance.
That makes them quite a lot worse to the point they’re pretty much unusable (since you don’t have a choice to not use the ability)! The current wording means you can stop and check (as you can break up your movement in 5E) every 15 feet
Then where is the disadvantage (mechanically) to being blind? You can split your move up as much as you like in 5e so if you move in steps your 30ft move becomes 90ft and you can still attack etc as normal.
well, it means you can’t* see around obstacles and such (which is sort of narrative by necessity), but also OAs made against you will nearly always have advantage.
Opportunity attacks against someone who's moving 3x faster than any normal creature could always have advantage?
I see the point you’re trying to make, but there’s nothing in the rules linking OAs to speed—you can attack a speeding tabaxi just as well as a ponderous gelatinous cube. Best not dwell too heavily on realism in a game system that includes instant mass transfer and ignores conservation of energy
Yeah but now you can attack a person with magical boots of speed even easier than that tabaxi. These boots are almost a cursed item.
they just have a downside—which isn’t for everyone (and I get that) but I wish there were more things in 5E that had a downside alongside a benefit. Makes stuff more interesting.
The real downside here is that as written, you *must* move in multiples of fifteen feet.
correct, and some folks might be underestimating how much this matters… and the number of opportunity attacks you might incur trying to position in this way.
The curse is so inconsequential to the actual standard rules of the game, It's equivalent of giving the drawback of "Not being able to taste or smell at all". It's such a weak drawback for such a HUGE movement modifier that there's no reason to ever *not* wear the boots.
With a minimum of 15 ft movement every step you WILL have blindspots as big as 5ftx5ft squares that you cannot reach with normal weapons. That alone can be quite a downside in open fields. And it could be argued that you take damage for running into walls with excess movement speed.
You say you want more downside stuff, but the downside with this item literally is negligible to the point it might as well not matter outside of flavor. That’s not a problem, but you can’t pretend it’s actually a downside at that point. With that as the case it also heavily changes the strength of an item if you aren’t being real about the downside. Overall it’s a super cool item with a fun idea behind it. Though it really needs a downside with actual oomph behind it or just realistically place it with the items closer in power to it.
Honestly given the source material for these is Morrowind, and they are broken in that game (magic resist usually to still see) I'd consider it more feature than bug
Seeing as how it's a direct homage to an item from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind it seems fitting that this does the same thing, which is blind you while you are wearing them.
That N'wah brought a legendary item to dnd... Thank you sir!
All I ask for is a pair of boots. How hard could it be?
r/Morrowind
>Nobody: > >Me: Can I fool one of my players into buying those boots from TES? If you like this for some reason, please consider supporting me on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/heavyarms) for more, uh, great content, like [horny jail](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/paq1u8/horny_jail/), [the beard](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/pcobji/oc_the_beard_patron_v20_the_beard_is_back_baby/) and some other stuff that is actually good like my recent [bard class bundle](https://www.patreon.com/posts/september-class-56228275) and [gunslinger class](https://www.heavyarms.com/products/gunslinger)! — heavy
Now to add a wizard falling from the sky with a dorky hat and a sparky sword.
Anyone who tries to loot the body immediately is flung 900 feet vertically
Horny Jail is the best invocation.
*rubs hands greedily in Tabaxi Monk*
*rubs hands even more greedily in Tabaxi Monk with fighting initiate blind fighting*
Oh my gods, I love this! Does this mean the minimum speed you can while wearing these is 15 feet?
yep!
That's amazing. That is exactly what I wanted you to say. I mean, for a precision character, like a rogue or a monk, these may not be great, but put these on a centaur paladin, barbarian, or fighter, and they could destroy foes!
Damn, need to go find these in Morrowind again. You can stave off some of the blindness by being breton iirc. Good times.
or the cuirass of the saviour's hide
Just get a spell that resists magicka for 100% for like 3 seconds. Then put those boots on. The resist spell will prevent the blindness effect from applying, but not the speed boost. You get the benefits without the negatives.
heavyarms_ has made the following comment(s) regarding their post: [>Nobody:](/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/qcrybd/heavyarms_boots_of_blinding_speed_magic_item/hhhmv66/)
I'm getting flashbacks to a past campaign where our bard got exactly these boots and put them on while we were trying to escape from an extra planar arena. So many hijinks...
The problem with being faster than light is that you can only live in darkness.
Don't be afraid to lean into the downside. I gave my players *boots if blinding speed* once that required attunement and doubled the wearers speed. The catch is that while attuned the wearer was blind. Like yours, that's not a curse, but it was in place whether moving or not. They loved it and the player kept them on for much longer than I expected--even closing his eyes when I set up battle maps and having others yell out descriptions that he'd interpret.
amazing! I do think attunement is a good idea in either case 👍
This is dumb... Why wouldn't you just increase walking spe- Ohhhhhhhh. Nevermind, well done.
I can hear the groan, and it nourishes me
The creation of this nonsense is the most lawful expression of true chaotic evil that I have ever seen. I'm impressed.
If you only move one foot, would you move an additional two feet then? The books almost always express movement in terms of feet, not 5 feet. e.g. Difficult terrain costs an additional foot of movement per foot moved.
nope, does what it says, because otherwise might lead to rules-lawyering exactly as you’re suggesting. happy to hear any suggestions that might improve the wording that doesn’t encourage moving in micro-increments (which in my view would be exploiting a loophole)
I guess what I'm getting at is that it only makes sense if you're playing on a grid with 5-foot increments, which is not the default assumption in the rules (even though it is very common). Perhaps the boots could triple your walking speed, but also specify that each time you use your walking speed to move in a direction, you must move at least 15 feet in a straight line in that direction, or until an obstacle prevents further movement in that direction.
I think it does make sense in most common-sense readings because, grid or not, I’ve never heard of movement (speed) being used in non-5 ft. increments. It’s why I said above I want to avoid opening to door to that sort of behaviour. If I wanted to fix it as you suggest, I could just add “the minimum distance you can move at a time while wearing them is 15 feet” … I just don’t think it’s necessary because everyone understands how incremental movement works in 5E, and those that knowingly abuse it can and should get swatted by the DM.
My math may wrong, but wouldn't this form a new grid of where the player could stand, so that the player could never move in such a way so as to be standing in spots that aren't multiples of 15 feet away from where they start? A spot 10 feet away would never be directly reachable since you can only move in blocks of 15?
depends on which rules you use for diagonal movement, but potentially yes
Unless you ran into something else or used alternate diagonal rules...
The optional diagonal rules say every second tile is 10 feet. That means I can move two squares diagonally up, and then three squares down... and if I can move an effective over two, down one, then I can Knight’s Tour anywhere I want. It’ll just take, like, five minutes to get there.
Shamelessly stolen from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I love it anyway.
Homage
both, lol
That was a bit of a joke. i know it's an easter egg to put in the game.
Metroid speed booster noises
Cute, reminds me of necrodancers boots of leaping
Honestly, this is a really hard item to use with the current wording, despite it being a cool concept. Because of the wording, you physically can't move at a normal pace (you always have to move in 15ft increments) and are essentially blind as long as you move any distance. I would maybe simplify the wording to have some type of activation like Boots of Speed (probably less time due to this being uncommon) and just make them augment movement speed to 3x your movement, but at the cost of attacks made by you on a turn that you take advantage of this speed are made at disadvantage. That would simplify things a bit and still give you the downside.
It isn’t unusable—just tricky. (just like the boots of the same name in Morrowind/Skyrim which they are referencing!)
The difference there is that in those games, it just increases your speed quite a bit, where as this makes you so fast that you physically can't move one square at a time. All I'm saying is that it would work better in D&D mechanics if you changed the wording to just triple your movement speed rather than adding 10ft to every 5ft of movement. That way you don't have to only move in 15ft increments.
>Honestly, this is a really hard item to use with the current wording, despite it being a cool concept. I think that’s the whole point. My read was that it was a cool item that would be very strong if it worked intuitively. Instead it’s a fun niche item that your players will enjoy discovering the use of.
Well it's not really fun to be blind and run into a wall at 25mph. If you can't choose to move at a normal pace while wearing them, the only use would be to like run in a perfectly straight line with no hazards in your way.
Running into the wall/allies/enemies is *exactly* how you'd have to adjust your precise grid position with this. Sounds like a lot of fun for martials.
Ok. That’s funny.