Are these Relics of Legend Artifacts described well enough to be useable?

Question

Yes, I spent the last 3 days listening to Gloryhammer... and started writing up the Relics of Legend just for the lulz.

Now, I wonder if they are on one hand close enough to the inspiring material to make them recognizable and on the other hand well enough described to be useable as the ultimate set of McGuffins.

Dagger of Eternal Evil

The Dagger of Eternal Evil was crafted by the Lords of the Stars in ancient times, more than 10 millennia before the rise of Dundax and the foundation of Dundee. It is part of the triad of the Relics of Legend, and while not the most destructive on its own, it is the most insidious with its power to draw people into darkness.

Dagger of Eternal Evil,

Weapon (Dagger), Artifact (requires Attunement)

Damage: 1d4 Piercing + 1d4 Necrotic / Type: Piercing, Magical & Necrotic

Weapon Properties: Finesse, Light, Range, Thrown

Range: 10/30

Weight: 1.5 pounds

Special Properties:

Attunement Requirement: To attune to the Dagger of Eternal Evil, one has to stab oneself with it, receiving at least 1 damage.

Alignment Corruption: Any being that receives at least one point of damage from the Dagger of Eternal Evil instantly must change its alignment to one of Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, or Chaotic Evil. No save throw can prevent this change. Any being that received power from a divine source or oath loses their powers until the long rest after they dedicated themselves to a new source of power or oath matching their new alignment.

Immortality: The wielder of the Dagger of Eternal Evil becomes immortal, immune to death caused by any means other than the other relics of legend—the Astral Hammer of Glory and the Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem. This immortality grants the wielder eternal life, ensuring that they persist through any adversity or challenge.

Twisted Transformation: Beings of purity that get turned by the Dagger of Eternal Evil become twisted mockeries of their former selves. For example, Unicorns turn black and swap their healing effects for damaging ones.

Undead Servitude: Living beings slain by the Dagger of Eternal Evil become undead that obey the holder of the Dagger. Constructs that are brought to 0 HP are destroyed permanently and crumble to dust. Nothing short of the intervention of the Lords of the Stars can bring such a destroyed construct back.

Cataclysmic Convergence: If the Dagger of Eternal Evil comes into contact with both of its counterparts simultaneously—the Astral Hammer of Glory and the Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem—all three artifacts cease to exist in a blinding flash of light. This cataclysmic event summons the wrath of the Lords of the Stars, resulting in the annihilation of the entire plane where the convergence occurred. Every entity and object besides those involved in the convergence is obliterated down to the soul, with no possibility of resurrection. Survivors of this cataclysm are offered the opportunity to ascend as Lords of the Stars themselves.

Apocalyptic Attunement: Should someone attune to all three Relics of Legend—the Dagger of Eternal Evil, the Astral Hammer of Glory, and the Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem—they, the plane they inhabit, and the artifacts themselves are instantly obliterated, leaving nothing behind.

Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenwheem

The Vorpal Laserblaster is the most destructive of the triad. Shaped like a strange pistol charged with light from an ancient star, it is glowing faintly in a blueish light. A button makes it hum and activate while another push button changes its mode. The secret of making its ammunition is unknown. It is part of a triad of artifacts known as the Relics of Legend crafted by the Lords of the Stars, to fight an unknown foe.

Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem

Weapon (firearm), artifact (requires attunement)

Weight: 2.2 Pounds

Recharge Time: 2 Rounds (12 seconds)

Capacity: 12,000 Star Fragments

Mode A: Laser Pulse Mode:

Range: 1,798 squares (372.13 miles)

Damage: 1d10 radiant

Special: On a critical hit with a roll of natural 20, the target's head is severed from its body if it has one. The creature dies instantly if it can't survive without its head, suffering this fate even if it has legendary resistance or other means of avoiding instant death.

Ammunition: Consumes 1 star fragment per shot

Dark Matter Cannon Mode:

Range: 12,217 squares (2422.98 miles)

Damage: 5d12 Force damage

Special: Targets hit by the dark matter cannon mode must make a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be pushed back 30 feet and knocked prone.

Ammunition: Consumes 5 star fragments per shot

Special Properties

Ancient Starlight: The blaster emits a faint glow of ancient starlight, shedding dim light in a 10-foot radius.

Radiant Aura: Beings within 10 feet of the wielder take 1d6 radiant damage per round due to the radiation emitted by the blaster. Beings attuned to any of the Relics of Legend, Undead, Celestials, Constructs and Fiends do not receive this damage.

Initial Star Fragment Roll: When the Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem is discovered, the Dungeon Master should roll to determine the remaining start fragments within its capacity: Roll 1d10 to determine the thousands place (1000-10000) and 1d20 to determine the additional hundreds place (100-2000).

Cataclysmic Convergence & Apocalyptic Attunement as per Dagger of Eternal Evil.

Astral Hammer of Glory

This imposing blunt warhammer, with a head the size of two human skulls, exudes an aura of unearthly power. It is part of a triad of artifacts known as the Relics of Legend crafted by the Lords of the Stars, to fight an unknown foe.

Astral Hammer of Glory, Unique Artifact, requires Attunement

Damage: 2d8 bludgeoning damage ; Type: bludgeoning Magical

Properties: Versatile (2d10), Reach

Special Properties:

Divine Empowerment: The Astral Hammer of Glory grants its wielder advantage on all melee attack rolls that use the hammer.

Earthquake: Once per long rest, the wielder of the Astral Hammer of Glory can cast the Earthquake spell by striking the ground as if using an 8th-level spell slot. The spell's area of effect is centered on a point the wielder hit with the hammer. The tremors continue for the duration of the spell even without concentration, causing damage and knocking creatures prone within the affected area as per the spell for all 10 rounds. The wielder of the Hammer is not excluded from the effects.

Cataclysmic Convergence & Apocalyptic Attunement as per Dagger of Eternal Evil.

Answer 1

Not well enough described - especially the Dagger

I don't know enough about the source material to tell you if they're recognizable, but I can say that they have problems in terms of in-game effects. Mostly the dagger, as the most interesting of the lot.

Dagger of Eternal Evil

• Attunement is unclear, actually. Can anyone change alignments with the dagger? Do you lose Immortality when you are disarmed, or just when someone else attunes to it? Many of the features should say "While you are attuned to it" at some point in their description.
• Alignment Corruption is a bit unspecified. I assume that it's meant to let the damaged target choose; I also assume that it's supposed to only work on non-evil creatures, or else you could... pinwheel between the evil alignments? Okay, that's not really a use case. But for example, a Lawful Evil cleric of Asmodeus would lose all cleric powers on attuning to this, until rededicated to... a different evil deity, as this feature bans picking the same deity. Overall, it's a bit of a mess, and you could move the divine stuff to Twisted Transformation. I would recommend changing it to this:

Any non-evil being that receives at least one point of damage from the Dagger of Eternal Evil instantly must change its alignment to one of Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, or Chaotic Evil (its choice) with no saving throw.

• Immortality is unclear as to power level. I assume it's supposed to clarify that you can be brought to 1 hit point, but not brought to 0 except by one of the artifacts. But what about Feeblemind? Forcecage? Dropping you in a pit? Flesh to Stone? If I'm correct that it's not meant to protect against any of those, I suggest it be rewritten with most of the fluff at the start and the crunch at the end, like so:

The Dagger of Eternal Evil grants the wielder eternal life, ensuring that they persist through any adversity or challenge. The wielder cannot be killed or brought below 1 hit point except by the other relics of legend—the Astral Hammer of Glory and the Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem*.

• Twisted Transformation is the vaguest, most plot-devicey feature yet. Instead of a generic "healing->damage" effect, just put the oath and source stuff from earlier here and include the cosmetic effect. I see no way to make it work otherwise; obviously if you're the DM you can redesign your unicorns to deal damage when they're transformed. The oath/source stuff is still fairly vague, but it's a bit better:

Beings of purity that get turned by the Dagger of Eternal Evil become twisted mockeries of their former selves. Any beings that received power from a non-evil divine source or oath lose those powers, but may dedicate themselves to a new evil divine source or oath over their next long rest, changing their subclasses to new ones if necessary.

• Undead Servitude isn't clear about what it's supposed to do. Does anyone you kill become a generic zombie? That's what Finger of Death does. Do you want it to have the same statblock as before? If so, you'll need something complicated that states that abilities relying on it being alive do not function, or something. I suggest either spending a lot of time writing up a 200 word undeadification feature, or just going with generic zombies.

Overall, the Dagger is ridiculously powerful, easily the strongest of the lot, but that was presumably intentional.

*A funny edge case: decide whether the Dagger itself can kill you.

Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenwheem

This thing seems fairly interesting. I don't really buy "most destructive of the lot", but it sure is nasty. The range is a little confusing - under what system is a square a fifth of a mile? 1798 5-foot squares is almost 2 miles, but I don't think that's what you meant. Its description is entirely understandable, though note that most of the time shooting someone at a very high range will be utterly impossible, as you'll need line of effect. Depends on the campaign, I guess.

Astral Hammer of Glory

Yep, looks fine.