Hello adventurers and dungeon master’s alike as well as new and old players. This is the first episode of our dnd 5e epic boons series. To be quite honest with you i wasn’t planning on doing these for quite sometime if anything is gonna do them after i was done every single spell in the game but recently the wizards made the decision to announce a optional feat i’m talking of course about the greater aberrant powers feat kind of the answer to the aberrant dragonmark and the larger more powerful version of it.
In any case the feat basically gives you an epic boon which prompted me to do this article and the series so that by the time i actually do the dragon marks and the greater ones i can refer back to this series. In any case the question on most of your minds imagining is what exactly are epic boons? With that question in mind i’d like to explain it to you.
Table of Contents
What Are They?
Epic boons are optional traits and abilities that DMs may award players for achieving milestones. Which is pretty simple right!
What Causes An Epic Boon to be given as a Reward?
So how do you get epic boons in d&d? Your DM may offer an epic boon upon a player: Achieving level 20 or above, finishing a major quest, destroying an artifact, making a deal with a higher power, destroying a higher power, or performing an act of great heroism. You can also receive an epic boon through the optional greater aberrant powers feat. So pretty cool stuff! Let’s move on to my thoughts on it. In any case you can read full description about it on page 227 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide (If you don’t know what book is epic boons in?) , and one is meant to only be bestowed upon a character who has already reached 20th level.
How Many Epic Boons Can a Character Have?
Mostly one epic boon can every character have. An epic boon is a special power available only to 20th level characters. Characters at that level gain such boons only if you want them to and only when you feel it’s appropriate. Epic boons are best awarded after the characters complete a major quest, or accomplish something else particularly notable. A character might gain an epic boon after destroying an evil artifact, defeating an ancient dragon, or halting an incursion from the Outer Planes.
Epic boons can also be used as a form of advancement, a way to provide greater power to characters who have no more levels to gain. With this approach, consider awarding one epic boon to each character for every 30,000 XP he or she earns above 355,000 XP.
You determine which epic boon a character gains. Ideally, the boon you pick is something the character would put to use in future adventures. You can allow a player to select a boon for his or her character, subject to your approval.
Whatever boon a character ends up with, consider its place in your story and world. Many of the boons are extraordinary and represent the gradual transformation of a character into something resembling a demigod. The acquisition of a boon might visibly transform a character.
For example, the eyes of a character with the Boon of Truesight might glow when he or she feels strong emotion, and a character who has the Boon of High Magic might have faint motes of light glimmering around his or her head. Also, decide how the boon first appears. Does the boon appear spontaneously and mysteriously? Or does a being of cosmic power manifest to bestow it? The bestowal of a boon can itself be an exciting scene in an adventure.
The text of a boon addresses its user. Unless a boon says otherwise, a character can’t gain it more than once. In any case you can also check out 5e blessings.
Thoughts
So traditionally speaking, i should probably preface it with this…epic boons are meant to be for all intensive purposes, a way to achieve past level 20, a lot of them allow your character to turn it into a demigod of a sort. Which is really cool stuff! Honestly i really like it. You can also check out this minor boons 5e.
I’ve never actually fully read them before, i’ve read a couple here and there when friends have pointed them out. But i’ve never played in a twenty plus campaign, i did a level twenty one shot once but never played a 20 plus campaign. So i was referring the unfamiliar but i gotta say i could really see these being useful in any game, i genuinely mean that.
I especially think it would be useful in terms of quest incentives or destroying an evil artifact something like the hand of vacca. If no one in your party has a use for it but you’re just carrying around this completely evil thing but you don’t want to give it up because it’s a powerful item and no one can really be trusted with it.
Then destroying it and getting an epic boon as a reward, i think makes a ton of sense. There’s a lot of them that aren’t particularly game breaking and to be honest would be really fun to play. Also check out what is the boon of epic spellcasting?
DnD 5E Boons List
- Boon of Combat Prowess
- Boon of Dimensional Travel
- Boon of Fate
- Boon of Fortitude
- Boon of High Magic
- Boon of Immortality
- Boon of Invincibility
- Boon of Irresistible Offense
- Boon of Luck
- Boon of Magic Resistance
- Boon of Peerless Aim
- Boon of Perfect Health
- Boon of Planar Travel
- Boon of Quick Casting
- Boon of Recovery
- Boon of Resilience
- Boon of Skill Proficiency
- Boon of Speed
- Boon of Spell Mastery
- Boon of Spell Recall
- Boon of the Fire Soul
- Boon of the Night Spirit
- Boon of the Stormborn
- Boon of the Unfettered
- Boon of Truesight
- Boon of Undetectability
Conclusion
That being said, i hope you enjoy this series as much as i enjoyed writing it and i really do hope that it helps benefit your game and the way you see the world and the way that you see a character customisation as a whole cuz i gott say i’m really impressed and the next game i DM will definitely have dnd 5e best epic boons in it. Thank you so much guys and have a great day and as always happy adventuring.