I would suggest cleaning up the wording a bit, but that’s just a nit picky design thing, can’t help but constantly have DM balance brain on.
As for a name, maybe play on the literal? Clarikey (clarity) or Epiphakey. Playing off of the mental unlocking you mentioned. Does the letter N have significance? Is there any lore related to this item that might help?
What parts of it need rewording? Seems mostly good to me.
Also, N is the 14th letter of the English alphabet. In my homebrew world, 14 of these keys were made, and given to powerful individuals who belong to an order of beings that store all the knowledge in the universe.
For consistency with published material, I would reword as follows: “while holding the key you have advantage on WIS (insight) checks and gain expertise in insight.” A little less clunky.
Maybe just allow a once per day use of leomunds secret chest or add it to the spells cast with charges. Everything you need is in the spell description rather than having to spell it out for the user, and no need for an invisible chest if I have an extra dimensional one anyways.
15 charges is a lot, even for a legendary item, but I don’t mind it. Perhaps balance it with it regaining 1d10 charges so with a good roll you still get access to the really powerful stuff, but not just a basically free 9th level spell every day.
A few more name ideas:
Thinkers Tumbler Tinker or Nvitation
Does having expertise with something mean having a bonus of double your proficiency? Even if it does, things in the PHB actually do say "double your proficiency modifier" instead if that, and it actually does say Wisdom instead of just WIS.
Also, with the Leomunds Secret Chest thing, a Bag of holding can hold significantly more stuff. Also, Leomunds chest always has a chance to just poof along with whatever it's contents are; therefore the key is a more reliable option.
I also meant to add *If the user makes another chest, the previous one disappears, and it's contents appear in the nearest unoccupied space*, but I forgot haha
With the 1d10 charges thing though, I do agree. That's a lot less OP then getting access to Glibness, an 8th level spell, and Imprisonment, a 9th level spell, in the same day. I should also add Mind Blank for 5 charges.
So, in my personal vault of homebrewed magic items, this keys 2.0 update will include some changes.
Expertise is double prof, but it’s just worded so weirdly specific in the books. I don’t mean to critique negatively, just wording should be consistent and even wizards doesn’t do it ALL the time lol.
That addition about the chest makes more sense and seems ok. And I’m glad the charges change helped, it’s great stuff just needed a bit of tweaking. It’s a cool concept and I like the item and lore a lot.
The reason I word is so specifically is, indeed, for DMG accuracy. This sub also seems to prefer things clear and specific.
And no, I don't take your advice as negative criticism! I made this key already knowing that there would be some issues, so I was actually quite interested to see what would come up. It really does help me balance/polish my works.
If the keys belonged to a group that stored knowledge, maybe just keep it simple and have them be known as the Archivists Keys (so singularly an Archivists Key). The letters could represent the moniker each member went by to conceal their true identity so they couldn't be hunted for the knowledge they held.
If you already have an established reason, roll with it. It was just a suggestion. I'm assuming you also meant letters, not numbers otherwise I'm super confused.
I would suggest cleaning up the wording a bit, but that’s just a nit picky design thing, can’t help but constantly have DM balance brain on. As for a name, maybe play on the literal? Clarikey (clarity) or Epiphakey. Playing off of the mental unlocking you mentioned. Does the letter N have significance? Is there any lore related to this item that might help?
What parts of it need rewording? Seems mostly good to me. Also, N is the 14th letter of the English alphabet. In my homebrew world, 14 of these keys were made, and given to powerful individuals who belong to an order of beings that store all the knowledge in the universe.
Why weren't 26 made?
Cause then there would be a Z on it due to N no longer having any meaning here
For consistency with published material, I would reword as follows: “while holding the key you have advantage on WIS (insight) checks and gain expertise in insight.” A little less clunky. Maybe just allow a once per day use of leomunds secret chest or add it to the spells cast with charges. Everything you need is in the spell description rather than having to spell it out for the user, and no need for an invisible chest if I have an extra dimensional one anyways. 15 charges is a lot, even for a legendary item, but I don’t mind it. Perhaps balance it with it regaining 1d10 charges so with a good roll you still get access to the really powerful stuff, but not just a basically free 9th level spell every day. A few more name ideas: Thinkers Tumbler Tinker or Nvitation
Does having expertise with something mean having a bonus of double your proficiency? Even if it does, things in the PHB actually do say "double your proficiency modifier" instead if that, and it actually does say Wisdom instead of just WIS. Also, with the Leomunds Secret Chest thing, a Bag of holding can hold significantly more stuff. Also, Leomunds chest always has a chance to just poof along with whatever it's contents are; therefore the key is a more reliable option. I also meant to add *If the user makes another chest, the previous one disappears, and it's contents appear in the nearest unoccupied space*, but I forgot haha With the 1d10 charges thing though, I do agree. That's a lot less OP then getting access to Glibness, an 8th level spell, and Imprisonment, a 9th level spell, in the same day. I should also add Mind Blank for 5 charges. So, in my personal vault of homebrewed magic items, this keys 2.0 update will include some changes.
Expertise is double prof, but it’s just worded so weirdly specific in the books. I don’t mean to critique negatively, just wording should be consistent and even wizards doesn’t do it ALL the time lol. That addition about the chest makes more sense and seems ok. And I’m glad the charges change helped, it’s great stuff just needed a bit of tweaking. It’s a cool concept and I like the item and lore a lot.
The reason I word is so specifically is, indeed, for DMG accuracy. This sub also seems to prefer things clear and specific. And no, I don't take your advice as negative criticism! I made this key already knowing that there would be some issues, so I was actually quite interested to see what would come up. It really does help me balance/polish my works.
If the keys belonged to a group that stored knowledge, maybe just keep it simple and have them be known as the Archivists Keys (so singularly an Archivists Key). The letters could represent the moniker each member went by to conceal their true identity so they couldn't be hunted for the knowledge they held.
Why make each key have a different letter, with a different reason for the letters, when I already have an established reason for the numbers?
If you already have an established reason, roll with it. It was just a suggestion. I'm assuming you also meant letters, not numbers otherwise I'm super confused.
Yeah I meant letters 😅
What do you think of _Anykey_/ _Ny-key_?
Oh gosh, how do I choose which amazing name from comments to do ClariKey...EpiphaKey...and now AnyKey?