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So, one of my players wants to weaponize bees, and I'm all about fun. How would one stay within the bounds of D&D 5e and allow this?

For instance, she is insisting she wants to be able to command bees to bee swords (Yes, she keeps making horrible puns, it's great, how do I say no?). She's looking to me to allow it and make it fair.

I'm looking for a way, possibly a feat, or spell-like ability that wouldn't break the game but would allow her to use her bees as she likes.

For the record she is a 7th level Eldritch Knight.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Instead of voting to close it with no feedback you could tell me why it's too broad. Might help guys, c'mon. This is important to her. \$\endgroup\$
    – Skathix
    Jun 16, 2016 at 23:42
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Skathix It's too broad because at the moment any homebrew spell, feat, or magical item is a perfectly acceptable answer, not to mention other suggestions like Slagmoth's Swarm of Insects companion. \$\endgroup\$
    – Miniman
    Jun 16, 2016 at 23:44
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    \$\begingroup\$ I hate to say it, but I agree with Miniman on this one; any of a thousand answers would technically be valid. I'd love to see this reopened, though, if you can think of some criteria for what would qualify as the best answer to this question. You might start with how much you're prioritizing a balanced game, an internally consistent and logical game world, a coherent and interesting story, wacky fun, etc., and then give us more context around what's most important (other players for balance, your setting for consistency, etc.) \$\endgroup\$
    – SirTechSpec
    Jun 17, 2016 at 3:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Skathix It would be welcomed to know some of her puns. If only for my own enjoyment and perhaps a few others. \$\endgroup\$
    – Night Owl
    Jun 17, 2016 at 11:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Miniman Not that the question is not too broad, but the OP did not ask for "any homebrew," but specifically one "that wouldn't break the game but would allow her to use her bees as she likes." The OPs plea for more constructive feedback should be honored. \$\endgroup\$
    – Lexible
    Jun 18, 2016 at 0:21

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I think the easiest way to do this would be to allow her some sort of domination and control over a Swarm of Insects from the MM. Allowing her to shape it for flavor but I would keep the same damage. Reskinning the given monster to suit her needs having it assume cartoonish shapes so she can make her puns in game. Sounds great to be honest. 4d4 Piercing is the damage from the book.

Now the question is does she want to summon these magically or cultivate them with Bee Husbandry like the mad druid from Keep on the Borderlands. In the case of the latter it could be her downtime activity, but they would obviously be a limited resource, albeit an extremely intimidating one. Sneaking up on your enemies would be hard due to noise, or maybe she has them hug her under her cloak and explode out? That would sure freak me out. Or even use a version of Dominate Monster to control the swarms even temporarily. Maybe even have her have researched a spell or one granted that allows her to control bees like level 2 for Dominate Insect Swarm.

"Beeing" an Eldritch Knight sort of causes issues with my above ideas, since they are initially and mostly limited to Abjuration and Evocation, but maybe when she is able have a low level variation to work toward for Insect Plague that allows for it to only be bees and mobile but limit the damage.

Another really old idea posted in a couple of Dragons for previous editions (which works for any edition) would be just give her evocations a flavor of beeing bees. Like her Fireball could do Piercing damage and explode into a short lived swarm, that could be her signature schtick. This could be a feat probably to change damage type of spells a certain number of times per dawn or so.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I like this, I'd like to make it a bit expensive for her, would there be a way to potentially stairstep it? So maybe put ranks into a feat? Or would calling a swarm for a feat be expensive enough? \$\endgroup\$
    – Skathix
    Jun 16, 2016 at 23:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ There are guidelines in one of the latest UA articles on what feats should do so I would steer clear of feats to be honest but doing it mundanely would not be out of the question, sort of a subtle manipulation through her ambient magic, take a look at KotBL module and look at what that Druid does for some guidance, I think mundanely it would be down time research and that should stairstep nicely. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Jun 16, 2016 at 23:42
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    \$\begingroup\$ Please edit to add information to the post rather than using comments. Also keep in mind that we don't need/use “edit markers” since we have an edit history feature built-in, and answers with “edit markers” tend to be harder to read and lower-voted. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Jun 16, 2016 at 23:53

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