The Banana Peel Boomerang of Perpetual Slips
Tavern Armory
What Ye Need to Know
The weapon: Banana Peel Boomerang of Perpetual Slips
Weapon type: +1 magic boomerang
Rarity: Uncommon
Attunement: Required
Best users: Rogues, rangers, fighters, and mobile skirmishers
Combat role: Returning ranged attacks and short-duration knockdown control
This curved yellow +1 throwing weapon returns immediately after each attack. Once per turn when it hits a Large or smaller creature, the target must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. The boomerang paints a shimmering peel trail along its flight path until the start of yer next turn. The trail is visible but harmless to everyone except the struck target, which slips as the magic snaps beneath its feet.
A Strange Addition to the Rack
The Throw That Comes Back Laughing
Some weapons return because of perfect balance, ancient runes, or a bond with their chosen warrior. This one returns because the spectral banana peel behind it refuses to stop causing trouble.
The Banana Peel Boomerang of Perpetual Slips is a crescent of yellow lacquered wood with a brown leather tip and a faint smell of overripe fruit. Every throw draws a luminous peel-shaped ribbon through the air. When the weapon strikes, that trail whips under the victim's boots and turns dignity into a saving throw.
This original Mike's Tavern D&D 5e weapon provides dependable retrieval and modest control. Prone can be powerful, so the save occurs only once per turn, affects Large or smaller creatures, and ends immediately once the target falls. The peel trail is flavour, not permanent battlefield terrain.
Magic Weapon Statistics
Banana Peel Boomerang of Perpetual Slips
Formal D&D 5e Item Rules
Weapon (boomerang), uncommon (requires attunement)
This magic boomerang deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage and has the thrown property with a normal range of 30 feet and a long range of 90 feet. You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it.
Perpetual Return. Immediately after you make a ranged attack with the boomerang, it flies back to your open hand whether the attack hits or misses. If you have no open hand, it lands harmlessly in your space.
Perpetual Slip. Once per turn when you hit a Large or smaller creature with the boomerang, that creature must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it falls prone. On a successful save, it remains standing. A creature that is already prone automatically succeeds.
During each throw, the boomerang leaves a translucent magical peel trail along its path. The trail lasts until the start of your next turn, sheds dim yellow light for 5 feet, and does not create difficult terrain or affect any creature other than the target of Perpetual Slip.
Reliable Retrieval, Honest Control
Why the Perpetual Slip Is Balanced
A returning weapon solves the most irritating part of a thrown build: running out of the weapon ye actually enchanted. It does not create free attacks, ignore cover, or bend around corners. It simply comes home after each resolved attack.
Prone is situational. Melee allies gain an opening against a nearby fallen enemy, but ranged allies may be hindered. The effect also costs no movement by itself and cannot topple Huge monsters. Those tradeoffs make target choice more important than raw frequency.
The once-per-turn limit prevents Extra Attack from forcing repeated saves. If the first hit fails to knock the target down, later hits during that turn still deal normal damage but do not trigger another attempt.
Use the weapon with the party rather than against its formation. The Tavern's guide to position, timing, and target choice explains why one well-timed prone result can matter more than several careless throws.
Best Wielders
Who Should Carry It
Rogues
The returning weapon preserves a rogue's enchanted option at range. A prone target may help melee allies, although the rogue should avoid knocking down distant targets that the party still intends to shoot.
Rangers
Rangers can work comfortably inside the 30-foot normal range, use movement to create clean lines, and choose targets that melee companions can reach before the enemy stands.
Fighters
Extra Attack improves reliability without multiplying slip saves. A fighter can throw, catch, and throw again, making the boomerang feel active while the once-per-turn control stays restrained.
Build Around the Gimmick
Character-Building Guidance
Dexterity is the natural attack ability for most wielders, with Constitution supporting the skirmisher who works closer than a longbow specialist. Features that improve ranged accuracy are useful, but the boomerang remains subject to cover and disadvantage at long range.
Keep one hand available when the throw resolves. A shield, second weapon, focus, or object can leave no room for the returning boomerang, causing it to land in yer space.
Agree on the prone plan with melee and ranged allies. Clear calls prevent a useful knockdown from becoming an obstacle, a habit reinforced by the Tavern's teamwork guide.
Aim the Fall, Not Just the Hit
Boomerang Tactics
Drop Targets Beside Melee Allies
The ideal target is already engaged by a companion who can attack before it stands. Initiative order matters. A target knocked prone immediately before its own turn may simply spend movement to rise.
Respect Ranged Allies
Prone is not universally beneficial. Ask whether the party's archers and spell attackers need a clear standing target before triggering the slip.
Use the Trail as Information
The peel trail is harmless, but it marks the exact flight path until yer next turn. It can reveal the angle of a throw in darkness or make a hidden firing position easier to infer. The glow is useful and risky.
When uncertain, avoid slowing the whole table. The Tavern's advice for players who are not sure what to do on their turn applies nicely: pick the target, check the line, and throw.
Range, Cover, and the Open Hand
What Returning Does Not Solve
Within 30 feet, attack normally. Beyond that and up to 90 feet, long range imposes disadvantage unless another feature says otherwise. The weapon cannot travel farther than 90 feet.
Cover still applies. The peel trail follows the actual route of the boomerang and cannot pass through walls, closed doors, or solid obstacles.
If no hand is open when the weapon returns, it lands in yer space. Catching it requires no action, but magical return does not grant an extra hand or automatically stow something else.
Advice for the Game Master
How to Run It at the Table
Introduce the boomerang in an abandoned carnival game where every target has been knocked flat, or give it to a nimble bandit who treats pursuit as slapstick choreography.
Describe the trail as one continuous peel-shaped streak, not hundreds of physical banana skins. It does not coat the dungeon in difficult terrain. Only the creature hit by Perpetual Slip interacts with its magic.
Resolve the saving throw after damage. On failure, the creature falls prone in its current space. Creatures without a meaningful standing posture can still be immune at the GM's discretion, even when their size qualifies.
Keep falls funny without making the target foolish. A disciplined knight can lose footing to magic and remain dangerous.
The Adventure Needs a Table
Give the Nonsense Room to Breathe
Unusual weapons become recurring stories when a group has a dependable place to play. The Tavern's guide to finding a D&D venue that supports long campaigns can help ye judge the room, noise, access, and community. Explore the wider Tavern Network when the campaign needs a proper home.
Common Mistakes
Five Ways to Slip on the Rules
Forcing a save on every hit. Perpetual Slip triggers once per turn.
Knocking down Huge creatures. Only Large or smaller targets qualify.
Turning the trail into difficult terrain. It is visible magical residue, not a field of traps.
Forgetting the open hand. With no hand free, the boomerang lands in the wielder’s space.
Sabotaging ranged allies. Prone can make their attacks less accurate.
The Tavernkeeper's Verdict
A Throwing Weapon With Excellent Comic Timing
This boomerang gives a mobile martial character a weapon that returns reliably and occasionally rearranges the melee. Its control is easy to understand, limited enough for uncommon rarity, and funny without requiring the GM to improvise a new subsystem.
Watch initiative, choose a target the front line can punish, and never assume every fall helps the party.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions About the Banana Peel Boomerang
Need broader help with the Tavern? Visit the main Mike's Tavern FAQ.
Yes. It returns immediately after every ranged attack, whether the attack hits or misses.
No. It returns to an open hand automatically.
Perpetual Slip can force one saving throw per turn.
No. The target must be Large or smaller.
No. It is visible, sheds dim light, and is otherwise harmless.
The returning boomerang lands harmlessly in the wielder’s space.
Yes, because reliable return and repeatable prone control form a strong uncommon package.
It is suitable from roughly 3rd level onward.
