[Radiance] Weapon - Prominence of Dawn

The founder of Ellumara and the Dawnstar lumenguild was said to carry the rays of the sun on them and wield their righteous light with great intensity. In darkness, the weapon's tail lashes out like a solar filament, burning all within its unexpectedly distant reach.

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Prominence of Dawn
Weapon (whip), very rare (requires attunement)

You have a +1 to attack and damage rolls you make with this weapon. It deals radiant damage instead of slashing, and deals an extra 1d4 radiant damage to targets you hit with it.

Illumination. The weapon sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet.

Photospheric Aura. While wielding this weapon, you can use a bonus action to expand the weapon's bright light to a 60-foot radius and its dim light to an additional 60 feet. This light is sunlight, and lasts for 1 hour or until you use an action to end it. For the duration, when you make a weapon attack with the weapon on your turn, your reach for it increases by 10 feet for that attack. Once used, this property of the weapon can't be used again until the next dawn.

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Rare Variant. The rare version of the weapon lacks the Photospheric Aura property.

Legendary Variant. The legendary version of this weapon has these changes. You have a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls instead of +1. Additionally, for the duration of the Photospheric Aura property, you can make a melee attack with the weapon against any target in the weapon's radius of bright light as if it were within your reach. The weapon magically extends your reach for this attack and deals an extra 3d10 damage if it hits. Once the weapon has hit a target this way, its reach can't be extended this way again until the next dawn.

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DESIGN COMMENTARY

Fun fact! The solar "flares" of the sun when it forms a loop and such are called "filaments" or "prominence," hence the name!

The +1 weapon and +1d4 damage essentially combines to the Rare rarity tier. The illumination is a ribbon, though possibly a detriment since there's no way to turn it off like a sun blade.

The main property that brings it up to Very Rare is Photospheric Aura, which reproduces the effects of daylight, except it's also sunlight. Sunlight is especially good when traveling through the Underdark/Umberhollow/other dark areas, if a little situational. The increased reach for the whip also means your reach is now 20 feet (only during attacks on your turn, but not for determining opportunity attacks). This increased reach is helpful, but not necessarily overpowered since the difference of 10 feet can usually be covered by movement.

The Legendary variant, however, is where things get spicier. The one extra boost to damage and up to 60-foot reach gives the wielder variety in use. Overall, it's pretty good at evoking the thematic "reach" of the sun.