Cricket Launcher

Weapon (special), legendary (requires attunement)

This rickety contraption starts with a shoulder stock and hand grip fashioned from scrap wood and metal. A rusty metal box in front of the trigger holds a rudimentary ammo feed with a handful of bright red spherical grenades that chirp like agitated crickets when disturbed.

A spinning rubber wheel dangling by the weapon's open-air chamber launches a grenade out of its stubby forward barrel when the trigger is pulled. After hitting the ground, the grenade glows brightly and explodes in a gout of flame and shrapnel.

The Cricket Launcher is a ranged weapon with the Ammunition (60/80), Heavy, and Two-Handed properties. It weighs 20 pounds. Its ammunition comes in boxes of 5 that cost 20gp each to manufacture and weigh 2 pounds each.

When you make an attack with this weapon, you subtract one piece of ammunition from the attached ammo box. When the box is empty, you must replace it with another before firing. Removing and replacing the box takes an action.

You have a +3 bonus to attack rolls made with the Launcher. For every 10 feet below you the intended target is, increase the Launcher's short range by 5 feet and its long range by 10 feet, to a maximum of 120 feet and 200 feet, respectively.

On a hit, the fired grenade explodes, dealing 1d8 Piercing and 1d8 Fire damage to the target creature. All creatures within 5 feet must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take the same damage, taking half as much on a success.

On a miss, the grenade either bounces off the target or careens off course. Assign the numbers 1 through 8 to the cardinal and ordinal directions (North, Northeast, East, etc) amd roll a d8. The grenade bounces 1d6 times 5 feet in that direction before exploding. If it hits a wall or solid surface, the grenade immediately explodes. All creatures within 5 feet of the detonation must succed on a Dexterity saving throw or take damage as above.

Cricket grenades can be taken from an unattached box and thrown by hand. To do so, target a space within 30 feet. The grenade flies to that spot but will not explode on impact, bouncing before exploding as if it missed.