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Sun Blade 5e: Real Sunlight, Undead Damage and Who Can Use It
The Sun Blade in 5e is a rare magic longsword that requires attunement. It looks like a bare hilt until you take a Bonus Action to grow a blade of radiance. The blade is a +2 longsword with the Finesse property, deals radiant damage instead of slashing, and adds 1d8 radiant against undead. Its light is sunlight, which is what makes it a vampire hunter's weapon: a vampire that starts its turn in that light takes 20 radiant damage. The verdict: a solid +2 weapon anywhere, and against vampires its sunlight does what no amount of extra damage can.
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Sun Blade Rules Text
Sun Blade
2014 rules
Weapon (longsword), rare (requires attunement)
RareRequires attunement
This item appears to be a longsword hilt. While grasping the hilt, you can use a bonus action to cause a blade of pure radiance to spring into existence, or make the blade disappear. While the blade exists, this magic longsword has the finesse property. If you are proficient with shortswords or longswords, you are proficient with the sun blade.
You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon, which deals radiant damage instead of slashing damage. When you hit an undead with it, that target takes an extra 1d8 radiant damage.
The sword's luminous blade emits bright light in a 15-foot radius and dim light for an additional 15 feet. The light is sunlight. While the blade persists, you can use an action to expand or reduce its radius of bright and dim light by 5 feet each, to a maximum of 30 feet each or a minimum of 10 feet each.
Blade of Radiance. While grasping the hilt, you can take a Bonus Action to cause a blade of pure radiance to spring into existence or make the blade disappear. While the blade exists, this magic weapon functions as a Longsword with the Finesse property. If you are proficient with Longswords or Shortswords, you are proficient with the Sun Blade.
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls made with this weapon, which deals Radiant damage instead of Slashing damage. When you hit an Undead with it, that target takes an extra 1d8 Radiant damage.
Sunlight. The sword's luminous blade emits Bright Light in a 15-foot radius and Dim Light for an additional 15 feet. The light is sunlight. While the blade persists, you can take a Magic action to expand or reduce its radius of Bright Light and Dim Light by 5 feet each, to a maximum of 30 feet each or a minimum of 10 feet each.
The blade appears or vanishes with a Bonus Action while you grasp the hilt, in both editions. Without the blade it's a hilt: nothing to swing, no light. That means a character can walk into a guarded hall with what looks like a broken sword, and the first turn of a surprise fight costs the Bonus Action to light it.
Proficiency and Finesse
If you're proficient with shortswords or longswords, you're proficient with the Sun Blade. That widens the list. In 2014 rules, rogues and bards (longswords and shortswords) and monks (shortswords) qualify along with every martial class. In 2024 rules, rogues and monks qualify through the Shortsword.
The blade has the Finesse property, so you can use Dexterity for attack and damage rolls. A rogue can deliver Sneak Attack with it, since Sneak Attack needs a Finesse or ranged weapon. In both editions it is a longsword, so it keeps the Versatile property (1d10 in two hands). In 2024 it also carries the Longsword's Sap mastery: a character with Weapon Mastery for Longswords who hits a creature gives it Disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of their next turn.
The damage
Every hit is radiant damage with +2 to attack and damage. With Dexterity +4, a one-handed hit averages 10.5 (1d8 + 6). Against an undead target add 1d8 radiant, for 15 on average. The extra die doubles on a critical hit like any other damage die of the attack.
Radiant is rarely resisted. Among the SRD undead, the Shadow is vulnerable to it in both editions, so a hit deals double: about 30 damage against a creature with 16 hit points (27 in 2024).
The light is sunlight
The blade sheds bright light in a 15-foot radius and dim light for another 15 feet, and the text says outright that the light is sunlight. That applies to the whole radius, dim part included. You can widen or narrow both radii by 5 feet each, from a minimum of 10 feet each up to 30 feet each (60 feet of sunlight in total). Adjusting takes an action in 2014 and a Magic action in 2024, so set it before the fight when you can.
Here's what the SRD monsters with sunlight traits suffer inside that light:
Disadvantage on attack rolls and sight-based Perception checks
2014 only (no 2024 drow stat block)
Shadow
Disadvantage on attacks, ability checks and saves (2014); Disadvantage on all D20 Tests (2024)
Both
Wight, Specter, Wraith
Disadvantage on attacks and sight-based Perception (2014); on attacks and ability checks (2024)
Both
The vampire row is the big one. A vampire that drops to 0 hit points in sunlight can't turn to mist, so it is destroyed. Keep it inside your 30-foot circle and the fight changes completely: 20 radiant at the start of every turn, Disadvantage on its attacks, and no escape at 0.
Light as a liability
The minimum is 10 feet of bright light plus 10 of dim, so a lit Sun Blade can't be hidden. Sneaking means dismissing the blade, and lighting it again costs a Bonus Action. The sunlight doesn't pick sides, either: a drow ally standing in it takes the same penalties as a drow enemy.
Sun Blade: 2014 vs 2024
2014 (SRD 5.1)
2024 (SRD 5.2.1)
Rarity / attunement
Rare, requires attunement
Rare, requires attunement
Appearance
A longsword hilt
A sword hilt
Weapon
Magic longsword with Finesse (Versatile)
Functions as a Longsword with Finesse (Versatile, Sap mastery)
Proficiency
Shortswords or longswords
Longswords or Shortswords
Bonus / damage type
+2, radiant
+2, Radiant
Undead
+1d8 radiant
+1d8 Radiant
Changing the light radius
An action
A Magic action
Value
No price in the SRD
4,015 GP (4,000 rare + 15 GP Longsword)
The weapon itself barely changed. The 2024 rules make the light adjustment a Magic action, which still costs your main action, and the 2024 Longsword brings a weapon mastery with it. The bigger shifts come from the monsters: the 2024 vampire lost Regeneration, and the drow has no 2024 stat block.
Is the Sun Blade Worth It?
Yes for a Dexterity fighter, rogue or Dexterity paladin, and for any martial character in an undead-heavy campaign. Compare it with the other rare SRD swords on a character with +4 in the attacking ability:
The Flame Tongue hits harder per hit but has no attack bonus, and fire is commonly resisted. The Sun Blade hits more often: with +4 in the ability and +3 proficiency it attacks at +9 and hits AC 16 on a 7 or higher (70 percent), while the Flame Tongue at +7 needs a 9 (60 percent). And its sunlight has no equivalent on any other sword. The Mace of Disruption is the other undead specialist: 2d6 extra radiant against undead and fiends, and a DC 15 Wisdom save or destruction for one left at 25 hit points or fewer, but no attack bonus and no sunlight.
When it's a trap: for a stealth character who can't afford to glow, and for a Strength character who would rather have a two-handed weapon. The Sun Blade can't become a greatsword.
Sun Blade for DMs
Where it turns up. It's the reward for an undead arc, and the setup for the next one. A party that receives a Sun Blade before facing a vampire will want to bring it.
What it changes. Vampire fights. A vampire that has to stay within 30 feet of the wielder to fight takes 20 radiant damage per round and attacks with Disadvantage, and it can't escape as mist if it drops in the light. Plan for that: a vampire should know what the sword is, fight from beyond its light, use servants and terrain, and aim to separate the wielder. In 2014 games the sunlight also blunts Underdark fights, since the drow and duergar stat blocks both have Sunlight Sensitivity.
Pricing. The 2024 SRD values a rare item at 4,000 GP, plus the base weapon's price (15 GP for a Longsword). The 2014 SRD has no price list. The magic item rarity calculator runs the numbers, and the magic item generator can suggest a rival weapon for the villain.
Hooks.
•A shrine keeps a sword hilt as a relic. Nobody living has seen it light; the last person who could attune to it was buried with the shrine's records.
•A vampire has the hilt locked in a lead box in its crypt, kept as a trophy from the hunter who almost killed it.
•Smugglers carry an unlit hilt past a city's weapons checkpoint. The guards only find out when the blade appears in the market square.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Sun Blade count as sunlight for vampires?
Yes. The item text says its light is sunlight, so a vampire that starts its turn within the blade's bright or dim light takes 20 radiant damage, has Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks, and can't use its mist escape if it drops to 0 hit points there.
Is the Sun Blade a finesse weapon?
Yes. While the blade exists it has the Finesse property in both editions, so you can attack with Dexterity and a rogue can use Sneak Attack with it.
Who is proficient with the Sun Blade?
Anyone proficient with longswords or shortswords. That includes every martial class, plus 2014 rogues, bards and monks and 2024 rogues and monks.
How much damage does the Sun Blade do?
1d8 + 2 radiant plus your Strength or Dexterity modifier, or 1d10 + 2 used two-handed. Undead take an extra 1d8 radiant on every hit.
How much is a Sun Blade worth?
4,015 GP under the 2024 SRD: 4,000 GP for a rare item plus 15 GP for the Longsword. The 2014 SRD lists no magic item prices.
Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.