Misread Magic Items: Gloves of Swarming and Clawing

The gloves of swimming and climbing are classic must-have magic items for many adventurers. Without them, your undoubtedly stylish full plate armor will be on display at a museum, after your untimely death from falling off a mountain into a lake. You’ll be a fully armored juggernaut in no time, with those bad boys! Of course, what if you didn’t get good at swimming and climbing when you put on your gloves. Instead, you summoned wasps and grew talons? Well, you’d probably not have gloves of swimming and climbing. You’d have gloves of swarming and clawing.

Gloves of Swarming and Clawing
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

These shiny black gloves are made of articulated chitinous plates, with fingers ending in sharpened talons. These gloves have 5 charges. The gloves regain 1d4+1 expended charges each day at midnight.

Insect Plague. While wearing the gloves, you can use an action and expend 1 charge to cast the insect plague spell (5th-level, DC 15).

Infested Claws. While wearing the gloves, you can use a bonus action and expend 2 charges to cover your gloves in necrotic energy. Once you have done so, the gloves may be used as a weapon. The wearer has proficiency with these weapons, the gloves deal 1d6 slashing damage + 1d8 necrotic damage on a successful hit, and are considered a magical weapon for the purpose of overcoming resistances and immunities. The gloves are considered a light, finesse weapon. Creatures who are immune to disease are immune to the necrotic damage from the gloves. The gloves revert to their normal state after an hour of use, or until the wearer no longer wishes them to be weapons.