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ideas for leveled magic items?
- Thread starter Rpjunkie
- Start date
Harker Wade
First Post
Armor- what about armor emblazoned with crossed swords that can spring to defend the wearer. Intercept AoO or sneak attacks.
what about armor that reduces in components. That way full plate could become just a breast plate or gauntlet when the power was activated. Makes the wearer seem unarmored, and for another power it automatically returns to normal as long as the wearer isn't caught flat-footed.
Back to work!
what about armor that reduces in components. That way full plate could become just a breast plate or gauntlet when the power was activated. Makes the wearer seem unarmored, and for another power it automatically returns to normal as long as the wearer isn't caught flat-footed.
Back to work!
DerianCypher
First Post
How about force armor. A medallion that creates full plate armor of force (deflection bonus). The armor is visible but transparent. And when deactivated the armor is sucked back into the medallion. Obviously this could be adapted to any sort of armor.
oliverhenshaw
First Post
I've thought a little about levelled items for my lapsed campaign, but don't have much general advice I could put into words.
One trick you culd use is dormancy.
One way to do this is with an intelligent item that reveals it's powers piecemeal, or perhaps slowly becomes more sentient. eg it starts of with a detect x power, then reveals useful powers over time. And after months or years of increasing power and occasional one off effects or buonuses, the srord/item talks to the PC and the fun and agendas escalate from there.
Or dormant powers cold reveal themselves at great need. For example, a suit of fire-resistant armour which has lain in the cornwer of a tomb for centuries might not protect the wearer against normal fire until it's been re-activated by dragon-fire. That'd make for a nice tense moment, and the pc could suddenly find himself with fire-resistant armour and maybe a lttle extra enhancement or flavourful powers.
The awakening of intelligence in the item could be the result of a catastrophic event like that, or the laying of it's former owners ghost to rest, or some intereaction between the soul of the owner and a receptive empty sword.
The item doesn't have to start off with the potentila to be levelled, of course. A magical disaster can make the change or contact with an outsider (more chance for agendas and plot and fun) could result in an exchange of services for powers manifested through the item. That would be one way to deal with the mechanic (from Dragon magaxine) of paying xp for levelled treasure.
Personally, there are a lot more ways to 'level' magic items without paying xp and normally I'd use those and account for that when looking at value of items for each character.
Anyway, hope the ideas help.
One trick you culd use is dormancy.
One way to do this is with an intelligent item that reveals it's powers piecemeal, or perhaps slowly becomes more sentient. eg it starts of with a detect x power, then reveals useful powers over time. And after months or years of increasing power and occasional one off effects or buonuses, the srord/item talks to the PC and the fun and agendas escalate from there.
Or dormant powers cold reveal themselves at great need. For example, a suit of fire-resistant armour which has lain in the cornwer of a tomb for centuries might not protect the wearer against normal fire until it's been re-activated by dragon-fire. That'd make for a nice tense moment, and the pc could suddenly find himself with fire-resistant armour and maybe a lttle extra enhancement or flavourful powers.
The awakening of intelligence in the item could be the result of a catastrophic event like that, or the laying of it's former owners ghost to rest, or some intereaction between the soul of the owner and a receptive empty sword.
The item doesn't have to start off with the potentila to be levelled, of course. A magical disaster can make the change or contact with an outsider (more chance for agendas and plot and fun) could result in an exchange of services for powers manifested through the item. That would be one way to deal with the mechanic (from Dragon magaxine) of paying xp for levelled treasure.
Personally, there are a lot more ways to 'level' magic items without paying xp and normally I'd use those and account for that when looking at value of items for each character.
Anyway, hope the ideas help.
Killing kindess or a courteous-sword
Here is an item, a variation of which I just recently added to my own campaign (a gift to a half-orc fighter by a crazed dwarf he had help save). I stole the idea from a Scarred Lands campaign I was in. I think this is along the lines you were thinking.
The group cleric identified the weapon as a +1 sword. The item is intelligent and only communicates telepathically. In battle, before the fighter takes his turn, the sword sends a message to the fighter's mind (what little there is) that says something to the affect of "You look nice today." or "That was a fine blow." So far, the fighter is fairly certain that the messages are coming from the axe and he has asked his companions for help, but none of them have offerred any suggestions (some have actually agreed with the voice's assessment of the fighter's fighting prowess.)
What the fighter does not yet know is that the sword is actually trying to entice the fighter into activating the command to unleash the greater power of the sword. When the sword receives a complement, it acts as a +2 weapon (if it receives an amazing complement-as determined by the DM-, it acts as a +3 weapon).
The origins of the weapon is that it was the product of a gentleman knight who had the blade crafted in this manner before giving it as a gift to his noble squire. Thus, the knight ensured that his squire always recalled the codes of chivalry, courtesy and honor (especially when he was killing things I suppose
).
The fighter is currently at 4th level. If he has not figured out how to activate the +2 by 5th level, a wandering bard may inform him of the weapon's history and by 6th, he will probably be told.
In the campaign I stole the idea from, the weapon was an axe wielded by a barbarian, but the barbarian already knew of its abilities. (Still there were times in the heat of battle where the barbarian forgot to complement the axe and so never got the +2 benefit). The barbarian was 5th level so perhaps it was a little overpowered, but it was so much fun for the DM and the players (plus the badguys were pretty overpowered in that game too, the nature of the Scarred Lands I suppose).
Here is an item, a variation of which I just recently added to my own campaign (a gift to a half-orc fighter by a crazed dwarf he had help save). I stole the idea from a Scarred Lands campaign I was in. I think this is along the lines you were thinking.
The group cleric identified the weapon as a +1 sword. The item is intelligent and only communicates telepathically. In battle, before the fighter takes his turn, the sword sends a message to the fighter's mind (what little there is) that says something to the affect of "You look nice today." or "That was a fine blow." So far, the fighter is fairly certain that the messages are coming from the axe and he has asked his companions for help, but none of them have offerred any suggestions (some have actually agreed with the voice's assessment of the fighter's fighting prowess.)
What the fighter does not yet know is that the sword is actually trying to entice the fighter into activating the command to unleash the greater power of the sword. When the sword receives a complement, it acts as a +2 weapon (if it receives an amazing complement-as determined by the DM-, it acts as a +3 weapon).
The origins of the weapon is that it was the product of a gentleman knight who had the blade crafted in this manner before giving it as a gift to his noble squire. Thus, the knight ensured that his squire always recalled the codes of chivalry, courtesy and honor (especially when he was killing things I suppose
).The fighter is currently at 4th level. If he has not figured out how to activate the +2 by 5th level, a wandering bard may inform him of the weapon's history and by 6th, he will probably be told.
In the campaign I stole the idea from, the weapon was an axe wielded by a barbarian, but the barbarian already knew of its abilities. (Still there were times in the heat of battle where the barbarian forgot to complement the axe and so never got the +2 benefit). The barbarian was 5th level so perhaps it was a little overpowered, but it was so much fun for the DM and the players (plus the badguys were pretty overpowered in that game too, the nature of the Scarred Lands I suppose).
Chaldfont
First Post
The rogue/bard in my campaign has an ancient elven rapier that is seeking the greatest duelist in the world. In addition to granting xp to the item, the user must be challenged to a duel before the next power level will be unlocked.
The powers are things like Improved Disarm that are good in duels.
The powers are things like Improved Disarm that are good in duels.
Kesh
First Post
Krug said:There was a recent Dragon magazine article about such items. *looks at shambling heap of Dragon magazines that crawl around the room*
Where exactly, I can't recall...
Issue #289, the Oriental Adventures issue. And the levelled weapons rules are basically ripped straight from the OA book rules on a samurai's katana.
I am only vaguely using rules from the dragon magazine. I am not making the pc's pay xp, but I am trying to come up with strange and off the wall powers.. New ones or just strange stuff.. Fun stuff. I plan on an emblem of a Solar to appear on a rogues armour that will grow wings from the armour and let her fly at 50ft. Stuff like that is what I am kinda looking for.
RPJ
RPJ
Will
First Post
Hee. I actually wrote up levelled items quite specifically in FFG's Spells and Spellcraft.
A variety of mechanical ways and 'in game' explanations for levelled items.
Personally, I think Spells and Spellcraft is an amazing bag of useful options. Yeah, I worked on it, but I've worked on other stuff that I don't talk about.
A variety of mechanical ways and 'in game' explanations for levelled items.
Personally, I think Spells and Spellcraft is an amazing bag of useful options. Yeah, I worked on it, but I've worked on other stuff that I don't talk about.
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