Allowing Upgrading vs. finding?

[EvilMountainDew]

Question is this:

Would you allow someone to, instead of buying a new weapon, just pay the difference and have the weapon imbued/upgraded?

I do this and I just have them pay the difference of new item to the current one, basically it is the same as selling their weapon and buying a new one with 1 more ability added to it?

Are there any problems with this?

 

[Crothian]

Ya, it's even allowed according to the DMG.

 

[Shalewind]

Personally I love the idea of keeping old weapons around. It gives the PCs more of an attachment to particular items. I sometimes have the PCs find a special smith of course that is capable of the particular job they want done, but that is all just to taste.

 

[Khorod]

I like the idea of the living/upgradable weapons- as you level & pay experience you can unlock more of the magical potential placed in a weapon.

Getting such a thing should be a rare thing, but it allows you to give the magical heirloom to the 1st level character...

I prefer upgrading items to the more wizardy ones, like the wondrous items.

 

[Fenes 2]

IMC, upgrading items is the norm for PCs. One PC is collecting the various parts of a legendary sword, another has a sword that grows stronger with each level of his PrC, and the third just got an upgrade as a reward.

 

[haiiro]

Would you allow someone to, instead of buying a new weapon, just pay the difference and have the weapon imbued/upgraded?

Absolutely. Done well, this really adds to the game.

 

[Immort]

I couldn't agree more. Many stories of high fantasy involve heroes being given ancestral weapons or items that they carry to the end of their days. Allowing that trend to continue rather than just tossing them aside when a more glowy one shows up adds much more to the story of the game.

-Immort