I didn't want to hijack the other wishlist thread, so here's my way of handling it in my current game - warstones, which work a little like Materia in FF.
Magic Items & Character Builds
tl;dr: You can socket a warstone into a piece of equipment to turn it into a piece of magical equipment; each kind of warstone can generate a fairly wide range of effects, so you've got some flexibility.
Magic Items & Character Builds
tl;dr: You can socket a warstone into a piece of equipment to turn it into a piece of magical equipment; each kind of warstone can generate a fairly wide range of effects, so you've got some flexibility.