Aura: New 'Item' Slot

[Within Loki]

I have begun to develop a slight distaste for how much of a character's power depends on their items. I love treasure as much as the next guy, but is it really fair that the monks are almost the only people who can do amazing things without a slew of magically enhanced equipment? (I know, sorceror spells and fighter feats allow for cool stuff too... but you know what I mean)
In order to rectify this situation in my games, I have developed an additional magical item slot, which I dubbed -Aura-.
An aura is like a metaphysical magic item, and should be awarded sparingly by the DM. The great thing about these items is that they can only be AWARDED - they are a magical item that cannot be bought or sold, traded or stolen... and as such, they allow for some interesting bending of typical rules for bestowing magical items.
I think the best way to describe what I mean is by example:

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Magic Item [Aura] : 'Swordsman'
Circumstances for obtaining: A character who prefers the sword to any other means of combat completes a quest or personal side-quest in which their ability with swords is a central focus. Example: A recurring enemy is also a skilled swordsman, and the two clash repeatedly, but are unable to determine which is the greater swordsman. At last, the PC manages a dynamic flourish, and shows that they are indeed a master of the sword.
The DM then decides that this character is deserving of the 'Swordsman' aura, and bestows it upon the character.

Benefits: When the character makes opposed attack rolls in battle while using a sword, they make such rolls with a +2 competence bonus.
In addition, the character's ability with swords is manifested in this magical aura, which is strong enough that ANY sword, while in the hands of this character, is affected as though by the spell 'Greater Magic Weapon', with the character's level as the caster level.
This supernatural enhancement to swords supercedes (does not stack with) any existing enhancement or enchantment to a sword. If a weapon has additional magical abilities, the character must decide whether to employ the spell-like effect, OR to allow the weapon's natural bonuses and abilities to shine through.
The aura is always considered active. The enhancement effect must be consciously suppressed by the character, which is a free action - however, re-activating it is a move action.

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Now, this type of magical item may seem overpowered, or too much of a hassle to employ in-game at first, but keep in mind that an 'aura' is not designed to be something that a character uses in every battle. If 'Greater Magic Weapon' is an affect that you would consider too strong for your campaign, simply consider changing the effect to 'Magic Weapon'.
It's just supposed to be a flavourful bonus for a character, which allows them to add to their feeling of raw power and that feeling of having a unique and special character, while at the same time giving them something which may actually be useful in game at some point, and something that they can always rely on... (Even if they have taken all your equipment and are now holding you down while their leader approaches with his hot-iron brand... you spot a rinky-dink sword at one of your captor's sides... it doesn't matter that it's a poorly made rusty longsword, because once you get ahold of it, your skill allows you to cleave their shields and bodies with any blade...)
The other thing to be careful with is multiple auras. One aura is a lot. In my game, I have allowed more than one aura to be gained by a character, but as with any magical item slot, only one can be carried and effective at a time. Switching between them is what is tricky. For the most part, I would suggest that a character has one primary aura, and 'equipping' another one is something that has to be done during a night's rest. An alternative to that would be allowing ONLY one aura - so if you gain a new one, the old one is GONE. But, since I give these out VERY sparingly, I prefer allowing characters to keep track of old auras, and shift to them if they like, as they are kind of like trophies - who wants to give up an old trophy, right?
Also, auras should be designed with benefits which are broad, and also semi-weak for the character who attains it. An aura which grants +2 Resistance bonus on all saves, +2 Protection bonus to AC, AND a 'Once per day' use of True Strike as a swift action would be ideal for a character who already has a Ring of Protection +3, and a Cloak of Resistance +2... if ever they lose their equipment, this aura provides a backup/buffer so they aren't relatively helpless, and it also gives them an ability which they can take advantage of everyday.

Anyways, it works for me, and I have found that unique auras are a much-appreciated prize for quests in which the character =seems= not to physically gain anything.

Comments?

 

[Within Loki]

Well nobody posted anything... which means my post was either completely boring or absolutely perfect.

Either way ... I miss the Realms of Evil boards...

 

[the Jester]

Dude, you only gave it a couple of hours, and it's a Sunday- be patient.

Anyway, neat idea, though not to my taste. It might be easier to have more constructive feedback if you have a few more example aura items to refer to.

From what I see, I think this kind of thing would work really well in a campaign where you didn't have much in the way of magic items. If a low-magic setting has wizards, clerics, etc, then fighters are often overshadowed by them since the fighters don't have the kind of magic 'oomph' that makes them equal to a caster in a 'standard assumptions' game.

 

[green slime]

I thought it was a great idea.

There are a few minor problems:

The reward system seems kind of arbitrary.
There aren't enough defined auras.

The aura defined (Swordsman) encourages the ownership of magical swords with "+1 with lots of special abilities".

Personally, I'd have limited it to a non-epic cap (no more than a total of +10 of magical bonuses + special abilities). Also limit the ability to a caster level of half the character's level.

Another consideration: Is this a spell-like ability or a supernatural ability? Would it function in a antimagic field?

 

[milo]

I like this idea. I will try to work on a couple of these and post them here to see what you think. It could add a little more depth to the game for doing heroic deeds other than "yay we killed the baddy. Let's go collect our reward."

 

[FireLance]

Really, you don't have to come up with a special aura slot. There's nothing to stop you from providing the benefits of magic items as intrinsic abilities instead, so that instead of finding a magic weapon, the PC gains the ability to add a +1 enhancement bonus to any weapon he bonds with (this does not stack with any enhancement bonus the weapon may already have). If you want to prevent swapping out of weapons on the fly (so the PC can't immediately switch from a longsword to a warhammer if he encounters a creature with DR/magic and bludgeoning), the bonding ceremony might require one or more hours or even days. This approach works for most items that function continuously, such as magic armor and shields, items that provide a deflection bonus to AC, a resistance bonus to saves, or an enhancement bonus to ability scores or natural armor.

You can even price these abilities normally and use the standard wealth levels to determine if the PCs are over- or under-equipped for their level. Except for scenarios in which equipment is stolen or otherwise lost, it does not really matter whether a PC gains a bonus from a magic item or an intrinsic ability.

 

[Sigurd]

I have begun to develop a slight distaste for how much of a character's power depends on their items.

Now, this type of magical item may seem overpowered...

You don't see these two aims as mutually exclusive?


So what you're really saying is you want the option of more more powerful non items for monks..... How are these aura's made and stored? Do they have anything to do with alignment? Can they be detected for?

The DM then decides that this character is deserving of the 'Swordsman' aura, and bestows it upon the character.

So this is a meta gift from the DM to the player? Like a level bonus without a level attached?

I think that breaks the game because it opens a huge argument zone between player and dm as to when or if a character gets his aura gift. Is it a reward for role play or ....... The DM can always give something away but if it doesn't happen inside the game world it sort of reduces the challenge\point.




Sigurd

 

[FireLance]

You don't see these two aims as mutually exclusive?

Actually, no. The power level of the PCs is, to me, a mechanical issue. Whether the PCs' powers are derived from magic items or intrinsic abilities is, to me, a flavor issue.

That's why my suggestion was simply to change the flavor of magic items to make them intrinsic abilities. Almost nothing else changes: the DM just gives out these abilities whenever he would given out magic items instead. The DM can continue to run a high-powered game, or a low-powered game, as he wants.

 

[Soel]

Sounds similar to Magical Locations and their benefits seen in recent WotC products like the Secrets of Xendrik book. Not a bad idea, but needs more fleshing out.