Best way to handle Eartdawn-like magic Items?

[Baumi]

I will start a Earthdawn(-like) Campaign with 4E Rules soon and I will let each of the characters choose one special Item that is very important to them (Heirloom, special Event in Childhood, etc.). It will start of with a small magic bonus and will get better as the characters get better.

The upgrade itself is quite easy, just update it for free every 6 levels, but I wonder if I could make it more personal and interesting for them because I fear that it will soon become "just another" magic item.

So I want to do more than that and I am looking for some Ideas now and I hope that the fine people on ENWorld could help me out here..

P.S.: I though about using Artifacts or Intelligent Items but both seem to be to much work if everyone one has one.

 

[Starglim]

Adventurer's Vault has an Appendix with various options to increase the powers of items by level.

 

[guybrush]

I must confess I haven't read the section on this in AV, but I would probably replace the magic item treasure parcels with an upgrade to one of the party's weapons. So, when you have a level 1 treasure parcel, instead of giving out a level 5 magic item, upgrade one of the party's weapons - improving or adding a property, power or enhancement bonus.

It'd take a bit of thought to make this work as properly intended - by the sound of it you want the powers to scale much more closely with the PC's level - but it would work. And you could afford to make the improvements a little better than standard, since they'll still only have one magic item each, rather than a hoard of them at different power levels. The cool thing about this, of course, is that it will scale as intended but the improvements will still come as a surprise to the players, since they won't know when - or necessarily what - to expect. And you can tailor what you add to how the players use their items.

Roleplaying wise, I wouldn't just hand them out at the end of an encounter, though - rather I'd make a note of what you've changed, and then - during the next fight when you know they need it or it will make the most difference - either notify a player that their use of the item seems more effective (their bonus went up) or activate a power as if by itself, letting the item (which, after all, has quite a link to the character) announce it's new capability (for new powers or properties).

 

[timbannock]

I must confess I haven't read the section on this in AV, but I would probably replace the magic item treasure parcels with an upgrade to one of the party's weapons. So, when you have a level 1 treasure parcel, instead of giving out a level 5 magic item, upgrade one of the party's weapons - improving or adding a property, power or enhancement bonus.

It'd take a bit of thought to make this work as properly intended - by the sound of it you want the powers to scale much more closely with the PC's level - but it would work. And you could afford to make the improvements a little better than standard, since they'll still only have one magic item each, rather than a hoard of them at different power levels. The cool thing about this, of course, is that it will scale as intended but the improvements will still come as a surprise to the players, since they won't know when - or necessarily what - to expect. And you can tailor what you add to how the players use their items.

Roleplaying wise, I wouldn't just hand them out at the end of an encounter, though - rather I'd make a note of what you've changed, and then - during the next fight when you know they need it or it will make the most difference - either notify a player that their use of the item seems more effective (their bonus went up) or activate a power as if by itself, letting the item (which, after all, has quite a link to the character) announce it's new capability (for new powers or properties).

Great advice.

To keep the spirit of Earthdawn, improving the items might require researching the item and performing some kind of ritual to "unlock" new powers. I would have this be a Skill Challenge of some sort, depending on the item (Arcana for magic-usery items, Religion for clericy items, etc.), and have the ritual be some kind of roleplaying thing they do. You don't have to come up with an elaborate thing, or even play it out, but just giving the Player a sentence about the ritual can add that air of mystery and arcane lore that is such an Earthdawn thing to do.

"After researching the history of Fiery Brand, your +2 Flaming Longsword, you find the ritual you need to further unlock the powers enscorceled about it by its creator, Archmagus Brandfire: upon a stone dais, you draw a dark circle of arcane power using a shard of obsidian, and you lay Fiery Brand in the center, its blade pointed Northward, as you cut a thin line into your hand with the obsidian shard and let 3 drops of blood fall onto the pommel."

Bam.

I hand out magic items as little index cards, with descriptive text on the back. Then I add a sentence or two like the kind of thing I just wrote at every handful of levels and what the item improves to. Takes about 1 minute, and adds a HUGE level of immersion.

 

[Baumi]

Many thanks for all this great advice.