Help Finding Progressive Magic Item System

[saebasan]

I am trying to locate a system for having magic items (usually weapons) "grow" with a character, i.e. increase in power as the character increases in power. I believe I have seen such a system described in a Dragon magazine article, and may have also seen one here on EN World as well. Does anyone remember where these systems are located or what Dragon issue it was in? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Doug Williamson

 

[sinmissing]

One place to look.
Oriental Adventures: A samurai's ancestral sword can grow. Maybe use that as a guide for armor, rings, or wondrous items that other characters might gain?

Synopsis: Every level, the GP value of the samurai's sword increases. You then use this value to purchase abilities. +1 = 2315 gp for a Longsword, etc.

 

[saebasan]

One place to look.
Oriental Adventures: A samurai's ancestral sword can grow. Maybe use that as a guide for armor, rings, or wondrous items that other characters might gain?

Synopsis: Every level, the GP value of the samurai's sword increases. You then use this value to purchase abilities. +1 = 2315 gp for a Longsword, etc.

That was one of the first places I looked, but I was just skimming and obviously missed it. I'll take another look. Thanks.

I am also still open to other ideas, so if anyone has any other sources, please feel free to post them.

Doug Williamson

 

[DreamChaser]

There was a Dragon article a while back about "leveled" weapons and armor. It was actually originally from these boards, I think. The basic idea is that an item could be increased in power by sharing some experience with it. As it advanced, new abilities would be unlocked. In theory these would be set from the start (a sword that starts out with just a +1 bonus but later becomes keen, then wounding, then life drinking)

I don't have my mags here or I'd reference the issue #.

DC

 

[scholz]

I had an idea but never really got to implement it.
I basically designed a sword with several powers so it had a total bonus of +10. But to activate each power certain tasks needed to be accomplished. The idea was that the character's 'share of future' treasures would include the advances in the weapon's ability.

Once the wielder slew a fire elemental with the sword, the sword's ability to flame was activated (And this would be obvious to the wielder). The sword had a history and the character could learn about it in various ways, thus he could sort of plan to improve the blade (seek out certain challenges to improve it).

I had to talk to the player about the treasure thing. Luckily he was a sport, and appreciated the specialness of the sword. So when treasure divyng time came about he was prepared to say "I'll sit out of the first round, since I just discovered this new feature of my blade."

I think it would've worked out well. But it is tricky to manage and quite informal.

As a DM I frequently write up treasure with particular characters in mind (the wizard needs a wand, the fighter needs a magic weapon, whathaveyou) but there is always the chance the party will do something unexpected and so your plan will not work out right.

 

[woodelf]

I had an idea but never really got to implement it.
I basically designed a sword with several powers so it had a total bonus of +10. But to activate each power certain tasks needed to be accomplished. The idea was that the character's 'share of future' treasures would include the advances in the weapon's ability.

Once the wielder slew a fire elemental with the sword, the sword's ability to flame was activated (And this would be obvious to the wielder). The sword had a history and the character could learn about it in various ways, thus he could sort of plan to improve the blade (seek out certain challenges to improve it).

I had to talk to the player about the treasure thing. Luckily he was a sport, and appreciated the specialness of the sword. So when treasure divyng time came about he was prepared to say "I'll sit out of the first round, since I just discovered this new feature of my blade."

I think it would've worked out well. But it is tricky to manage and quite informal.

You might want to take a look at Earthdawn--that's how all magic items worked. Though the trigger was slightly differen--you had to discover the history of the item before you could unlock it--just doing stuff with it wasn't sufficient. But what you're doing could be the same, adjusted so that it's player-centric, rather than GM-directed. You could even allow the player to decide what the next power-up is, and then justify it in game (such as seeking out a fire elemental to slay, so as to "reactivate" it's flaming powers).

 

[hong]

I have an "imbued magic" system on my website:

http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/imbued_magic.htm

 

[Damon Griffin]

I am trying to locate a system for having magic items (usually weapons) "grow" with a character, i.e. increase in power as the character increases in power. I believe I have seen such a system described in a Dragon magazine article, and may have also seen one here on EN World as well.

I recently participated in a thread on this topic -- like within the past two weeks -- but now I can't find it.

I might be misremebering the number, but leveled items are in Dragon #289. "Spells & Spellcraft" from Fantasy Flight Games also offers personal growth items which can work either of two ways:

(1) You find a +1 sword someplace and as you gain levels, you "rediscover" additional powers the sword had all along.

(2) You create (or have created for you) a +1 sword with no additional powers, but a mystical channel established between you and the weapon, which allows you -- a non-spellcaster -- to invest the item with your own XP and/or gold in order to add new powers to the item, much as if a spellcaster were upgrading your magic item for you using the standard item creation rules, except that the mystic channel allows you to do it yourself, with no need for spellcasting ability or a Craft Item feat.

Under the latter method you have the option of binding the item to you, so that in your hands, the weapon is a +2 holy longsword of sure striking, but in my hands it'd just be a +1 sword; only you can make use of the abilities you invested in it.

 

[woodelf]

Re: Re: Help Finding Progressive Magic Item System

I might be misremebering the number, but I think leveled items are in Dragon #92.

Um, Dragon #292, perhaps? I know it wasn't #92, and i don't feel like double-checking that there wasn't such an article in #192 (that's all the way upstairs), but i don't think so.

 

[Damon Griffin]

Um, Dragon #292, perhaps? I know it wasn't #92, and i don't feel like double-checking that there wasn't such an article in #192 (that's all the way upstairs), but i don't think so.

Yeah, 292 is what I meant, but that turns out to be wrong. I was remembering that issue number because another article I'd recently re-read (The Darkwood Stalker) was there.

Leveled magic items are discussed in Dragon 289, pages 56-58. I've edited my previous message to correct the issue number.