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Message: <blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 7485248" data-attributes="member: 12377">The way this is often handled is: whenever you would get a new magic weapon, you instead get a power-up to your existing weapon. Unfortunately, 5e doesn't have useful guidelines on when you "should" get a new magic weapon. But here are some things it does have:1. Guidelines for magic item gold piece values by rarity (DMG p.135). The DM could power up your weapon in lieu of the appropriate amount of gold. For example, a weapon +1 is Uncommon (DMG p.213) which is 500 gp, so when you slay a fearsome beast, maybe its treasure hoard is 500 gp less than it should be, but your katana goes up to +1.2. Blessings (DMG p.227-228) are a really interesting approach to this issue. Maybe when you accomplish a great task, your ancestors bestow a blessing upon you. The blessing of weapon enchantment seems particularly apt.3. Another cool approach might be a sentient magic item (DMG p.214-216), because it can suppress its magical properties if it wants. So the katana literally tells you what you need to do in order to be "worthy" of its full power. This lets the DM make it up as you go, and also gives you a clear idea of when you can get new powers. Plus it's always cool to have an NPC in the party.In each case, it's really up to the DM what kind of powers your sword can get. If you are looking for suggestions, I'd go with a +1 bonus at around 5th level, +2 at around 11th, and +3 at around 17th (those are the tier boundaries). At 1st level I'd tack on some minor bonuses, like it can shed light or detect fiends or something. That's still pretty good at 1st level because it counts as magic for overcoming resistances, but considering the cheap magic weapons in Xanathar's, that's not such a big deal. Finally, a really easy way to add flavor to a magic weapon is an appropriate spell 1/day, especially if it's a spell that's more flavorful than deadly (like gust of wind or plant growth even something super useful like misty step).</blockquote>

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