Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="cerebus300" data-source="post: 6834511" data-attributes="member: 73049">I have always hated the stockpiling of magic items in D&D, especially trading in a +2 item for a +3, and so on. I always wanted magic to seem special and rare, but the game usually demanded a certain amount of magic items per level. (I haven't played in a year, and only had a little bit of experience with 5E, played all other editions prior). I wanted magic to seem feel more like the magic in mythology and fantasy stories. In these cases, characters are often associated with their weapons, or magic items. They don't trade them in constantly for an upgrade.As a DM, I figured out a solution that worked beautifully for my campaigns. The players loved it, and it made magic really feel special. I still have characters find common kinds of magic, like potions and scrolls, and occassionally a common ring or sword. But eventually, I want characters to have that item that will became a part of their legend, and will be associated with them. To do this I have the item increase in ability and powers as the character goes up in level. The result is that the character never has to trade in their item. It grows with them. The same sword that they are killing orcs with at third level is used by the level 20 hero fighting dragons and demons.  I also found that I could simply add more abilities to an item as it increased in power, which meant that I didn't need to keep giving the players other magic items.My last campaign took place in Karameikos (Mystara). It remained local, but had mythic consequences over the course of the entire campaign, that pulled on ancient Nithian  origins, and the Traladaran god trinity of Petra, Halav, and Zirchev.  The druid in my party had to go on a quest to find The Staff of Zirchev in order to heal the land that was corrupted. That became her primary item, and it kept growing with her throughout the campaign. It was a great way to give her, what is really a relic, and eventually grew to incredible power, but she could use it as a third level character without unbalancing the game.Of course I have a certain attunement time, or ritual that needs to take place in order to be able to access an items power, so it can't just be picked up by any character of similar level and be fully usable.</blockquote>

Verification