Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Naked Adventurers (no, it's not what you think)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="fuindordm" data-source="post: 251810" data-attributes="member: 5435"><p><strong>Legendary Items</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, Earthdawn has a really nice justification for the source of magical power and magical items in its campaign setting. Essentially, magical power comes from one's "fame factor". If you build yourself up into a legendary hero by doing lots of things that people tell stories about, you have more magical power. If a sword gets used to slay a unique and powerful dragon and starts to grow its own legend, then it might turn into a Dragon Bane sword. Under such a system, hereditary items could become very powerful indeed.</p><p></p><p>A gloss on these rules relates the character's "hero factor" to the powers that can be unlocked in a magical item--a bit Middle-Earth in that sense. So Joe Blow the unknown fighter might find a legendary sword, and the Bard might recognize it for what it is; but it just acts like a masterwork sword for him until his own legend/karma/character level grows strong enough to unlock greater powers. Maybe the first act of heroism is enough to make it work like a +1 sword, and he has to slay a dragon himself before it becomes a dragon bane for him.</p><p></p><p>I don't think it would take too much effort to add this rationale to some game mechanic like the item creation feats or the Samurai (OA) hereditary weapons class ability, and allow characters to exchange gold/xp/legend points/hero points for superior magical items. The Earthdawn rationale also adds some of its own mystique, in that the powers gained by the tools are always related to the character's personal story. This doesn't rule out "found items" with their own legends, of course.</p><p></p><p>I highly recommend Earthdawn as a source of ideas for any DM--it's a very high-magic world, and very well thought out. I played in it for a few months, and grew dissatisfied with many of its mechanics, but the other material is really top-notch stuff.</p><p></p><p>--Ben</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="fuindordm, post: 251810, member: 5435"] [b]Legendary Items[/b] Well, Earthdawn has a really nice justification for the source of magical power and magical items in its campaign setting. Essentially, magical power comes from one's "fame factor". If you build yourself up into a legendary hero by doing lots of things that people tell stories about, you have more magical power. If a sword gets used to slay a unique and powerful dragon and starts to grow its own legend, then it might turn into a Dragon Bane sword. Under such a system, hereditary items could become very powerful indeed. A gloss on these rules relates the character's "hero factor" to the powers that can be unlocked in a magical item--a bit Middle-Earth in that sense. So Joe Blow the unknown fighter might find a legendary sword, and the Bard might recognize it for what it is; but it just acts like a masterwork sword for him until his own legend/karma/character level grows strong enough to unlock greater powers. Maybe the first act of heroism is enough to make it work like a +1 sword, and he has to slay a dragon himself before it becomes a dragon bane for him. I don't think it would take too much effort to add this rationale to some game mechanic like the item creation feats or the Samurai (OA) hereditary weapons class ability, and allow characters to exchange gold/xp/legend points/hero points for superior magical items. The Earthdawn rationale also adds some of its own mystique, in that the powers gained by the tools are always related to the character's personal story. This doesn't rule out "found items" with their own legends, of course. I highly recommend Earthdawn as a source of ideas for any DM--it's a very high-magic world, and very well thought out. I played in it for a few months, and grew dissatisfied with many of its mechanics, but the other material is really top-notch stuff. --Ben [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Naked Adventurers (no, it's not what you think)
Top
