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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kraydak" data-source="post: 5699756" data-attributes="member: 12306">A sword that is made of fire, if it doesn't have a mechanical effect, is irrelevant.  Special effects that don't do anything... are a waste of page-count, like most items in most magic-item compendiums.  If the sword just converts its physical damage to fire damage, I'll be hard pressed to give a damn.  If it adds 1d6 fire damage frequently, I'll start to care (but that is just another form of a +X item).  For a sword, rider effects are about hurting the foe (or possible protecting oneself), aka +X, +Xd6 damage, +X defenses.  And if the conditions to trigger the riders are uncommon, people either ignore them, or go the golf-bag route."Cool" effects that trigger once in a blue moon blow chunks.  "Cool" effects that trigger often, are business-as-usual-completely-not-cool.  I can understand why you might want to change the state of affairs, but without divine intervention, you will fail, probably causing damage in the process.Take a lesson from MMORPGs: the only wonder in magic loot is in the looting.  Once loot-in-potentia has become loot-in-fact, it becomes boring with the same speed that a wrapped present under a christmas tree becomes forgotten junk on the bedroom floor.  So emphasize the process of looting, and avoid trying to convince people that a sucky item is somehow "cool" because of its riders.</blockquote>