OD&D Low Magic w/ Cool Magic Items

[furashgf]

I'd like to run a setting where magical items are rare and mysterious, rather then things you can find commonly or buy at a magic shop.
I'd like to have some kind of mechanic where, instead, when people find magic items, they tend to be magic items with a history/backstory that grow with the character. e.g., this sword used to be the sword of some cool guy who did something cool, and some of that heroism lives on in the weapon. For a 1-3rd level character, it acts as a +1, for 4-6, it acts as +3 but 50% of the time will try to force the user into combats he/she would rather retreat from, etc.
I just made the above up. I'd rather use a mechanic someone more skilled than me had actually playtested. Is anyone aware / has made such a thing?

 

[the Jester]

I'm working on something similar to what you're talking about, although my intent isn't to have magic items "grow" with a character but rather to have even weaker magic items still be worthwhile at higher levels.

I haven't gotten to magic items- they are actually next after I correct an oversight that came up in playtesting involving wizard schools not being intelligence-based- but will soon.

 

[Celebrim]

I'. For a 1-3rd level character, it acts as a +1, for 4-6, it acts as +3 but 50% of the time will try to force the user into combats he/she would rather retreat from, etc.
I just made the above up. I'd rather use a mechanic someone more skilled than me had actually playtested. Is anyone aware / has made such a thing?

Yeah, it's out there. I think it's called 'legacy weapons' or some such. It's probably been done a couple of times.

If you are worried about balance, I think I should first say that balance is not something you can get from a canned source. Balance is intrinsicly situational because the utility of something is always situational. A sword +5 is meaningless in a game where problems can't be resolved by combat. A ring of water breathing is a minor trinket in a game where drowning is a virtually unheard of danger, but invaluable in a game where the DM loves utilizing water as a hazard. Someone elses playtesting is therefore of relatively little use to you unless you follow there assumptions in your game. Unfortunately, D&D has a history of setting prices and scarcity according to a set of assumptions and then breaks completely when those assumptions are violated.

My advice would be to figure out at what point in the game you'd normally first start placing say a sword +2 or a sword +3 as treasure. If for example you wouldn't expect players to start getting +2 weapons until about 6th level, and +3 weapons until about 10th level, that suggests the rate of power progression. As far as special abilities are concerned, I'd stick to the 1e DMG rules for constructing intelligent weapons (and artifacts) and vary from that only as necessary to capture flavor. Keep in mind that if you want your items to be 'cool', the benefits must outweigh the drawbacks. Otherwise, they won't be retained or valued and amount to little more than plot devices in the control of the DM.

My general feeling is that 1/day and 3/day minor powers are hard to break (say equivalent to a spell 2-3 levels lower than the max currently available to the party), but that always on or unlimited use powers must be restricted to minor damage dealing or they tend to get out of hand. Contrary to apparent 1e advice, it is the ability to deal damage which is actually the least valuable special ability - afterall, anyone can swing a sword an unlimited number of times. Anything that amounts to a weapon attack with an unusual flavor isn't game breaking.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I've played with such ideas before and they work. Players enjoy the game more when their magic items have more character or a history. Such devices do work very well in an OD&D setting that tends to support campaigns with lower magic than 3.5 settings support, which tend to be higher magic.

On the other hand, 3.5 had legacy weapons and 4e is restarting Dark Sun, so it is possible to work your themes into those examples.

 

[howandwhy99]

Try this for an option:

There are a large number of magic items in most fantasy worlds, but they are mostly unique. They are singular creations by magic-users, not mass produced unless you are in an industrial age fantasy world (or a in a part of your world which is). Moreover, most of these items are like any other item. They appear mundane. Some may be blinking energy cubes with slowed time inside, but most are everyday items. In game worlds the "magic aura" cannot be seen without a spell effect like Detect Magic. Magical properties aren't commonly apparent without playing with the item.

Here's an exercise: Look around the room you're in and estimate how many different items are in it. Then select a handful and think of how they could be a magic item. What would they need to be to be "magic" here and now? Now think what is the real world timeline of each of these objects. Where have they been since they were constructed? Who has considered them property or had some connection with them? What actions and events have they been a part of?

If you can see the investments we have in our real world surroundings, you can better understand what kinds of conceptions players may have upon the fantastical magical creations in the game world. Beyond the "real" aspects of items, knowing what we consider fantastical is the other part of making magic items engaging.

EDIT:
Without knowing what items are magic, fewer will be gained. Without knowing what magic or magic items do, fewer effects will be used. The game world may appear low magic, but the underlying magic of it will be there to discover. Magic really is the discovery of the unknown. The less we know about what we are experiencing, the more magical it is. The more we learn about the unknown, the more we desire and value our exploration of it.