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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5531047" data-attributes="member: 4937">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.</blockquote>

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