Scalable magic weapons

[roguerouge]

What are people's experiences with "scalable" magic weapons? To be clear, what I'm talking about are magic weapons that get better as the character does, so that the player's not getting attached to "the sword that I killed my first ogre with" only to toss it because he runs across a better weapon next to a dead adventurer in a dungeon. I know that there's a prestige class related to this approach, but I'm NOT going to make my player take it simply because she and I prefer the fluff of scalable weapons.

SO, what has been the experience of other DMs who have used this rule? What are the pitfalls to watch out for? How much book-keeping do I have to regarding that player's other resources, for balance purposes?

 

[Blue]

In my last campaign, once a character got a signature weapon, I can't remember them giving it up. It helped that I didn't give a plethora of magic items and that one of the PCs had craft arms and armor to enhance the already existing weapons.

It was more about RP then rules. One character had a two handed sword called "The Sword of Epics". The dwarven cleric/fighter had HIS urgosh. These lasted the entire campaign because they had personality.

Give your items personality and a reasonable way for them to keep up with the magic level you want the party to be it, and the players that will really run with it will take advantage of it.

Cheers,
=Blue

 

[timbannock]

Used 'em in two campaigns, both times using Weapons of Legacy but pairing out a lot of the "negatives" (basically, any time I could get rid of a penalty, I did) and just moved the abilities up or down a little to compensate.

I have to say, they worked really well that way. I basically had a master sheet of what each item did at what level. The player only knew what the item(s) did at the level they were currently at (and had "unlocked" through the ritual). I did NOT have it cost a feat to unlock the powers (just some kind of ritual plus an expenditure of gold, usually making this expenditure meaningful in the game world: i.e., if the ritual was "Knowledge (history) DC X to learn the name of the creator of this item," then the gold spent would go towards buying books and information in order to get that).

Note: the best way to maintain balance while getting rid of the penalties and feats used in Weapons of Legacy is easily just to take a look through Magic Item Compendium and pay attention to the Levels that a given item is appropriate for. Eyeball a little, and bam: you've got yourself a good gauge of when certain abilities should be unlockable for a legacy item.

 

[Graybeard]

In my campaign, one of my players is using her Deities favored weapon. Since she has had it for a few levels, I have gradually increased its abilities. All abilities are dependent on her piety though. So far it is working out well.

 

[Rackhir]

I know that there's a prestige class related to this approach, but I'm NOT going to make my player take it simply because she and I prefer the fluff of scalable weapons.

I think you're thinking of the Kensei Prc from Complete Warrior. They got to increase the magical power of their signature weapon as they leveled. Kenji a character in the Burne's story hour in my sig had some levels in the class and it seemed to work okay.

 

[Jhaelen]

I have to say, they worked really well that way. I basically had a master sheet of what each item did at what level. The player only knew what the item(s) did at the level they were currently at (and had "unlocked" through the ritual). I did NOT have it cost a feat to unlock the powers (just some kind of ritual plus an expenditure of gold, usually making this expenditure meaningful in the game world: i.e., if the ritual was "Knowledge (history) DC X to learn the name of the creator of this item," then the gold spent would go towards buying books and information in order to get that).

Note: the best way to maintain balance while getting rid of the penalties and feats used in Weapons of Legacy is easily just to take a look through Magic Item Compendium and pay attention to the Levels that a given item is appropriate for. Eyeball a little, and bam: you've got yourself a good gauge of when certain abilities should be unlockable for a legacy item.

I've also been using Items of Legacy to good effect in my campaign.

Please note that as per the rules the Legacy feats are free bonus feats gained after performing the associated ceremony.

I've got rid of the penalty tables by calculating the gp values of the item's powers and having the character pay 1/50 cost in xp and half the cost in gold. I.e. it's effectively as if the character had created the item using the item creation rules. It's also possible to gain a negative level if the required xp cost for a ceremony cannot be payed.

 

[Scribble]

I had a character with a leveled item... Here are some things I learned...

1. Next time, all weapons will be leveling. Because I liked the concept a lot, and also because it's too confusing f some are, and some aren't...

2. Make Armor and such leveling as well... If they have leveling weapons, the can sell stuff and stock up on better armor...

3. Don't forget about the leveling quests... I unfortunately did this a bit, and consequently the poor player with the leveled item was always asking if he had any leads on his quest, or he was at odds with the other players... (We'll do your quest next.. we promise...)

I'll try to think of anything else... I was using a somewhat modified version of the leveling rules from Dragon 289.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Played with them before, we called it bonding. There is an initial Exp cost for the bonding ritual, and you get first tier powers as it grows. There are other tiers of powers you can gain by spending more Exp.

 

[Hairfoot]

I like to dispense scaleable weapons because the players value them more and make them part of the character. It's a problem, though, when you want to use a sundering BBEG against the party, or put the PCs in a hostage situation without their weapons.

Groups will go into open revolt if you try to take so much as a feather token away from them, let alone a legacy weapon.

 

[Darklone]

I use it almost in every group. Nowadays, I usually simply allow the PCs to upgrade their existing weapons, earlier I used bonded weapons or 3rd party rules.

It's great.