D&D 5E Storied Weapons?

[topgunice]

Something I've been wondering about, but does anyone have any houserules or ideas for storied magic items? I'm not talking about magic items with stories, but items that became magical because of their story or history. By the rules, making magic items tends to be a fairly mechanical affair: spellcasters only, requires a set amount of time and materials, can only create certain items based off the caster's spells. The problem with that is that within the world there are an enormous amount of items that gain their power not from spellcasters or being crafted, but by being attached to great feats or amazing stories.

If I'm not being clear, here's a few examples of what I mean (taken from a few of my campaigns):

A paladin challenges his enemies to one on one duels. After ever battle, he collects a piece of their armor. After winning his 100th duel, he melts down all the scraps and creates a set of full-plate armor. Now, by the rules, this armor would be nothing special, but the story of how he got the armor, and the act of fighting duels in the name of his god, could potentially imbue that armor with some spark of power. When I ran this game, I ended up having him sacrifice some gold and other materials, as well as forge it within an abandoned temple, resulting in a rather powerful magic set of armor.

A druid's clan was attacked and torched, the ancient grove which they guarded burnt to ash. The druid survived the attack, and spent the next month gathering the ashes of her fallen comrades, then carving a staff from the remains of the ancient oak that rested at the center of the grove. The weapon ended up offering great protection, but left her susceptible to flames: the same flames that consumed all that mattered to the druid.

I'm sure there are tons of other examples. The traditional "blade quenched in the blood of 1000 enemies" (not how quenching works, I know), or the pendant made with the locks of hair from a heartbroken nymph. A non-crafted example would be a regular sword that killed a vampire lord, the act of heroism enchanting the blade. Really, the examples are pretty endless.

So, back to my question: are there rules for this sort of magic item creation? Should I just give out appropriate magic items when these sorts of stories happen? Or should I create my own magic item creation rules, focused on story? I feel like the latter option makes the most sense. Anyway, thoughts?

 

[Oofta]

No official rules that I know of, but there is an unearthed arcana article downtime activities

In the past I've also just said an item had special abilities because of great sacrifice or actions. For example, I had a paladin sacrifice himself by leaping onto a flying vampire spellcaster to take her down, stabbing (and killing) both the vampire and himself with the same attack.

I decided that this was such an epic scene that his weapon is now blessed by the gods, does extra damage against undead and once per day grants "fly" as the spell.

So if you think it's a cool story, go for it. You don't need rules for everything.

 

[Jester David]

There aren't really rules for spontaneous magic item creation.
But, then again, it's not something that needs rules. It just happens and the item becomes magical.

It's not something that needs to be codified or detailed. That adds nothing.
Having a firm list of what needs to happen and the power level of items based on the sacrifice and backstory just imposes restraints on imagination. All that does is tell DMs that the deed they wanted to empower an item was impressive enough or the magic item they want to use is too powerful or not powerful enough.
Firm rules are also something that can be abused. Suddenly, the player wants to kill 1000 people or shave a nymph to get an automatic magic item because the rules say that's how it works.

Something rare and amazing happens and - literally magically - an item becomes empowered as a result. It's rare and a fluke, but it happens. That's all the rules that are needed.

 

[kbrakke]

I looked at the 3.5 weapons of legacy book to get ideas for weapons with storied histories. Weapons that grant simple abilities but give the wielder a hint at how to unlock more power were fun for me to create. Depending on how you do the power unlocking they can cause entire quests by themselves.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Something I've been wondering about, but does anyone have any houserules or ideas for storied magic items? I'm not talking about magic items with stories, but items that became magical because of their story or history.

Sure. In my current campaign, one PC's weapon has gone from a minor magic sword to a powerful one named 'Shadowbane.' It was originally taken from a goblin shaman, then had a crystalized drop of godling-blood (ripped from Glorantha, there) added as a pommel-stone, was temporarily enhanced by a Gith psion for a specific quest, then was finally used to slay a unique 'Shadow Devil,' and gained new properties (both being particularly deadly to shadow-creatures, and being able to hide it's wielder from sight at times) and it's name.

I've also used such 'origin stories' for sub-artifact unique items before. For instance, in an old campaign, a briefly-important NPC in an avert-a-war storyline wielded 'Yellow Death,' a once-ordinary military-issue gladius, that, in an heroic stand holding a mountain pass, struck the final blow against an evil dragon, piercing it's heart, and becoming infused with the dragon's hatred and toxic blood.

So, back to my question: are there rules for this sort of magic item creation?

Obviously, not in 5e.
I have an inkling of a memory.. maybe there was an article or something in an old Dragon mag that at least talked about such things, even if not a system? IDK, it's not coming to me. ;(

Should I just give out appropriate magic items when these sorts of stories happen?

Yes! It's really no different than handing out any other magic item, but instead of using the 5e tables to come up with how it looks and where it came from, it has the origin story that happened to the PC.

Or should I create my own magic item creation rules, focused on story? I feel like the latter option makes the most sense. Anyway, thoughts?

Seems like a bit of trouble to mechanize a creative process, to me, but if it helps your process to quantify it, sure. If you share the rules with the players, they'll be able to angle to get an item imbued under those rules, too...

 

[Scott Thorne]

I do not have any house rules but here are two potential sources of inspiration for "storied items":

* Legendary Items from Earthdawn; see http://apathyblogs.blogspot.com/2013/06/earthdawn-appreciation-day-bringing.html

* Artifacts from D&D 4e; see http://dandrpodcast.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/63-magic-items-unlocking-their-potential/

 

[topgunice]

Thanks for the help! I remember reading a bit about storied items in Dark Heresy (well, demon weapons, but mechanically they are pretty similar in a strange, horrifying way), which could help me out a bit but is from such a different game I wasn't sure I wanted to go there. I'll take a look at 3.5 legacy weapons too, thanks for reminding me about those!

 

[Ganymede81]

Considering every D&D campaign is essentially a saga in and of itself, storied magical weapons are an interesting way to award magical weapons to PCs outside of putting them in the enemy's hands or in a treasure pile.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

So, back to my question: are there rules for this sort of magic item creation? Should I just give out appropriate magic items when these sorts of stories happen? Or should I create my own magic item creation rules, focused on story? I feel like the latter option makes the most sense. Anyway, thoughts?

This is a pure homerule situation.

The first thing I think of for the situation you describe is Guts from the Berserk Manga and his Greatsword Dragonslayer (although calling it a Greatsword is a bit misleading). The Demons he fights are normally almost impervious to damage from mundane weapons, but his sword is so massive and his strength so much that he is able to slay them. Over the course of his journey he kills so many Demons with his sword that it becomes "magical", and begins to also exist in the Astral Plane so he can really do big damage.

With that in mind I had a similar encounter planned for my players. I was going to have them encounter a trapped Balor and bargain for his release. One of the "rewards" was going to be the Balor coating one of their weapons with its blood to make it magical and give it a special property.

Personally, playing with story drive special weapons and random stuff you find...I much prefer the story kind. I liked using a Warhammer with my character, but finding the magic Longsword meant the Warhammer went to storage. If I had the option for something to infuse magic into the Warhammer, I would totally have taken that route. Similarly I have a player who had all her weapons named, but she had to put her special Maul away after getting a magic Greataxe. Given the choice I'm sure she would have preferred to keep the Maul and make it magic instead.

 

[Al2O3]

I would find that the point of storied weapons becoming magical is that they do not follow normal rules. It sounds awesome and I want my characters to get them (both finding and causing them to exist). However, they should never follow a certain formula if they exist primarily as a result of story. Still, when the intent is to make a magic item the "formulas" and rituals used in your examples seem fitting.

From a "power perspective" I would treat handing out magic items as part of story in a similar was as find a magic item in a hoard or such. It's fine to hand them out if another item of a similar power level would be acceptable. I would also potentially allow the weapon to grow in power along with the character. If the character becomes a legend and has a weapon they've used their entire career, then the weapon should probably also become legendary, with corresponding power. I would also consider using or modifying a weapon from the DMG if it was a good fit (otherwise making a truly unique weapon seems awesome).

My other consideration would be worldbuilding. If the characters can cause magic weapons by their deeds, then maybe some weapons they come across should also similar origins (even if it is a Holy Avenger or such).