Our DM has given us beefed up items of legacy. My warlock has a +1 spiked gauntlet that he was able to unlock at 6th level and get some nice least and lesser abilities. My DM's philosophy is that these items will be the best magic items that we will ever possess. Nothing else that we come across will come close. So, they are better than normal.
Legacy of Damnation +1 spiked gauntlet damages as adamantine, silver, and evil. It has the least abilities of mage hand 3/day (15 lbs) and the lesser abilities of missiles of force 3/day (three magic missiles that can be infused onto an eldritch blast), maximized false life 1/day, and the penalty of -1 to all attack rolls. The spike has a scorpion stinger design, while the gauntlet appears to be made of scorpion carapaces.
The Legacy of Damnation is an item of legacy that was locked onto Zoltan’s hand from a seemingly dead balor who exclaimed “I will not be denied!” before expiring. The balor Pelork was an officer of the demonic army; his brother Cherish now hunts for the item. A paladin was the one who was able to keep it the longest until he returned to Shavorath to fight the eternal fight. The paladin was Zarrtan, Zoltan’s father and the second to the king of Breland. This item was originally from Shavorath and it has been passed from demon to demon. Although it may find itself in other planes, it always returns to Shavorath, the great battlefield. The item itself isn’t evil; the owners have almost always been evil. Zoltan is the first of two have not been evil. Perhaps he can do what others have not: keep it from evil's hands.
So while we are in Shavorth we encounter a dying balor and solar. The solar instructs the warforged psionic warrior to take his sword out of the balor and to use it for good. When he does, the balor snaps up from unconsiousness and slams the gauntlet onto Zoltans hand. Right away, the warforged and Zoltan have an animosity to each other. There relationship is "indifferent" and only professional right now, but will probably worsen. Later we encounter Cherish, who looks human, and he asks me to give him the gauntlet. While we are talking to him he starts to severely insult my character. When my character has been goaded enough to "give him the gauntlet," Cherish flick-of-the-wrists/sneak attacks my character and one-shots him into unconsiousness. The rest of the party pound on him, then he teleports away.
Back on Eberron, my character finds out that to unlock his item he needs to touch it to a tear of the child. Stormreach has been devastated by a storm so I go around and help people out, helping rebuild what they had or with food or whatever I can do. Sneaky bastard Zoltan is, he on the lookout for any child who is tearfully overwrought with gratitude by his deeds. And lo and behold eventually one turns up. So, he tries to sleight of hand the tear away with his gaunlet spike, but does so clumsilly. The child's face is marked by the gauntlet spike and the mark doesn't come off. The mother and child are creeped out by my warlock. He tries to diplomize and bluff his way out of it, but I roll crap. Eventually, I just hand the mother 10 gp and walk away.
"You're going to a special place in hell reserved for child abusers and people who talk in movie theaters." -- Shepard,
Firefly
Later on, Zoltan is in his inn room with his new Umbergen cleric girlfriend Loren. He has a Butterfly Effect moment and finds himself suddenly choking her while they are both in bed. He lets go and calls for his friends. Loren is trying pass it off as OK, which is concerning me. He inform his friends exactly what happened and seperates himself from Loren. Loren tries to assure Zoltan that it was OK and if he could just go back upstairs with her. Another PC wonders outloud if Loren isn't actually Cherish when "Loren" flick-of-the-wrists/sneak attacks that PC and one-shots him to death. We of course pound on him, and he of course teleports away. We then find out that he has kidnapped Loren and his tormenting her in captivity. I have a Book of Vile Darkness realization "I have just had sex with my nemisis!" :O
Zoltan is creeped out that his item possesed him and choked his "girlfriend" and asks another PC to chop off his gauntleted hand. It's pointed out that the gauntet probably detected his nemesis and protected him from him. Hmmm...OK. But Zoltan does not like his item anymore. The next level he picks up the Craft Arms & Armor feat and starts "hacking" his item. First he reforms the "damages as evil" aspect to "damages as good". Now he is adding the Merciful special quality to the gauntlet. He will eventually add Holy, Bane Ousider (evil), and a continuous
protection from evil to it. He has learned that this item unlocks a flaming quality; he will change this to shocking after it manifests. This item will not be used to harm celestials anymore and will from now on be a tool against evil.
Gosh that was long. But my point is that my DM is using these items of legacy to thier fullest potential. Other characters are going through similar experiences with theirs; although I'm intensifying mine because I'm violently opposing the destiny that my item has implied for my character. Our items are more powerful than the by-the-book items. My DM is a power gamer. He loves playing with power as a player, and he loves giving power to his PCs to play with.
