Weapons of Legacy Question

[Olaf the Stout]

The WoL is worth its base cost + the Least ritual cost in terms of the PC's wealth.

At 11th level, after the lesser ritual has been performed, it's worth its base cost + least cost + lesser cost.

The penalties offset the increased utility of the weapon.

Thus, a 20th level, you may have a +5 vorpal sword that has only cost you 60,000 gp or so. The bonus is that you have an extra 140,000 gp to spend on other equipment. The penalty is something like -2 to all attacks, -3 to all saves and -14 hp.

If you sell the weapon, it only sells for the base cost.

Cheers!

Merric, so are you saying that the +5 vorpal sword in your example that cost the character 60,000gp in ritual costs + base cost is worth 60,000gp towards his recommended character wealth? Or is it just the couple of hundrend or thousand that the weapon costs as a masterwork or +1 weapon?

If so, do you know what page it says this on?

Thanks,

Olaf the Stout

 

[MerricB]

Merric, so are you saying that the +5 vorpal sword in your example that cost the character 60,000gp in ritual costs + base cost is worth 60,000gp towards his recommended character wealth?

Yes. That's how I play it.

It's not explicitly written in the book, but it seems such an obvious conclusion that it really doesn't need to be. You don't pay 60,000 gp in rituals and then expect the DM to magically make that back up to your PC.

Cheers!

 

[Wraith Form]

I have the book, too, and found it un-neccessarily cumbersome. Cool ideas, don't get me wrong...but cumbersome.

Wasn't there a Dragon Mag article that had the "WoL-lite" version of this? (The book credits the Dragon Mag article.) Despite blowing $30 on the book, I might just revert back to the more simplified article's rules.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I think that I may have found a nice simple solution to my question. Give everyone a Weapon of Legacy!

Seriously though, 2 out of my 5 players are interested in getting one. Another one wants to know more about them as his character is sort of superstitious of magical weapons. I think a Weapon of Legacy could get around this by the weapon being magical mechanically but not from a flavour perspective.

If the other 2 players are interested in them then I don't have to worry as much about how much wealth the WoL accounts for. Sure there will still be ritual costs but at least these are explicitly stated.

If all the players have one then I may also get rid of the penalties associated with the weapons also. I understand why they are there (to balance out the low cost of the weapons) but I still don't the fact that they are. If everyone has a weapon then the party is still balanced amongst itself.

Sure the PC's will be stronger than what is expected for their level but I can deal with that easily enough. I can always make the challenges a little bit harder to compensate. If some players had a WoL and others did not then it would have been a lot harder to remove the penalties from the system and still keep things balanced in terms of individual party member power.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nightfall]

Olaf,

Good luck with that. I wish you well and I hope your players are semi-happy. If not, well let's hope you're happy then. Btw if it doesn't work out, you can always "sunder" the weapon somehow.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Olaf,

Good luck with that. I wish you well and I hope your players are semi-happy. If not, well let's hope you're happy then. Btw if it doesn't work out, you can always "sunder" the weapon somehow.

Nightfall, why the scepticism? Do you think that it will make the players unhappy or unabalance the game by giving everyone WoL without any drawbacks associated with them?

Olaf the Stout

 

[MerricB]

Currently...

Age of Worms campaign: (level 12)
* Martin's Barbarian - legacy Greatsword
* Bradford's Paladin - legacy Holy Avenger
* Peggy's Wizard - legacy Staff
* Rob's Cleric - no item of legacy
* Tom's Rogue - legacy Bow (only just gained it)
* Craig's Druid - legacy Armour

Ulek campaign: (level 8)
* Greg's Incarnate - legacy Ring
* Daniel's Soulborn - legacy Elven Courtblade
* Nathaniel's Knight - no item of legacy
* David's Arcane Hierophant - legacy Armour
* Sarah's Bard/Druid/Rogue - no item of legacy
* Adam's Soulblade - legacy Shield

Cheers!

 

[Vocenoctum]

I think that I may have found a nice simple solution to my question. Give everyone a Weapon of Legacy!

I didn't do WoL's, but I gave each player a "heritage" item that they could enchant as if they had the requisite feat. So Half GP + 1/25th XP. It's had mixed results. If a player isn't jazzed about it to start with they probably won't even notice what they have.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Currently...

Age of Worms campaign: (level 12)
* Martin's Barbarian - legacy Greatsword
* Bradford's Paladin - legacy Holy Avenger
* Peggy's Wizard - legacy Staff
* Rob's Cleric - no item of legacy
* Tom's Rogue - legacy Bow (only just gained it)
* Craig's Druid - legacy Armour

Ulek campaign: (level 8)
* Greg's Incarnate - legacy Ring
* Daniel's Soulborn - legacy Elven Courtblade
* Nathaniel's Knight - no item of legacy
* David's Arcane Hierophant - legacy Armour
* Sarah's Bard/Druid/Rogue - no item of legacy
* Adam's Soulblade - legacy Shield

Cheers!

Is that with the negatives to BAB, skills, saves, etc., Merric?

And what do the players think about them?

Olaf the Stout

 

[MerricB]

Is that with the negatives to BAB, skills, saves, etc., Merric?

And what do the players think about them?

Olaf the Stout

That's with the negatives.

They're undecided about the negatives - having -1 to all attacks is a real pain.

However, they *really* like getting the new powers at each level. I don't tell them in advance what they're getting, so the only way to learn is to gain a new level. At that point, I have a bunch of very eager players who want to know what they've got.

There have been no major balance issues because of the items. Or even really any minor ones - the PCs have been able to deal with the perils of the adventures well enough, and the PCs without legacy items haven't been overshadowed by those with.

Cheers!