A suggestion: favoured items

[Eldan]

Since it's come up in the "books you love and/or hate" thread several times, I've been thinking about Legacy Items again. Specifically, how I love the idea of players just having their favourite item that grows with them, instead of having to either switch equipment or enchant it all the time.

So the suggestion, based on weapons of legacy and the Ancestral Weapon feat in BoED is the following: the character pays a feat (or gets it for free) and selects an item. When he levels up, the item levels with him. Basically, he can choose enchantments for the item so that it costs up to X% of his WBL (somewhere from 20-40%, probably).

Now, as for how he would pay for that, I have two basic suggestions: one is that every character selects one of these items and the DM hands out proportionally less other loot, the other is that the character performs a ritual/quickly enchants the item/sacrifices to his gods, as appropriate, which would cost as much as the difference between the items.

Thoughts on that?

[Feytalist]

The problem is: what happens when you lose such a weapon?

Do you get to start over with another weapon? In which case it's simply another enchanted weapon with slightly different enchanting mechanic.

Or do you only ever get one weapon? In which case, sucks to be you, go buy your pointy stick like everyone else.

Also, what exactly are the benefits to such a weapon? Does it give you some cool abilities? Or is it simply just a lot of + enhancements like a kensai's weapon.

The Item Familiar feat kind of beat you to it, as did the Ancestral Warrior PrC in BoED, and of course the kensai.

And, lest it not be forgotten, the homebrew class by our own Giant in the Playground, elsewhere on this site.

Edit: ...called Bearer of the Ancestral Weapon. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172910)

[Eldan]

There would be advantages over the Ancestral Weapon feat. Mainly that you can use items other than weapons with it, i.e. "My Master's Staff", "This shield the church gave me". And, well, of course you can add cool abilities. Make the weapon intelligent. Add Weapon of Legacy-like abilities. There's pricing guidelines for most of them.

[Popertop]

Is there a PrC that eventually lets you bond the weapon permanently to your body?

i.e. it's not subject to item destruction, it's linked to your soul so when you get rez, the weapon comes back etc.

[Feytalist]

Nope, but there's a feat:

Improved Unarmed Stike.

(Cue laugh track.)

[Eloel]

Is there a PrC that eventually lets you bond the weapon permanently to your body?

i.e. it's not subject to item destruction, it's linked to your soul so when you get rez, the weapon comes back etc.
Kensai?whitetext

[Feytalist]

Only if the kensai's signature weapon is a natural one. Hence; "Improved Unarmed Strike".

Otherwise, his signature weapon is just the average run-of-the-mill longsword/longbow/fullblade.

[McSmack]

For divine/arcane characters a prayer or enchantment ritual works really well for letting players upgrade items on their own. The cost of the ritual reagents is roughly the same as the cost of getting the weapon enchanted, so WBL still works.

For characters that don't fit into that category having weapons that upgrade themselves can be a bit more tricky. You could have a rogue 'ritual' that upgrades the quality of a weapon by having it reheated and quenched in poison. The cost of the poisons being equivalent to the upgrade costs.

I've done both of these and had them work out just fine in the past. My players often like the added fluff.

Sometimes all the numbers take the magic out of magic.

But if you're looking for weapons/items that scale with the character without all the fancy ritual stuff you're probably going to have to adjust your WBL, item costs, or the EL's of challenges they face.

I've done this too and it also works fine.