Flavorful and Powerful Magic Weapons

[Larkas]

So, I'm homebrewing a spell that basically can call upon the powers of a legendary weapon and bestow it upon a more mundane one.

The problem is, short of the ToB iconic weapons, D&D doesn't seem to have many evocative and flavorful weapons, something along the lines of Excalibur and Gungnir. Furthermore, what weapons are there are not terribly powerful. What's worse, the rules for epic weapons are frankly a joke.

Am I missing any nice weapons? Do you know where can I find a repository for stuff like that?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

So, I'm homebrewing a spell that basically can call upon the powers of a legendary weapon and bestow it upon a more mundane one.

The problem is, short of the ToB iconic weapons, D&D doesn't seem to have many evocative and flavorful weapons, something along the lines of Excalibur and Gungnir. Furthermore, what weapons are there are not terribly powerful. What's worse, the rules for epic weapons are frankly a joke.

Am I missing any nice weapons? Do you know where can I find a repository for stuff like that?

There was a book devoted to weapons that grew more powerful as you did, unlocking their own powers. Weapons of Legacy. Some were ToB iconic weapons, most were new.

[Kelb_Panthera]

So, I'm homebrewing a spell that basically can call upon the powers of a legendary weapon and bestow it upon a more mundane one.

The problem is, short of the ToB iconic weapons, D&D doesn't seem to have many evocative and flavorful weapons, something along the lines of Excalibur and Gungnir. Furthermore, what weapons are there are not terribly powerful. What's worse, the rules for epic weapons are frankly a joke.

Am I missing any nice weapons? Do you know where can I find a repository for stuff like that?

You missed a whole book and a couple more besides.

Weapons of Legacy has like 20 of them and there are even 4 on the SRD in the magic variant section, here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/legendaryWeapons.htm).

[Fax Celestis]

Also Relics in CDiv/BoED/MIC (and I think there's one or two in the Expedition books; try Demonweb Pits and Castle Ravenloft).

[Larkas]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I of course knew about Weapons of Legacy, but the Legendary Weapons in the SRD and the Relics are new to me! But... Are they all this... Underwhelming? I suppose that's not a bad thing, what with me giving access to their powers with a spell, but it's more or less common sense knowing that +x enhancement isn't better than any weapon ability, right? Oh, well, I'll make do with what we have. Thanks again!

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Any reason you don't just homebrew your own?

I think my favourite weapon was one I made called "Glutton" - really nasty, heavy, ugly-looking sword, looked almost more like a club. Way too heavy and dull to use, except in the hands of it's current "Owner", where it would become very sharp and light (but still look like a big angry hunk of iron.)

Glutton could never be taken from its owner while its owner was living, and its owner could never be killed (except by Glutton.) If Glutton ever left it's owners hand, it would disappear, only to reappear the moment its owner tried to wield it again. (There were a few unique maneuvers associated with it that did such). Killing with Glutton resulted in various rewards (XP, temporary stat bonuses, I worked it out different ways with each owner.)

Whenever the owner of glutton was reduced to -10 HP, or otherwise threatened with death, they would not be killed by the original effect - instead, Glutton would twist/appear out of the air near them, and lunge for their heart, with a hefty attack bonus and bunches of non-avoidable damage. If the owner survived, they'd be restored to positive HP and continue living - otherwise Glutton would kill them, and become available to a new owner. The more people the owner had killed with Glutton, the greater the attack bonus/damage would be, and more opprotunistic Glutton would become (eventually starting to attack the owner even when they weren't quite on the verge of death.)

If the owner stopped killing people with Glutton for too long, or tried to wield another weapon as their standard, Glutton would start appearing to make random attacks against the owner at inopprotune moments - it would appear as a trap (fall on them when they opened a doorway, say), fall and clang loudly while the owner was trying to sneak past enemies, or simply stab them in the back in the middle of another fight.

[Red Fel]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I of course knew about Weapons of Legacy, but the Legendary Weapons in the SRD and the Relics are new to me! But... Are they all this... Underwhelming? I suppose that's not a bad thing, what with me giving access to their powers with a spell, but it's more or less common sense knowing that +x enhancement isn't better than any weapon ability, right? Oh, well, I'll make do with what we have. Thanks again!

Bottom line? Melee can't have nice things.

With very few exceptions, all the cool stuff you can do with weapons - various abilities, powers per day, enhancements, bonuses, cool glowy effects - can all be done, and better, with spells. A sword that's "legendary" that gives you +5 against demons, can banish outsiders 1/day, and can let you grow angelic wings and fly for X mins/day, is super neato, but a spellcaster can do all that and more.

Yeah. In light of that, they don't impress.

Even acknowledging that you can construct your own with the guidelines in books like WoL, the fact remains that - you're absolutely right - the flavor of these weapons is all that distinguishes them from really well-enhanced but otherwise everyday magic items. Of course, you can make your own flavor - and many times, that's far more satisfying. But the sample models are pretty much that - very fancy magic items.

[Fax Celestis]

Frostrazor, Wave, and Whelm appear in the free White Plume Mountain adventure. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051207a

Frostrazor also has legacy stats here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060901a

[Kelb_Panthera]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I of course knew about Weapons of Legacy, but the Legendary Weapons in the SRD and the Relics are new to me! But... Are they all this... Underwhelming? I suppose that's not a bad thing, what with me giving access to their powers with a spell, but it's more or less common sense knowing that +x enhancement isn't better than any weapon ability, right? Oh, well, I'll make do with what we have. Thanks again!

Sorry, I assumed you didn't know about WoL since you didn't use the word "legacy" in the OP when referring to the 9 swords.

Also, sorry again but, yeah, they are all that lackluster, indeed. They're quite flavorful but not terribly impressive mechanically, just like so much else in the system.

[Fax Celestis]

Well, they were trying to make it so you didn't end up with "must-have" items and overcorrected.

Legacy weapons are a pretty easy fix: just take off the penalties and use as-is.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Well, they were trying to make it so you didn't end up with "must-have" items and overcorrected.

Legacy weapons are a pretty easy fix: just take off the penalties and use as-is.

See now, that strikes me as over-correcting in the other direction. They're already dirt-cheap, financially speaking, so giving them no penalties on top of that is a bit much.

Custom legacies; that's where the book really comes into its own.

[Fax Celestis]

See now, that strikes me as over-correcting in the other direction. They're already dirt-cheap, financially speaking, so giving them no penalties on top of that is a bit much.

Custom legacies; that's where the book really comes into its own.

Yes, but you don't get the ability to customize the item if you pay it out. Plus you have to go through the ordeal of finding out the rituals, then performing them (some of which are bizarrely easy, but some of them can actually be infuriatingly difficult).

[Prime32]

Bottom line? Melee can't have nice things.

With very few exceptions, all the cool stuff you can do with weapons - various abilities, powers per day, enhancements, bonuses, cool glowy effects - can all be done, and better, with spells. A sword that's "legendary" that gives you +5 against demons, can banish outsiders 1/day, and can let you grow angelic wings and fly for X mins/day, is super neato, but a spellcaster can do all that and more.

Yeah. In light of that, they don't impress.See the WoL fluff for Caladbolg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caladbolg), which is something along the lines of "According to legend, this sword could cut through mountains in one swing. That legend is wrong and dumb." :smallsigh:

"Shoots horrifyingly powerful rainbow-coloured energy blasts" somehow became "has the mighty cleaving enchantment". It's not even adamantine!