How Do Weapons Of Legacy Work?

[JNAProductions]

See title. I've got a friend who wants to use it.

[Venger]

They're pretty simple, in that they don't introduce any new rules or systems to the game.

That said, they're all really terrible, so unless your friend plans on creating his own custom item, using them is inadvisable.

iron chef (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?477153-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXVI/page6) a few times back did legacy champion, the only salvageable aspect of weapons of legacy, so you can look these over to see an in-depth explanation of what the different options are, how they work, and look at their charts.

How it works is fairly straightforward:

Your character will come across a weapon of legacy.

1) meet the weapon's prereqs.
2) gain abilities based on level. each weapon has a chart of various bonuses and special powers it will give you depending on your level. unlike normal magic items, it forces you to take some penalties to get these goodies, indicated on the chart. typically these will be things like penalties to attack rolls, saves, and your maximum HP cap. yes, they are cumulative. unfortunately, I'm not joking
3) if you want all the powers, check what the rituals for least, lesser, and greater legacy are with your weapons. these will typically be quests your character has to do. examples include visiting a specific location, completing a task, or killing some specific type of monster. when you do this, you'll get the corresponding feat unlocked (least, lesser, greater legacy) and unlock the resultant powers from your weapon. also it costs you money (a ton of money), so I guess just feed a bunch of coins into the slot on your weapon's handle.

and then that's pretty much it.

there are some other feats listed in the book that will allow you to add or change things to your legacy weapon, but they're largely not worth it as actual feats. legacy champion gets some of their effects as class features, so they may be worthwhile in that instance, but if your GM allows the creation of custom items, you can just make sure you pick solely worthwhile abilities.

[JNAProductions]

Got it.

Specifically, my buddy is playing a Gnomish Summoner (possibly Synthesist)//Warlock, and his legacy(?) weapon is an ancestral Gnomish Hooked Hammer. It would be custom.

What would you recommend for him to do?

[Vizzerdrix]

Poorly! :smalltongue:

[Venger]

Got it.

Specifically, my buddy is playing a Gnomish Summoner (possibly Synthesist)//Warlock, and his legacy(?) weapon is an ancestral Gnomish Hooked Hammer. It would be custom.

What would you recommend for him to do?

Glad to help.

It sounds like you're playing pathfinder, which is admittedly outside my area of expertise. I don't think there are any explicit discrepancies with the weapons of legacy, but I'd double check.

If he wants to make a custom weapon, that's totally fine. it gives him a chance to fix some of the balance issues with the system. if you're GMing, then hash out what you feel is a reasonable power level for an item like this. if not, then have him talk it over with whoever is running. if he's designing it from scratch, it might give powers and goodies from other archetypes his character didn't go down in order to diversify assets, or could give boosts to his summons or eidolon.

weapons of legacy does have a list for making your own items, and that may be a helpful jumping off point for creating a custom one.

[Jay R]

You might have him look into the feat Ancestral Relic from the Book of Exalted Deeds. It's a similar effect, with clear rules for developing the item.

[Morcleon]

I would recommend that they ask the GM to drop the penalties from Legacy weapons. Considering the minor benefits obtained from anything other than a purely custom designed legacy weapon (in which case it become moderate benefits), the penalties are far too harsh.

[Milo v3]

I'd suggest you completely ignore the Weapons of Legacy rules, and instead use the scaling item rules from Pathfinder Unchained.

[Red Fel]

The fact is that the majority of Legacy abilities can easily be reproduced with existing magic weapon properties. The thing that distinguishes a Weapon of Legacy is that these abilities are unlocked over time, instead of all at once when you get the item.

And the fact of the matter is, if I had to choose between getting a magic item with abilities I did not choose and taking a penalty to do so, or just going out to buy the magic item I want, I'd take the latter any day of the week. And let's not forget that "penalty" includes not only the loss of whatever the table says you lose, but also the feats you have to invest in the weapon to use its legacy abilities.

The solution, then, is to eliminate both of those concerns. First, no penalties, including no feats. If you must, use one feat to trigger the "legacy" thing in the first place. Second, as upgrades are earned - and sure, you can more or less follow the procedure in the book for that - you let the player choose them. You may want to sit them down out of character and encourage them to keep the abilities thematically appropriate, of course, but let them choose. And then, once you've done all that...

... you basically have the Ancestral Relic feat.

[Venger]

The fact is that the majority of Legacy abilities can easily be reproduced with existing magic weapon properties. The thing that distinguishes a Weapon of Legacy is that these abilities are unlocked over time, instead of all at once when you get the item.

And the fact of the matter is, if I had to choose between getting a magic item with abilities I did not choose and taking a penalty to do so, or just going out to buy the magic item I want, I'd take the latter any day of the week. And let's not forget that "penalty" includes not only the loss of whatever the table says you lose, but also the feats you have to invest in the weapon to use its legacy abilities.

The solution, then, is to eliminate both of those concerns. First, no penalties, including no feats. If you must, use one feat to trigger the "legacy" thing in the first place. Second, as upgrades are earned - and sure, you can more or less follow the procedure in the book for that - you let the player choose them. You may want to sit them down out of character and encourage them to keep the abilities thematically appropriate, of course, but let them choose. And then, once you've done all that...

... you basically have the Ancestral Relic feat.

Everything you're saying is correct, but you don't actually need to take the least/lesser/greater legacy feats. when you do the rituals relevant to the weapon, you unlock the benefit of those feats without actually taking them so you can get those weapon powers.

But waiving that is also a good idea, normal magic items don't make you do stuff before you can use them.