Magic Items that Gain Power

[username1]

Im running a campaign for a few of my friends and want to at some point give them each a special magic item. However I want the item to grow in power as the players level up. I was thinking something where each item has a list of objectives and when they are completed the item gains a new power. Im looking for these objectives to become some fun small missions to break up the story. When the players get these items they will be levels 5-6. The campaign is going to stretch to level 12 and by then I need them to be full power if the players worked on them. In my campaign I've got a Cleric, Rouge, Druid, and Barbarian. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Fire Tarrasque]

You could give them a Rod of Lordly Might and slowly unlock more of it's functions?

[EvilAnagram]

There's a thread in my signature that has a lot of magic items put together by people on the forum. Breaking those weapons' features into pieces and designing levels around that should work.

[Amdy_vill]

Im running a campaign for a few of my friends and want to at some point give them each a special magic item. However I want the item to grow in power as the players level up. I was thinking something where each item has a list of objectives and when they are completed the item gains a new power. Im looking for these objectives to become some fun small missions to break up the story. When the players get these items they will be levels 5-6. The campaign is going to stretch to level 12 and by then I need them to be full power if the players worked on them. In my campaign I've got a Cleric, Rouge, Druid, and Barbarian. Any ideas? Thanks.

have each item be tailored toward a players play and it gains new abilities as that player changes.

[strangebloke]

google it. Seriously.

"5e weapons of Legacy" will get you some results.

"homebrewed 5e vestiges" will also get you some results. (This is a critical role thing.)

Also, here are some I made a couple months back:

each dot is gained at a new tier of play. so first dot at levels 1-5, second dot is added at level 6, third dot is added at level 10.

Judgement(longsword):

Starts out with 1d6 fire damage.
Unleash it's true name as a bonus action 1/day to force all enemies in a 30-foot radius to make a CON save or be blinded. Darkness and similar spells are dispelled. The next time the weapon hits after unleashing the true name of the blade is a critical hit
Weapon gains +1 and now also deals 1d6 radiant. Your allies in the radius when you unleash the blade have freedom of movement cast on them. You can spend lay on hands points at this time. If you do so, all allies in the radius are healed by the number of points you spent.


Philospher's Ring:

A number of times per day equal to your intelligence modifier, when you cast a spell while wearing the ring and the spell deals fire, cold, lightning, or thunder damage, change that damage type to any of the others.
When you are wearing this ring, your spell attack rolls receive a +1, and whenever you cast a spell you gain temporary hit points equal to the level of the spell cast.
1/day, when you cast a spell that requires a saving throw, you can glimpse into the future and perceive the outcome of casting the spell. All creatures roll saving throws as normal, and you see whether or not they succeed. Then you choose whether or not you want to cast the spell or not.


The Seventh Star (circlet):

It's a rod of the pact keeper.
When you heal using the Celestial Pact feature, the target of your healing becomes filled with radiant energy and the next attack they perform deals 2d6 extra damage.
a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier, when an enemy attacks you or you have to make a saving throw, after you see the die rolled but before you know whether it hits or not, you can transform yourself into pure sunlight. All attacks pass through you and you have resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn.


Quicksilver

It's a transforming weapon. When you expend a usage of bardic inspiration, the weapon shivers with delight and deals extra damage equal to the inspiration die spent on the next attack.
Once per turn when you hit an enemy, part of the blade can enter the enemy's body, attacking him from the inside. If a target marked in this way makes a saving throw within a minute of being struck, you can expend a bardic inspiration die as a reaction and impose disadvantage on the saving throw.
When you hit a foe with quicksilver, the blade flows slashes out and rolls an additional attack against a second target within 10 feet of the first. You can now inject quicksilver into everyone you hit. As a bonus action, you can cause damage equal to your charisma modifier to everyone marked by quicksilver.


Doomcaster

+1 weapon.
When you hit a target with Doomcaster, you can track their location at all times, so long as they are on the same plane of existence. When shooting at a target marked by Doomcaster, your effective weapon range is doubled and you crit on a 19 or 20.
A number of times per day equal to your wisdom modifier, you can cast flesh to stone on a target you hit with doomcaster. If a target hit in this manner resists the spell or returns to flesh, he immediately takes 4d10 force damage. The weapon's bonus increases to +2.

[Talionis]

As was previously said, in 3.5 the Tome of Battle, I know that each school had its own weapon, I think you are right and they were called Weapons of Legacy. They opened up new powers at various levels. Once you hit the level, you usually had to perform some kind of quest or fight in some unique situation to unlock the ability. I think the weapons had benefits and negative impacts. But its an established thing in DnD to have magic weapons that grow in power as your characters grow. Just make sure to adjust the power levels adequately for 5E rules and think about whether it will be overpowered in your campaign.

So the idea is a very good one. The execution is up to you to build something balanced.

[Miz_Liz]

Give them something with one or two powers that work X times a day, and as they get used to them and become more attuned the number of times they can use it goes up.

Example:
A druid in my game right now has an item that lets her cast "calm emotions" once a day without using a spell slot. As she levels up the number of times she can use that will go up.

Example #2:
I had a cleric with a war hammer. She did something particularly good in the name of her goddess and it became a blessed (magical) hammer. She continued to do right by her goddess and eventually the attack bonus went up and she could cast bless and guardian of faith through it without using spell slots. I imagine it would have gone further but I had to sacrifice it :/

As far as how the progression might go, it could be when they hit a critical/certain number of critical successes, find a special component to add to it, encounter a magical entity that agrees to enahance it for a price.... There's a lot of options.

[Mercurias]

An easy and fun one might be to give the Cleric a rosarie which stores spells based on the number of beads in it, and slowly increase the number of beads as the Cleric levels. Let anyone within one step of the cleric’s god’s alignment access and use the rosarie’s stored spells as if the Cleric cast them. That would be a fun one to bust out in emergencies.

Could also give the Rogue a pair of bracelets that can “bank” a success, storing one when he rolls a 20 or more and holding up to 2(later 4), letting him/her auto-succeed or turn a normal action into a crit (choose one). The bracelets only fill by 1 when a 20 is rolled and the points last until used. Useful for skill monkeys and assassins.

Maybe give the Barbarian a weapon that lets them, a number of times a day, hit 1 additional person next to his target. Increase it to 2 added targets and give more times a day when they upgrade.

Maybe give the Druid a belt that gives them telepathy and later a mind reading spell which works in animal forms so they can communicate with the party?