Vestiges of Divergence. How many is too many?

[Argon1]

Hello, and thank you in advance for reading my post.

I am a DM for a small party of 2, set in the Tal'Dorei campaign setting. A Goliath fighter lvl 5 and a Drow Druid lvl 6. when we started the campaign I proposed two paths to them: 1 they start out with legendary gear that is currently in a dormant state and it evolves with them ( this was inspired by our love of an anime called bleach where their weapons have 3 forms dormant, shikai, and bankai) or 2 go the route of normal adventurers in slowly getting better loot and weapons. they chose one. I want to give each of them 3 vestiges of divergence: a wondrous item, a piece of armor, and a weapon. I want them to be stronger than average since there are only two of them not four, But I don't want them to be so OP that everything just becomes trivial to them. what do you all think on the matter?

addition info.

the fighter was getting: plate of the dawnmartyr, pyremaul but as a longsword, and honors last stand

the druid was getting: deathwalkers ward, spire of conflux, and circlet of barbed vision.

[Azgeroth]

can you give stats for those items??

how do you plan on staging the developement of the gear?? quests? character level? story arc?

[Skyblaze]

You're giving lvl 5 characters legendary items. Even in their dormant state, they are seriously strong pieces of gear. And you're giving multiple to each character. I would say giving them one each is already more than enough.

[AvvyR]

Action economy is a WAY bigger deal than buffed up magic items, so I wouldn't be worried about overpowering unless they're just ridiculous.

Remember that gestalt characters who level two classes simultaneously, gaining an insane power boost are considered fairly balanced for 2 person parties due to how heavily action economy weighs challenge.

[Skyblaze]

For anyone wondering what the stats are...https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Vestiges_of_the_Divergence

[Madfellow]

You're giving lvl 5 characters legendary items. Even in their dormant state, they are seriously strong pieces of gear. And you're giving multiple to each character. I would say giving them one each is already more than enough.

I agree that perhaps it would be better for them to get one Vestige each, and you can help round out their builds with more traditional magical gear if you feel they still need a power boost.

[Clone]

The whole point of those items were to have special magic items which grew with the wielder and become almost a character defining item.
By giving them more than one each you're taking away what makes them special and makes the whole "evolving" aspect far less interesting. I may be misremembering but none of the characters in Crit Role S1 got more than a single vestige. Some of them were iconic for both abilities but also the story, like Grog's trophy Titanstone Knuckles or Vax's reluctance to embracing of Deathwalker's Ward. If you just throw the items to the players then they become just as valuable as normal magic items which have a fun upgrade as time passes.

In one of the campaigns I ran I had each of my three players receive an item which worked similarly as a vestige but instead of unlocking, they upgraded it through means unique to the item. The Druids feywild mask that basically turned her into Princess Mononoke was received and then upgraded by seeking out tomes of archdruids and taking their knowledge and power for herself. The Kensei Monk had to harness runic power and seek specialised blacksmiths to unlock his Yasuo-inspire katana which gave him wind related abilities, but required monster parts which would be difficult to both kill and scavenge. The Storm Barbarian's Axe needed to be forged by Giants and blessed at religious alters, so while no materials were needed it was far harder to accomplish.
What made the players love these items was that it was an upgrade of items they previously had which were not magical and that they had little other major magic items. They earned the items and then knew how to seek out improvements rather than needing to wait for me to grant them an upgrade via plot points. It was self earned and self directed, which made it more personal.

To specifically answer your question: Option 2 is far better in my opinion as they at least earn their vestiges and learn to appreciate the power it brings.
In relation to balance you won't need to worry. Two players is fine to play with just they can't rush headfirst into anything. Talk things out more, plan more etc and they'll be fine. Action economy will be the biggest deciding factor in those fights, so they'll be easy enough to balance.
Hope this helps!

[Mercurias]

After reviewing the other comments, I’m inclined to agree. Giving each player one piece of legendary gear is going to be a major boon for them. You can be relatively generous with nice gear down the road, but unless you’re players are in it for a power trip then they’ll have a lot more close calls and get more excited about the things you leave for them to find if if they stand to actually grow and get stronger by their discovery versus trying to unlock their vestiges at various levels.

Struggle and conflict are fun, and part of the game. Typically making things too easy will lead to bored players.

[Rukelnikov]

I'd recommend starting with just 1, and here's why.

The items are powerful, and will make them perform substantially above their paygrade. However, I don't think that's an issue, since after 2 sessions you'll be able to fine tune the encounters to make them challenging.

Thing is, each item is "less special" this way, give them all at once if you want, but have only 1 functional at the beginning. Since you are going for an anime feel, let them spend inspiration to activate one of the non-functional items during important fights, and when you deem it convenient give them proper.

tl;dr: Give the three items a non-functional step below dormant (slumbering?exiled?), and let them choose which of the three starts in dormant.

[Kadesh]

One of my most common houserule is that I allow Prof Mod number of Attunements. For much of the meat of the game, the players have 3, same as standard, and the typical end game runs to +4 Prof so they get 1 more than normal.

In one game where I used vestiges (of my own devising) we ended up running to 17th level, and just kept providing hints for these powerful items, or creating Rituals which the players could donate other resources to improving.

The goal of the game was a loot hunt/monster mash, rather than any real overarching story that could have been derailed. It was a very sandbox experience and I was able to create items that were appropriate to the players, and the players could come to me with ideas of what they wanted with their magic items.

There was a Druid Vermin Summoner, so he got a Vestige that improved his Vermin like Features. A Hoplite Fighter whose spear and shield became powerful.

[Madfellow]

I may be misremembering but none of the characters in Crit Role S1 got more than a single vestige.

Yeah, Vax is the only one who got two: Deathwalker's Ward and Whisper.