Quote Originally Posted by Rowanomicon View Post
I don't care about a +1 short sword, but I do care about the sword that my father used to protect his family against the rampaging kobolds thereby allowing me to come into this world.
If you want the player to keep *using* his father's sword of defending against marauding draconic chihuahuas, however, you have to provide some means for it to become a more useful weapon. No matter how attached the character is to it, if it stays as a plain ol' +1 shortsword while the character levels up he's going to leave it stored in the Handysack and actually fight with something more appropriate to the enemies he faces. Fluffing up the weapons is nice, but it doesn't change the core design expectations of every character somehow acquiring an ever-improving array of gear.