Hello all. I have just started a new campaign (first in ~15 years), and I have a conundrum.
As the party is searching the sewers for a particular threat, they will eventually stumble upon an old crypt, a remnant of an ancient version of the city long buried. As originally planned, there is a knight who's been reanimated (along with 2 long ago would be grave robbers). His magical long sword will absorb his angry soul upon death transforming into a Sword of Vengeance, which I thought would be a fun twist for the party to deal with.
Unfortunately this plan hasn't survived contact with the party. Three out of four have strength as a "dump stat" and the 4th is a rogue. (I thought I would at least be able to give it to the Paladin, but as he arrives he says "I'm a Dex paly". *sad trombone*) So, for this party anyways, the sword would be useless.
I know not everything they find can/should be tailor made to the PCs, but as this will be the first permanent magic item they're going to get, I'd like it to be something they can actually use. So I'm asking two questions:
1) Do you typically hand out "useless" magic items, or do you try to tailor your treasure to be useful to someone in the group even if it doesn't make much sense. (I'm assuming standard 5th edition magic economy/rarity).
2) Any ideas? ;) I'm not married to the idea of a longsword wielding knight, but it seems a bit of a DM Fiat to give him a Rapier (which the Paladin and Bard are fond of) or a short sword (for the currently dual wielding Rogue). I am still hoping to keep the Sword of Vengeance idea.
I think a fairly easy solution would be to have the item be able to alter itself to become a different type of sword. It could be a longsword for the old knight, but become a shortsword or rapier when a party member attunes to it. That way it works for both the knight and for your party of adventurers. The flavor of this is not completely unprecedented either, as magic armor is able to alter its size to fit the wearer, and this (at least for the long - short sword swap) is just the same thing.
I basically look at what makes sense for the monster/npc to have and use that. An evil villain isn't exactly looking around to find a magic item that once killed will benefit the party. PLUS this is an ancient city. If the item doesn't work for the characters, it makes sense, because the world shouldn't feel custom built for them. They should come across pointless things, and there should never be a magic item under the table that the NPC just didn't use for whatever reason. (exceptions exist. In the ruined city, there could be a magic item in a chest that the reanimated knight didn't use, because they didn't know about it or because well its a reanimated knight who isn't thinking about that kind of thing.
Basically by having an item that wasn't custom built for the PCs, you can make the world feel more real. So I wouldn't care. There might still be use for the sword though. You can use an environment or something that would make a PC take up the sword...like underwater!
To answer your question, I always tailor items to the party because if magic items are rare then what could be more disappointing than getting a rare piece of crap? This would especially true if it's the kind of world where magic item trading is extremely uncommon.
When it's time to roll up for a magic item, I pull together a small list of items for each person and use that to determine what they get. That way there is a bit of chance involved and they are getting something useful, which is a win-win in my book. In addition, I also add in a little interesting lesser magic item that can be useful with some imagination and ingenuity or just adds some flavor.
First, consider that if the Rogue gets this then they are going to take a big hit to their effectiveness in combat because they will have disadvantage with their off hand weapon.
Second, one thought I had was that you could change the longsword to have finesse, but lose the versatile property. This essentially turns it into a rapier with a longsword skin. You can easily explain this as being a trademark of a certain smith/region/race, etc. You could even use this as a hook for something down the road. Maybe that's where they have to go to remove the curse. Maybe throw a minor property on there to make it extra unique.
To answer your question, I always tailor items to the party because if magic items are rare then what could be more disappointing than getting a rare piece of crap? This would especially true if it's the kind of world where magic item trading is extremely uncommon.
When it's time to roll up for a magic item, I pull together a small list of items for each person and use that to determine what they get. That way there is a bit of chance involved and they are getting something useful, which is a win-win in my book. In addition, I also add in a little interesting lesser magic item that can be useful with some imagination and ingenuity or just adds some flavor.
First, consider that if the Rogue gets this then they are going to take a big hit to their effectiveness in combat because they will have disadvantage with their off hand weapon.
Second, one thought I had was that you could change the longsword to have finesse, but lose the versatile property. This essentially turns it into a rapier with a longsword skin. You can easily explain this as being a trademark of a certain smith/region/race, etc. You could even use this as a hook for something down the road. Maybe that's where they have to go to remove the curse. Maybe throw a minor property on there to make it extra unique.
I considered making it a finesse long sword but it seemed kind of cheesy. But swapping Versatile actually makes it work a little better. Plus, most low level magic weapons in my world are more akin to something like Valerian Steel (i.e. The result of a particular ancient empire's lost smithing techniques more than rote enchantment), so it's not out of the realm a particular metal might work that way. I can easily attribute a lighter form of steel to a particular empire.
I may may run with this idea. Thanks!
(and now that I say that I see it's basically a reskinned rapier...well, I still may make it work story wise if I can't think of any other solution).
To answer your question, I always tailor items to the party because if magic items are rare then what could be more disappointing than getting a rare piece of crap? This would especially true if it's the kind of world where magic item trading is extremely uncommon.
When it's time to roll up for a magic item, I pull together a small list of items for each person and use that to determine what they get. That way there is a bit of chance involved and they are getting something useful, which is a win-win in my book. In addition, I also add in a little interesting lesser magic item that can be useful with some imagination and ingenuity or just adds some flavor.
First, consider that if the Rogue gets this then they are going to take a big hit to their effectiveness in combat because they will have disadvantage with their off hand weapon.
Second, one thought I had was that you could change the longsword to have finesse, but lose the versatile property. This essentially turns it into a rapier with a longsword skin. You can easily explain this as being a trademark of a certain smith/region/race, etc. You could even use this as a hook for something down the road. Maybe that's where they have to go to remove the curse. Maybe throw a minor property on there to make it extra unique.
I considered making it a finesse long sword but it seemed kind of cheesy. But swapping Versatile actually makes it work a little better. Plus, most low level magic weapons in my world are more akin to something like Valerian Steel (i.e. The result of a particular ancient empire's lost smithing techniques more than rote enchantment), so it's not out of the realm a particular metal might work that way. I can easily attribute a lighter form of steel to a particular empire.
I may may run with this idea. Thanks!
(and now that I say that I see it's basically a reskinned rapier...well, I still may make it work story wise if I can't think of any other solution).
Anytime, I'm glad it was helpful! I reskin weapons all the time for various reasons. The DMG gives the example of reskinning a club as a nunchaku (same stats) or a longsword into a katana. One of the players in the campaign I'm currently running wanted to know if a "gun" type weapon would be possible, so I worked with him to reskin crossbows of various sizes into "spike slingers" that exist alongside crossbows (gears and springs exist in this campaign world). Unless they are really looking for it, they will probably have no idea that you just put a longsword skin on a rapier. Even if they do, it's highly likely that they'll think it's cool that you made a custom item for them.
Also, I really like that "Valerian steel" thing for explaining magic items.
On further thought, I'm going to just add Finesse to this particular long sword. I'm going to attribute it to an ancient elven construction technique, now lost to time (it makes sense than an elven empire would have wanted lighter, faster blades to take advantage of their natural abilities). I may even re-work the trapped soul to be of an ancient elven warrior (which means the dead knight would have been "cursed" by the blade when he was alive, and perhaps that's a) why he died and b) why it was buried with him). Not 100% on any of it, but I just wanted to say that this line of thought has sparked more story ideas for this weapon/encounter, which is always a good thing (especially with a Lore bard in the party who may be interested in this stuff).
I think that was a good choice. I like to have most of the items be at least possibly useful to the party.
an Item is either A) Useful to the Party or B) liquidated into gold so that gold can be useful to the party.
Option B depending on the edition and how economics works (far more abstracted in 5e) could mean that it might take 1 to 5 items of equal value to liquidate into a similar.
In previous editions when playing modules, because I knew my GM wouldn't modify items I'd build my characters around the most common gear. (You'll never find a magical flail or maul in a 3.5 module, but you'll find Longsword, Greatsword, and sometimes Great Axe)
There's always the option of making the item an adventure hook in and of itself. Maybe the sword senses that the players aren't what it needs to fulfill its need for vengeance, so it promises the party information to another lost crypt if they deliver the sword to one who is worthy of it.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
So is this Paladin the only one in his order? I only ask because it seems that LNH and Meta are the two people you should be listening too. Keep the sword of vengeance a typical long sword and let the players figure out how it can beneither them. As "Hero" said this will help your world feel real and it can give you another story arc. The paladin can give the sword to another of hosting order who needs it to save the world and said world saviour could provide something equally useful such as a ring of invisibility or bracers of dexterity or whatever.
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As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
Have you considered doing something, at least temporarily, to the bards weapon? The pally should be willing to let him use the rapier since they have the sword of vengeance as back-up. How often do they fumble? I had a group's ranger go through his and then 3 other players long bows because he fumbled so often and the DM didn't feel right having him accidentally kill multiple party members because of his dice, not to mention the other players frustration having the ranger need your bow AND kill you with it...
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For my attack I will throw my spear...two handed...for 1d8...
I run a lot of modified 1e/2e adventures along with anything else I can steal ideas from. I usually leave the loot the same but plant a thing or two occasionally tailored to the players. I reskin weapons all the time. One thing you can do with an item that no one would seem to be able to use is create a back story/story hook out of it. It's a lost item someone might be interested in.
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Hello all. I have just started a new campaign (first in ~15 years), and I have a conundrum.
As the party is searching the sewers for a particular threat, they will eventually stumble upon an old crypt, a remnant of an ancient version of the city long buried. As originally planned, there is a knight who's been reanimated (along with 2 long ago would be grave robbers). His magical long sword will absorb his angry soul upon death transforming into a Sword of Vengeance, which I thought would be a fun twist for the party to deal with.
Unfortunately this plan hasn't survived contact with the party. Three out of four have strength as a "dump stat" and the 4th is a rogue. (I thought I would at least be able to give it to the Paladin, but as he arrives he says "I'm a Dex paly". *sad trombone*) So, for this party anyways, the sword would be useless.
I know not everything they find can/should be tailor made to the PCs, but as this will be the first permanent magic item they're going to get, I'd like it to be something they can actually use. So I'm asking two questions:
1) Do you typically hand out "useless" magic items, or do you try to tailor your treasure to be useful to someone in the group even if it doesn't make much sense. (I'm assuming standard 5th edition magic economy/rarity).
2) Any ideas? ;) I'm not married to the idea of a longsword wielding knight, but it seems a bit of a DM Fiat to give him a Rapier (which the Paladin and Bard are fond of) or a short sword (for the currently dual wielding Rogue). I am still hoping to keep the Sword of Vengeance idea.
I think a fairly easy solution would be to have the item be able to alter itself to become a different type of sword. It could be a longsword for the old knight, but become a shortsword or rapier when a party member attunes to it. That way it works for both the knight and for your party of adventurers. The flavor of this is not completely unprecedented either, as magic armor is able to alter its size to fit the wearer, and this (at least for the long - short sword swap) is just the same thing.
I basically look at what makes sense for the monster/npc to have and use that. An evil villain isn't exactly looking around to find a magic item that once killed will benefit the party. PLUS this is an ancient city. If the item doesn't work for the characters, it makes sense, because the world shouldn't feel custom built for them. They should come across pointless things, and there should never be a magic item under the table that the NPC just didn't use for whatever reason. (exceptions exist. In the ruined city, there could be a magic item in a chest that the reanimated knight didn't use, because they didn't know about it or because well its a reanimated knight who isn't thinking about that kind of thing.
Basically by having an item that wasn't custom built for the PCs, you can make the world feel more real. So I wouldn't care. There might still be use for the sword though. You can use an environment or something that would make a PC take up the sword...like underwater!
To answer your question, I always tailor items to the party because if magic items are rare then what could be more disappointing than getting a rare piece of crap? This would especially true if it's the kind of world where magic item trading is extremely uncommon.
When it's time to roll up for a magic item, I pull together a small list of items for each person and use that to determine what they get. That way there is a bit of chance involved and they are getting something useful, which is a win-win in my book. In addition, I also add in a little interesting lesser magic item that can be useful with some imagination and ingenuity or just adds some flavor.
First, consider that if the Rogue gets this then they are going to take a big hit to their effectiveness in combat because they will have disadvantage with their off hand weapon.
Second, one thought I had was that you could change the longsword to have finesse, but lose the versatile property. This essentially turns it into a rapier with a longsword skin. You can easily explain this as being a trademark of a certain smith/region/race, etc. You could even use this as a hook for something down the road. Maybe that's where they have to go to remove the curse. Maybe throw a minor property on there to make it extra unique.
On further thought, I'm going to just add Finesse to this particular long sword. I'm going to attribute it to an ancient elven construction technique, now lost to time (it makes sense than an elven empire would have wanted lighter, faster blades to take advantage of their natural abilities). I may even re-work the trapped soul to be of an ancient elven warrior (which means the dead knight would have been "cursed" by the blade when he was alive, and perhaps that's a) why he died and b) why it was buried with him). Not 100% on any of it, but I just wanted to say that this line of thought has sparked more story ideas for this weapon/encounter, which is always a good thing (especially with a Lore bard in the party who may be interested in this stuff).
Thanks again!
ForestZ,
I think that was a good choice. I like to have most of the items be at least possibly useful to the party.
an Item is either A) Useful to the Party or B) liquidated into gold so that gold can be useful to the party.
Option B depending on the edition and how economics works (far more abstracted in 5e) could mean that it might take 1 to 5 items of equal value to liquidate into a similar.
In previous editions when playing modules, because I knew my GM wouldn't modify items I'd build my characters around the most common gear. (You'll never find a magical flail or maul in a 3.5 module, but you'll find Longsword, Greatsword, and sometimes Great Axe)
There's always the option of making the item an adventure hook in and of itself. Maybe the sword senses that the players aren't what it needs to fulfill its need for vengeance, so it promises the party information to another lost crypt if they deliver the sword to one who is worthy of it.
So is this Paladin the only one in his order? I only ask because it seems that LNH and Meta are the two people you should be listening too. Keep the sword of vengeance a typical long sword and let the players figure out how it can beneither them. As "Hero" said this will help your world feel real and it can give you another story arc. The paladin can give the sword to another of hosting order who needs it to save the world and said world saviour could provide something equally useful such as a ring of invisibility or bracers of dexterity or whatever.
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
Have you considered doing something, at least temporarily, to the bards weapon? The pally should be willing to let him use the rapier since they have the sword of vengeance as back-up. How often do they fumble? I had a group's ranger go through his and then 3 other players long bows because he fumbled so often and the DM didn't feel right having him accidentally kill multiple party members because of his dice, not to mention the other players frustration having the ranger need your bow AND kill you with it...
For my attack I will throw my spear...two handed...for 1d8...
I run a lot of modified 1e/2e adventures along with anything else I can steal ideas from. I usually leave the loot the same but plant a thing or two occasionally tailored to the players. I reskin weapons all the time. One thing you can do with an item that no one would seem to be able to use is create a back story/story hook out of it. It's a lost item someone might be interested in.