So, I'm currently DM-ing a bit of oldschool Dragonlance (currently the group is infiltrating Pax Tharkas to free the slaves captured by the dragon armies), and in the last few months of play our group acquired a few magical weapons, but as our Paladin and our Fighter both carry a whole arsenal of it (both have a longsword, each one has a blunt weapon (Flail, Warhammer) and one piercing (Morningstar, Rapier) they complained that "Now that we have these magical swords using our other weapons isn't reasonable anymore."
To be fair, months ago I had the same issue (some might remember that thread) as player in another campaign, and now I'm looking for a way around that. So my idea was to actually give out not magical weapons in the future, but instead trinkets with magical bonuses. For example, an "Amulet of Precision" which supplies the wielder with a magical +1 bonus to hit and damage. This way the characters can use whichever weapon they please and don't feel the urge to stick with 'that one magical sword I'm using for three months now'.
Of course to keep things balanced theses ''trinket bonuses' can't stack with each other, and can't stack with the magical weapons the group already acquired, or else the balance would be totally off.
Is this a workable solution for our walking armories, or am I overseeing something here?`
Thanks, - Miri
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Apologies if my English is bad, it's not my native language.
I have a similar situation; in my case my paladin is attached to his battle axe for character background reasons. It's just a mundane weapon though, and he will need a +1 weapon eventually. So I will either let him find a +1 weapon with some kind of gem that he can eventually remove and attach to his battle axe, or just find the loose gem itself. I am going to make him find some kind of arcane smith to set the gem, which will cost some gold and might even make him leave it there for a little while (have not decided). The idea is he gets to make a choice to get the weapon he wants, but then there is also a cost involved. It's not a FF7 materia slot you can just change up on the fly.
I often wish there was an easier RAW way to transfer enchantments from one weapon to another. Then when the PC starts with some ancestral weapon, they can keep using it in place of the mechanically better weapon. To the OP. I'd suggest doing something like BK is saying, make there be one sort of enchantment they can transfer from one weapon to another. Make them choose which one they will use, even if they can swap fairly easily, say during a short or long rest.
Or just don't and tell them to stop whining, everyone has to make choices. The wizard would love to be able to memorize more spells every day, but they can't. The sorcerer would love spells from other spell lists, but they don't get them. They want a different weapon to be magical, but it's not. Everyone has to choose. (I realize this contradicts the first paragraph. I'm a complicated person.)
I guess the bigger question is why they feel the need to be walking armories in this edition. If it's just for RP reasons, that certainly make sense, but there's not the need like there used to be. In past editions there was more of a need for the "golf bag" style of play where from monster to monster it was, like, oh, I guess it's time for my +2 blunt weapon, now there's a different enemy, I'll have to switch piercing damage. This edition doesn't have much of that. There's a little, but most monsters with resistances to weapons are resistant to all of them or none of them, so there's rarely a reason to switch back and forth.
So, the practical option would simply be to have a single weapon that makes an arsenal obsolete, like any weapon that does Force damage, rather than Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing.
If they really, really want to be walking arsenals, then the recommendations above are good. Also refer to Magic Weapon and Artificer Infusions for inspiration.
To use an arsenal efficiently, what they really need is something comparable to the Warlock's Pact of the Blade and Improved Pact Weapon features.
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Hello!
So, I'm currently DM-ing a bit of oldschool Dragonlance (currently the group is infiltrating Pax Tharkas to free the slaves captured by the dragon armies), and in the last few months of play our group acquired a few magical weapons, but as our Paladin and our Fighter both carry a whole arsenal of it (both have a longsword, each one has a blunt weapon (Flail, Warhammer) and one piercing (Morningstar, Rapier) they complained that "Now that we have these magical swords using our other weapons isn't reasonable anymore."
To be fair, months ago I had the same issue (some might remember that thread) as player in another campaign, and now I'm looking for a way around that. So my idea was to actually give out not magical weapons in the future, but instead trinkets with magical bonuses. For example, an "Amulet of Precision" which supplies the wielder with a magical +1 bonus to hit and damage. This way the characters can use whichever weapon they please and don't feel the urge to stick with 'that one magical sword I'm using for three months now'.
Of course to keep things balanced theses ''trinket bonuses' can't stack with each other, and can't stack with the magical weapons the group already acquired, or else the balance would be totally off.
Is this a workable solution for our walking armories, or am I overseeing something here?`
Thanks,
- Miri
Apologies if my English is bad, it's not my native language.
Until 2023 I bought ~15 5E and 30 AD&D2 books.
No more.
I like these suggestions - especially gems providing a magical bonus! Thanks a lot again. :)
Apologies if my English is bad, it's not my native language.
Until 2023 I bought ~15 5E and 30 AD&D2 books.
No more.
I have a similar situation; in my case my paladin is attached to his battle axe for character background reasons. It's just a mundane weapon though, and he will need a +1 weapon eventually. So I will either let him find a +1 weapon with some kind of gem that he can eventually remove and attach to his battle axe, or just find the loose gem itself. I am going to make him find some kind of arcane smith to set the gem, which will cost some gold and might even make him leave it there for a little while (have not decided). The idea is he gets to make a choice to get the weapon he wants, but then there is also a cost involved. It's not a FF7 materia slot you can just change up on the fly.
I often wish there was an easier RAW way to transfer enchantments from one weapon to another. Then when the PC starts with some ancestral weapon, they can keep using it in place of the mechanically better weapon. To the OP. I'd suggest doing something like BK is saying, make there be one sort of enchantment they can transfer from one weapon to another. Make them choose which one they will use, even if they can swap fairly easily, say during a short or long rest.
Or just don't and tell them to stop whining, everyone has to make choices. The wizard would love to be able to memorize more spells every day, but they can't. The sorcerer would love spells from other spell lists, but they don't get them. They want a different weapon to be magical, but it's not. Everyone has to choose. (I realize this contradicts the first paragraph. I'm a complicated person.)
I guess the bigger question is why they feel the need to be walking armories in this edition. If it's just for RP reasons, that certainly make sense, but there's not the need like there used to be. In past editions there was more of a need for the "golf bag" style of play where from monster to monster it was, like, oh, I guess it's time for my +2 blunt weapon, now there's a different enemy, I'll have to switch piercing damage. This edition doesn't have much of that. There's a little, but most monsters with resistances to weapons are resistant to all of them or none of them, so there's rarely a reason to switch back and forth.
Reminds me of good old AD&D:
DM: "You have unlocked the chest and inside you find [rolls dice] a +1 glaive-guisarme."
Players: ...
So, the practical option would simply be to have a single weapon that makes an arsenal obsolete, like any weapon that does Force damage, rather than Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing.
If they really, really want to be walking arsenals, then the recommendations above are good. Also refer to Magic Weapon and Artificer Infusions for inspiration.
To use an arsenal efficiently, what they really need is something comparable to the Warlock's Pact of the Blade and Improved Pact Weapon features.