So here is my question. Rules wise, how to make a magic item that evolves with the character?
Let's say one character has an item with a lot of background on it. It's literally a sword passed down in their family for generations, with the family motto engraved on the blade. They obviously would want to keep using such an important item. So how would I mechanically make it so that instead of giving him a magic sword to replace his family heirloom, his family heirloom actually becomes a magic item in his hands, and his hands alone, that becomes better over time?
What if true magic item would be incredibly rare, and most "magic items" were in fact "heirloom" items? Obviously I could give bad guys more "magic" items without breaking the game when my PCs loot the bodies, but what else have I missed?
Oh sure, it's basically giving the weapon a very specific attunement requirement. Something like, "This Magic Great Sword requires attunement by a member of the _____ Bloodline who has passed the test of worthiness". So it's a magic weapon from step one, but in order to attune to it the wielder has to be a part of the bloodline and also requires at least one other step that you can decide on.
After that I think the simplest way to handle unlocking abilities on the sword is perhaps to make additional abilities take the form of like... jewels that are slotted into the original weapon. Something like: "Jewel of Power. When slotted into the Heirloom Sword, the sword gains a +1 to attack and damage"
While I'm not privy to the mechanics ( yet ), this is kind of how the Vestiges of Divergence work in the upcoming Wildmount Setting - where the magic item unlocks its abilities over time, scaling with the Character.
You could have the sword unlock abilities with the Character levelling, if you wanted the progression to be purely mechanical, or you could have abilities unlock when the Character demonstrates particular behaviors, attitudes. or accomplishments. This latter is more role-play based, and it makes sense if the item was created with a particular ethos or purpose in mind.
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I think with the Vestiges he created three different versions of the same item, the "standard", "awakened", and "exalted". Then just give the player the stats for the relevant version whenever they hit the needed criteria for that stage.
I think that's how it works as well - but you're not limited to three for homebrew.
If you're creating an evolving magic item, you can decide on how many states there are - or even if you're going to use states as opposed to unlocking abilities individually - and what the triggers are. You could even mix and match triggers: ability A unlocks when the wielder hits level 5, and ability B unlocks the first time the exhibit mercy ( or mercilessness ) towards an enemy, etc.
Personally, I like the exhibited behavior/quality triggers better than the mechanical ones - but I'm definitely slanted towards RP in my games. If you were playing a highly tactical game, mechanical ones would be a better fit for your game.
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What if... instead of a weapon, it is a swallow-it-all shield, which every 100 targets it eats can allow the shield to start growing a humanoid part, to finally become a Mimic ???
Like what Mongoose said, Moonblade is the closest thing that is officially published. The description goes into how it is passed from parent to child and each time that it attunes to a new wielder, it gains a new rune = new feature (roll or DM chooses).
I'm really bothered that DnDbeyond doesn't allow you to choose options for these kinds of magic items. The necklace of prayer beads has a similar problem (when found, you roll a d4+2 & that's how many beads you find. each with it's own spell which you then roll on the table to figure. spells can be duplicated). but the builder only gives it to you default with all 6 spells and one of each. Doesn't let you pick. Neither does the moonblade. You'd have to duplicate it as homebrew and just give it the properties/spells that you want.
I've asked if they plan on doing anything about it but no answer yet
Sorry for Necro-ing a post, just wanted to give my opinion.
The normal form is called "Dormant", not "Standard". As for the "specific attuning", that could work, but you'd need to figure out how to coerce the player into the trial and what the trial entails. Or another option that could send them out on a full on quest, perhaps the weapon's magical properties were sealed by an entity a few generations ago, and only that entity, or if it's a mortal who sealed it, someone of the same bloodline as that entity or of the same faction, or church, or some other way connected to the original entity, can unseal the magic and thus return the sword to it's Dormant, or maybe even straight to Awakened. A good example of this is Fjord's Dweth'var. It was broken in it's Awakened state and when reforged, it was returned as it's awakened state. Perhaps the sword is actually missing something that was originally thought as ornamental, and that piece being missing makes the blade essentially the equivalent of being "broken" in terms of being a vestige. This is a wonderful way to give the player an awakened or an exalted vestige if the quest to restore the weapon happens LATE in the campaign.
Sorry for Necro-ing a post, just wanted to give my opinion.
The normal form is called "Dormant", not "Standard". As for the "specific attuning", that could work, but you'd need to figure out how to coerce the player into the trial and what the trial entails. Or another option that could send them out on a full on quest, perhaps the weapon's magical properties were sealed by an entity a few generations ago, and only that entity, or if it's a mortal who sealed it, someone of the same bloodline as that entity or of the same faction, or church, or some other way connected to the original entity, can unseal the magic and thus return the sword to it's Dormant, or maybe even straight to Awakened. A good example of this is Fjord's Dweth'var. It was broken in it's Awakened state and when reforged, it was returned as it's awakened state. Perhaps the sword is actually missing something that was originally thought as ornamental, and that piece being missing makes the blade essentially the equivalent of being "broken" in terms of being a vestige. This is a wonderful way to give the player an awakened or an exalted vestige if the quest to restore the weapon happens LATE in the campaign.
I do believe they figured out what the stage names were after the book was actually published. This thread's older than EGtW.
Hello everyone!
So here is my question. Rules wise, how to make a magic item that evolves with the character?
Let's say one character has an item with a lot of background on it. It's literally a sword passed down in their family for generations, with the family motto engraved on the blade. They obviously would want to keep using such an important item. So how would I mechanically make it so that instead of giving him a magic sword to replace his family heirloom, his family heirloom actually becomes a magic item in his hands, and his hands alone, that becomes better over time?
What if true magic item would be incredibly rare, and most "magic items" were in fact "heirloom" items? Obviously I could give bad guys more "magic" items without breaking the game when my PCs loot the bodies, but what else have I missed?
Oh sure, it's basically giving the weapon a very specific attunement requirement. Something like, "This Magic Great Sword requires attunement by a member of the _____ Bloodline who has passed the test of worthiness". So it's a magic weapon from step one, but in order to attune to it the wielder has to be a part of the bloodline and also requires at least one other step that you can decide on.
After that I think the simplest way to handle unlocking abilities on the sword is perhaps to make additional abilities take the form of like... jewels that are slotted into the original weapon. Something like: "Jewel of Power. When slotted into the Heirloom Sword, the sword gains a +1 to attack and damage"
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While I'm not privy to the mechanics ( yet ), this is kind of how the Vestiges of Divergence work in the upcoming Wildmount Setting - where the magic item unlocks its abilities over time, scaling with the Character.
You could have the sword unlock abilities with the Character levelling, if you wanted the progression to be purely mechanical, or you could have abilities unlock when the Character demonstrates particular behaviors, attitudes. or accomplishments. This latter is more role-play based, and it makes sense if the item was created with a particular ethos or purpose in mind.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I think with the Vestiges he created three different versions of the same item, the "standard", "awakened", and "exalted". Then just give the player the stats for the relevant version whenever they hit the needed criteria for that stage.
I think that's how it works as well - but you're not limited to three for homebrew.
If you're creating an evolving magic item, you can decide on how many states there are - or even if you're going to use states as opposed to unlocking abilities individually - and what the triggers are. You could even mix and match triggers: ability A unlocks when the wielder hits level 5, and ability B unlocks the first time the exhibit mercy ( or mercilessness ) towards an enemy, etc.
Personally, I like the exhibited behavior/quality triggers better than the mechanical ones - but I'm definitely slanted towards RP in my games. If you were playing a highly tactical game, mechanical ones would be a better fit for your game.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
What you are looking for is something akin to a Moonblade in design.
What if... instead of a weapon, it is a swallow-it-all shield, which every 100 targets it eats can allow the shield to start growing a humanoid part, to finally become a Mimic ???
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
Like what Mongoose said, Moonblade is the closest thing that is officially published. The description goes into how it is passed from parent to child and each time that it attunes to a new wielder, it gains a new rune = new feature (roll or DM chooses).
I'm really bothered that DnDbeyond doesn't allow you to choose options for these kinds of magic items. The necklace of prayer beads has a similar problem (when found, you roll a d4+2 & that's how many beads you find. each with it's own spell which you then roll on the table to figure. spells can be duplicated). but the builder only gives it to you default with all 6 spells and one of each. Doesn't let you pick. Neither does the moonblade. You'd have to duplicate it as homebrew and just give it the properties/spells that you want.
I've asked if they plan on doing anything about it but no answer yet
Sorry for Necro-ing a post, just wanted to give my opinion.
The normal form is called "Dormant", not "Standard". As for the "specific attuning", that could work, but you'd need to figure out how to coerce the player into the trial and what the trial entails. Or another option that could send them out on a full on quest, perhaps the weapon's magical properties were sealed by an entity a few generations ago, and only that entity, or if it's a mortal who sealed it, someone of the same bloodline as that entity or of the same faction, or church, or some other way connected to the original entity, can unseal the magic and thus return the sword to it's Dormant, or maybe even straight to Awakened. A good example of this is Fjord's Dweth'var. It was broken in it's Awakened state and when reforged, it was returned as it's awakened state. Perhaps the sword is actually missing something that was originally thought as ornamental, and that piece being missing makes the blade essentially the equivalent of being "broken" in terms of being a vestige. This is a wonderful way to give the player an awakened or an exalted vestige if the quest to restore the weapon happens LATE in the campaign.
I do believe they figured out what the stage names were after the book was actually published. This thread's older than EGtW.
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