I remember in AD&D (I think) they had rules for weapon rings. These were rings that could be slid onto the haft or hilt of a weapon a character already had. The idea being that a character who had a lore attachment to his weapon (family heirloom, bequeathed, or named) could enhance that weapon rather than swapping it out as better items came along. As far as I know, said items never made it into any later iterations of D&D and I want to utilize them as I have several players who have worked their current weapons into their backstories. Any idea where I could find these old rules? I don't want to reinvent the wheel if the info is still out there somewhere, otherwise I will just homebrew it.
4th edition Eberron had dragonshards that could be attached to weapons or implements to give them extra properties. 5th has Ruby of the War Mage, which is probably a good template for what you want. It's a wondrous item that is affixed to a weapon.
Just make found treasure mundane, and let the character discover that his further attunement to his grandfathers sword now allows him to wield it as a flametounge, dragon slayer or whatever was going to be found in the treasure hoard…. On top of whatever properties it already had.
So if 1st level fighter has a mundane greatsword, with fluff that it’s his grandfathers sword, they play sunless citadel snd get Shatterspike…. Awaken those powers in his great sword instead. Later they recover the dragon slayer sword from the barrow in Icespire. Give his sword those powers, too. Just rule that only one set of powers can be used at a time… So +1 great sword that can flame on, OR cast Shatter. To cast the spell have to turn the flame off first.
You don’t even have to make it a normal weapon power… If the party finds a +1 shield snd nobody really can use it, grant +1 AC to somebody’s armor or the cleric’s mace or wizards robe.
Make sure to spread things out, maybe have the players agree who gets the bonus this time like they would agree on magic item distribution.
Magic items should be rare enough now that the sword doesn’t get too powerful (and it becomes a vulnerability because losing a single item loses the part a large chunk of power) plus other characters will want magic items when found.
I remember in AD&D (I think) they had rules for weapon rings. These were rings that could be slid onto the haft or hilt of a weapon a character already had. The idea being that a character who had a lore attachment to his weapon (family heirloom, bequeathed, or named) could enhance that weapon rather than swapping it out as better items came along. As far as I know, said items never made it into any later iterations of D&D and I want to utilize them as I have several players who have worked their current weapons into their backstories. Any idea where I could find these old rules? I don't want to reinvent the wheel if the info is still out there somewhere, otherwise I will just homebrew it.
4th edition Eberron had dragonshards that could be attached to weapons or implements to give them extra properties. 5th has Ruby of the War Mage, which is probably a good template for what you want. It's a wondrous item that is affixed to a weapon.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
You really don’t even need the rings.
Just make found treasure mundane, and let the character discover that his further attunement to his grandfathers sword now allows him to wield it as a flametounge, dragon slayer or whatever was going to be found in the treasure hoard…. On top of whatever properties it already had.
So if 1st level fighter has a mundane greatsword, with fluff that it’s his grandfathers sword, they play sunless citadel snd get Shatterspike…. Awaken those powers in his great sword instead. Later they recover the dragon slayer sword from the barrow in Icespire. Give his sword those powers, too. Just rule that only one set of powers can be used at a time… So +1 great sword that can flame on, OR cast Shatter. To cast the spell have to turn the flame off first.
You don’t even have to make it a normal weapon power… If the party finds a +1 shield snd nobody really can use it, grant +1 AC to somebody’s armor or the cleric’s mace or wizards robe.
Make sure to spread things out, maybe have the players agree who gets the bonus this time like they would agree on magic item distribution.
Magic items should be rare enough now that the sword doesn’t get too powerful (and it becomes a vulnerability because losing a single item loses the part a large chunk of power) plus other characters will want magic items when found.