Magical Weapons and Players

[jwpacker]

Some things that we have to take into consideration:

What has the merchant told the character about these swords? Has he been appropriately vague about their majesty and grace, the keenness of their blades and the like, or has he been specific about what they're capable of?

If the former, and you've plenty of wiggle room, you've opened up an avenue to really explore with that character and his player.

Don't indicate what manner of bonuses or benefits apply. Then, give the swords personality. Have them sing in his hand when he's using them against a particular type of enemy. Have them glow enigmatically in the presence of a liar - or a holy man. Etch them with arcane writings that no one has yet translated. Have him dream about them, and about things that matter to them.

He's been unlucky on defense - the next time he's being bold, but still manages to get thwacked, have one of them turn in his hand and parry the blow anyway - no set percentage bonus, no number of times a day, no magic point cost laid out - and at the end of the battle assess an additional point of MP against him.

Over time, have the sword teach him, through dreams, how to attune himself to it, or them. Use the Pact rules to have him form a sort of pact with the blades, and once they're so attuned, the bonuses improve, or become more consistent, but still vague and unpredictable. They become your means of guiding the outcome of the battle, and every time the character is brazen and bold, and they turn what should have been a mortal blow, the characters-by way of the players-gain greater awe about the blades.

Whatever you do, don't squander the opportunity to make these magic scimitars truly magical...

 

[Prime_Evil]

Also...where did the merchant get the swords? Maybe he swindled them out of the original owner - who now wants them back

 

[strega]

Where are the Passion Traits explained, that is a very nice idea.

For Legend/MRQ2 they are in the Elric Core Rulebook pg 54.

I think you'll find the most up-to-date version of the Passions rules are from Wraith Recon.

I pulled them out of there and am using them in a S&S game currently together with Renown from the RQII Empires book. They both work well in the context of the game and fit perfectly with Legend. I'd like to see them in a revised/2e Legend as optional rules or in a World Builder supplement, together with some of the guilds and factions material from RQI and RQII Empires.

You can play a world spanning campaign with that extra material.

Renown is another way of using CHA to avoid it being a dump stat and Passion is 30+POW+CHA again forcing CHA not to be a dump stat. To be honest I'd rather see a roughly even spread of characteristic points with only slightly higher values for the PCs defining stat i.e STR or DEX for a fighter, INT or POW for a mage or priestly type etc.

 

[Simulacrum]

I'd forgotten about those Renown rules - I shall dig out my copy of Empires and have a butchers.

 

[strega]

The issue with the Renown rules is that you have to recalculate a PCs Renown every time it is used due to the variable Circumstance Modifiers. If the adventurers are staying in a relatively small area their Renown is usually fairly static but once they start moving about - poof - local Renown counts for virtually nothing. Very accurate but time consuming.

I've just had a group leave town early in their career and go trading. They encounter pirates and defeat the attempt to capture their ship. A couple of PCs board the pirate ship against massive odds so get some renown, the leader of the PCs has a duel on the deck with the pirate first mate and persuades him to change sides after the pirate captain and quartermaster are killed so destroying the pirates command structure. This PC gets some renown, but all that renown counts for nothing back home unless they manage to get their own crew back to tell the tales of derring-do.

I suspect that the best/only use is going to be as a bonus/penalty to Influence skill rolls for a long time.

 

[Vortigern]

I like the skill requirement idea for magical items.

You could take that a step further and say that a given skill is part of the use of an ability of an item.

Say the red scimitar was made by a sect of fire mages/worshipers whose primary Grimoire is the 'Red Book of Makarth' or some such.

The use of the abilities of the scimitar could be intrinsically tied to properly invoking said abilities as one is using the sword. And thus reliant on having 'Red Book of Makarth' as a skill.

Even if you go with the old standby of 'It adds fire damage'... if you have to learn the Grimoire skill and the damage it adds scales up as your Grimoire skills goes up ( say using the same scale as Wrack ), it is much more flavorful and personal. Spend a magic point for each strike, get a significant boost, but at the same time have significant personal investment in making it happen... and have a 'nifty'/beneficial item loaded with flavor.

Easily transferable to other concepts as well.

The Templar character mentioned previously likely has some divine skills. A weapon consecrated to their God would/should respond better to someone of like faith/consecration ( and the divine favor of a Pact ) than not for example.