Interesting Dragon article about items that are less important than artifacts, but still liven things up a little. I haven't poked through all the nitty gritty, but it seems to hybridize the rules for NPC creation with standard magic item creation, with the caveat that this is probably GM-creation-only gear.
For some reason, I find myself wanting to write up a female paladin bearing a shield with her father's skull embedded in it, a la The Bowler's Daughter from "Mystery Men".
- "Shut up, Galen, I'm not a little girl anymore, I *know* what I'm doing", seemingly talking into her own shield on the eve of battle, to the consternation of her companions.
Ah, the possibilities...
Adventurers Vault had rules and guidelines for legacy weapons. Normally I don't much care for legacy weapons but if the plot hook is good enough I can go for them.
This would be a good story for a legacy weapon - sword starts off mundane or slightly magical and grows with the character.
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This would be a good story for a legacy weapon - sword starts off mundane or slightly magical and grows with the character.
I like the idea best for an Asian-style legacy weapon that is an ancestral heirloom or something that doesn't unlock it's full potential until the ancestors feel that you are worthy. (And it also creates a DM Fiat / 'DMs Action Point' sort of option where the weapon might reveal a power that the player didn't know about to get him out of a jam, and then never display that power again, as it's serving as a conduit for the ancestors to lend their aid.)
Although it would also make a neat cultural detail for a particular sect of Dwarves, crafting and improving a single weapon throughout their lifetime, becoming the master of that weapon, and it growing in power along with them. (Or Elves, or whatever.)
For a more psionic / otherworldly feel, the weapon (or other item) could be symbiotic, infested with Far Realm type energies and sentience, and as it's 'host' grows in power in the material world, it also feeds and grows along with him, becoming able to tap into greater powers from it's own nature. (Instead of Far Realms stuff, it could just be an arcane construct, in which magical sentience and power is accumulating as the wizard or sorcerer is gaining in power, being sustained and improved by the magical energy 'leaking out of' the arcanist. The same could work for a holy relic. The more miracles channeled by the priest, the greater and greater divine workings enacted, the more 'holy power' settles into the relic, and it develops more power sympathetically alongside the priest themself. Instead of some other class levels, it simply takes a certain percentage of XP, or feeds on spell slots, or does something else to represent the investment that the priest is making into the item.)
Hmm, I think this is info on how to imbue legacy items with actual sentience and/or personality. The legacy rules explain the mechanical increases, but the article is going more for that "... of the Ancients" feeling. So your holy relic would have a little bit too much of a previous wielder's spirit about it, or the construct has the spirit of a hapless prisoner/enemy trapped within.
I like the idea, but mostly see it being played for gags, not necessarily in a serious context. You don't want your weapon opting to "discuss the matter in committee" in the middle of combat.