Now I want to start by first saying that I've got no problem in running things outside the norm anyway, as I have for years. My typical campaigns have long term goals (and unique rewards for completing them) but I am currently in a predicament.
I'm running a converted version of the Witchfire Trilogy in Iron Kingdoms, where magic weapons are rare and powerful. What I've done with the recent batch of magic weapons is rigged them up to act like legacy weapons that get better with time.
The sword that the paladin has (level 5) is currenly a +2 longsword, and I was thinking it could easily become the Holy Avenger, but I'm not sure how soon is too soon for this. I want to try to keep him on par with the party, this is the only magic item he has, and everyone else has at least two, but he is also the most experienced player and will know how to exploit it. What should I do?
Party layout:
Human Paladin
Ogryn Barbarian
Human Barbarian
Human Rogue
Half Elf Rogue
The holy avenger and staff of magi are in the back section of the book of legacy weapons where it talks about converting preexisting items. I would use that as your base.
Also the magic item compendium has very useful sections on what is expected at what level that book helped me out alot. I use to give out what is considered high level items way to early because I used random treasure charts. I fixed that and used point buy and my games became much easier to keep balanced and fun.
The paladin should also be keeping his A.C up so maybe give him a magic shield or some armor. Looking at the group between raging and sneak attack damage is the focus of rest of the party so the paladin shouldn't be worried to much about that department.
Plus from experience running that adventure a paladin is going to face some hard choices, maybe make the sword intelligent and give him some guidance.
I also use random item generation a lot (within reason). In Iron Kingdoms, I'm finding myself re-designing a lot of items since i'm not using potions, scrolls or wands, and some items just seem cooler with the steampunk factor added (like gauntlets of the ram instead of ring of the ram).
The hard choices sound interesting. I've been reading ahead one book at a time, and they are just at the end of the first one.
Thanks a lot for your help Paraxis.
Now I want to start by first saying that I've got no problem in running things outside the norm anyway, as I have for years. My typical campaigns have long term goals (and unique rewards for completing them) but I am currently in a predicament.
I'm running a converted version of the Witchfire Trilogy in Iron Kingdoms, where magic weapons are rare and powerful. What I've done with the recent batch of magic weapons is rigged them up to act like legacy weapons that get better with time.
The sword that the paladin has (level 5) is currenly a +2 longsword, and I was thinking it could easily become the Holy Avenger, but I'm not sure how soon is too soon for this. I want to try to keep him on par with the party, this is the only magic item he has, and everyone else has at least two, but he is also the most experienced player and will know how to exploit it. What should I do?Party layout:
Human Paladin
Ogryn Barbarian
Human Barbarian
Human Rogue
Half Elf Rogue
I've played in only one game that used legacy weapons and it went poorly. I do love the concept, but the DM made up all the weapons, and they were not even VAUGLY balanced, which lead to some inter-party balance issues. So you need to be careful. You don't want to end up where everyone feels they are second string to the guy with the OMFGBBQ weapon of power. Try to keep things on an even keel.
IIRC the Holy Avenger was actually broken down as an example in the Weapons of Legacy book. I don't have a copy, so can't tell you what they did with it. You could break the enchantments down a bit; so instead of just "holy" you could start with "treated as good aligned" then go to +1d6 vs evil, and end with full holy. The SR could also start at a lower level (Paladin level -5, or just straight level) and ramp up to the +5 value.
I appreciate the feedback. My group tends to shy away from paladins, scared of the limits that lawful good has morally. They tend to lean towards chaotic neutral a lot, so when this particular member rolled up a paladin, it struck me as the perfect time to finally throw in the long awaited Holy Avenger.
I've yet to look it up in the Magic Item Compendium or the Book of Legacy Weapons, but from what I'm gathering, it may be too overpowered until around level 12-14ish. I like the idea of the sunblade instead. That might just be where I take it.
I should mention, the base weapon I used for this is the "Hero Sword" in the APG. The player currently only knows about the +2 value and not the 6 hero points, but I might just have to remove those before he finds out.
If you have Kingmaker, the Briar weapon kinda represents a powered down version of a high end magical weapon. I wonder if you could introduce a magical sword now and have it slowly power up as the Paladin achieves certain quests.
That way it's never too powerful but the Paladin feels like he's got something invested in it.
dear lord a use for the weapons of legacy i have, the spine on it isnt even broken.
to break it down:
5th dispel 1/day
8th +2 cold iron longsword
10th greater dispel 3/day
12th +3 cold iron longsword
14th +4
15th spell resistance
16th break enchantment
17th +4 holy
18th heal self
19th greater dispel at will
20th +5 holy
I was a little surprised at the combination of "low magic" "5th level" and "+2 longsword".