Giant magic starknife

[dave.gillam]

This got deleted from the ninja section, where it seemed appropriate, since its meant to be a "ninja" weapon....
This place has strange standards of what stays and what gets deleted. Anyway

My player is a manga/anime fan, and loves the giant shuriken weapon. We adjudicated the best way to play is use the star knife, and add magic to do the "ninja tricks" he wants it to do from various shows he watches.

So he pointed out to me the illusionary shuriken, where it appears there are multiple, giving it a better chance of hitting. He worked up this story that the actual mechanics are based on the bonus enhancement, and all factors are based off that. For coolness, the higher the plus, the more illusionary shuriken are created, justifying the bonus in the first place. (I love to have flavor to explain why the magic works) So we both agree that logically, an illusion spell would be involved in creation of these shuriken/star-knives. He argues that scince the spell provides no effect gamewise, and exists purely for fluff, it should be a freebie (not figured into the cost of creation)

I could go either way; I want to reward him for helping to create backstory and flavor, and it doesnt effect anything. But I hate giving players freebies....

So what does everyone here think?

[Sekret_One]

dave.gillam wrote:

I could go either way; I want to reward him for helping to create backstory and flavor, and it doesnt effect anything. But I hate giving players freebies....

So what does everyone here think?

You're absolutely right- I wouldn't give out a freebie. Half of encounters are solved through some indirect use of some magical property: ask any caster player. Thematic 'tricks' often turn into utility. But creativity should be encouraged.

If he wants something more than a big sharp shuriken, he should pay for it. But this is pretty minor, so it doesn't warrant like a +1 to the base cost.

I suggest this: Require some illusion spell as a component in this enhancement (as you were planning), increase cost by say 10%, and give it a little minor established buff.

Something pretty minor though- like say anyone trying to use arrow catching has a 50% chance of catching one of the fakes instead. A neat enough little boost and thematic/utility effect on one side and a required spell and a bit of extra gold or components on the other. Fair compromise?