I have a player in my campaign who seems underpowered compared to the rest (everyone just hit level 7). As a way of balancing the playing field and giving his character a unique schtick, I was going to give him a special weapon. I've never been happy with the Weapons of Legacy rules or the Legendary Weapon rules in the 3.5 SRD and have attempted to brew my own rules.
As an added note, I've added Use Magic Device to most non-magic user's class lists. Rogues/Bards are still probably the best at it because of their abundance of skill points.
Legendary Weapon Template:
Attune to the Weapon: A flavor-based requirement.
Weapon's History: Each weapon has 3 historic facts that can be used as story seeds by the DM. Upon completion of a seed the weapon can be upgraded by a +1 enhancement (see below).
Special Property: Varies, but often a small effect on a critical with the weapon (daze, stagger, etc...).
Stats:
All weapons start out as masterwork versions of themselves but have a final set form that consists of +10 enhancement bonuses worth.
As a 1-hour ritual, a wielder can sacrifice magic items/gold to upgrade the weapon towards this final form. The cost to do so is equal to the difference of the current magic item's bonus compared to what it's being upgraded to. (i.e.: A +1 weapon is worth 2,000 gold while a +2 weapon is worth 8,000. A character would need to sacrifice 6,000 gold worth in items to upgrade the weapon)
Powers:
Each blade has special abilities that can be unleashed with a standard action and a Use Magic Device check. The wielder gets a bonus to this check equal to the total enhancement bonus of the weapon (i.e. a +1 Flaming weapon gives +2 to this check).
There are four abilities at DC 15, 25, 35, and 45. Generally the lowest effect emulates a spell around 1st-2nd level, the next 3rd-4th level, the next 5th-7th level, and the final 8th-9th level. At +10 DC the wielder may weave in a spell from the weapon as a swift action. The CL is equal to the wielder's level and the spell DC is equal to 10 + the spell level + the wielder's Cha modifier.
Penalty: If the wielder fails the UMD check, the weapon has no effect and they suffer a penalty. Generally 1 ability damage per spell level of the ability (the ability affected depends on what is appropriate for the weapon, though the default is Constitution damage).
Sample Weapons (story hooks aren't finished, the first weapon is what I plan on giving to my PC, he will have a Use Magic Device check of about +13):
Legendary Weapon - Gabriel’s Blade
Requires: True Believer.
Attune to the Weapon: Must have blood of a good outsider flowing in them.
Weapon’s History:
-The blade once was owned by the Paladin of the East and is considered a holy relic, there is a sect of priests that seek to take the blade so it may be given to a true and worthy champion.
-Used to slay the black dragon Atralix, earning the enmity of his siblings.
-?
Special Property: Half of the fire damage dealt is considered holy (including flaming property).
Current Form: MW Cold Iron Long Sword
Final Form: +5 Holy Long Sword of Flaming and Bane (Dragon, Evil Outsider)
Powers: Requires a Use Magic Device check (+1 bonus for the total enhancement bonus of the weapon).
DC 15 - Burning Hands
DC 25 - Fireball
DC 35 - Fire Shield
DC 45 - Meteor Swarm
+10 DC - Weave effect into a combat strike as a swift action.
Penalty - If UMD check fails, user takes 1 Con damage per spell level attempted.
Legendary Weapon - Thorn of the Fae
Requires: True Believer.
Attune to the Weapon: Must have entered a pact with one of the fae.
Weapon’s History: ?
Special Property: On a critical hit, the target must make a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 the character's level + the character's Cha Mod) or be dazed for 1 round.
Current Form: MW Wooden* Rapier (*No stat penalties for this material)
Final Form: +5 Keen Rapier of Bane (Mages, Priests) and Wounding
Powers: Requires a Use Magic Device check (with a +1 bonus for the total enhancement bonus of the weapon).
DC 15 - Haste (Self Only)
DC 25 - Mirror Image
DC 35 - Divine Alacrity
DC 45 - Time Stop
+10 DC - Weave effect into a move action as a swift action.
Penalty - If UMD check fails, user takes 1 Dex damage per spell level attempted.
Comments/concerns/suggestions much appreciated, thanks!
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I have a few questions. Has the player actually complained? The reason I ask is that "under-powered" might just be the way the player wants to play.
What I equate this to (which may be a bad assumption), is that this character might not seem relevant to your campaign. If that is truly the case, I would suggest tweaking future challenges to give this character a better chance of standing out. IMO, players want to be challenged, not to just be given stuff. Finding challenges for this player that help his character concept come alive is probably the key. Find a way to occasionally let him be center stage. To do that, focus on both the game mechanics of his character and the back-story that make him unique.
Another issue might also be party dynamics. Is there a reason that this character's fair share of the treasure is not helping his character stand out? Is he getting coerced into not taking items by other players? I would think if the party had a equitable way to divide treasure, then this fellow would be able to hold his own, and would not require a personalized item. If that is the case, you may need to have a discussion with the group and help them develop a more fair manner to conduct what can be a very divisive issue for many groups.
As you can tell, in general, I avoid trying to place customized items for PC's (and NPC's). There is a good chance that it can backfire, and potentially diminish the realism of your setting.
As far as the mechanics, I am not fan of how you adjusted the concept of Use Magic Device skill. IMO, the skill is designed to help characters who want to cheat the laws of spell casting (by allowing them to cast spells). It was never designed to be used to power items "by design." I think approach would have a lot of unintended consequences.
Sorry I couldn't be more positive. I think the solution was very creative, and shows you take your role as GM seriously. Hopefully you can figure out the challenges you can present to let this player become a star. Good luck - Joe
Joe: Thanks for the advice, I can tell you put a lot of thought into it. It sounds like you're trying to address the root of the issue, so I'll try and explain some more about that.
The player has mentioned being dissatisfied playing in combats and had asked about rules for ancestral weapons (and is considering taking an unrelated PrC to improve his combat effectiveness).
I've observed his turns tend to take a relatively short amount of time, compared to spellcasters and even the monk who has more options than him. He's got a really good attack bonus, but has low strength (his current build is dual-wielding Swashbuckler 3/Fighter 3). For someone who should be good at combat (by his BAB) he isn't as efficient.
As a DM I'm used to letting players build their own characters with various splatbooks, then throwing various things to help balance the party out (as multiple splatbooks can make some characters more powerful than the others) and have mentioned as much to the group.
Because the player had mentioned the ancestral weapon idea, I looked into the legacy/legendary weapons rules and came up with this-which I was going to let the player take a look at before we decide to use it or not. I think the both of us like the idea of pure fighter-types having unique weapons.
So, even if there could be other answers to help this player, if you have any ideas on how to make this work better/smoother/etc... I'd really appreciate it, it sounds like you have a lot of experience under your belt :-)
Hand out bonus vs. Earned -> I was worried about this as well and was considering giving the PC a broken version of one of these items (like a sword hilt or similar) - he can research and find out more about the item, and if it's worth it to his PC he can search out for a blacksmith capable of helping him. This doesn't solve his current inefficiency though, which makes this situation somewhat difficult.
As for Use Magic Device -> I was thinking about using CMB (minus the Size bonus/penalty) instead of UMD, though I feel investing both a feat and skill ranks helps balance these items. While I want the weapons to be capable of cool and even powerful things, I don't want them to make this PC more powerful compared to the party.
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Sollir, that explains alot. I also think the 3.5E Kensai PrC may be the best way to allow this character to grow into an item. Its probably what I would consider.
Also, you may want to see if this player might not want to simply build another character. Myself, I have somehow got into playing a character that failed to excite me in a few games. It wasn't the GM's fault, wasn't the rule system, the whole thing just didn't gel. Sometimes its better to retire a character if it comes to that. Maybe this guy just needs a new start, especially now that the group dynamics are well understood. Good luck, either way. Thanks for sharing your ideas, its given me a lot to think about. Regards - Joe