House Rule - The Bane of +1 Swords
Jul 11, 2021 23:32:16 GMT -5
hengest and The Perilous Dreamer like this
Post by solfe on Jul 11, 2021 23:32:16 GMT -5
I copied this house rule from my blog to share here.
In my campaign, all magic weapons have a purpose and cause, with or without being intelligent. Also, silver weapons are a part of the chain of magic weapons where the properties of silver allow them to be used against creatures which can only be hit by magical weapons. The silver is magical, not the weapon so it imparts no other bonus than the ability to strike magical creatures. In an odd twist, I have a level based system which prevents characters from utilizing magical weapons until a certain level.
Silver 1-3 levels
+1 4-6 levels
+2 7-9 levels
+3 10-12 levels
+4 13-15 levels
+5 16+ levels
Low level characters can carry and practice with a weapon that can't wield, but they will find the weapon imparts a minus instead of plus until they reach the level that the weapon is permitted. This allows someone to gift or bequeath a weapon on a young character. It's a family heirloom or whatnot. I find this rule eliminates the whole concept of "ah, is it a +1 sword?" I can just hand them out from the start and not worry about it.
It also removes the RND God or Infi from the system, where these gods and goddesses refuse to fork out magical maces and axes when the character needs an axe or a mace. They can just buy a silvered or silver one from a silversmith. Sure it takes time and money, but it doesn't create "weapons as McGuffins" or screw one player out of having the weapon flavor of their choice. Think The Grey Mouser; in his hands every sword is "Scalpel" and every dagger is "The Cat's Claw".
D&D's weight system creates a nice formula for such creations by smiths. Basically, the character needs to pay the base price of the weapon plus the volume or weight of the silver necessary to make such an item.
"Volume? Why volume?" Good question. If the weights of items are in gold coins and the price is in the same unit, I get a nice formula for silvered weapons, which are merely plated with silver. A dagger costs 2 gps, and weighs 10 coins, so the price for a silvered dagger is 2 gps, 10 silver pieces. That is one merely covered in silver.
If the player wants a dagger made entirely out of silver, volume changes to weight. The character pays the base price of the weapon, plus the weight in silver of the manufactured weapon. So, a silver long sword costs 15 gps plus the weight of silver put into it. It weighs the same as 60 gold pieces, so the player must provide 60 gold pieces of silver, or 1200 silver coins.
This gives me a nice formula for improvement of weapons constructed out of silver. An item can be reforged into a higher bonus weapon by repeating the process, with the only exception being plated weapons. Improving a plated weapon results in a magical copy, leaving a memento of where one has been. Unlike reforging, it's a copy not a change in alloys by magic.
You might want to hold on to that copy, in case you drop your nice sword. Just saying.
Improving a wholly silver alloy weapon merely has a cost and a time to produce. To go from a wholly silver weapon to +1, the cost is the base price of 15 gps plus the cost of the silver needed, which is again 1200 silver coins in the case of the longsword. The extra silver doesn't end up in the weapon, it is simply materials needed for the special task. It's basically a silver drain, which creates interesting scenarios if the characters can't get their hands on silver for some reason. Like they tried to do this with a suit of armor in a small town. This process is costly, but relatively easy to do if players are selling off treasure. Depending on the campaign, I can leave finding a helpful magic user to the silversmith, allow a character to participate in finding an magic user or allow a PC magic user a chance to make a weapon.
By creating a standardized way of creating and improving weapons, I create item permanency for the players and a tool for magic users to make magic weapon. This is also a coin dump to explain why experience is equal to gold. It has many features.
What do you think?
In my campaign, all magic weapons have a purpose and cause, with or without being intelligent. Also, silver weapons are a part of the chain of magic weapons where the properties of silver allow them to be used against creatures which can only be hit by magical weapons. The silver is magical, not the weapon so it imparts no other bonus than the ability to strike magical creatures. In an odd twist, I have a level based system which prevents characters from utilizing magical weapons until a certain level.
Silver 1-3 levels
+1 4-6 levels
+2 7-9 levels
+3 10-12 levels
+4 13-15 levels
+5 16+ levels
Low level characters can carry and practice with a weapon that can't wield, but they will find the weapon imparts a minus instead of plus until they reach the level that the weapon is permitted. This allows someone to gift or bequeath a weapon on a young character. It's a family heirloom or whatnot. I find this rule eliminates the whole concept of "ah, is it a +1 sword?" I can just hand them out from the start and not worry about it.
It also removes the RND God or Infi from the system, where these gods and goddesses refuse to fork out magical maces and axes when the character needs an axe or a mace. They can just buy a silvered or silver one from a silversmith. Sure it takes time and money, but it doesn't create "weapons as McGuffins" or screw one player out of having the weapon flavor of their choice. Think The Grey Mouser; in his hands every sword is "Scalpel" and every dagger is "The Cat's Claw".
D&D's weight system creates a nice formula for such creations by smiths. Basically, the character needs to pay the base price of the weapon plus the volume or weight of the silver necessary to make such an item.
"Volume? Why volume?" Good question. If the weights of items are in gold coins and the price is in the same unit, I get a nice formula for silvered weapons, which are merely plated with silver. A dagger costs 2 gps, and weighs 10 coins, so the price for a silvered dagger is 2 gps, 10 silver pieces. That is one merely covered in silver.
If the player wants a dagger made entirely out of silver, volume changes to weight. The character pays the base price of the weapon, plus the weight in silver of the manufactured weapon. So, a silver long sword costs 15 gps plus the weight of silver put into it. It weighs the same as 60 gold pieces, so the player must provide 60 gold pieces of silver, or 1200 silver coins.
This gives me a nice formula for improvement of weapons constructed out of silver. An item can be reforged into a higher bonus weapon by repeating the process, with the only exception being plated weapons. Improving a plated weapon results in a magical copy, leaving a memento of where one has been. Unlike reforging, it's a copy not a change in alloys by magic.
You might want to hold on to that copy, in case you drop your nice sword. Just saying.
Improving a wholly silver alloy weapon merely has a cost and a time to produce. To go from a wholly silver weapon to +1, the cost is the base price of 15 gps plus the cost of the silver needed, which is again 1200 silver coins in the case of the longsword. The extra silver doesn't end up in the weapon, it is simply materials needed for the special task. It's basically a silver drain, which creates interesting scenarios if the characters can't get their hands on silver for some reason. Like they tried to do this with a suit of armor in a small town. This process is costly, but relatively easy to do if players are selling off treasure. Depending on the campaign, I can leave finding a helpful magic user to the silversmith, allow a character to participate in finding an magic user or allow a PC magic user a chance to make a weapon.
By creating a standardized way of creating and improving weapons, I create item permanency for the players and a tool for magic users to make magic weapon. This is also a coin dump to explain why experience is equal to gold. It has many features.
What do you think?
