Character Specialty weapons [Archive] - Wizards Community

Character Specialty weapons [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Birdman81
10-26-06, 11:32 AM I believe that every character should (at a certain level) recieve a specialty weapon. This will give characters less of a "i'm like everyone else" feeling and make thier characters more personal. When i say this i mean they they attain a weapon and customize it, or give it a background, but aquiring the weapon like this is difficult.
I have a Hammer (Angus Fang) that has special characteristics and i treat this as my character weapon, as do my party members!

post your thoughts.

Fandrel Whisperwind is a Dead-Man:D
Jester11
10-26-06, 11:37 AM I agree, as long as the weapon does not dwarf(no pun intended) the rest of the parties abilities. wheres my damn weapon?
DarknessEternal
10-26-06, 11:41 AM Two lines of vague supposition then "post your thoughts" is not a thread.
ArdenRane
10-26-06, 11:42 AM shouldnt characters try to attain this themselves?

and if your handing out weapons - i'll take one
KmartKommando
10-29-06, 03:55 PM I have a Hammer (Angus Fang)

moo? :D :D :D :gah:
Garonak
10-29-06, 05:04 PM What do you mean 'customize it', 'give it background'?
Do you mean that the hammer doesn't look like every other hammer or that you give it to a mage for a day or two and he gives the hammer the enchantments you want?

The last one seems a bit daft, but I had to ask...:P

As for adding personal touches to the weapon, you got several options, one of my chars use a Maul, its spikey... The char has a +2 Hammatula Barbs Spiked Full Plate and a Spiked Heavy Steel Shield. His Maul is thus spikey, that is, it got alot of spikes coming out of it at odd places (but they don't affect dmg or anything, it's just estetics).
narukagami
10-29-06, 06:18 PM I believe that every character should (at a certain level) recieve a specialty weapon. This will give characters less of a "i'm like everyone else" feeling and make thier characters more personal. When i say this i mean they they attain a weapon and customize it, or give it a background, but aquiring the weapon like this is difficult.
Yes, that would be a good idea, I hope someday Wizards writes a whole book dedicated to this concept, they could call it Weapons of Legacy (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/178620000). Its too bad Wizards hasn't written anything like Weapons of Legacy (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/178620000) yet. But we can dream, can't we? :P
Birdman81
10-31-06, 01:30 PM granted using the book weapons of legacy would be good but why not use your characters craft skill to do ad on, spikies for example,?
Platonix
10-31-06, 02:52 PM There are several ways to make weapons that are beyond the norm. Dungeon Master's Guide II has rules for letting magic item crafters give their magic items extra unusual properties, like color-shifting or glowing whenever its power is activated. There are also rules for weapons and armor that have been crafted by fey, or efreeti, or the people of Ysgard, that have special abilities that aren't actually magical and thus work even in antimagic fields. The flavor description of the Ysgard armor amuses me greatly.
DMGII also has rules for characters forging bonds with their equipment, something like a legacy weapon but a bit less powerful, and thus easier for anyone to accomplish. Plus, look in Unearthed Arcana for information on Item Familiars.
Ryu Katsuragi
10-31-06, 03:01 PM Isn't this a bit of a Catch 22? By not giving them the weapons, they're all the same... but arn't they all the same if all classes are getting their own free weapon at a certain level?
EyelessBeholder
10-31-06, 03:10 PM Are you saying this from a PC in a game standard or as a DM and brainstoring something to draw away from the mundain repetetive you got a long sword go swing it?

If you the PC its something you can do yourself by keeping your weapon and upgrading it, for reasons and making a story along with it.

Or DM your god you can make something crazy like the more power they gain it channels through there weapon or jsut quest them out to get the sword or mace or staff of there bloodline.

In the end you can just have there weapons power up with them in the campaign as well .....

OH look a moose *wanders off*
Whisper_Swiftblade
10-31-06, 03:14 PM I have a Hammer (Angus Fang) that has special characteristics and i treat this as my character weapon, as do my party members!

dude Wulfgar is going to rage when he finds out you took his hammer, and you know how barbarians get when they rage.
wonlee76
10-31-06, 03:24 PM Well, one option I'm aware of besides Weapons of Legacy.

Ancestral Relic feat from BOED. The ultimate form of customizability for a PC's weapon/armor/shield/ring/cloak/etc. Breaks epic rules with the progression of how much gold you can spend to enhance the item making it "special" compared to the norm. The cap scales up as you level to beyond epic prices. And you don't get the bonuses for free (you still spend the money for the upgrades).

In a game where everyone gets something special, I would consider giving Ancestral Relic to all PCs as a bonus feat with the appropriate item for each PC. Nice and simple.
Garonak
10-31-06, 04:30 PM Just like that? "Here you go, here's a feat" I'd say that they'd have to earn it. The hard way.
Birdman81
11-01-06, 03:53 PM looking at it from a PC standpoint, what would you say are the pros and cons to this?
NthDegree256
11-01-06, 04:03 PM looking at it from a PC standpoint, what would you say are the pros and cons to this?
Well, let's look at what happened to Sauron. He essentially put a lot of himself into the One Ring; when he had it, he was even more powerful than before, but the fact that a great deal of his power was in a separate, tangible object meant that if it got stolen, or lost, or destroyed, things could get very ugly for him...

Compare it to a wizard vs. a sorc. A wizard knows far more spells than a sorc can ever learn... but the sorc can't ever have her spells stolen. A wizard's spellbook, on the other hand, is a good target.
Whisper_Swiftblade
11-01-06, 04:09 PM pro= some flavor for the pc, a powerful weapon, possible role playing oppertuinities.

con=sunder, it can take away from the pc's vercitility if they only carry one weapon, sunder, rust monsters, rust monsters who use sunder, the question of how the pcs all happened to get signiture stuff one day out of the blue, enimies will get shiny new stuff too (for example a sword that helps them sunder), sunder, disarm, rust monsters whith sunder and a sword that helps them sunder , it would suck if you spent the time to create a 78 year history for a weapon, and it just get sundered,and last but not least watch out for monks? alot of the time they carry no weapons but their own boddies, and those are more signature then signature weapon.

sorry if I went a little overboard with the sunder thing.

now I am off to teach monk rust monsters to sunder.
Garonak
11-01-06, 05:30 PM Since my one of my group is playing in a low magic world (well not very low, but you can't buy magic items anywhere. Rift War if it gives a clue) my DM 'made' a system for using XP to enchance weapons, 5gp=xp (armor +1 cost 200XP, weapon+1 400xp, pay only difference when upgrading). So the day my DM decides to use Sunder on me or send a Rust Monster at me... well, I think that's the day I go home to cry...
Berzerker_prime
11-01-06, 06:17 PM I personally think it's the responsibility of the player to do this for him/herself. It's obviously something they should work with their GM on, but they shouldn't expect to just sit back and get a weapon handed to them with no in-game explanation or response.

Not only that, but I also say this; why not start out with something unique? That's what the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat and the Arms and Equipment Guide are for. One doesn't need to attain a certain level to be able to have something unique.

Just my two coppers.

Sweet water to you!

Berz.
Birdman81
11-02-06, 12:31 AM lets just get this striaght for one scond cuz 3 people or more (i may be wrong on the number) have mentioned the character just GETTING the weapon by doing nothing or have commented on a topic like that, i wasn't implying at all that they would just recieve it, they do have to earn and it would have to be very hard to attain said item.
Lunas_Argent
11-02-06, 01:21 AM When you say character specialty weapons, do you mean special magical weapons, specially designed weapons ( such as a klingon bat-leth(sorry to bring Star Trek into this) or some other strange/exotic weapon), or do you mean to allow them to design a personalized weapon. Such as; Krugs greatsword has a handle covered with skulls and the blade has an etching of his battle with a red dragon. Anyone hearing of this sword will recognize its wielder as Krug, the half orc barbarian.
Quixotico
11-02-06, 02:07 PM In the game I'm running, I've designed a magical weapon, armor, or wonderous item for each character. Once they're high enough level to even "deserve" it, I'll drop in a small sidequest that centers around the intended character and, upon completion, will award the weapon or armor to that character.

Which brings up something: While Fighter and Rogue can benefit greatly from a speciatly weapon, how do characters that fight mainly with magic benefit the same? Thus the armor or wonderous item. Anyone else have an idea on this?
NthDegree256
11-02-06, 02:17 PM pro= some flavor for the pc, a powerful weapon, possible role playing oppertuinities.

con=sunder, it can take away from the pc's vercitility if they only carry one weapon, sunder, rust monsters, rust monsters who use sunder, the question of how the pcs all happened to get signiture stuff one day out of the blue, enimies will get shiny new stuff too (for example a sword that helps them sunder), sunder, disarm, rust monsters whith sunder and a sword that helps them sunder , it would suck if you spent the time to create a 78 year history for a weapon, and it just get sundered,and last but not least watch out for monks? alot of the time they carry no weapons but their own boddies, and those are more signature then signature weapon.

sorry if I went a little overboard with the sunder thing.

now I am off to teach monk rust monsters to sunder.
:rofl:
Platonix
11-02-06, 04:28 PM Which brings up something: While Fighter and Rogue can benefit greatly from a speciatly weapon, how do characters that fight mainly with magic benefit the same? Thus the armor or wonderous item. Anyone else have an idea on this?
There are several ways to make a weapon that a wizard would be glad for. For one thing, certain magic weapon special abilities are intended for a wizard-type character to use, such as the skillful property: A character wielding a skillful weapon always counts as proficient with it. Also, if the character's BAB is worse than that of a cleric of their character level, it improves to that value, but only for attacks made with the skillful weapon. This can be very handy for if your mage is ambushed in the evening with little to no spells left.
Also, it's common to think of a staff as a wizard's equivalent of a "weapon", and some staves actually can function as quarterstaves. If the custom magic weapons you're granting are powerful enough to compare in price with some of the weaker magic staves, try giving the mages a staff or two.

All that said, there's certainly nothing wrong with giving the fighter a +3 greatsword of making stuff die, giving the rogue twin daggers with tons of stealth enchantments, and giving the mage an ioun stone or two or even some pearls of power. Those might even be more welcome than the weapons or weaker staves, because they play to the mage's strengths and don't have charges.
Quixotico
11-02-06, 06:42 PM Right. I take into considerationt he personality of the character, the player, and the character's strengths and weaknesses.
Garonak
11-02-06, 06:44 PM You could also allow a houserule that says that robes can be given magic armor abilities or someting similar.
planetouched
11-04-06, 12:50 AM Uneathed Arcana has some good material on signature weapons. They're assumed to make their way back their owner if lost and gain abilities as the player does. I think they work alot like familiars when you break them though, and there is some XP investment involved.
Birdman81
11-04-06, 06:09 PM any ideas for some new weapons?
Masterfulks
11-04-06, 07:05 PM Weapons are just tools. My character will always use the best one available to him.

I could see having a special sword that has some heritage to it, but if it was that special he would probably keep it hidden.
Whisper_Swiftblade
11-04-06, 07:28 PM any ideas for some new weapons?

how about a staff that turns into a snake, a whip that silences anything it hits, a glassteal axe that's blade seeps with rust monster drool, a bow that creates the allution that what ever it's arrow hits is a coppy of it's weilder, a mace that can turn into a flail (and back), a great sword that has an illution that makes it look like a short sword, or a spear that funktions like an immovible rod (set for a charge and walk away).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Birdman81 10-26-06, 11:32 AM	I believe that every character should (at a certain level) recieve a specialty weapon. This will give characters less of a "i'm like everyone else" feeling and make thier characters more personal. When i say this i mean they they attain a weapon and customize it, or give it a background, but aquiring the weapon like this is difficult. I have a Hammer (Angus Fang) that has special characteristics and i treat this as my character weapon, as do my party members! post your thoughts. Fandrel Whisperwind is a Dead-Man:D
Jester11 10-26-06, 11:37 AM	I agree, as long as the weapon does not dwarf(no pun intended) the rest of the parties abilities. wheres my damn weapon?
DarknessEternal 10-26-06, 11:41 AM	Two lines of vague supposition then "post your thoughts" is not a thread.
ArdenRane 10-26-06, 11:42 AM	shouldnt characters try to attain this themselves? and if your handing out weapons - i'll take one
KmartKommando 10-29-06, 03:55 PM	I have a Hammer (Angus Fang) moo? :D :D :D :gah:
Garonak 10-29-06, 05:04 PM	What do you mean 'customize it', 'give it background'? Do you mean that the hammer doesn't look like every other hammer or that you give it to a mage for a day or two and he gives the hammer the enchantments you want? The last one seems a bit daft, but I had to ask...:P As for adding personal touches to the weapon, you got several options, one of my chars use a Maul, its spikey... The char has a +2 Hammatula Barbs Spiked Full Plate and a Spiked Heavy Steel Shield. His Maul is thus spikey, that is, it got alot of spikes coming out of it at odd places (but they don't affect dmg or anything, it's just estetics).
narukagami 10-29-06, 06:18 PM	I believe that every character should (at a certain level) recieve a specialty weapon. This will give characters less of a "i'm like everyone else" feeling and make thier characters more personal. When i say this i mean they they attain a weapon and customize it, or give it a background, but aquiring the weapon like this is difficult. Yes, that would be a good idea, I hope someday Wizards writes a whole book dedicated to this concept, they could call it Weapons of Legacy (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/178620000). Its too bad Wizards hasn't written anything like Weapons of Legacy (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/178620000) yet. But we can dream, can't we? :P
Birdman81 10-31-06, 01:30 PM	granted using the book weapons of legacy would be good but why not use your characters craft skill to do ad on, spikies for example,?
Platonix 10-31-06, 02:52 PM	There are several ways to make weapons that are beyond the norm. Dungeon Master's Guide II has rules for letting magic item crafters give their magic items extra unusual properties, like color-shifting or glowing whenever its power is activated. There are also rules for weapons and armor that have been crafted by fey, or efreeti, or the people of Ysgard, that have special abilities that aren't actually magical and thus work even in antimagic fields. The flavor description of the Ysgard armor amuses me greatly. DMGII also has rules for characters forging bonds with their equipment, something like a legacy weapon but a bit less powerful, and thus easier for anyone to accomplish. Plus, look in Unearthed Arcana for information on Item Familiars.
Ryu Katsuragi 10-31-06, 03:01 PM	Isn't this a bit of a Catch 22? By not giving them the weapons, they're all the same... but arn't they all the same if all classes are getting their own free weapon at a certain level?
EyelessBeholder 10-31-06, 03:10 PM	Are you saying this from a PC in a game standard or as a DM and brainstoring something to draw away from the mundain repetetive you got a long sword go swing it? If you the PC its something you can do yourself by keeping your weapon and upgrading it, for reasons and making a story along with it. Or DM your god you can make something crazy like the more power they gain it channels through there weapon or jsut quest them out to get the sword or mace or staff of there bloodline. In the end you can just have there weapons power up with them in the campaign as well ..... OH look a moose wanders off
Whisper_Swiftblade 10-31-06, 03:14 PM	I have a Hammer (Angus Fang) that has special characteristics and i treat this as my character weapon, as do my party members! dude Wulfgar is going to rage when he finds out you took his hammer, and you know how barbarians get when they rage.
wonlee76 10-31-06, 03:24 PM	Well, one option I'm aware of besides Weapons of Legacy. Ancestral Relic feat from BOED. The ultimate form of customizability for a PC's weapon/armor/shield/ring/cloak/etc. Breaks epic rules with the progression of how much gold you can spend to enhance the item making it "special" compared to the norm. The cap scales up as you level to beyond epic prices. And you don't get the bonuses for free (you still spend the money for the upgrades). In a game where everyone gets something special, I would consider giving Ancestral Relic to all PCs as a bonus feat with the appropriate item for each PC. Nice and simple.
Garonak 10-31-06, 04:30 PM	Just like that? "Here you go, here's a feat" I'd say that they'd have to earn it. The hard way.
Birdman81 11-01-06, 03:53 PM	looking at it from a PC standpoint, what would you say are the pros and cons to this?
NthDegree256 11-01-06, 04:03 PM	looking at it from a PC standpoint, what would you say are the pros and cons to this? Well, let's look at what happened to Sauron. He essentially put a lot of himself into the One Ring; when he had it, he was even more powerful than before, but the fact that a great deal of his power was in a separate, tangible object meant that if it got stolen, or lost, or destroyed, things could get very ugly for him... Compare it to a wizard vs. a sorc. A wizard knows far more spells than a sorc can ever learn... but the sorc can't ever have her spells stolen. A wizard's spellbook, on the other hand, is a good target.
Whisper_Swiftblade 11-01-06, 04:09 PM	pro= some flavor for the pc, a powerful weapon, possible role playing oppertuinities. con=sunder, it can take away from the pc's vercitility if they only carry one weapon, sunder, rust monsters, rust monsters who use sunder, the question of how the pcs all happened to get signiture stuff one day out of the blue, enimies will get shiny new stuff too (for example a sword that helps them sunder), sunder, disarm, rust monsters whith sunder and a sword that helps them sunder , it would suck if you spent the time to create a 78 year history for a weapon, and it just get sundered,and last but not least watch out for monks? alot of the time they carry no weapons but their own boddies, and those are more signature then signature weapon. sorry if I went a little overboard with the sunder thing. now I am off to teach monk rust monsters to sunder.
Garonak 11-01-06, 05:30 PM	Since my one of my group is playing in a low magic world (well not very low, but you can't buy magic items anywhere. Rift War if it gives a clue) my DM 'made' a system for using XP to enchance weapons, 5gp=xp (armor +1 cost 200XP, weapon+1 400xp, pay only difference when upgrading). So the day my DM decides to use Sunder on me or send a Rust Monster at me... well, I think that's the day I go home to cry...
Berzerker_prime 11-01-06, 06:17 PM	I personally think it's the responsibility of the player to do this for him/herself. It's obviously something they should work with their GM on, but they shouldn't expect to just sit back and get a weapon handed to them with no in-game explanation or response. Not only that, but I also say this; why not start out with something unique? That's what the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat and the Arms and Equipment Guide are for. One doesn't need to attain a certain level to be able to have something unique. Just my two coppers. Sweet water to you! Berz.
Birdman81 11-02-06, 12:31 AM	lets just get this striaght for one scond cuz 3 people or more (i may be wrong on the number) have mentioned the character just GETTING the weapon by doing nothing or have commented on a topic like that, i wasn't implying at all that they would just recieve it, they do have to earn and it would have to be very hard to attain said item.
Lunas_Argent 11-02-06, 01:21 AM	When you say character specialty weapons, do you mean special magical weapons, specially designed weapons ( such as a klingon bat-leth(sorry to bring Star Trek into this) or some other strange/exotic weapon), or do you mean to allow them to design a personalized weapon. Such as; Krugs greatsword has a handle covered with skulls and the blade has an etching of his battle with a red dragon. Anyone hearing of this sword will recognize its wielder as Krug, the half orc barbarian.
Quixotico 11-02-06, 02:07 PM	In the game I'm running, I've designed a magical weapon, armor, or wonderous item for each character. Once they're high enough level to even "deserve" it, I'll drop in a small sidequest that centers around the intended character and, upon completion, will award the weapon or armor to that character. Which brings up something: While Fighter and Rogue can benefit greatly from a speciatly weapon, how do characters that fight mainly with magic benefit the same? Thus the armor or wonderous item. Anyone else have an idea on this?
NthDegree256 11-02-06, 02:17 PM	pro= some flavor for the pc, a powerful weapon, possible role playing oppertuinities. con=sunder, it can take away from the pc's vercitility if they only carry one weapon, sunder, rust monsters, rust monsters who use sunder, the question of how the pcs all happened to get signiture stuff one day out of the blue, enimies will get shiny new stuff too (for example a sword that helps them sunder), sunder, disarm, rust monsters whith sunder and a sword that helps them sunder , it would suck if you spent the time to create a 78 year history for a weapon, and it just get sundered,and last but not least watch out for monks? alot of the time they carry no weapons but their own boddies, and those are more signature then signature weapon. sorry if I went a little overboard with the sunder thing. now I am off to teach monk rust monsters to sunder. :rofl:
Platonix 11-02-06, 04:28 PM	Which brings up something: While Fighter and Rogue can benefit greatly from a speciatly weapon, how do characters that fight mainly with magic benefit the same? Thus the armor or wonderous item. Anyone else have an idea on this? There are several ways to make a weapon that a wizard would be glad for. For one thing, certain magic weapon special abilities are intended for a wizard-type character to use, such as the skillful property: A character wielding a skillful weapon always counts as proficient with it. Also, if the character's BAB is worse than that of a cleric of their character level, it improves to that value, but only for attacks made with the skillful weapon. This can be very handy for if your mage is ambushed in the evening with little to no spells left. Also, it's common to think of a staff as a wizard's equivalent of a "weapon", and some staves actually can function as quarterstaves. If the custom magic weapons you're granting are powerful enough to compare in price with some of the weaker magic staves, try giving the mages a staff or two. All that said, there's certainly nothing wrong with giving the fighter a +3 greatsword of making stuff die, giving the rogue twin daggers with tons of stealth enchantments, and giving the mage an ioun stone or two or even some pearls of power. Those might even be more welcome than the weapons or weaker staves, because they play to the mage's strengths and don't have charges.
Quixotico 11-02-06, 06:42 PM	Right. I take into considerationt he personality of the character, the player, and the character's strengths and weaknesses.
Garonak 11-02-06, 06:44 PM	You could also allow a houserule that says that robes can be given magic armor abilities or someting similar.
planetouched 11-04-06, 12:50 AM	Uneathed Arcana has some good material on signature weapons. They're assumed to make their way back their owner if lost and gain abilities as the player does. I think they work alot like familiars when you break them though, and there is some XP investment involved.
Birdman81 11-04-06, 06:09 PM	any ideas for some new weapons?
Masterfulks 11-04-06, 07:05 PM	Weapons are just tools. My character will always use the best one available to him. I could see having a special sword that has some heritage to it, but if it was that special he would probably keep it hidden.
Whisper_Swiftblade 11-04-06, 07:28 PM	any ideas for some new weapons? how about a staff that turns into a snake, a whip that silences anything it hits, a glassteal axe that's blade seeps with rust monster drool, a bow that creates the allution that what ever it's arrow hits is a coppy of it's weilder, a mace that can turn into a flail (and back), a great sword that has an illution that makes it look like a short sword, or a spear that funktions like an immovible rod (set for a charge and walk away).