Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fortebraccio 11-27-06, 12:03 PM	Premise: Core (PHb, DMg, MM) material only. Some people complain about non-casters becoming more and more lackluster at higher level, to the point that their magical items become more relevant than their personal abilities. This is aggravated by items that replicate class abilities and feats, such as keen/mighty cleaving weapons, rings of evasion etc. I'm toying with a variant magic item system, in which feats and class abilities synegize with an item's magical properties. Some examples: Ring of Evasion: If the wearer already has the Evasion ability, he is granted Improved Evasion, if he already has the Improved Evasion ability, he gains a +4 bonus to Reflex Saves Keen: If the wielder has the Improved Critical feat, he gains a +4 bonus to confirmation rolls. Mighty Cleaving: If the wielder has the Great Cleave feat, any successful extra attack granted by the feat force the target to resist a special trip attempt (DC equal to the attack roll) or fall prone. Knocking down targets in such a way counts as downing them for the purpose of getting extra attacks. Speed: If the wielder has the Whirlwind Attack feat, he may use it as a standard action. Bane: If the designated foe of a Bane weapon is also a favored enemy of its wielder, the weapon's effective Enhancement bonus is +2, +1/2 the damage bonus granted by the Favored Enemy ability. Defending: If the wielder of a Defending weapon has the Combat Expertise feat, he may transfer the weapon's ehnancement bonus to his AC at a 1:2 ratio. Anarchic: If the wielder of an Anarchic weapon is Chaotic, he is considered under the effect of a Protection from Law spell. Axiomatic: If the wielder of an Axiomatic weapon is Lawful, he is considered under the effect of a Protection from Chaos spell. Holy: If the wielder of a Holy weapon is good, he is considered under the effect of a Protection from Evil spell. When used to Smite Evil, a Holy weapon deals 1 extra damage for every two Paladin levels of the wielder. Unholy: If the wielder of an Unholy weapon is Evil, he is considered under the effect of a Protection from Good spell. When used to Smite Good, an Unholy weapon deals 1 extra damage for every Blackguard level of the wielder. What other synergies can you come up with?
Thought 11-27-06, 02:56 PM	While I don't have any synergies that I can think of off the top of my head, I do like your idea. However, there might be a problem regarding the "wealth" of each item. A Keen sword in the hands of someone with Improved Critical is worth a bit more than a Keen sword in anyone else’s hands. As such, characters who have a lot of synergies would essentially be above the wealth curve (in real wealth as it translates to character power, mind). Perhaps a variant to your synergy idea would be to have only a handful of synergies allowed at any given time (or perhaps have requirements for activating these synergies, much like the requirements for the feats in the first place, but automatically received once the requirements are met).
stargate525 11-27-06, 07:34 PM	Holy + Smite Evil? A characer with smite evil and a holy weapon may expend a use of smite evil to double the bonus with the holy weapon (to 4d6) for one attack.
Fortebraccio 11-27-06, 07:53 PM	As such, characters who have a lot of synergies would essentially be above the wealth curve (in real wealth as it translates to character power, mind). True, and to some extent is what I'd like to achieve: making non casters a little more powerful, and at the same time introducing the notion that the gear is important, but it needs a special character to show its true potential.
Fortebraccio 11-27-06, 07:57 PM	A characer with smite evil and a holy weapon may expend a use of smite evil to double the bonus with the holy weapon (to 4d6) for one attack. I immediately thought about it, but I think that Paladin levels should matter...otherwise a Paladin 2/Whatelse X could enjoy the same benefits of a dedicated Paladin.
sabrewolf 11-28-06, 11:34 AM	Amazing.. Amusing... Quite a thing.... While not what you did and more cinematic-ly, i did something like that in my game, giving each player stones to be used in one iten (or a pair) that had a magic they knew, plus some power they knew not (at first) and channeled some class feature they had for greater effect: - For the samurai: Swords of air that had +1d6 of magical/slashing damage and released a cone effect when used with kiai (yeah, i know, too like inuyasha´s tensaiga). - For the werebear barbarian: Claws of fire that added +1d6 of fire damage and (a) became flaming burst and doubled effect and duration of rage when he raged (becoming frenzyed); but shall become (b) improove the claw damage on die step and give some stat bonus from the bear toten. (b) will replace (a) if he quests for a way not to fall to rage so much and search for another way to channel the claw´s energies. - For the elf wizard/blade-singer: An unique iten (one of a set) related to shadow energies was converted to light energy and it´s protection properties was also adjusted as well. Since the elf had spellfire and it can be used to heal, i ruled the extra power (a healing wave) from the stones would be activated burning charges from the spellfire and channeling through the wings. - For the bard: A great longbow with piercing wind damage.. but since she stoped playing i needed not think of a seccondary effect nor how to activate it. - - - It was meant as introduction to another cosmology and spellcasting belief that was based around the elements, and with mana instead of slots. It was placed across the seas from the sword coast, on a land of "furries" (anthropomorph) that replaced the original untamed lands on FR. ...But since the group went there for a quest and returned to Faerum right after - to finish a left-behind quest - the itens (and general knowledge) were all they got.... A pitty. Maybe on another time i can develop more about this.