Weapons of Legacy
Powerful Items for Your Character or Campaign
Weapons of legacy are items that seem much like ordinary magic items at first, but gradually reveal a rich history and astounding powers over time. Like the One Ring, they have a hidden power that reveals itself to the right wielder. In some ways, they are like artifacts (powerful, often imbued with unique powers, almost indestructible), but are connected with a specific history and require more effort to use.
An example is the sword Exordius. Superficially, it resembles an ancient longsword engraved with evil symbols. However, when it is wielded, glowing tendrils of soothing holy light stream from the blade; that is its omen, suggesting more than an ordinary longsword, even a magical one. In fact, for the casual wielder it is nothing more than a +1 longsword. However, the sword has an ancient legacy. Once an evil soul-stealing weapon, it was redeemed by the soul of a valiant paladin. In time, that soul transformed the blade into a mighty weapon against evil. Besides its usefulness as a +5 holy longsword, at its full power, it also grants protection from magic, and the good souls stolen by the blade in ancient times will actually sacrifice themselves to defeat death spells.
This is an attractive hardbound book, written in a light but clear and entertaining style. The pages are attractively bordered white pages with black text, accented usefully by color and illustrations.
How Weapons of Legacy Work
Basically, the item must first be identified as something special, probably by its omen, but possibly by powerful magic or simply by being recognized by reputation or first hand knowledge. A Knowledge (history) check reveals the rites needed to unlock its powers. Its powers come in three tiers, least, lesser, and greater, corresponding to 5th through 10th, 11th through 16th, and 17th through 20th level, respectively. Each rite costs a certain number of gold pieces, and grants a specific bonus feat (called Least Legacy, Lesser Legacy, and Greater Legacy) that unlocks that tier of abilities.
Unlocking abilities comes at a cost. Generally this means a reduction in base attack bonus, hit points, or saves, though sometimes it means sacrificing a few skill ranks or spell slots. While this might seem to weaken the wielder, this is the price that must be paid to gain magical abilities greater than those normally available to a character of a given level. In fact, since weapons of legacy often incorporate several functions into one handy, nigh-invulnerable package, the trade-off is nearly guaranteed to be advantageous to a character with the appropriate focus. For example, a magic weapon may grant saving throw bonuses or even enhancement bonuses to an ability score.
Generally speaking, weapons of legacy can be broken but not erased. They leave behind some shard that can be reforged. The only way to permanently destroy one is to perform its basic rite in reverse.
New weapons of legacy can also be founded by a PC. This is similar to unlocking, but carries with it an XP cost, and requires an item with a suitable history. For instance, using a weapon to slay a death knight or a powerful dragon in a desperate battle would qualify.
Don't Know Much About History
Legacy items are intended to serve two purposes. First, to alleviate the "golf bag" syndrome where characters are always looking for mightier, replacement gear as they gain levels. Second, they elevate found treasure to beyond "just another +1 longsword," giving items a history, a significance in the campaign, and the promise of power. The items themselves range highly in interest, from the evocative Exordius to the forgettable Bright Evening Star (I had to look that up), to the strange Bullbasher's Gauntlets. Some of the items, like the Flamecaster's Bolt, are downright silly with silly histories.
The book introduces a prestige class, Legacy Champion, who wields a weapon of legacy of some kind. The meat of the class is Knowledge (history) as a class skill and a few bonus feats drawn from the new feats related to weapons of legacy. They can also reconfigure the item with new powers, although care should be taken in doing so lest the item receive what is ultimately a downgrade in power. Apart from the 1st and 10th levels of the class, however, the legacy champion builds onto an existing class, granting whatever class features the character would otherwise have possessed. For instance, a fighter with three levels of Legacy Champion gains the feats he would have gained from two more fighter levels, while a wizard gains two caster levels and possibly a bonus feat, as usual for wizards. Since the Legacy Champion gains d8s for hit dice, medium base attack progression, and a good Will save, this is generally going to be an advantageous tradeoff, although not desirable in every way. For instance, a fighter loses only a handful of hit points and swaps one save for another, but a wizard gets a hit point and base attack bonus upgrade in exchange for losing two caster levels. For the most part, the Legacy Champion class is a reward for a character who takes up a weapon of legacy. However, I do not see it as a giveaway, since committing to a weapon of legacy constrains the character in some respects. Rather, the class seems almost unnecessary, since any character can take legacy-related feats, and it amounts to little more than trading some class abilities for the ability to reconfigure a weapon of legacy and gain more legacy-related feats.
Introducing a weapon of legacy might reduce the "golf bag of weapons" syndrome. However, it can also have the opposite effect. For instance, imagine a character has gained possession of Exordius. Now, Exordius is a fine weapon. But it's nearly useless against a lich's Damage Reduction. So in addition to Exordius, the character needs a good backup weapon, or even better, a shield of bashing. Forgive me for even mentioning the possibility, but another character might want to wield Exordius simultaneously with a holy avenger.
Discovering the weapon's legacy might present a challenge in itself. The Knowledge (history) checks often have very high DCs, and even with a remarkable omen, a weapon of legacy might not be recognized as such. A DM might have to go as far as saying, "There will be weapons of legacy in the campaign, so keep an eye out for them." While characters might travel from sage to sage in search of the next rite, that itself limits the role of weapons of legacy in the campaign. Particularly, if more than one item is involved in the party (and should not each PC have an equal chance of having one of their own?), this could result in a lot of frequent flyer miles being generated.
If the PCs try to beat the Knowledge DC themselves, several mechanical problems show up. First of all, the Knowledge skill, as written, doesn't allow retries. That means if the PCs try to identify the lore associated with a given item as 7th level characters, and fail, that's it. Knowledge checks are intended to serve as "what does your character know about this" checks, but the writers of this book seem to have taken them to be research skills. They are, however, not. No retries means you either look at it and know it, or you don't. The Knowledge skill says nothing about visiting ancient libraries and studying up or anything like that. It does not even offer retries for gaining ranks in Knowledge, although that might be a reasonable supposition. In fact, it is not clear to me, but it appears that when you study the item, you make a single check, and the highest DC you beat is how much you get. Thus, PCs must try very hard not to think too much about the item they are so curious about, lest they make and fail their Knowledge skill check before they have the thirty or so ranks in it you would want to make those last few checks.
Yes, I said thirty. Uncovering Exordius's final rite requires a Knowledge check, DC 31.
Missing, therefore, are the rules for how and when characters can go about making the Knowledge checks and what is required to earn another check.
Weapons of legacy are going to be a hard sell to players, simply because of the personal costs (BAB, hit points, spell slots, and so forth). Only a careful study of the progression charts and comparing the item to the PC Wealth by Level chart is going to convince a player that the weapon of legacy is actually a gain. Personal costs are also kind of complicated, especially when skill ranks are involved. 20th level characters not wanting to be saddled with -3 BAB are likely to finally break their bond with the weapon and grab that +5 holy longsword of speed. And what if a character ends up with two items of legacy? If the ranger of the group wants the weapon of legacy you placed for him in the loot but the fighter does not, the ranger might consider wielding both. But while a BAB reduction might seem like an acceptable sacrifice for one item, for two, it would be crippling. A ranger wielding too such weapons might get great bonus and abilities, but he might have trouble hitting.
Story-oriented players might balk at the huge gold costs entailed in unlocking weapon abilities. Why does it cost fiften thousand gold pieces to sit on a mountain top and meditate, for instance? Man, the price of incense has been going through the roof these days.
Founding a legacy item is a difficult proposition. For balance reasons, the designers ruled that only a +1 weapon or a minor magic item was eligible to become a new legacy item. However, for that to happen, it has to be used meaningfully in an encounter. Now, let me ask you, what is the likelihood of a +1 longsword being used to deliver a killing blow by a 15th level character to a dragon? This raises the paradox that these weapons, with their long history of heroic deeds, were mostly founded by low level characters in over their heads. It also contradicts the histories of some of the items. Exordius, for instance, was once a weapon of dread evil, not a simple +1 longsword. Others were forged with great powers, but faded in time until the powers were rediscovered by later wielders. Logically, you should be able to found a legacy with any weapon, and simply take the weapon's existing abilities as the first few powers, so that it does not lose any capabilities (unless wielded by someone else, I suppose).
The rules also do not offer a way to found something like their legacy versions of staves or wands. A simple wand of fireballs might have the dramatic potential to become a weapon of legacy, but it does not qualify, since its only function relies on expendable charges. If the DM house-ruled it, the first change would be the item transforming into a 3/day fireball thrower. Overall, founding a legacy could have used some more thought. Also, the high gold and XP costs associated with founding a legacy item might deter some players, and offend the sensibilities of others who believe slaying a mighty foe, if it was truly worthy of founding a new legacy, should not then require a trip to the Adventure-Mart for fifteen thousand gold pieces worth of ritual materials. Exordius, after all, was just plucked out of a tomb as a weapon of opportunity.
Alternatives
Probably the first thing you should ask yourself before buying this book is, what do I think it will add to my campaign?
Let me say that first of all, I have gotten a lot of mileage out of simply applying grandiose names to ordinary, albeit valuable, magical items. A +2 longsword could be known as the Sword of the Thrackian Kings, while a cloak of charisma +4 might be the Raiment of Garros.
This book highlights the risks of putting in out-level rewards, to which the weapons of legacy are supposedly an antidote. However, it is important to remember that the treasure guidelines in the DMG are just that, guidelines. A fun campaign can still be had if you drop the occasional powerful magic item in where it might not belong. Under previous editions of D&D, there is always the chance that a comparatively minor hoard could contain the revered holy avenger on a good roll. I would not give such a weapon to a 1st level character, but think about what would actually happen if a 7th level character ended up with a holy avender. First of all, it would not likely destroy the game. Despite its great powers, it is just one item, and the wielder is oh-so-fragile compared to a higher level character or monster. Second, the group will likely rally around its wielder, protecting both wielder and item from foes and potential thieves. Third, it will be a memorable turning point in the campaign. Acquiring such an item can drive a campaign for months and may be fodder for conversation forever after. Fourth, the characters may trounce some encounters in the short term, but in no time at all will be leveled up to a more appropriate level. Certainly, a 7th level character could wield a holy avender for a long time, probably for an entire non-epic adventuring career.
There is nothing wrong with occasionally letting a party in their low teens acquire an artifact, or a very valuable item (in the 200,000 gp range). Simply holding on to the item against other takers can be a significant challenge for a group of that level. Even if they get to enjoy the item with few attendant difficulties, it simply makes the campaign unique in some respect. A series of adventures could be written around acquiring an artifact such as the hand of Vecna or a holy weapon of tremendous power. Low level adventurers whisking about on a carpet of flying using their crystal ball with true seeing to ferret out evil is not the usual low level D&D campaign, but they still face about the same difficulties as always dealing with a group of orcs.
Some third party sourcebooks offer their own version of the legendary weapon or the magic item that levels with you. Unearthed Arcana presents a perfectly servicable version based on four prestige classes. Essentially, each class is tailored to a certain kind of character (fighting, skills, divine caster, or arcane caster). Rather than granting special class abilities, each class instead unlocks increasing powers for a particular item the character took it for. For instance, a fighter might take levels in the high base attack bonus class, tailored for, say, Exordius, and by the time he reached level 10, would have access to the powers he was going to. The only weakness of this simple but practical system is that it does not offer much guidance in the way of designing your own items, and advancement is fairly rigidly limited to ten level progressions.
Item familiars, in the same book, allow characters to invest their personal essence in items, essentially allowing them to make certain items personally significant to them. They gain some bonuses, in exchange for the risk of the item being stolen or destroyed.
The Complete Divine offers relics, demi-artifacts which can be unlocked by divine casters or characters with the True Faith feat. Like weapons of legacy, these relics often have unique abilities, but rank below artifacts, generally, in power.
Evaluation
There are some nice ideas in here. Many of the items qualify as filler, but that is to be expected. Different strokes for different folks. However, the weaknesses of the rules aspects are enough to rate a “Do Not Buy.” They are not terribly bad, but they are, unquestionably, bad. This is a book that needed an extra three months of development to come up with much better rules: ones that effectively address the campaign elements they are aiming for, work within the existing rules, and are attractive to players and DMs. The items and histories are not compelling enough to warrant purchasing the book in order to adapt to some other system.
Review Summary