Tuesday, August 23, 2011

An alternate way to generate magic weapons


LinkThis is a fun way to pillage all those pesky "new edition" Feats for use in your old-school game. Simply roll first on the weapon table, then roll on the corresponding Feat table (checking the online SRD for specifics if you're not generally familiar with what the Feat does, and modifying it for your system of choice), and presto, you've got a near-endless supply of interesting magic weapons, such as the Halberd of Cleaving, or the Mace of Toughness. Generate your own tables for wands or clothing, etc, and Feats that mesh well with them!

Table 1 Weapon* (3d12)
3. Long Sword
4. Axe
5. Crossbow, light (table 3)
6. Halberd
7. Spear (table 2 50%, table 3 50%)
8. Pike
9. Knife (table 2 75%, Table 3 25%)
10. Mace
11. Sling (table 3)
12. Scimitar
13. Short Sword
14. Flail
15. Hammer
16. Greatsword
17. Scythe
18. Battle Axe
19. Long Bow (table 3)
20. Short Bow (table 3)
21. Dart (table 3)
22. Stone Axe
23. Flint Knife
24. Dagger (table 2 50%, table 3 50%)
25. Javelin (table 3)
26. Lance
27. Pick
28. Club
29. Kopesh Sword
30. Trident
31. Crossbow, heavy (table 3)
32. Broad Sword
33. Morning Star
34. Glaive
35. Guisarme
36. Shield

Table 2 Feats (2d10)
2. Tripping
3. Dodge
4. Toughness
5. Alertness
6. Iron Will
7. Lightning Reflexes
8. Arcane Strike
9. Blind Fighting
10. Bull rush
11. Cleave
12. Power Attack
13. Weapon Finesse
14. Sunder
15. Critical, Stunning
16. Critical, Bleeding
17. Disarming
18. Spellbreaker
19. Improved Initiative
20. Quick Draw

Table 3 ranged weapon Feats (1d8)
1. Rapid Reload
2. Point Blank Shot
3. Far Shot
4. Many Shot
5. Quick Draw
6. Improved Initiative
7. Critical, Crippling
8. Deadly Aim

*Roll Percentiles for item strength
01-24 - no plus, but magical
25-68 - +1
69-84 - +2
84-94- +3
95-99 - +1, roll two Feats
00 - +2, roll two Feats


10 comments:

  1. That's an excellent way of creating magic items. I shall use this in my next dungeon build.

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  2. I do like interesting magical items that are more than just a flat bonus to a die roll. Powers make them interesting, more memorable and more fun.

    But one of the things I try to do in my game is allow players to try feat-like moves. With C&C, I've got a handy way to adjudicate them, but any old school DM could respond to the player with a die roll needed to 'do something cool' when needed. Does having an item that does 'something cool' disable the player from trying that same cool move when they want?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Straight to Links to Wisdom - under treasure magic weapons.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice idea, but table 1 needs the weapons' positions swapped around. 3d12 produces a normal distribution, which means you're going to get more of the stuff in the middle of the table and less of the stuff at the top or bottom. Nearly half of your results will be in the 16-22 range, which includes uncommon weapons like scythes, darts, and stone axes.

    For realism, i'd recommend putting common weapons (long sword, spear, short bow, etc.) in the middle of the table and building up/down from there. If you want to be nice to your players, put the weapons they like to use in the middle of the table.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. I should also note that table 2 will see the same issue, so you might want to find 1 more feat and just make it a straight d20 or think about the positioning in that one too.

    I'm not trying to be pedantic here - i understand that these tables are more intended to inspire people to generate their own versions, but this is something they should keep in mind when doing so. If you use tables like these heavily, a simple understanding of how the probabilities work out can make a BIG difference.

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  7. @Matthew - good point. I might actually prefer the stranger weapons being more prevalent though... food for thought.

    ReplyDelete

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