Last week the third ‘Dungeons on Demand’ kickstarter ended successfully, and the backer rewards were sent out the day the campaign finished! (I’ll do a full review of it once I’ve had chance to look through it all)
One of the rewards to the campaign was the ‘Weapons of Legacy’ supplement, which as a cunning reader-of-post-titles you will have noticed is the subject of my review.
It’s available on DriveThruRPG now.
Magic items in D&D are brilliant. Who doesn’t love putting a bag of tricks (free weasels to throw!) or decanter of endless mayonnaise to good use? But weapons are difficult to get right in 5e. The bonuses are all-or-nothing, and a +1 longsword is nice to have, but it’s a bit dull. Weapons of Legacy attempts to fix that.
Weapons with Potential
The weapons within this supplement start out fairly basic: their attacks count as magical, but give no real bonus beyond perhaps an advantage with certain skills. But as you gain levels you may unlock the potential in the weapon, so that it grants new bonuses or abilities.
It’s a great mechanic that allows items to be scaled with party level, and (more importantly in my opinion) encourages the players to hang on to the weapons and make use of them throughout their careers.
What really sets the weapons apart however, is their stories.
Weapons with Personality
Unlocking the power of the weapons isn’t as simple as gaining levels. Each weapon has its own personality, and has other conditions before the power is gained. For example the sword ‘Viper’s Kiss’ as a beautiful deadly rapier that needs attention, praise, and to be used in impressive, showy ways.
How much you decide to enforce the ‘extra’ requirements is of course up to you, but I think it really adds to the roleplaying potential, as it forces players to acts in the interest of their weapons.
My Thoughts
Its probably clear from this short review that I like this supplement. It’s short and to the point, but has plenty of usable content, and some great ideas. Best of all, it gives a GM plenty of inspiration to change the content of the supplement, or create their own items entirely. I bloody love it.
This supplement really has inspired me. I think I’ll create a few of my own ‘weapons of legacy’.
the murder nerds 