Creating, Acquiring, and Using Magic Items

[FancyCreb]

Hi there everyone. Short-time lurker, first time poster. I am planning on running not one but two Hero System 6e campaigns in the coming months, both of them in different high fantasy settings. Something I'd like to be able to do in them is allow my players to acquire magic items much like they might expect to in Dungeons & Dragons, while trying to keep in mind the difference in feel caused by using the Hero System (or any points-based power-based system, for that matter)

 

I've read through the item creation rules in Fantasy Hero, and the idea of just paying character points to get a new power in the form of a magic item seems redundant. On the other hand, letting players just accumulate magic items without end seems not in the spirit of the system.

 

So, the compromise I've come up with (that I'd like feedback on) is an attunement system, in the form of players buying a VPP with some heavy limitations, (Only to wield magic items, Can only be changed after resting for at least an hour) and then only being able to use some combination of items if they can fit in the framework.

 

Additionally, points for creating magic items would likely come primarily from materials, as described in Fantasy Hero. I might let a player who wants to become an artificer follow the alternate enchanted item creation rules, but any creation they make would still need to be fit in a framework. Any thoughts?

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

This really depends on how much magic gear you intend for your PCs to have.  Are you going for D&D style christmas trees where everything on their person is magic in some way?  Are you going for a more subdued approach where each character will have two or three magic items that become central to their character?  Does the idea of having a bag-o-magic that gets dug through to find "that one thing" bother your sensibilities? 

[FancyCreb]

I'm imagining something in the vein of 5e D&D, where characters have one or two signature items (these would likely be things they just pay points for as normal), a handful of miscellaneous tools they swap out based on what they think they'll be doing that day (represented by the VPP), and then some unknown body of consumables that they can use as one-time solutions to problems, which I guess just anyone could use without paying points?

 

The idea of someone rooting around in a magic bag for a Potion of Water Breathing seems fine to me. Looking at seven swords in the middle of combat to pick the one that seems like it would do the most damage to an enemy ooze, less so.

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

Then it sounds to me like you've got a good system that should serve you well! 

[PhilFleischmann]

You could also do this with item slots, like they do in some video games:  Everybody can have one magic weapon, one magic suit of armor, one magic hat or helmet, etc., for as many slots as you deem appropriate, one for each body part capable of wearing it.  And of course minor items, like one-use potions, wouldn't matter for this - you can have as many as you can conveniently carry.

[tombrown803]

You might want to look at Resource Points in the Advanced Player's Guide for an alternative to VPPs, depending on how you see magic items being built. For example, a Staff of Fire could have 5 attack powers most effectively bought in a multipower. By RAW you can't do that in a VPP, but you could in a Resource pool

 

[Stonewild]

Opps, this is old tread.  sorry

 

I'm doing some thing similar for a Traveller Star Hero Champions Magic mash up.   It is hero level but with limited Psionics and "Ancient bracers", low power stuff working not terrible unlike someone's green ring.  I started with VPP and other such power point savers, but I finally decided on treating the bracers like equipment, where the characters buy skills for each power they want to learn to use from the bracer as an activation roll, and also charging them endurance.  I list the powers individually in the equipment and they  used skill rolls to use the powers.  This is mainly because I'm too lazy to keep with all the VPP and  multipower complications. Considering all the limitation is sorta works by swapping skill costs for power costs. 

 

I'd like to hear how your game powers/ items work out? 

 

Ganulph II aka the phantom planet has reappeared.  A jewel in the center of the Eygrn Subsector.  On Ganulph II Steam Powered Ocean Liners, Mystery, Horror, Wizards, Mutants, Ancient Tech co-existing on one little bubble of spacetime with Imperium Merchant Corporations increasing their Galactic profit as fast as they can.         

 

 

[Sean Waters]

On 2/13/2020 at 9:06 PM, FancyCreb said:

Hi there everyone. Short-time lurker, first time poster.

 

Welcome and well done!

[Christopher R Taylor]

I go through this concept in pretty extensive detail in my Jolrhos Field Guide, but here are some highlights:

 

Characters can build their own magical items using character points, but the points are never lost.  Consider them a sort of initial investment, you have to be this tall to buy that item.  Once you buy it, either you get the points back when it is destroyed, or a similar item, or can invest the same points in building something new.  Certain substances and places have "matching" points, that is, for each 1 point you spend, they contribute 1 point, up to a maximum amount.  This helps keep the cost down slightly, in exchange for risk and cost of game money.

 

Items should be considered for point value when comparing characters.  Joe the barbarian is not as powerful as Jane the barbarian who has the Brutal Axe of Decapitating even if otherwise their builds are the same.  So if you let someone have an item, be aware that others will not be equivalent in power.  Few other games pay heed to this like Hero does, and its a bit help for the GM to have a more quantifiable, clear read on relative power.

[Chris Goodwin]

I've been considering having characters pay for items at 1/5 their Real Point cost, whether they find or craft the items.  Not something that's going to break the bank at character creation or afterward.

[Sketchpad]

Sorry for the threadomancy, but I've been kicking around a few ideas lately. 

 

On 11/27/2021 at 2:48 PM, Chris Goodwin said:

I've been considering having characters pay for items at 1/5 their Real Point cost, whether they find or craft the items.  Not something that's going to break the bank at character creation or afterward.

 

On 2/14/2020 at 6:37 PM, tombrown803 said:

You might want to look at Resource Points in the Advanced Player's Guide for an alternative to VPPs, depending on how you see magic items being built. For example, a Staff of Fire could have 5 attack powers most effectively bought in a multipower. By RAW you can't do that in a VPP, but you could in a Resource pool

 

 

Working on the concepts that Chris and Tom both kind of introduced, I was thinking about using Resource/Equipment Points to as a kind of "Attunement Points" for magic items. So heroes can buy normal items, such as swords, armor and the like, with coin and no additional cost. But to hold on to magical items, a player would have to use "Attunement Points" to pay for them in the same way Resource Points work (so 1/5 of the cost). As an example:

 

Smitty the Halfling Thief buys a pair of picks, a dagger and some leather armor at the beginning of the game. He pays 12sp for the lot of it. A few months later, he comes across a magic dagger worth 25 RC and wants to "attune" himself to it. He spends 5 points to gain 25 Attunement Points and can now use the dagger. If he didn't have the points, he could use it as a normal dagger until he could attune to it. 

 

Thoughts? Would you allow something like this? Is there a better way of doing it?