Has anybody thought about magic weapons? Like the classic from D&D, the +1 Sword?

My first instinct was to give a boost dice per +1 but that will lead to dice pool bloat very quickly. Maybe reducing difficulty?

Or forget the notion of a general magic weapon mechanic and just add some great item qualities that the weapon type does not normally have?

To be honest if you are going to make a magic weapon I would suggest just putting a magic effect on the weapon and just make the effect activate on a "X" triumph or simply add a difficulty dice in all your combat rolls with the weapon under the pretense of needing a of energy when activating such abilities otherwise they remain dormant.

I say this but honestly I don't have the book so all I say is kinda moot if there is a way handle such a thing.

I'm going for something more dependable than being triggered with a triumph or even advantage.

If I'm taking the item quaility approach the qualities might have to be triggered with advantage anyway depending on the quality.

What about a ranked "Attunement" talent? Each rank unlocking additional abilities/qualities?

A +1 weapon on D&D does +1 to hit and +1 damage. The simplest way to model that in Genesys would be to add a descriptor like Enchanted or Magic, followed by +X.

“When a weapon is used for an attack action, it generates one additional for each rank of the Magic quality.”

Or something like that.

Alternately, you could have each + upgrade the ability of the roll by one.

Yeah, maybe this is the best and simplest way of doing it. But it`'s also the most boring one

The Attunement idea might be too expensive considering everyone with a magic weapon (read: everyone) would need to take all ranks just to use all of its abilities.

Qualities are a mechanical means to an end. If a magic sword is keener than others, it just has more ranks in Pierce or Vicious. Or if it burns with a fiery blaze, it simply has the Burn quality. And so on.

There are other effects that can be used. A magic weapon that fires blasts of energy can be "suffer 2 strain and make an attack at medium range" or similar.

I think that's the best way of doing it. Just create a weapon with extra or higher ranked qualities. Maybe only on certain conditions ,against undead or something similar.

That's another way to tackle the situation, restrictions the use of magic weapons to a corresponding level of skill or maybe talent.

If I wanted to model a +1 sword, I would probably give +1 pierce (or give it the pierce 1 quality if it didn't already have it.)

+1 success seems generally too good.

For an equivalent to a "+1" weapon, I would use the Superior rules for weapons from Star Wars: +1 damage, +1 automatic advantage on combat checks. For armour, +1 Soak, -1 encumbrance. For higher "plusses", I would add more fixed damage (or more Soak), but not more advantages. Armour encumbrance is largely irrelevant unless you're carrying it in your arms. But I would never go higher than +3 damage, and probably not higher than +2 additional Soak, unless they are regularly fighting enemies that deal out double-digit damage. After +1, you're better off adding qualities than more fixed bonuses.

1 hour ago, siabrac said:

Has anybody thought about magic weapons? Like the classic from D&D, the +1 Sword?

My first instinct was to give a boost dice per +1 but that will lead to dice pool bloat very quickly. Maybe reducing difficulty?

Or forget the notion of a general magic weapon mechanic and just add some great item qualities that the weapon type does not normally have?

Basically what others have said before.

Regular weapons just have a damage amount, say a longsword having +1 damage.

Magic +1 Longswords would be Longswords that add an automatic success to the dice pool in addition to the normal effects of a Longsword (slashing damage, etc).

25 minutes ago, GroggyGolem said:

Basically what others have said before.

Regular weapons just have a damage amount, say a longsword having +1 damage.

Magic +1 Longswords would be Longswords that add an automatic success to the dice pool in addition to the normal effects of a Longsword (slashing damage, etc).

I think the +success is very much in keeping with the classic d20 +X magic weapon (ones that don't do other fancy stuff like lop off heads or burst into flames). Extra successes increase the chance of hitting and also do more net damage. It's also a simple way of handling the weapon.

That said, I surely wouldn't let the scale range a full +1 to +5, nor would any magic weapon be considered trivial. Genesys doesn't rely upon gear itemization like d20 does (and certainly not to the ludicrous level that Starfinder takes gear).

39 minutes ago, Dragonshadow said:

I think the +success is very much in keeping with the classic d20 +X magic weapon (ones that don't do other fancy stuff like lop off heads or burst into flames). Extra successes increase the chance of hitting and also do more net damage. It's also a simple way of handling the weapon.

That said, I surely wouldn't let the scale range a full +1 to +5, nor would any magic weapon be considered trivial. Genesys doesn't rely upon gear itemization like d20 does (and certainly not to the ludicrous level that Starfinder takes gear).

Which is essentially why I suggested using Pierce. If feels more scalable.

I think the ideas above are sufficient for "generic" +1/2/3 magic weapons.

You might want to consider having all magic weapons feel a bit more special. For example, you can have a Flametongue sword with the burn property. Or arrows with the Accuracy property. Or a mace that can do a magic attack vs undead. You could have spells "bound" into the item, so they can cast a given spell once/day for free. The sky's really the limit, and you can make a lot of interesting items vs the standard generic ones.

If you do go this route, there should be a lot less magic items than in a standard D&D campaign. Some people like a lot of small, continuous upgrades, while others are happy for rare, big upgrades. It will really depend on your players.

Don't forget that gear can also have talents. A sword that grants you +1 Parry, or a bow that grants Deadeye, or a magic cloak that grants +1 Dodge.

I find this system to be much easier to hand out enchanted items than D&D. There are the baseline stats to all the mundane weapons, altering any of them positively and calling it magic is easy. There are a number of weapon effects that could be added to any weapon and call it magic. There are Talents that can be added to a weapon and call it magic. So easy imo.

Thanks for all the input guys, you're the best!

Shield Breaker the warhammer adds Pierce 3 and Sunder

Flame Fang the sword adds Burn 3

Dark Ice the icy enchanted longsword adds Ensnare 2

The Ghost Blade adds ranks of Parry equal to Cunning

etc etc

I'm porting over the crafting system from star wars, and enchanting is just another type of crafting. Going to make magic items require attunement so that someone can't just load up. crafting it requires the base item + materials cost based on the type of item. then advantages/triumph can be spent on any number of "enhancements", like giving it the Burn quality or increasing damage or defense, giving boosts to skills, etc, spending 2 strain to activate "invisibility", etc.

This thread is great. I am going to be running a campaign set in Skyrim and enchantment is a part of that. This has given me some good ideas about how to go about it.

Here is what I said in another thread before the book actually came out

Quote

Honestly, I would want to completely retool magic items so that each one has more flavor. One of the biggest problems with D&D from a story telling perspective is, IMO, the way it reduces magic to just raw mechanical bonuses most of the time. But if one magic weapon adds successes to represent its razor sharpness, and another adds difficulty to the opponent because it moves to parry on its own, and a third can heal the wielder by spending a triumph to represent soul/life sucking, and yet another adds advantage because it is a lucky blade, that all just adds so much more to a setting than +1 longsword, +3 shortsword...

with the book out now, definitely add in using the various qualities like others have said.

I think you could make just about any magic weapon with this system:

Callandor: Damage 2, Crit 4, Melee (Heavy), Decrease the Difficulty by 4 of any Arcane Magic Skill check while wielding Callandor, but also add an Despair to the results.

My inclination is to stay away from trying to mimic '+x' weapons: +1 swords are boring . They were a necessary part of d20 systems, but I would much rather have interesting, unique items to give out.

Genesys provides so many levers to tweak on a weapon to make it more interesting than simply +1 attack/damage. Increase base damage, reduce crit rating, add Vicious or Pierce, add some additional weapon qualities, a Boost die or two...or go into something more unusual like incorporating spells into the equipment.

Dragonslayer

Sword: Melee (light), damage +3, Crit 2, Defensive 1, Superior. When this sword is used to attack a dragon, it gains Pierce 5, Vicious 2, and Accurate 2.

Mirror Shield

Shield, etc.... If an opponent makes a magic attack against the wielder of this shield and generates 3 Threat, or 1 Despair on the check, after the check is resolved, the caster suffers a hit dealing damage equal to the total damage of the attack. (Just uses the Reflection additional effect from the Barrier spell). Maybe add some additional cost for the bearer of the shield...flip a story point, or spend a couple strain.

I could definitely see adding some specific spell effects to weapons or armor (or other items) that are usable once per encounter, or once per session, and/or that require flipping a story point to activate.

Or go completely "off the rails" and incorporate something totally unique. Dragonslayer could gain, "Earthbound 2: On a successful attack, you may spend a Triumph to cause the struck dragon to fall to the ground, and be unable to fly for 2 rounds."

2 hours ago, yeti1069 said:

My inclination is to stay away from trying to mimic '+x' weapons: +1 swords are boring . They were a necessary part of d20 systems, but I would much rather have interesting, unique items to give out.

Genesys provides so many levers to tweak on a weapon to make it more interesting than simply +1 attack/damage. Increase base damage, reduce crit rating, add Vicious or Pierce, add some additional weapon qualities, a Boost die or two...or go into something more unusual like incorporating spells into the equipment.

Dragonslayer

Sword: Melee (light), damage +3, Crit 2, Defensive 1, Superior. When this sword is used to attack a dragon, it gains Pierce 5, Vicious 2, and Accurate 2.

Mirror Shield

Shield, etc.... If an opponent makes a magic attack against the wielder of this shield and generates 3 Threat, or 1 Despair on the check, after the check is resolved, the caster suffers a hit dealing damage equal to the total damage of the attack. (Just uses the Reflection additional effect from the Barrier spell). Maybe add some additional cost for the bearer of the shield...flip a story point, or spend a couple strain.

I could definitely see adding some specific spell effects to weapons or armor (or other items) that are usable once per encounter, or once per session, and/or that require flipping a story point to activate.

Or go completely "off the rails" and incorporate something totally unique. Dragonslayer could gain, "Earthbound 2: On a successful attack, you may spend a Triumph to cause the struck dragon to fall to the ground, and be unable to fly for 2 rounds."

This. Take advantage of the narrative aspect of this game. Anyone can add a boost die or increase damage. Make magic items unique and interesting!

14 hours ago, ESP77 said:

This. Take advantage of the narrative aspect of this game. Anyone can add a boost die or increase damage. Make magic items unique and interesting!

That's pretty much exactly where I went with it with my Edge of the Realm conversion a couple years back, but he did ask about a +1 Longsword. *chuckles*