So I'm going to be GMing a campaign of Terrinoth soon, and the details of this campaign are... irrelevant by and large for the purposes of this thread. Suffice to say I really like the occasional combat, so I put them in, but by and large my campaign's focus will be other. Probably a large social focus, social combat, intrigue, etc.

Now the question I have: Early on(around 3rd session) an NPC is going to give the PCs each a magic item / rune bound shard of their choosing (the choice is meta, he only has one for each PC, but he chose with their specific needs/wants in mind when acquiring them ) Now that is going to happen, but my question is what would happen to game balance if he game them two?

Personally I think thematically one is fine, but two would also be fine, I just want to know if game balance will be destroyed if they get two each, or can the system handle this?

I'm especially interested in the opinions of people who have already played the game despite it being new.

Thanks

Game balance is whatever you make of it. I doubt it will brake your game. But the runeshards in the Terrinoth book are quite powerfull on their own or as implements. As are the magic items listed in the book.

You might want to consider giving out a item attachment instead found on page 106-107 in the Terrinoth book. The runes there are very thematic when used on weapons and armor. You can also use weapons or armor made of special materials or implements for casters.

But there is no set magic scale per xp level or game balance other then what you put in your games/encounters. You are givin your pc's some more options though early on in the game.

But take something like the arcane bolt rune - any person can activate it and use it as a weapon (Ranged; Damage 8; Critical 3; Range [Medium]; Auto-fire). Thats a pretty powerful weapon in a fantasy setting but not game breaking i think.

Anyways something to consider its easier to give items then take them away and if you start small special materials, item attachments and lesser runes you can always go big later. Unless its a focal point for your adventure. The raiders of the lost shards or something. So consider that. What story do the items tell ? Do they have a shared history ? are they destined for each of the pc in someway?

Good luck in your campaign.

Thanks those are some interesting ideas, but yes it is a focal point in the campaign and the equivalent will never occur again narratively. I think I have an idea of what I might do instead of a second magic item, but then again, I prefer certain things to be done in game. If you don't think it will break the game, then well I still have time to think about it. It is less what is ballanced, and more what is appropriate, I don't want to flood them with magic items and find that they will never want for another magic item.

I dunno.

I'd say it depends on what the benefits of the magic items are. If they're primarily useful in combat, then it won't be a problem since that's not a focus for the campaign. If they have a big impact on social checks (helping with strain recovery or decreasing difficulty to cast Augment, for example) I'd stick with just 1 item. Another option is to just create your own items that do exactly what you want them to, no more no less.

I think what I'll do is give two items, but review the ones they choose, and veto any that I feel might break the game.