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Magic Items as Characters |  |
I’m a big fan of Iron Heroes, and also of Eberron. Neither of these admissions should come as any surprise to those who have read previous posts on this blog. I like both of these products so much, that I’m using _Iron Heroes_ as a ruleset for an _Eberron_ campaign, which I believe I’ve also mentioned in the past. I mention all of this again as context. One thing that I really like about _Iron Heroes_ is that it treats magic–both spells and items–as dangerous and unpredictable. The reason I like this idea is that I think it puts the magic back in magic. To me (and, I’m sure, to many others), D&D magic has become so codified and formulaic that it’s just another system, like grappling or feats. It’s not mysterious, and it’s not magical. Now, that being said, the _Iron Heroes_ magic system is certainly not without its faults, and the magic item system presented in _Mastering Iron Heroes_ is a little too similar to D&D’s for my taste. Sure, there are drawbacks to using magic items, but a lot of the abilities are the same. Not only that, but rationalizing extremely dangerous spellcasting and magic items in a high-magic setting like _Eberron_ is somewhat difficult. So, I’ve done a couple of things to resolve this problem.
The first thing I did was to lift the original magic system right out of _Iron Heroes_, and replace it with the system presented in EN Publishing’s excellent Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth. It’s a more flexible system that allows magic to be somewhat unpredictable and somewhat dangerous, but still common enough for _Eberron_ games. That didn’t really solve my magic item problem, though.
The thing about _Iron Heroes_ is that the PCs are powerful. Really powerful. They’re more powerful than their D&D counterparts, and the main reason for this is that it’s assumed that they’re not decked out in +5 full plate and mighty cleaving keen vorpal swords. The only gear they’re assumed to have is a weapon, and maybe some armor. So, how do you make magic items incredibly common, as they are in _Eberron_, but keep them from making _Iron Heroes_ characters way too powerful? My solution is simple. In _Eberron_, low-level magic is common, but high-level magic is still powerful, mysterious, and rare. What WotC means by this is that anything above 3rd level is pretty rare, but lower-level stuff is relatively easy to come by. My interpretation, for the puproses of my campaign, differs somewhat.
There are basically two kinds of magic: the first is “utility magic”, while the second is the really potent stuff. Utility magic is a way of describing the kinds of magic items that NPCs use to make their lives easier; this stuff is all over the place. Sharn still exists, flying coaches and all. House Sivis message stones can be used for a fee, and House Jorasco has a variety of healing charms that will make you feel better. However, it’s still pretty expensive. Not only that, but it’s generally not that useful in combat. Thus, it doesn’t really present much of a balance issue. Utility magic acts more like a plot device than an actual magic item system; it’s a way for me to make the world distinctly “Eberronian”. However, the potent stuff–magic swords, staves that hurl fireballs, rings that turn you invisible, and so forth–is really, really rare, and usually really, really old. These are the things that it takes a very powerful individual to create, and require a pretty significant investiture of life force; thus, they don’t get made that often. That said, they’re not unheard of.
I plan on allowing the PCs to have some of the really powerful stuff (heck, they already have an airship), but I’m not going to give it away like candy. They won’t get a +2 sword; they’ll get the Blade of Langnarn, forged by a great hobgoblin sorcerer for the warlord Langnarn, used to unite the tribes of Dhakhaan long ago. It may only be a +2 sword, but it’ll seem special because it’s got history. I like the idea of magic items being characters in their own right. I also like the idea of items developing over time. Perhaps that sword has a few dormant powers (or curses) that the PCs discover over time. Perhaps, because of its status as a powerful symbol of conquest and unity for the goblinoids, the Dhakhaani tribes want it back. And so forth.
