Introduction

This is a system intended for players to create and upgrade their own weapons and personalize them throughout a campaign. This is intended to replace the base +1, +2, +3 system. Instead the properties of a weapon are now based on the material that the weapon is made out of with rarer materials giving a higher hit chance and weapons made of makeshift materials will be more difficult to hit with in turn. This is meant to give players a sense of progression with their weapons as they explore and become stronger.

How it Works

This system is built on two main concepts. First that the material a weapon is made from determines its base stats. Secondly that a player may make trade offs to increase certain factors of their weaponry. Each blade style that the player chooses has some form of benefit and detriment to it, along with an edge hone to farther modify the blade. Another core concept is that no one choice is truly superior, in order to empower the player's chosen style.

Enchantments

Enchantment implementation is left up to the players and GMs decision. Personally I like enchantments to effect the weapon unique ways. Rather than a weapon simply deal magical damage, it will deal a specific type of damage now and its visual characteristics change along with it (ex. a weapon that deals ice damage will have is blade turn crystalline and emit a chill around it, or a blade the deals psychic damage becomes ethereal and passes through a target not physically harming them but making their mind believe they are being gravely wounded.) Enchantments in this system should not simply stack damage but create truly unique items. The amount of enchantments a weapon can hold is up to the players and the GM as well. Whether you want a weapon to only ever be able to have a single enchantment no matter what or to have weapons made of rarer materials be able to have more than one enchantment though this can become incredibly powerful.

Implementation into Your World

There are several ways to have the components of this system implemented into your world. The easiest is to have different smiths be able to craft different blades and have access to different materials. The smiths of a capital city for example would have access to much higher quality materials than the smith of a remote village. You can pick out some of the more powerful and unique items and have schematics and blueprints placed in explorable areas throughout your world. Perhaps an ancient civilization had mastered Damascus smithing and you recover that knowledge to take to a smith for them to learn.

Maybe there is a single legendary smith in the world who has not been seen in so long that they are thought to be a myth that knows the secrets of smithing. I personally like to have smiths of different skill levels knowing different blade styles and how to work with different materials based on their geographic location in the world. With the more unique and rare materials in the tier 4 a 5 categories requiring the knowledge to be found taken to a smith of adequate skill level and the players investing resources for the smith the learn the method and provide it to them (at a discount if they help provide materials for the smith to learn). Ultimately though it is up to the Players and GM to figure out the way that they want to implement this system in their own worlds.

Guidelines

Each weapon is this system is made up of three components; the material, the blade style, and the edge hone. When building a weapon select one item from each category. The only exceptions to this rule are specifically stated within the tables you choose from. From there you simply pay for the item you have chosen based on the pieces you have chosen and the weapon is yours!

Pricing

Pricing is based on the weapons type selected, the price of the raw material, and how much the individual smith charges for their time and skills.