Magic Items

Magic items in Legend are special tools that can only be used by characters of sufficient power. A character must reach a certain level to be capableof wielding particularly powerful items, and can only use so many at any given time. One may own many magic items, of course; a particularly powerful character may have an armory full of magical weapons, and may change his or her choice of magic items at the end of any [Scene] in which that collection of items is readily accessible. Even in games where items are less accessible, GMs should ensure that player characters can acquire powerful items as they become capable of using them. As always in Legend, your game will work best when your group works together to create an enjoyable game.

Gaining and Choosing Magic Items

The most straightforward way to gain additional items is to acquire them in-game as encounter rewards or quest rewards. All GMs should ensure that, at a minimum, the players can acquire enough items in this way to fill all available magic item slots in their item progressions. It is also generally wise to provide items that are useful for the player characters, as few sages particularly want a magic sword and not many barbarians wish for magical books. As noted earlier in this chapter, a game in which large numbers of magic items are inappropriate should be designed around that concept from the outset, with player characters using the Full Buy-In progression.

In some situations, players may gain additional resources beyond the number of items they are actually able to use. Characters may maintain a cave where their butler and product engineer store extra treasures and tools, or they might simply devote a wall in their bedrooms to storing spare weapons. These are reasonable things for adventurers to do, and our item system supports this choice. Between [Scenes], if a character has access to extra magic items, the character may switch out one or more magic items currently in use for items of the same tier that are not currently in use (for example, a Lesser item for another Lesser item).

When the player characters wish to acquire extra items for these purposes, it is reasonable to set up a short quest focused on acquiring items, possibly with in-character repercussions involving bitter nobles or vengeful guard captains. Campaigns don't generally suffer from extra challenges and plot arcs.

Generally, a character should have no more than one of a particular item, unless the item's description states otherwise.

Activating and Using Magic Items

Magic items in Legend can only be activated by a process of attunement. Attunement is a brief process, lasting only a minute, but only a creature of sufficient power can attune to any given magic item.

Various magic items are "unlocked" in different ways; relatively common attunement methods include feeding the item a drop of the would-be user's blood, implanting a gem into the item, and holding the item in noonday sunlight or the light of the full moon (many adventurers store sunlight and moonlight in ritual jars so that they can attune items at more convenient times). As a rule, assume that characters have or gain the resources to attune a magic item by the time they acquire it; if an item is part of a quest reward, the attunement resources should be part of the quest as well.

Once a magic item is attuned to its user, using it is a straightforward process. Items generally provide passive ("always-on") bonuses to their users; if a specific item has an ability that is activated separately, follow the item description to determine the action cost and availability of the active ability.