Daggerheart Diaries: Interesting Magic Items

Now that we've been playing Daggerheart for quite a while, one thing I had been missing was the more complex magic items. There are a wide variety of simple items in the Daggerheart Core Rulebook (and now the Hope And Fear expansion), but a lot of them feel quite same-y. I think a part of this was to do with the lack of stats, conditions, and damage types (when coming from D&D in particular) - with only 6 stats and 2 damage types, there's only so many mechanical effects a weapon can have.

One of the great strengths of the Daggerheart system is the lightweight rules that allow you to not be bound in lots of technicalities while trying to tell stories. Something that snapped into place for me recently was the realisation that items can have a wide variety of narrative effects, rather than mechanical effects. In other words, you can have the effect be much less defined, something like an experience, and then decide as a table when it applies.

That perhaps sounds a bit risky, so maybe a few concrete examples from my recent sessions would help:

• The Assassin's Sneakerchief: Adds +1 to Agility rolls to do with stealth and infiltration.
• Aliara's Bracelet Of Superiority: Gain +2 to attack rolls made against those who you believe to be lower than you socially. If you hit, add D8 extra damage.
• Ring Of Good Health: Provides immunity to conditions that involve poison or disease.

What these items have in common is that they don't just give the player a straight stat boost. They put a condition on that boost, making the item less powerful but more interesting - players can use their creativity to be able to use the item (for the Sneakerchief, maybe it encourages them to try an infiltration or assassination, for the bracelet it rewards characters that play up their character's nobility, etc.).

This also means there is an endless range of items available to you to make, and you can really tailor available loot to be something that will tie in to your characters' personalities and backstories. You can start off by taking an item from the Core rules and adding some conditions to it, or you can make it completely from scratch. To keep it balanced, for rarer items I make it so that the more restrictive the condition, the higher the bonus or better the effect.

You can also combine these with crafting rules (coming next time!) to give interesting crafting quests to your party.

Give it a try next time you need a unique magic item!

Sorry for the shorter post this time - it's been a summer with a lot to deal with, so I've sadly had less time and energy to dedicate to this blog than I would like. I hope to have more homebrew and worldbuilding posts later this year, and I'll have my full crafting rules for you next time, so be sure to stay signed up to hear when those are ready!