On Magic Swords (and other violent implements)

My friend (who plays, or rather, played the elf in the Spies and Pirates game) and I stayed up rather late tonight after a game of Microscope where we were building a sword and sorcery world talking not only about said world, but our conversation also meandered into OSR territory... and our topic, magic swords.

The both of us are somewhat disappointed with the whole idea of +X weapons in D&D. Not only is it incredibly underwhelming that +1 swords go out of style faster than goldfish platform shoes, but it's also incredibly frustrating from a world-building perspective. Why would anyone make or enchant a +1 sword when +5 swords are clearly superior? Practice? Is there a sweatshop somewhere where lowly apprentices are made to slave over crude iron swords, rubbing them with rare ingredients in the desperate hope that some magic will flare to life in the cold metal dug from the earth by enslaved goblins? Will they be beaten and starved if they don't meet their quota of one enchanted sword per day?

Some of my irritation is partly based on the Ye Olde Magick Shoppe trope where adventurers can buy and sell magic items because it's convenient, and +1 swords are yawn inducing after the fifth one you find, so shouldn't there be a way to offload these crappy things to get a better sword? And why would anyone care about +1 swords anyway? It's just a +5% to-hit! Completely useless to anyone who isn't an adventurer or soldier type, so why wouldn't there be a market for this crap?

As much as it pains me to admit, those that throw these arguments around have a point. I don't have to like it, but I'm not so arrogant or stupid to think that they're completely foolish to have these notions. I do however blame the idea of D&D's magic swords for creating this culture of dismissal and disdain. My friend and I were discussing the ways in which weapons are differentiated from one another, where some OSR folks like lots of little bonuses and penalties depending on weapon/armor interaction, and some of us just want something streamlined that works, and then gets the hell out of the way. Both the elf's player and I are firmly in the latter camp.

So, to this end, we propose to do away with +X entirely. A magic weapon is a magic weapon. It doesn't alter to-hit probabilities, and doesn't do any extra damage (excepting specific sorts of weapons). But then, what makes a magic sword special?

Enchanted weapons have the following in common:

• They are difficult to break (any attack that would destroy a mundane weapon only has a 1 in 6 chance to destroy an enchanted weapon).
• They require the bare minimum of maintenance to keep them in combat shape. Wiping them clean is generally sufficient to protect them from the ravages of wear and time. An enchanted weapon never needs to be sharpened.
• They can harm monsters that cannot be harmed by mundane weapons (yes, I realize this means that monsters that can't be hit by +2 or worse weapons are now much more vulnerable, but I think this is a fair trade off for not getting straight damage bonuses)
• They deal an extra die of damage, but only the best of the two results is kept. A critical hit would roll 3d6, the two best of the three being kept.

Additionally, some weapons are built to fight specific foes:

• Bane weapons allow the wielder to roll an extra die of damage against the creature that the weapon was enchanted to defeat. E.g., a Goblin Bane Sword would deal 1d6 base damage, with an additional enchanted die where the best of two are kept, and then an extra 1d6 vs. Goblins only.
• Slaying weapons would necessitate a saving throw vs. death. Some especially strong Slaying weapons might impose penalties to this saving throw.
• A weapon can be both Slaying and Bane, but they must be for the same type of monster, and an enchanted weapon could not be enchanted with more than one Slaying or Bane property.

Most other magic item properties should have fantastic or utility powers. A sword that glows (or glows when particular monsters are near) are not only good for light (and thus save on torches and lamp oil) but can also serve to forewarn adventurers - but there's also that slight problem that the glow may not be able to be turned off, thus exposing the party (or just the character wielding it) to scrutiny and possibly attack.

It's late where I am (or early, depending on whether or not you went to sleep at a reasonable hour), so I won't be developing this as thoroughly as I might otherwise. But fear not, once I've slept I'll crack open my 1e DMG and my RC and see if there's some other magic item properties I should adapt to this particular take on magic items. In my own games, I prefer magic items to be a big deal. I don't like the idea of there being a white or grey market for magic items, and that in general, magic items are not sold for money unless someone is extremely desperate or extremely foolish, and are instead traded for other magic items.

I will likely go into this in more depth in another post where I'm not delirious from lack of sleep.