Using Variable Components

Examples of Designing Mutable Legacy Items

Example 1: You are designing a legacy longsword with energy-related abilities that depend on the type of gem set into its pommel. It also has two suites of divine magical abilities, each linked to the specific deity whose holy symbol is tied on a leather thong around the crossguard. You select three menu A abilities as a menu B mutable legacy choice—linking them to the pommel gem—and two Menu E abilities as a Menu

F mutable legacy choice, linking them to the holy symbol. Thus, depending on the components attached to the sword, it displays any of six different combinations of menu A and menu E legacy abilities.

Example 2: You are designing a legacy staff with three different sets of related legacy powers, and each set is affiliated with a particular component: the stone set into the tip of the staff. You select mutable legacies from Menus B, E, and H, then assign one ability from each trio of lower-level abilities to each of three different stones (say, obsidian, marble, and granite).

Depending on the affixed stone, the staff will have one of three different sets of abilities, each progressing all the way to 20th level. Variable Components

Once you have chosen the item’s mutable legacy abilities, decide what variable components will actually unlock them, as well as which ability is linked to each component. Depending on the item, variable components can be nearly anything: a sword’s blade, the gemstone set in a ring, a staff’s capstone, a decorative feather hung from a club, or one of countless other options. Let your creativity run wild—the only rule is that components must be either general or specific. General components are a broad category of items or substances, any of which will suffice as the item’s variable component. Specific components are just that—specific or even unique items (such as a crystal from the hoard of the ancient red dragon Durtaxsteingakila). Mere limitations on appropriate components are not sufficient to make them specific. In the above example of the longsword, you have already decided it will have two variable components: the pommel gem and the holy symbol tied to the guard. You’ve also decided to link the set of three Menu A legacy abilities to the pommel gem and the set of two Menu E legacy abilities to the holy symbol. The unique variability of the sword is the focus, and you don’t want the PCs to get derailed by side quests to find some legendary component, such as the Diamond of Enth-Kai, so you decide to make both components general. However, you specify types of gems that relate to a given Menu A ability and energy type: rubies for fire, sapphires for cold, and diamonds for electricity.

You likewise limit the holy symbol options to two particular deities: Heironeous, god of valor, and St.

Cuthbert, god of retribution. Finishing Touches

Although the great advantage of mutable legacy items is their flexibility, their ability suites should share a theme or otherwise relate to one another. It’s more interesting to wield a sword with three different energy-related effects, or a variety of restorative abilities, or powers relating to the same faith or pantheon, than one that alternately heals, blasts with fire, or summons a creature. Possible themes include energy types, alignments, the planes, monster or animal abilities, a deity or pantheon’s portfolio or domains, ancestral wisdom, and schools of magic. Of course, you are free to design mutable legacy items with no unifying theme at all, but doing so makes them much less special and weakens their symbolic value. USING VARIABLE COMPONENTS

The rules for actually using variable components in a mutable legacy item are simpler than those for designing such an item. As a player character, you simply need to discover and obtain the appropriate component, affix it to the legacy item, and perform a brief ritual to activate the item’s new abilities. Discovering Variable Components

Some mutable items have very obvious variable components, with few or no restrictions (Skull Lash, for example, accepts any skull of the appropriate creature types). Other mutable items, however, have variable components that are more esoteric, or for which fewer items will serve. Returning to the above example, the mutable legacy longsword accepts only three types of pommel gems and two types of holy symbols. If you were to attach another kind of gem, such as amethyst, to the sword’s pommel, the weapon would gain no new legacy abilities. Discovering each of a mutable item’s eligible components requires a DC 15 Knowledge (history) check if general, a DC 20 check if specific, and a DC 25 check if unique. For every 5 points by which you beat the check DC, you discover one extra variable component. For example, if you are seeking suitable components for the pommel gem of the example