Magic items a question of balance

[faeryn]

So I'm curious as to how balanced or unbalanced ya'll think allowing players to define the base weapon/armor for specific magic items. Perhaps with some limitations. Relics and Legendary Artifacts excluded.

For example:
Rogues Blade could, instead of always being a Rapier, could be any light/simple weapon.

[phaedrusxy]

In general it works fine, until you get to that triple (or was it quadruple?) strike dagger from Serpent Kingdoms...

[faeryn]

Well I did say "possibly with some limitations"... The triple strike dagger could be restricted to "simple light weapons". I think the worst you'd have to worry about with that limit would be a triple strike sickle.

So I guess that means limits will be necessary... Not sure if a blanket set of rules or a case-by-case limit would be necessary...

[linklord231]

CapnQ already did all the work for you on this front, in the EVD.  He broke down all unique weapons and calculated the cost of each special ability, so you could slap them on whatever weapon you wanted as if it were any other enchantment. 

MANYFANG
- SERPENT KINGDOMS (3.5)
[MANYFANG DAGGER]
Price: +3 Bonus
Property: Melee
Caster Level: 10th
Aura: Moderate (DC 21) evocation
Activation: Attack
Any weapon with this WSA creates, three phantom weapons that briefly whirl into existence around the main weapon, attacking the same target, then winking into nothingness again. A manyfang weapon thus deals quadruple damage on each successful hit, or +3 to the multiplier damage on a critical hit.
Construction: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, major creation
Editor: Proof that the writers of Serpent Kingdoms were on crack. The single most awesome WSA ever. It should be banned. Seriously. When the party Min/Max guru comes up to you and says, “That’s broken. I’d take that if it was a +6 bonus.” It’s too much. The original designers thought that it was stuck in a dagger. However, if I apply morphing, I can make it any weapon I want for a total +4 bonus. They should have made it like this: +3 bonus, changes base damage to 4d4. That would still get sick on the critical roll, but at least it wouldn’t spiral out of control as you layer the enchantments and turn it into two handed weapon.
Editor (Original): Okay, lets say you rule that you have to buy the original dagger, so this WSA only works on daggers. Well, if you want to be that way, just pay the +1 for the WSA morphing and make it into whatever weapon you want. So, really all we are talking about is price.
Editor (Rules clarifying): So, if you are going to allow this, remember that you multiply only the base damage. YES, it says it makes three phantom weapons, but it doesn’t say those three weapons have any WSAs. So, I’d only have it multiply the weapon, the damage from EB, and Strength Bonuses, and WSAs that add to base damage. Collision would be multiplied, flaming would not. If you wouldn’t add it directly to the base damage roll, it doesn’t count. Anything that does any form of energy damage would be right out. Still, this could get awesomely powerful VERY QUICKLY, especially with some buffing from a friendly spellcaster.

[faeryn]

I havn't been able to look through his EVD yet... last time I tried downloading it and opening it, all the files were in some strange format that my computer didn't recognize... downloading it again and hopefully I can open the files this time...

[Nunkuruji]

I would say within party balance, custom items and magic access in general benefit the effectiveness and enjoyment of mundanes the most, bringing them up closer to casters in round to round combat effectiveness. That said, wealth optimally spent in this fashion will put them ahead of the arms race in terms of CR. So as the DM, it kind of depends whether a stock adventure module is being run and they are/aren't having problems with it, or you are generating encounters on your own.

[kitep]

I havn't been able to look through his EVD yet... last time I tried downloading it and opening it, all the files were in some strange format that my computer didn't recognize... downloading it again and hopefully I can open the files this time...

I believe they're in Microsoft Word, though I use the free Libre Office to read them.