Last night I wrote about 2,400 words on legendary/spontaneous graded items. On my way in to work on the bus this morning, I realized I might have overthought things. As much as I like the ‘quest’ aspect of it, the entire thing can probably be simplified.
Spontaneous Graded Items, Simplified
A character may have signature items. As the character gains experience, each experience point can be applied to a signature item. When the signature item gains enough experience points to gain a level, it gains a grade and a quality may be added. The item must conform to the regular rules for graded items, with regard to maximum quality grade and all grades being assigned.
The item starts at ‘grade 0’, and gains ‘grade 1’ when enough experience has been assigned to make it second level (and grade 2 at third level, grade 3 at fourth level, etc.). The example from yesterday becomes much simpler:
| XP Assigned | Item Grade | Quality Added | Item Description | Notes |
| 0 | 0 | — | battleaxe | start |
| 2,000 | 1 | durable | durable battleaxe | |
| 5,000 | 2 | — | saving up for giantbane | |
| 9,000 | 3 | giantbane | durable giantbane battleaxe | |
| 15,000 | 4 | — | saving up for +1 bonus | |
| 23,000 | 5 | +1 bonus | +1 durable giantbane battleaxe | |
| 35,000 | 6 | — | saving up for frost I | |
| 51,000 | 7 | frost I | +1 durable frost I giantbane battleaxe | |
| 75,000 | 8 | — | saving up for frost II | |
| 105,000 | 9 | frost II | +1 durable frost II giantbane battleaxe | |
| 155,000 | 10 | — | saving up for frost III | |
| 220,000 | 11 | frost III | +1 durable frost III giantbane battleaxe | |
| 315,000 | 12 | — | saving up for +2 bonus | |
| 445,000 | 13 | +2 bonus | +2 durable frost III giantbane battleaxe |
I think it would be reasonable to expect that the qualities added be appropriate to the activities taken in the meantime. Rather than tracking on an individual quest-oriented basis, simply rule at the time whether it’s appropriate. For instance, it only makes sense to add giantbane if the character has been facing giants regularly.
In the post-analysis in my previous post I found that the rules as I’d written at that point run into problems with the wealth by level guidelines. This change pushes the item grade down one (you can have a grade 13 spontaneous item at level 14), which helps:
| Level | Grade | Item Value | Wealth By Level |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | 500 | 1,000 |
| 3 | 2 | 2,000 | 3,000 |
| 4 | 3 | 4,500 | 6,000 |
| 5 | 4 | 8,000 | 10,500 |
| 6 | 5 | 12,500 | 16,000 |
| 7 | 6 | 18,000 | 23,500 |
| 8 | 7 | 22,500 | 33,000 |
| 9 | 8 | 32,000 | 46,000 |
| 10 | 9 | 40,500 | 62,000 |
| 11 | 10 | 50,000 | 82,000 |
| 12 | 11 | 60,500 | 108,000 |
| 13 | 12 | 72,000 | 140,000 |
| 14 | 13 | 84,500 | 185,000 |
| 15 | 14 | 98,000 | 240,000 |
| 16 | 15 | 112,500 | 315,000 |
| 17 | 16 | 128,000 | 410,000 |
| 18 | 17 | 144,500 | 530,000 |
| 19 | 18 | 162,000 | 685,000 |
| 20 | 19 | 190,500 | 880,000 |
This is roughly equivalent, approximately, to having a masterwork weapon at second level, a +1 weapon at third level, and growing a bit from there. The relationship is a bit odd at the lowest level because the percentage of wealth by level increases, but that’s a function of wealth by level, I think. This percentage starts to drop after sixth level.
You could split the experience up between several items. At eighth level you could afford a grade 7 item or three grade 4 items… given the choice between one item with grade 4, grade 2, and grade 1 qualities, and three items each with one grade 2 and two grade 1 qualities, I suspect most would prefer the single item. Allowing the experience points to be split probably isn’t a problem.