Modifying a weapon's damage

[Vedrvera]

…as a method of increasing loot diversity, and a PC’s drive to open that locked suspicious looking chest.

I love the simplicity of the OL system, and that it has been designed to provide as much flexibility as possible. I have had once concern though. If I can pick up any old weapon and they are all just as good as the other, and if there is no loot to be gained by opening that suspicious looking chest; then why bother?

One solution I came up with, was the give every box, crate, shelf, and drawer unique loot. Another idea/goal of mine is to add in a bit more diversity within the weapons category. Alien Influence was a good find, especially in the OL system. Such a weapon just converts damage from agility/might to energy/entropy/ect.

For more mundane weapons though, I ended up inventing a system of my own… And here is my question:

Is the quality system below going to break the game?

WL, Damage modifier; approximately how common the item is within the world
-3, -5; 1-11
-2, -4; 12-21
-2 , -3: 22-31
-1, -2; 32-44
-1,-1; 45-56
0,0; 57-70
+1,+1; 71-80
+1, +1; 81-86
+2, +2 87-91
+2, +3 92-95
+3, +4 96-98
+4, +5 99
+5,+6; 00

Damage increases and decreases calculated only on attacks that deal damage.
If your roll allows you to deal 3 damage, but your sword is ‘Fractured’ (-3 damage) then you wouldn’t do any damage at all. If however your sword is ‘Damaged’ (-2 damage) you would do 1 damage; or of ‘superior quality’ (+3 damage) you would do 6 damage.

The spawn percentage numbers are intended only as a guideline. A way of stating that top tier, weapons aren’t exactly common, and would only appear late within a campaign.

@SamWilby

I see the repeated suggestions to play the system without alterations before attempting homebrew fell on deaf ears

[Great_Moustache]

Couple of things.

The Alien Influence already exists in the system. This is done in extraordinary items via the “Damage” property.

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Generally flat modifiers are steered away from in OL except in the cases where Multi-targeting could be effected (hence why knockdown is a flat modifier instead of (dis)advantage in the case multi-targeting some who are knockdown and some who are standing).

The concept of damaged weapons is interesting, and you could do this by simple disadvantage. Remember that “damage” is not actually hitting someone, but chipping away at their ability to remain in the fight itself.

Attribute rolls (with or without weapons/items) are how well you use what you have, how effective you are with the weapon itself, not how powerful the weapon is necessarily. So I see what you are trying to do with it effecting damage after the roll, but it certainly is very counter to what OL is about, especially with Success with a Twist mechanics.

For making interesting loot, I’d recommend @SamWilby GM Tech Article here:

GM Tech: Interesting Extraordinary Items

It’s been a while, but here’s another GM Tech! Extraordinary items are one of the best ways to reward your players in Open Legend, but they can often be a bit bland if assembled as purely mechanical things. The broad strokes of the item of course depends on the campaign and what the PCs would be able to use, but here are a few tips I use to make treasure more interesting. Restrictions breed creativity As counterintuitive as it seems, often adding limitations to when an item can be used can res…

Overall would it break things… probably not? But if your issue is fun/interesting items/loot for your players, there are other ways to go about creating that. I like to lean more on expendable and consumable items myself.

[Vedrvera]

That is quite helpful actually, thank you.