- I see you noticed my sword.
It's called Serpent's End. My great, great grandfather
slew Auvris the Sky Devourer with this very blade, liberating thousands from the dragon's tyrannical rule. It's been passed down through
the generations since, and each who wielded it has
accomplished noble deeds. Now that it's my turn, my heart
has no greater desire than- - Wow awesome, I just found a +1 rapier! - Ooh! Dibs!
(sword clatters) - Sometimes, mechanical choices
override narrative ones. And who can blame 'em, right? I mean, backstory doesn't give
your heirloom family weapon a bonus to hit and damage.
But what if it did? Today we're gonna go over a
system that allows you to create magical ancestral weapons
that gain new features as they level up alongside
player characters. Plus, this system lets you
quick-build magic weapons for loot or shops, and
even allows your players to craft their own. Ready to steel some ideas? Get it, like steel,
like the metal? Like... whatever, I'm hilarious. Roll the intro. (gentle twinkly music)
(air whooshes) The system I'm talking about
is called Ancestral Weapons. It's a short and sweet supplement by Matt Vaughan of Dungeon Rollers and it's only five bucks. We're gonna dive into it today because the Dungeon Master's
Guild has been kind enough to sponsor me for a third time now to just explore a book
that I think is cool, and help you decide if it's worth picking
up for your own game, or at least spark some ideas. DM's Guild is a community content program partnered with Wizards of the Coast where creators can legally
use official D&D material to create and share
their own game content, from adventures and character options to monster collections and magic items. There are thousands of PDFs,
all created by DMs like you to open doors and solve
problems in your games. You can use my code for a discount on your DM's Guild
purchase of $10 or more, whether or not that
includes Ancestral Weapons. You can find the link and
the code in the description. So what is an ancestral weapon? I'm so glad you axe.
(metallic swoosh) The first thing to understand
is that an ancestral weapon isn't just a magic item. You can't get one by looting
it or buying it in a shop. It's something deeply respected, symbolic of family and history, with a long tradition behind it. Think Narsil from "Lord of the Rings," Ice from "Game of Thrones," or the Skywalker saber in "Star Wars." It's tied to a character's story, and as they progress through the game, this book ensures that their
weapon progresses with them, so players don't have to decide between a weapon's narrative
value and its practical value. There are two main ways to introduce an ancestral
weapon into your game. First, a character can just start with it. This way, it's written
into their backstory. - It's strange to wear it now. Mother used to get so angry
with me when I was younger and I would sneak into her
room to swing it about. "Serpent's End isn't a toy,"
I remember her telling me. "It is a protector,
capable of great violence." But in the end, it couldn't protect her. I don't know if it will protect me, but I do know she'd want
me to have it by my side. - Or the character can
receive the weapon in-game. This can be a really cool development to play out at the table. - Anything interesting
in that chest, Wisteria? - Um... I think you should see this. - This is a beautiful blade, great find! - Look at the inscription. - That's my family name.
Where did you get this? - There are a million ways to handle this! Maybe your player character
stole their family weapon, maybe they have to earn it by proving themselves to their parents, maybe the player is on a quest to recover a lost or
stolen ancestral weapon, maybe they don't know their heritage, and finding or receiving the
weapon is their first clue. The author seems pretty focused
on bloodline in this book, but it's your game, and you can use the
mechanics however you want. If you want to relate
this powerful weapon to some other type of connection,
I think you totally should. Maybe it gets passed on
alongside a certain title, or from master to apprentice. As long as the weapon has weight, history and expectation associated
with it, go wild, honestly. Now, any time you wanna use
third-party content in a game, it's ultimately a DM decision. But if you're a player and
you think this would be a good addition to your character, you can always pitch it to your DM! Personally, I think something like this is a great addition to a martial class, since those classes can sometimes struggle as they reach higher levels
to keep up with casters in terms of interesting
new features and abilities. A weapon that changes over
time and unlocks new options both in and out of combat can
keep a Fighter or a Barbarian from feeling like the only
changes from level to level are hitting more and hitting harder. Like, is it just me or do martial classes get shafted? (air whooshes)
(gentle music) Ancestral weapons gain their power through a mechanic called spirit points. Players earn spirit
points by performing acts that would please their ancestors. Depending on the ancestors,
that could be anything from heroically rescuing innocents, to taking revenge on someone
who wronged the family, to getting famous or
achieving a noble title. Spirit points are associated with characters' choices
and actions, not level, but the book does recommend that players earn around
one spirit point per level. Once earned, these
spirit points can be used to purchase upgrades. They can be spent as they're earned, saved up for bigger point-value upgrades, or even swapped out, which
we'll talk about in a second. There are a few different ways
these upgrades can be chosen. DMs can allow players to choose
their upgrades themselves, which can be really fun and
can make sure that each upgrade is something the player
feels excited about. But if you wanna keep a tighter handle on what the weapon can do or if you want the
development of the weapon to feel more mystical or pre-determined, the DM can pick the upgrades instead. You don't even have to tell players that their weapons will change!
It can be really compelling if each new ability comes as a surprise. - What's happening?
Wisteria, are you doing this? - No! I'm detecting...
transmutation magic? It's changing somehow! - Perhaps they're pleased with me. - The upgrades themselves
are incredibly cool. There are 130 different
upgrades to choose from, which means there are
literally tens of millions of possible combinations. Every ancestral weapon will be different. Each has a price, from
one to ten spirit points. For example, you can pay one spirit point to take the Bully upgrade, which gives you advantage
on intimidation checks when the target can see
you holding the weapon, or the Deathward upgrade, which gives you advantage on death saves. But if you have more to spend, you can take stuff like Telepathic
Link for 3 spirit points, which lets you communicate telepathically, or Blood-drinker, for five spirit points, which lets you take some
of the damage you deal on 19s and 20s as temporary hit points. Some of these upgrades have levels, too. You can buy an upgrade, and then later improve that upgrade with a few more spirit points. Like, Blood-drinker gives you half the damage
as temporary hit points, but for four additional spirit points, you can upgrade it to Level 2 and get all the damage as temp HP. A few abilities are
class or weapon-specific, like the Druid-only upgrade Wild Spell, which lets you ready a spell and then cast it while in wild shape, or the ranged-only upgrade Sniping, which reduces the effect
of cover for your targets. Also, some abilities are marked "limited," which means you can only
have two of 'em at a time. This helps keep a weapon
from becoming overpowered. Limited upgrades are stuff like granting extra spell slots or flying. Now, if you're wondering how anybody would even get those 10-point upgrades when you're only supposed to get around one spirit point
per level, don't worry! You can always overwrite one upgrade, regaining the spirit
points you spent on it to purchase another. So let's say you buy a one-point upgrade and then when you've gained
two more spirit points, you overwrite that one-point upgrade and buy a three-point one. Even later, you can overwrite
that three-point upgrade to buy a four-point one or
a five-point one and so on. If it ever becomes necessary to adjust the upgrades more
heavily, the book advises that DMs have players complete
an in-game quest or ritual to earn the ability to refocus the weapon and make multiple changes to the build. And of course, that's
only with DM approval. These have a lot of flavor so if you want choosing the upgrades to be a DM responsibility, I
think it could be really fun to pick upgrades that line
up with the family's history, the weapon's origin, or even the actions that the player took to
earn their spirit points. For example, Serpent's End
is a dragon-slaying sword. Giving it the Infusion upgrade to make it deal additional fire damage or the Flying upgrade to
give the wielder flight would really drive home the narrative of the weapon's origin. As you can see, a lot of
this depends on the weapon and the ancestors who provide
it with power having a story, but you don't have to come
up with that on your own. The book has some guidance. So let's take a stab at it!
(metallic sound) There are two whole chapters
full of rolling tables to help you figure out
the weapon's history, materials and appearance, ancestral traits and even personality. Ancestral traits each have some sort of small effect on the game. For example, a weapon
with the trait Longing will start to hum when away
from its owner for too long, and a weapon with the trait Malice will deal a small amount of damage to anyone besides the
wielder who picks it up. Ancestral personalities are
more about roleplay flavor than about mechanics, and
should help DMs identify what sort of achievements
could earn spirit points. For example, a weapon that has come to you from Violent ancestors will
respond strongly to bloodshed, while a weapon with a
Calculating personality might reward clever, cautious choices. - The first time I had a dream where I was holding Serpent's
End, I thought nothing of it. Just a nightmare, I thought. But that nightmare came
true. It was an omen. The blade, or perhaps my
ancestors, were warning me. I pay more attention to my dreams now. - Of course, the weapon's
traits and personality had to come from somewhere. That's where the history comes in. You can roll on a table to
determine how many generations the weapon has been in
the character's family, and which feats of legend
are associated with it, from slaying a ruler to
being blessed by a god. There are even tables to
determine what race crafted it, what type of wood or metal was used, and even what identifying features make this weapon look different
from your average one. You can use these tables for ideas or just roll at random. You
know... if you're on the fence. (metallic sound) (air whooshes)
(soft flute music) Now, ancestral weapons are special. They can't be sold or stolen or looted, or at least, if they are, they don't retain all
their ancestral powers. But all these same mechanics can be used to quick-build standard magic weapons that you can use as loot, stock in shops or arm your NPCs with. There's a nice, simple table that tells you how many spirit points correlate with item rarity and how much the weapon should cost. This makes it super quick and easy to not just create cool magic weapons but understand their power
level and impact on the game. As someone who hasn't done
a ton of item homebrew, I'm often nervous to introduce
items I've built into a game for fear that they'll end
up broken or overpowered. I can tell you that for me, personally, this section makes me feel very confident that I could bring in some
really exciting custom weapons that will function as-intended in play. In fact, the use of spirit points to easily identify an item's power level also makes it possible
to allow your players to craft magic weapons without worrying that they're gonna create
something game-breaking. There's a table that helps DMs determine how much it should cost
and how long it should take for a character to craft their own weapon with some of the abilities in this book. The author also suggests
requiring unique materials, like a dragon's claw, to make the creation of the
weapon part of the story and to really emphasize that building a truly legendary
weapon is no easy task. Of course, no matter if the DM
or the player builds a weapon using these rules, it's still
not an ancestral weapon. It's static, it doesn't
gain spirit points. Only weapons that have been
empowered by epic feats and generations of power can do that. Who knows? Maybe at the end of your campaign, a character will pass their weapon down to their next of kin, and the heroic acts that played out at the table will become the stuff of legends
generations down the line, turning what was once a normal weapon into an ancestral weapon. I guess you'll only know
if you stick with it! Honestly, for under five bucks,
I can't think of a reason not to pick up Ancestral Weapons. This feels almost like a
Dungeon Master cheat code because giving players a weapon
that ties their backstory to the actual mechanics of
gameplay is a next-level DM move, and this supplement makes
it so easy to execute. But if it's not your thing,
there's so much on DM's Guild, all you have to do is browse and I'm sure you'll find something to use this discount code on. Check the description for
the link and the terms, and if you're hungry for more homebrew, check out the last video
I did for DM's Guild, all about An Elf and an
Orc Had a Little Baby, which allows you to create playable, mixed race D&D characters. I cosplay a tiefling
centaur in that video, I guarantee you will
not regret clicking it.
