Chapter 5: Treasure Trove / Relics / Discovering a Relic / Campaign Relics Usually, you can determine at least one aspect of a relic easily by looking at the history of the item or personality of the character. For example, if a player decides that their background relic is a rusty mace wielded by the character's great grandmother in battle against rising undead hordes, the mace might have the life aspect, as it was used to slay countless undead creatures. There's no harm in letting the player choose an aspect for a background relic; through play, the item will reveal another aspect associated with it. In the previous example, the mace might reveal itself to have powers against demons as well, in which case its aspects might be celestial and life. The more complex advancement comes from gifts. The Relic Gifts table shows the typical number of gifts a relic should have at a given level, but relics don't follow this strictly. Rather, gifts arise according to the pace of the story, the needs of the campaign, and the relationship between the character and the relic. Generally speaking, this results in a relic gaining one gift for every 4 levels its bearer has, but this might fluctuate as the campaign progresses. For example, a relic might gain its first gift at 4th level after the bearer defeats a powerful foe. It might then gain its second at 7th, after they perform a special ritual. That same relic might not gain another gift until 13th level and then again at 16th as the player reaches other major milestones. The gift types—minor, major, and grand—indicate their general power level. Again, the table indicates what's generally appropriate at certain levels, but you can alter them as you see fit. You should usually avoid giving a minor gift at 10th level or higher, because it just won't be that impressive, though some of them scale well enough to be interesting at higher levels. The Gold Piece Equivalent entry for each gift helps you determine how much you should reduce treasure when using relics (see Adjusting Treasure below). If you prefer, you can grant relics in addition to other rewards. This means PCs will be much more powerful, but you're rewarding their investment in the story. If you want a relic to have an additional special benefit, you can design it to grant a bonus to a skill, typically a +1 item bonus for a 3rd-level relic.
Source GM Core pg. 308 2.0
Each relic is associated with aspects—typically two—that speak to its overall concept and purpose. The individual gifts each have an associated aspect. You should almost always select gifts that have an aspect matching one of those found on the relic. For example, a brass dagger recovered from the Medina Mudii'a might have the fire and mind aspects, which means that it could have the flare bolt gift (which has the fire aspect), but not the rolling geode gift (which has the earth aspect).
Source GM Core pg. 309 2.0
As a relic's bearer performs mighty deeds and advances their story, the relic gets stronger. The most basic advancement for a relic is its level, which always matches that of its owner. Weapons and armor can gain fundamental runes normally. You decide what, if any, property runes can be added to a given relic; by default, they can't have property runes, like any other specific item.Table 2–22: Relic Gifts
Number of Gifts Minimum Level Gift Type Gold Piece Equivalent 1 1st Minor 20 gp 2 5th Minor 160 gp 3 9th Major 700 gp 4 13th Major 3,000 gp 5 17th Grand 15,000 gp
You decide what gifts a relic gains, generally by either selecting a single gift or offering two paths for the relic to grow and allowing the player to choose, but this should be informed by the story and the nature of the character bearing the relic. A relic should complement the bearer, bolstering the bearer's strengths and helping to overcome their weaknesses. Within that framework, you should try to maintain a cohesive theme for the relic.
Source GM Core pg. 309 2.0
When you incorporate relics into your game, you can adjust the treasure gained by the party down to account for the relics increasing in power. Essentially, some of the treasure from the Party Treasure by Level table on page 59 should be replaced with relic seeds and gifts instead. You can use the relic's minimum level, replacing a permanent item of that level, or you can use the gp equivalent. Keep in mind that relic gifts are often a little more powerful than other items with the same Price even when they start out, and they often scale without any additional costs, so PCs with relics will usually be a bit more powerful.
A relic seed can be quite simple: imagine a standard item with two aspects and an appearance that matches the theme. You can also use an existing magic item for a campaign relic; pick two aspects for it, and tweak its appearance or characteristics to make it clearly different from other items of its type. You can choose a tradition for the seed and apply that trait to the seed and all the gifts of the seed. This tradition might be derived from the background of the item, or it might appear or change through story moments involving the relic.
Gifts are divided up into three tiers. Minor gifts grant useful, often scaling abilities and are available early in a character's career. Major gifts define a relic, determining its true purpose and granting powerful abilities. Grand gifts are the pinnacle of power, and most relics never have more than one.
The more gifts there are of one aspect, the more the relic reflects that aspect, and the more influence the aspect has on the character who wields it. An item with multiple shadow gifts might begin to lose its color. With four or five, the character that wields it might take on an ashen tone and the relic might become entirely made of shadow.
Gift Saves and Spell Attack Modifiers
Source GM Core pg. 309 2.0Many gifts allow for a saving throw or have other abilities that change as the relic goes up in level. The DC for any saving throw called for by a gift is the higher of its owner’s class DC or spell DC. The spell attack modifier of a gift is 10 lower than that DC. A relic’s counteract modifier is equal to its owner’s counteract modifier.
Player-Driven Relics
Though these rules assume you as the GM are providing relic gifts as a form of treasure with input from the players, you can instead have the players make all the decisions for their relics. Encourage the players to choose different styles of items and aspects to match their characters' themes, rather than simply choosing the most powerful combination of options. Have players describe how their relic gets more powerful in the story. What acts from previous sessions lent the relic power? What special meditations or practices did they perform to unlock new gifts? How does it feel to have the relic grow?
As the item and the character level up, the player chooses which gifts the item gets from the list as a part of character advancement. You still adjust treasure as normal for incorporating relics into your game. In fact, if the player tries to optimize the combinations, they will likely be more powerful than under the standard method
Runes as Gifts
You can substitute runes for gifts. If you choose to allow property runes on the relic, you'll want them to take up rune slots. Otherwise, you can give as many or few as you prefer, just like any other gifts. Runes are sorted into minor, major, and grand categories, but you should use their normal level and Price when you adjust treasure, instead of the number and levels on the Relic Gifts table. If you're using the player-driven relics variant, it's recommended you do not include this option.
Air
Armor (Major) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (cold or electricity), invisibility; Armor (Grand) winged
Weapon (Minor) returning; Weapon (Major) animated, shock, thundering; Weapon (Grand) greater shock, greater thundering
Celestial
Weapon (Major) holy
Death
Weapon (Minor) ghost touch, wounding
Earth
Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (acid); Armor (Major) fortification; Armor (Grand) greater fortification
Weapon (Minor) shifting
Fiend
Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (acid, cold, or fire)
Weapon (Major) unholy
Fire
Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (fire)
Weapon (Minor) flaming; Weapon (Major) greater flaming
Life
Weapon (Minor) vitalizing; Weapon (Major) greater vitalizing
Mind
Armor (Minor) raiment; Armor (Major) invisibility
Plant
Weapon (Minor) shifting
Shadow
Armor (Minor) shadow; Armor (Major) greater shadow;
Armor (Grand) major shadow
Water
Armor (Minor) energy-resistant or greater energy resistant (cold or fire), slick; Armor (Major) greater or major slick
Weapon (Minor) shifting