Q412: There was a guide somewhere where the boards attempt to salvage the false premise founded train wreck that is Weapons of Legacy. Where is this thread?
There was one on the CO boards. Weapons of Legacy are NOT suck if you make your own.
Ok. Well seeing as a search only turns up two hits and those are from me asking about where it is where is this guide? From I've seen so far there's only a tiny pool of worthwhile abilities but they all do stuff like boost your attack with that weapon while gimping your attack rolls with all weapons, or lowering all your saves, or some other such BS. It's even worse for NPCs because apparently in addition to being gimped at least as much by their weapon as the weapon helps them they're supposed to get a fairly high CR boost... implying that it is a net gain even though they've crippled themselves, spent their cash on the rituals, and whatever else. Which means they're even more free XP as they're now super easy targets.
Edit: Don't forget you cannot improve them via normal means which means you can't just start crafting to actually get what you want without screwing yourself.
Cunning is an awesome WoL ability that is not that easily reproduced. Contingency 1/day is pretty good, also. And you can get things alot cheaper (money and XP wise) than you could otherwise. Of course, you pay a price, but IMO it is worth it for a well-built Legacy item. Also, you can opt not to upgrade it to the Greater level, avoid losing the highest level spell slots, and still get a damn good item, like this (from that thread):
The Helping Hand
The Helping Hand is a necklace consisting of a small onyx hand hanging from a silver chain. It was developed by a spellcaster who always seemed to need an extra hand. It can telekinetically grab things for you, warn you of impending attacks and even telekinetically bat them away, complete somatic gestures, and catch you if you fall from a height.
Before its greater powers are awakened, the base item is a Hand of the Mage which also provides a +1 Deflection bonus to AC.
Omen: When donned, the Helping Hand gives a "thumbs up" signal to indicate that it is ready to help.
Least Ritual (1,500): The owner must provide one day's community service free of charge.
Lesser Ritual (11,500): The owner must prevent attacks from harming someone else.
Greater Ritual (39,000): The owner must subdue an attacking creature with a CR equal to or greater than his ECL without killing it.
Base item: +1 Deflection and Hand of the Mage (2900 gp)
Abilities gained (Least)
5th: Feather Falling
7th: +2 Defl
10th: +3 Defl.
Abilities gained (Lesser)
11th: Cunning
12th: Still Spell 3/day, up to 6th level spells
14th: +4 Defl.
16th: +5 Defl.
Penalties
So over all you get a +5 Ring of Deflection, Ring of Featherfall, Hand of the Mage, Metamagic Rod of Still Spell, and the Cunning ability all for less than 16,000 gp, one spell slot of 1st-6th level, and a -2 attack penalty.