I don't know why so many people hate this book, it is, in my opinion, one of the best things to happen to D&D.

yes, the penalties need to either be ignored or heavily reduced. But I have yet to find a 3.5 or D&D book I didn't need to home-brew into being functional. The wonderful thing is that it is a concept of creating magical items tht mean something, tht grow with your player and are encouraged to have a history.

Roy gets to find out Greenhilt is a legacy weapon and.. well... that's amazing. Because it shows what they should be. yes many of the weapons in there are 'sub optimal' or whatever. Fine. Like anything in the rules just tweak and ignore until it works. But from a storytelling standpoint it is the chance to have items tuned to you, geared to you, an item that is a part of you. The Gae Bolg, Sting, Needle. Sure you can hand out, maybe even allow improvements on a sword. But it's so much more satisfying to open up a huge range of options.

Frankly I have to assume most people just look at the mechancis as is and shrug it off, not seeing the gem they have found. All I know is that It is and has been one of my most used books to date, with my own minor tweaks. You just have to be a bit fluid with the Rules as written, and creative with the special abilities you cook up.

Also, the fact that a guy who apparently has my exact same flavor of Aspergers is the one that gave Roy the book in the comic made my week.