In the future could we maybe have an NPC who, for a cost of gold and GEMS can attempt to Re-forge an item for the player. The result being a totally random re-roll of its stats.
This would create a living use for gold and gems, and make treasure acquisition more fun. It really should be totally random for the reroll though, as the luck of the draw would be part of the fun (and less metagay). This is a master craftsman but he is attempting to reforge extremely powerful magical items. He can also have some funny banter if he returns the item to you worse off than it was!
example of what I mean;
If you acquire a rare treasure eg. Melnibonean Longsword, but it is a lesser version in terms of enchantments, like +2 EB and whatever damage.
Master of the Forge (or whatever his feckin name), attempts to reforge the magical item and it can return anywhere from +1 to +6, which is the Melnibonean Longswords max EB as far as I know. Damages are also rerolled, so its a gamble!
The gem requirement should be fairly small because it would be mega tedious to try gather 40 of a specific one. Perhaps each reset he will ask for 10 gems of the same kind, but he lets you use any of 3 random types of gems, which change each reset, plus a princely sum of gold.
Fun or no?
