Get a cool sword, but your character uses halberds? There should be something like if you have proficiency in smith's tools, you can spend a few days transferring the magical properties to the halberd. Do some basic rules about what types of properties can apply to what weapons and you're done. Simple.

Also means if there's a specific weapon that is important to your character ("This is the sword of Horace Greenhilt, my grandfather, from which my family gets its name") you can now just keep improving that rather than having it be replaced by the first +1 sword it finds.

Seriously how is this not a rule? Would take a few lines to save so much hassle.

This is what homebrew is for. In my opinion not using this makes each weapon feel less generic and more unique.

4e had it.

Ultimately this is going to come down to taste.

I don't like when players try to min-max with all the feats Google AI told them to take for max damage, and then expect me to change the Sunblade from Curse of Strahd into a Sunglaive for them.

Some people do like that, though.

Don't you say it Don't you say it don't you say it....

Pathfinder fix this...

FUCK

Or maybe use the sword. Or don't, do what your character would do.

Obligatory pathfinder 2e fixes this comment.

I mean, your dm has the power over the items they give you, so if it was meant for you, it would have been a halberd when you find it.

Theres a supplement called ancestral weapons for 5e. It address unlocking and leveling yoir weapon. So you don't throw away your grea great great grandfather's blade foe the first magic weapon you find.

I don't see why a decent DM isn't doing this every time. I always tailor my magic items to my party.

I agree that most modules should list alternate versions of a magic item to accomplish this. Some magic items are intentionally designed to be flexible to work with a wide set of characters, but there are other times where magic items could give 1-2 backup options.

"I attach a stick to the handle to turn it into a pole arm"

Not really min maxing because of character fantasy now is it?
My character uses whips, hardly the most op weapon in the game but there are 0 unique magic whips in the game (pretty sure) so fuck me I guess right?

Alternatively, tell your dm you really wish it was a halberd and maybe they'll work in some bullshit to turn it into a halberd.

I think this kind of thing doesn’t encourage parties to share items with people who can actually use them.

There’s a lot more contention over treasure if potentially everyone can use it instead of the guy who built for whatever weapon was found.

But if I were to allow it, I wouldn’t let it be so easy as to be done with smiths tools alone. It would need to be a magical ritual performed on the full moon, requiring rare or expensive materials, like 1000gp worth of diamond dust.

"the handle requires the person who is attuned to it to be physically touching it in order to activate it, it will behave like a normal glaive."