Legendary / Unique Items (Hand-Authored)

Legendary and Unique items are fixed, designer-authored packages — not random Augmented or Rare affix rolls. They share the same prefix / suffix count. Legendary cannot be a Set piece. Unique may be standalone or a named Set piece. Developers hand-craft each one: name, base, fixed mod list, optional unique verb, art, drop rules, and Unique Set ID if any. They cover guns, melee weapons, and armor.

Rules

• Quality color: distinct Legendary and Unique gold tiers (above Rare; peer chase with Apex). Same affix slot count. Legendary never a Set piece. Unique may be.
• Mods are fixed (or fixed + tiny variance bands where designers allow). No random Prefix/Suffix stamp concatenation on the title.
• Title is a unique proper name chosen by design (not Rare First+Second Word lexicon).
• May include exclusive verbs (proc, transform ammo, melee finisher, aura, tentacle synergy) that Augmented/Rare pools cannot roll.
• Hand-crafted by the development team — catalog expands with patches/seasons.
• Drop sources: named bosses, raid tiers, pinnacle activities, and rare world lottery (Yield still helps find chance, not roll quality of the Unique itself).
• Cannot be used as Phonon Chord bases (same rule as classic unique/set exclusions).
• Still receive exactly one Artifact socket unless a specific Unique explicitly disables it — includes Unique rings and amulets. Artifacts require Unique or Apex quality only.

Examples (Placeholder Identity — Catalog TBD)

• Gun Unique — fixed frame + signature perk column + named verb.
• Melee Unique — fixed blade/glaive package with exclusive finisher or aura.
• Armor Unique — named plate/helm with build-defining utility.

Full Legendary/Unique spreadsheet is a living design artifact owned by combat/loot — this GDD locks the authorship rule and socket interactions.

• Naming note: item quality Apex is separate from Operative → Veteran → Elite base-tier fiction on named bases, and from Apex Threat difficulty. Quality Apex = Ultimate amplifier tier.
• Cannot be used as Phonon Chord bases (same exclusion family as Legendary/Unique).
• Drop / craft gated to endgame (Apex Threat+, pinnacle content, or Apex recipes). Players may craft Apex with the matching Weapon Frame or Armor Blueprint plus materials. Crafted Apex stays Apex quality but cannot Invoke (InvokeEligible = false).
• Invoke Power: world-found Apex only (drops, missions, pinnacle, named loot). Players may craft Apex with the matching Weapon Frame or Armor Blueprint plus materials — that output is Apex quality (sockets, Artifacts, Ultimate synergy) but cannot be invoked. The stamp is set at creation; trade / mail / stash does not flip it. Full Inspect rules: In-Game GUIs / FS-PRG-009.
• May include Apex-only implicits that scale with active Set piece thresholds (2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6-piece).
• Always Artifact-socket eligible (exactly one Artifact socket), same paper-doll rule as Unique. Apex may feed Sets. It does not gain extra Artifact sockets.
• Primary payoff is Ultimate-facing: Ultimate damage, cooldown, duration, charges, radius, cast/channel speed, or Ultimate-specific verbs — not generic +everything.
• May feed Sets. Alone they are strong; with matching Unique / Apex Set pieces they massively empower Ultimates.
• Hand-authored only — outside Augmented/Rare modular corp-part crafting.
• Quality: Apex — above Unique on the ladder (Common → Uncommon → Augmented → Rare → Legendary → Unique → Apex).

Apex Rules

• Apex items are hand-crafted endgame packages built to synergize with Artifacts and deliver an enormous power boost to Ultimates. They sit at the top of the quality ladder as a peer chase with Legendary/Unique — same scarcity band, different job. Legendary and Unique enable named fantasies (Unique may be a Set piece; Legendary never). Apex can finish Set play by overcharging Ultimates from the Customizable matrix.

Apex Items (Hand-Authored Ultimate Amplifiers)

Apex Invoke Power (world-found only)

Apex quality can be found (world / mission / pinnacle loot) or crafted (Weapon Frame or Armor Blueprint + materials on the Crafting Page, by item type). Both are Apex for stats, Artifact sockets, and Ultimate synergy.

Invoke Power is on Inspect (full socket view) only for world-found Apex. Crafted Apex never offers Invoke. Legendary / Unique never offer Invoke.

Stamp at creation, server-authoritative, persist on the instance:

• World-found (loot, mission reward, named drop, world lottery) → InvokeEligible = true
• Crafted (Crafting Page recipe using Frame / Blueprint + mats) → InvokeEligible = false
• Trade, mail, stash, and dismantle do not flip the stamp. A client cannot set InvokeEligible.

On a confirmed invoke of a world-found Apex:

1. Take the player’s highest owned main class (max class level; ties: origin first).
2. Grant every unowned main class (Enforcer / Arcwarden / Phantom). Already-owned classes are unchanged.
3. Each granted class: class level and class XP match the highest class. Subclass gates follow the unlock table for that class level (TBD-029). ActiveSubclass = first unlocked roster row if it was null.
4. Grant Combat skill points on each new class equal to the highest class’s earned Combat budget (unspent + spent on that class’s Combat tree). Tentacle / Ordnance / stat points are not copied.
5. Do not run Combat-tab Unlock Commit. Do not start the new class at level 1. Invoke itself does not charge the XP tax; after the grant, multiclass tax applies because more than one class is owned.
6. Then roll break chance TBD-030. On break: destroy the Apex; socketed Phonons / Gems / Jewels / Artifact return to bag; no salvage Frame/Blueprint. On hold: the item stays.

If all three main classes are already owned, or the item is crafted / not Apex / not world-found, Invoke is unavailable (no roll, no consume). Fail closed.

Lock plate. Apex origin — both paths make Apex quality. World-found stamps InvokeEligible = true. Crafted (Weapon Frame or Armor Blueprint + mats) stamps false.

Lock plate. Apex paths — craft uses Frame or Blueprint by item type; output cannot Invoke. World loot stamps InvokeEligible.

Lock plate. Inspect Invoke gate — show only for world-found Apex with an unowned main class.

Lock plate. Apex Invoke Power — grant missing classes at highest class level, then break roll TBD-030. Crafted Apex never enters this path.