Variant Magic Item Rules

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Sup /tg/. I'm planning a Pathfinder campaign in a low-magic setting, and need some help with magic items.

My problem is that, by design, characters are supposed to gain certain abilities and bonuses through magic items - Wealth by Level is factored into character progression and CR and so on. But the setting I'm working in is somewhat low magic, where you can't just walk into the Magic Item Store that's in every major city. I want magical items to feel special and powerful, more akin to artifacts, than standard gear.

I seem to remember 3.P having a variant rulesystem where, instead of there being "magic items" that were made by wizards and stuff, "magic items" were legendary items that had power because they were wielded by a hero - by the PCs. And the legendary sword or whatever wasn't really that powerful; the power was in the guy who wielded it. Functionally, it gave players this pool of points to spend on making their items magical, and it took a certain amount of time so that they wouldn't just make a bunch of potions and stuff, etc.

Does anyone know the system I'm talking about? Or have alternative suggestions for magic items in low magic settings?