[Adventurer's Vault] Problematic Items

[SableWyvern]

Orb of Impenetrable Escape and Orb of Mental Domination
Two issues with these.
1. They stack with what many already consider a broken power (Wizard Orb Mastery)
2. They represent objective power creep -- they're equivalent to the same level Orbs from the PHB, with extra abilities that have no drawback. This is in contrast to most level 6/11/16/21/26 level items, and the new armours, which either trade one benefit for another, or they offer a benefit that comes at a cost.

Antipathy Gloves
Only the level 10 version is described.

Potion of Accuracy
I can see what they're attempting to do here, and it makes sense, but the implementation seems all wrong.

The level 8 version gives +1 to a level 8 or 9 character, and nothing to a higher level one.
The level 13 version gives +2 at level 13, +1 at levels 14 nd 15, nothing thereafter.
The level 18 version gives +1 at levels 18 and 19, nothing thereafter.
Etc...

There is a window of 2-3 levels at a time where brewing such a potion has benefits, and then a 2-3 level wait until it becomes worthwhile again.

Would it be unbalanced to change it so that they provide the following:

Level 8: 7 - 1/2 level
Level 13: 9 - 1/2 level
Level 18: 12 - 1/2 level
Level 23: 14 - 1/2 level
Level 28: 16 - 1/2 level

With this progression, the potions initially give +3, dwindling to +1 as the next potion becomes available. I don't think the +3 is unbalancing, but DMs would want to be more careful about handing out higher level versions.l

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The Potion seem to be a little... clunky. Maybe it would be easier if they just gave an enhancement bonus to attack, thus would be automatically becoming less useful at certain level intervals? A 12th level potion might grant a +4 enhancement bonus. Once a adventurer gets his +4 weapon, it's useless, but before that, it grants a +1 bonus...

 

[SableWyvern]

The Potion seem to be a little... clunky. Maybe it would be easier if they just gave an enhancement bonus to attack, thus would be automatically becoming less useful at certain level intervals? A 12th level potion might grant a +4 enhancement bonus. Once a adventurer gets his +4 weapon, it's useless, but before that, it grants a +1 bonus...

Actually, I like that idea a lot. Give it a bonus one higher than the expected equipment bonus for that level. Simple to implement and maintains the same bonus in normal situations as the potion-as-written seems to be attempting to provide (that being +1). This also makes it especially handy for two-weapon combatants, clerics, paladins etc.. who can't maintain the expected enhancement bonus on two weapons/implements.

Level 8 +3
Level 13 +4
Level 18 +5
Level 23 +6
Level 28 +7

 

[Runestar]

Orb of Impenetrable Escape and Orb of Mental Domination
Two issues with these.
1. They stack with what many already consider a broken power (Wizard Orb Mastery)

...So what? Is Orcus now going to be taking a -16 to his save? Which means that even a solo can now be 100% locked down by a status effect power like sleep or legion's hold?

Just curious, does that ring of tenacious will together with that dragon background which lets you use cha to determine starting hp mean that con is effectively now a dump stat, especially for classes like the warlord or paladin which tend to pump both str/cha?

From the CO boards, it seems that ritualist ring may be problematic as well, since it lets you halve item creation costs, hence allowing your party to access more eq than what their wealth guidelines suggest. Probably not as big a problem in 4e compared to 3e, but may still be something worth watching.

 

[James McMurray]

What do the orbs do?

 

[ki11erDM]

One item I noticed last night was the prismatic robe. To say it sucked would be an understatement. Was a level 14ish item that gave a -2 to a single attacker until the end of your next round. And that went off only have you had been hit by that creature. Other than that I have not found anything I thought was truly odd but only about 30 pages into it.

 

[Runestar]

What do the orbs do?

Just what we need apparently - a chance to inflict yet another penalty to a foe's saving throws...

 

[salander]

double post

 

[MrMyth]

Orb of Impenetrable Escape and Orb of Mental Domination
Two issues with these.
1. They stack with what many already consider a broken power (Wizard Orb Mastery)
2. They represent objective power creep -- they're equivalent to the same level Orbs from the PHB, with extra abilities that have no drawback. This is in contrast to most level 6/11/16/21/26 level items, and the new armours, which either trade one benefit for another, or they offer a benefit that comes at a cost.

As far as (1), the issue there is really the Wizard Orb Mastery more than these. But (2) bothered me - especially since they did a similar things for weapons, but actually did it properly - level 6/11/16/etc items that had a power did have a downside, by removing the bonus damage on a critical. That seems a reasonable trade-off.

For the powers in these orbs, even if they don't consider them strong enough to completely remove the crit bonus, drop it to +1d4 - that would seem reasonable to me. Same goes for the one or two weapons in the same situation (like the Sacrificial Weapon).

They also have two armors that fall into this power creep category, but I'm not bothered by them: one armor you can summon, and one you can disguise as normal clothes. Both have always felt like cool abilities rarely worth the cost, so saying that anyone with basic magic items can choose from those abilities seems reasonable to me.

 

[salander]

Belt of Vim (lvl 18) vs Girdle of the Dragon (lvl 16)

Belt of Vim [p.164]
Lvl 18 85,000 gp
Property: Level 18: +2 bonus to Fortitude defense.

Girdle of the Dragon [p.165]
Lvl 16 45,000 gp
Property: Gain a +2 bonus to Fortitude defense.
Power (Daily): Standard Action. Make two attack rolls: Melee 1; Strength + 3 vs. AC; on a hit, the target takes
3d6 + Strength modifier damage. If both attacks hit the same target, the target is grabbed (until escape).