DMG Preview 4: Artifacts!

Scorpio616 · Oct 24, 2014

fuindordm said:
What's the story of Vecna's ascension, and how does it relate to Kas' rebellion?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vecna

TerraDave · Oct 24, 2014

Evenglare said:
Awesome, love all of it. This is the best preview so far.

GX.Sigma said:
Holy crap, this is awesome! I love the story about Vecna and Kas, and how the sword of Kas is the only way to permanently destroy the artifacts. The players then immediately ask "So, where's the Sword of Kas?" And there you go, a free adventure hook.

Dunther the Great said:
Anyone notice that artifacts get extra random properties on top of the tailored properties? I find that quite promising

Nebulous said:
Awesome. I like it.

Plaguescarred said:
Pretty awesome toys!

BrockBallingdark said:
Love the Orb! Love all the previews so far, can't wait to get the DM already!

Nilbog said:
Well I'm sold!

...
Now the positives: The write up is superb, and like several folk have mentioned there are adventure seeds scattered throughout, as a DM this is a god send. The random properties are awesome, you can now easily tailor the artefacts to your campaign world, and player metagame knowledge isn't 100% useful.

...

Psikerlord# said:
I love this preview. Very excited to get my hands on the DMG and get a 5e campaign up and running.

fuindordm said:
I love the fact that the core books have been calling out and reinforcing classical D&D lore. I think the designers mentioned at one point that they wanted to emphasize the stories (and IP) that are uniquely D&D, so that it stands out from generic fantasy roleplay. I think they've been doing a fine job.

...+1...

SilverfireSage · Oct 24, 2014

Cyberen said:
I am not very pleased with the magic items so far :
* the art is useless at best (rings ! I wear one on my finger, I don't need wotc to show me what it's like), and often ugly (folding boat illustration looks like a camping manual, dragon orb is plain looking)
* the write ups eat a lot of page space for what they are : straightforward conversions from 1e DMG, with a caveat...
* the new mechanics are crappy. It shows most with the artifacts : the removal of the clever building up frameworks introduced with 4e is a terrible shame. Where are skill challenges, disease tracks and artifact tracks when you most need them ? Neither as a player nor a DM would I seriously consider using/introducing this Eye of Vecna : flat 5% of losing a PC forever to use Clairvoyance is silly. It tells the story of a DMG written on a budget, leaving large gaps in the DM toolbox. Fortunately for WotC, I like the rest of 5e so much that I am looking forward to the Unearthed Arcana which is inevitably coming to fill the holes !
* I am glad to learn that when I wear both the Eye and the Hand, X-Ray vision becomes a picnic, but I didn't know it was exhausting in the first place... general artifact rule, or editing error ?
* the Artifacts backstories are cool and well done

Do you expect everyone buying this book to already own the 1ed DMs guide? They put all of this stuff back in here for a reason, and I think if you go back and read the original books, the descriptions and text are very much different in both that one and this one. Complaining about them having pictures of the rings at all? Sheesh, it is really hard to please some people isn't it?

Ridley's Cohort · Oct 24, 2014

SilverfireSage said:
This is a classic case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If they had admitted these artifacts or changed them significantly, they would have been raked over the coals for straying too far from the original. Just look at how hard 4e got hit in the gaming world for doing this. But now, when they try to appease people, they get told that they're lazy and copy pasting. I don't understand this thought process. If you really think it's that similar, why don't you just use your old book and forgo purchasing this one?

Yup. From the designer's POV, a mediocre nugget that adheres closely to the 1e version is going to earn them less grief than a superb new version that seems completely different. But not changing it up means they will be accused of screwing up on down the line. It is definitely a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

At least for 3e, that was one source for a number of egregious errors IMHO. Such is inevitably going to be the case in 5e.

bleezy · Oct 24, 2014

SilverfireSage said:
Do you expect everyone buying this book to already own the 1ed DMs guide? They put all of this stuff back in here for a reason, and I think if you go back and read the original books, the descriptions and text are very much different in both that one and this one. Complaining about them having pictures of the rings at all? Sheesh, it is really hard to please some people isn't it?

I love everything I've seen about the DMG so far, except the pictures. It really does seem like a huge waste of space. Art is cool, but a picture of every magic item? Imagine if the PHB had a picture of every spell.

But overall, I'm very excited.

TheWriterFantastic™ · Oct 24, 2014

SilverfireSage said:
"One good hit from a +3 magic weapon is sufficient to destroy an orb"

Looks that that's a decent confirmation for how powerful magic weapons can get.

And here, I remember just throwing the orb against a large rock doing the trick...