[Adventurer's Vault] Problematic Items

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

I guess I'll be the first to say it:

This is the new, fourth core book. For fifth edition they should pull all magic items out of the PHB and point at this book. I recommend everyone buy this (with their DMs permission, of course).

I'm very, very impressed.

I'm a very minimalist DM and ran 2nd edition for ages with just the DMG, PHB, and first two volumes of the MC. I strictly played 3.x and hated the splat-book madness the DM allowed. Now that I'm DMing again I was planning on falling back on my 2nd Edition style. But a player convinced me to take a look at this (he was most excited about the kukris, believe it or not) and now I own it and will use it.

 

[That One Guy]

I only read it as three: the Rapidstrike Bracers can only turn a single basic attack into Twin Strike. Also, it's not clear to me that Twin Strike is really a single-target power as required, so this may not work at all.

Even if it works, it's two Paragon items, and you can only pull it off once per day. For that you get three 1[W] attacks at -2 against a single target, and only one attack gets your stat bonus added. That's not bad, but every Ranger level 15 Daily power is IMO clearly better, so the items are hardly overshadowing the character's innate abilities.

Thanks! I was more focusing on the Tempest Fighter Dual Strike. But, good point about it only being a single attack. When I first read it I thought it was over-powered, but since it would be a makeshift daily power I started to not think so.
Which is why I asked.

 

[Derren]

Edit2:
What about the Exodus Knife. If there wasn't Rope Trick power in 4E now there is one.

And the Dust of Creation is a money making machine. Make a astral diamond (or a 25 pound block of astral diamonds which are 12500 ADs worth 125000000 GPs) and put them into a Pouch of Platinum to prevent them from disappearing.

Or what about creating residium and using that for making magical items?

 

[Gort]

Bracers of Archery - give a bonus to all ranged attacks.

I thought these kind of items were totally against 4e's design philosophy (hence the reasons gauntlets of ogre power only grant extra damage once per day).

Yeah, I read those and thought, "What, were archery rangers not good enough already? Why do they get +2 damage and nobody else?"

 

[Drakhar]

You guys do realize there's the exact same bracers for Melee attacks as well right?

 

[Cryptos]

Edit2:
What about the Exodus Knife. If there wasn't Rope Trick power in 4E now there is one.

And the Dust of Creation is a money making machine. Make a astral diamond (or a 25 pound block of astral diamonds which are 12500 ADs worth 125000000 GPs) and put them into a Pouch of Platinum to prevent them from disappearing.

Or what about creating residium and using that for making magical items?

The PoPP converts normal coins and gems to platinum. Astral Diamonds created out of Dust of Creation wouldn't be normal, they would be temporary items that radiate magic. Residuum isn't mundane, it's the raw material of magic item properties. Dust of Creation can only create mundane items.

So none of that would work. Realistically, even the village idiot shouldn't be buying fantastically useful or valuable items that glow from a random adventuring stranger that wanders into town in a 4e setting. If he did, well, how much money do they pay for the position of Village Idiot these days? Very little gain for the risk that the VI is going to run off and show his friends or family what a great deal he got, and have them run you out of town.

It's too obvious what you're aiming for anyway, if you ask for those items.

In terms of money making items and sheer utility of items, I'm surprised people aren't making more out of the Pouches of Shared Acquisition. These little items are incredible useful. Give one to your trusted NPC friend or relative from a decent-sized city. When you stroll into a distant town or city, announce, "Instant message and small package delivery to Waterdeep! No danger, no risk! 1 gold per message, 10 gold per small package!" Or set yourself up as a courier that can provide an instant reply to a message. The Duke of Anywhere wants to communicate with the Prince of Nowhere, so he hires you to deliver a message. You deliver it, and the Prince can scribble off a reply to the Duke and it gets there instantly. Half the communication and travel time.

Now, as for utility, say you're in a dungeon and you're in dire need of a potion. You slip a note into the pouch, maybe some coins. Your cousin or brother or whatever (who is probably fairly attentive to the pouch if you've been using it to make money with him) runs down to the corner shop, buys the potion, slips it into the bag, and you've just made a purchase from a big city merchant from hundreds of miles away, at the bottom of a dungeon.

Even without a trusted NPC, they still have their uses.

However, depending on GM style and opinion, any money making proposition in 4e may be moot, as I think that the DMG says something about taking money earned or made out of the total wealth a character should have. A strict interpretation means that one level 10 adventurer is worth the same as another, even if one is a cunning entreprenuer and the other doesn't pay attention to the coin in his purse. The Pouches of SA would still be amazingly useful, though. A group of quick draw rogues, each with a shuriken or other small equipment that has different properties, could chain the pouches together and share those weapons or items as needed even in the heat of battle.

 

[keterys]

You guys do realize there's the exact same bracers for Melee attacks as well right?

This doesn't mean the item should exist at all. Something being bad and must have for everyone sucks.

 

[Derren]

If you rule that the Pouch of Platinum doesn't work with dusted Astral Gems, then you are left with trading this gems for items/exchange.
The glow can be taken care of with a Darkskull.

The PCs will make many enemies with that (unless they instead of astral diamonds creating things which can disappear without someone noticing. Or they mix the fake ADs with a couple of real ones so that the merchant won't notice next morning that 3-4 ADs are missing). So this combo is probably not worth it when you have to buy the Dust. But when you have it then you can make a couple of thousand extra gp.
Still, if you manage to smelt 25 pound of platinum into coins and spend it the same day (or can cut just a fraction of a 25 pound astral diamond block into "currency astral diamonds" you are pretty darn rich.

 

[Cryptos]

If you rule that the Pouch of Platinum doesn't work with dusted Astral Gems, then you are left with trading this gems for items/exchange.
The glow can be taken care of with a Darkskull.

There's a difference between using the PoP on real astral gems, and using them on magically created Astral Gems. They shouldn't be trading Dust-created gems at all. It wouldn't work by the definitions of the items, and in terms of normal trade, anyone trading something that valuable is going to a) wonder why you're using a Darkskull to make it so dark; b) want to examine the gems in the light to appraise them; c) probably have an Arcanist on call (or find one) to find out why they glow; d) hunt you down when they disappear in 24 hours.

The worry of "well, then how do I get money for my fake, temporary astral gems created by magic" is a false one: you're not supposed to.

 

[Gort]

You guys do realize there's the exact same bracers for Melee attacks as well right?

I didn't, actually. Which bracers are you referring to? Is it the one that only works for basic attacks? Because that's not at all the same thing.

Nevertheless, Keterys's counter-argument still works. Something so universally useful is the definition of a broken magic item (IE: Something everyone would take)