[Adventurer's Vault] Problematic Items

[James McMurray]

Nope. They're kinda in the MM, but they appear to have different efects based on which gith is holding them.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The dynamic weapon (change shape into the weapon of your choice) and sacrificial weapon (daily power to spend a healing surge as a free action to leave your target weakened for a round) have all of the benefits of a basic magic weapon weapon plus more, at the same price.

The dynamic weapon would never see play as is if it cost more. So Idon't see aproblme as is. Since most layers favor 1 weapon, I don't expect it to get much play even for 'free'.

Sacrificial weapon I am not so sure, but I belive costing the healing surge is the reason not to up the price.

 

[bobthehappyzombie]

Well I like the book, as many have said it has some dodgy items... but we'd all kinda expected that right?

Anyhw heres a typo i'm guessing... it could however just be a weaksauce anti evil power.

Righteous Weapon Level 10+

Crafted with faith and wrath, this weapon is a scourge of evil.

Weapon: Any melee
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +1d6 damage per plus, or +1d8 damage per plus
against evil creatures.

Power (Daily): Free Action. Use this power when you hit with the weapon. The target is dazed until the end of your next turn. If the target is evil or chaotic evil, the target is [d]instead dazed (save ends).[/b]

seems like that should at least say stunned

 

[malcolm_n]

No, the difference between end of next and (save ends) is marginal, but definite. A creature is expected to fail saves at least once on average, especially with penalties being doled (SP?) out left and right at higher levels.

 

[keterys]

Dazed is a very good effect - it stops immediate actions and OAs. Combined with shift and it also effectively stuns many creatures. Plus sets up sneak attack and gives +2 to attack for everyone.

In fact, a weapon that stunned would pretty much be horribly overpowered at any level of play.

 

[chaotix42]

^^^ Believe it. Dazed is no joke!

 

[malcolm_n]

Question on order of operations for 4e...

I have a wizard with Rapidstrike Bracers and a Staff of Missile Mastery. Can I use the Rapidstrike Bracers and then the staff to effectively attack several targets? Or does it just not let me use the staff?

 

[Baumi]

I'm not sure if it is really broken but Mage's Weapon can give everyone extremely easy access to Exotic Blades (Fullblade, Rapier,...).

I think that's very powerful, but on the other hand it's other Power is really only usable for Martial/Arcane Multiclass Characters or Half-Elves (does his Dilettante Power count as Encounter Power?).

 

[kerbarian]

The melee version is Iron Armbands of Power (Adventurer's Vault p117). It doesn't have a daily power like the archer one, not that it really matters, it's still so much more useful than any other arms slot item available to even defenders IMO. Even worse, implement users get shafted since there's no equivalent for them to at least level the playing field.

It's only available towards the end of epic, but the Opal Ring of Remembrance gives +2 to Intelligence attacks, which I'd think would be more significant than +6 damage.

I was definitely surprised by the Bracers of Archery and Iron Armbands of Power, though. I can't think of any other item property that's so universally useful and powerful (aside from the basic enhancements of weapon/armor/neck). They stand out so much that it makes me think it's an intentional bias towards martial characters.

A few other items that seemed... not necessarily problematic, but significant:

Grasping Weapon (p.70): The rules aren't entirely clear here, but if you can use this to grab at reach 2 (with a nice bonus), that's a significant change to the grab mechanic that makes it much more powerful. The question is whether "You can use this weapon to grab targets" is intended to override the basic grab rule "The creature must be within your melee reach (don't count extra reach from a weapon)." Since they were obviously thinking about reach weapons for this -- grasping weapons can only be polearms or spears -- I would have expected a clearer wording.

Veteran's Armor (p.55): This one was mentioned already, but being able to re-use daily powers starting with a level 2 item seems like a pretty big deal. Not necessarily problematic, but it changes the game a bit.

Medallion of Death Deferred (p.153): This is significantly lower level (starts at 9) than other items and powers that automatically save you at 0hp. However, it doesn't leave you with a lot of hp.

I still think a Dancing Weapon (from the PHB) is one of the most powerful items, though. Assuming you let it dance and then pull out another weapon to fight with, it effectively gives you an extra melee basic attack as a minor action every round until the end of the encounter.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I'm not sure if it is really broken but Mage's Weapon can give everyone extremely easy access to Exotic Blades (Fullblade, Rapier,...).

On the other hand, you pass up a lot of good weapon properties. I think that getting the feat is a much lower investment than passing up a good enchantment.

Cheers, LT.