D&D 5E Alternative to magic weapons and armor so they do not break bounded accuracy.

[Horwath]

It's all nice and cool to have +3 sword and +3 armor but that kind of breaks the 5e premise of bounded accuracy and usefullness of low level mobs(especialy low level mobs with high AC as their sell point)

So instead of giving +1 attack and damage, weapons would just deal bonus damage.

1st version is all are equal and weapons gain +1d8 damage per point of "plus" they have so +3 dagger would deal 1d4+3d8 damage while greatsword would deal 2d6+3d8 damage.

2nd version is based on the weapon where a "plus" would deal that much of weapons base damage die, then a +3 dagger would be 4d4 damage and greatsword would deal 8d6 damage.


this way weapon does not "guide" it self to the target, that is 100% left to the skill of the wielder, but it is so sharp and deadly that when it connects it cleaves through about everything.


As for armor there is also two ways.

1st; damage reduction. 2 or 3 points of damage reduction per plus. this is fine and easy but it has a problem of going into "singularity" especialy if combined with heavy armor mastery.
If it's 2 pts per plus of armor and heavy armor mastery, that is DR 9. It could render many low CR mooks completely useless expect as a off chance pest with some grapple or push attempt.

2nd vesrion would be bonus HPs, like 1 or 2 or 3 HP per plus per HDs of target. So 20th level character with +3 armor could have +60 or +1200 or +180 HP.


This way bounded accuracy is maintained and it's only about damage/HP balance.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Or, in the alternative, don't give magic weapons bonuses to hit or damage, or defensive bonuses to armor at all. Instead, give them "kewl powerz" more akin to other items in the game, but with a decidedly martial bent.

In prior editions, a holy avenger weapon granted massive bonuses to attack and damage rolls. Instead, in the hands of the faithful, perhaps the weapon makes the wielder aware of all enemies of the faith- or maybe, those who have harmed those the wielder has sworn to avenge- in a 100 mile radius. Perhaps damage done by said foes is reduced, or heals at an accelerated rate.

 

[zeldafan42]

Yeah, it feels like you're trying too hard to fix a problem that isn't there. In 5E, magic weapons and armor don't have to have a numerical bonus. They just need a special power and they're magical. If you're concerned with +1 weapons or armor breaking the game, don't give them out as treasure. Simple as that. As for magic weapons that have special powers on top of numerical bonuses, just ignore the bonus. If you really want magic weapons to still do extra damage, say that a +2 bonus applies to damage but not to your attack bonus.

Your suggested solutions are a lot more complex than they need to be. Keep it simple.

 

[hejtmane]

I just remove the + to hit from the magical weapons and I have given out + armor but nothing higher than +1 and I never give out more than one + ac to a person. Most my magic items I give out have attunement so sometimes attunement can fail. I just customize my magic weapons a lot probably the thing I homebrew the most; and my players have love it we do not have a ton of magic items I give out semi powerful ones and they have lost all their magic items twice now during the campaigns.

 

[machineelf]

I just make those items very rare, and players don't come across +3 items until they are about level 16 or higher. Those are epic, special, super powerful weapons that only the highest-level characters will discover. And by that time they should be fighting epic and really powerful monsters, like angels and demons and ancient dragons and such. And I will throw some really dangerous stuff at my players. If they are cutting through it too easily, I will up the CR level of monsters and increase the number of monsters they face.

There is a problem with the CR rating of monsters being too low by the time your players reach higher levels. But the way to fix that, in my mind, is by being aware of that, throwing a higher total CR at your players, and playing your monsters in smart and devastating ways that challenge your players (this is often overlooked. For example, dragons are smart. They will swoop down, blast your players with breath weapon, and fly back up, avoiding any melee damage your players can normally deal out. Make your monsters vicious, especially the high int. ones.) I think that making your high-level player characters less powerful, or taking their super rare epic weapons away, is not the way to fix that problem, in my opinion.

Those +3 items are really special, and my players like them if they ever reach that high of a level. It's a momentous achievement for them, and I don't care to take that away.

 

[Corwin]

Not all magic weapons and armor in the DMG have pluses, anyway. I'd just use those as examples of what to do. I'd also disagree about pluses "breaking bounded accuracy". Unless you are re-purposing what "bounded accuracy" actually means. Regardless, to me, plus weapons and armor actually make the character *better*. And that's a refreshing callback to the olden days. One I like. So take all that for what its worth, I guess.

 

[hejtmane]

Not all magic weapons and armor in the DMG have pluses, anyway. I'd just use those as examples of what to do. I'd also disagree about pluses "breaking bounded accuracy". Unless you are re-purposing what "bounded accuracy" actually means. Regardless, to me, plus weapons and armor actually make the character *better*. And that's a refreshing callback to the olden days. One I like. So take all that for what its worth, I guess.

I personally removed +to hit from magic items because I do rolled stats and allow all the feats so it is my way to keeping magic items from swinging the balance to the other end. I find it has been a nice balance for my games and encounter builds. +3 to hit in a point buy is probably not as impactful on the game as it would be to mine since I do use rolled stats just to explain why I removed the +to hit I use it as a balancing point and it is my favorite part to home brew is magical items so for a selfish reason as while.

 

[happyhermit]

The more I think about it the more utterly boring the difference between a +2 and a +1 magic item becomes. Trying to watch an experienced player attempt to explain to a completely new to RPGs player why a +2 weapon was cool really brought it into perspective to me. A weapon is magical, that is inherently cool, giving it a +1 is an easy way to indicate that but not all that interesting in and of itself, going to a +2 adds essentially nothing but math. It is really hard to think of anything magical that is less interesting than +1, +2, +3, etc. whether it is to damage, to hit or both.

I much prefer items that do something cool, sure they aren't as easy as adding a flat modifier, but they aren't that hard either. Animated Shield is cool and allows for some interesting things, Spellguard shield is a rather flat bonus but distinct, Shield of Missile attraction can be funny and useful, and so on. Shield +1,+2,+3,

 

[machineelf]

The more I think about it the more utterly boring the difference between a +2 and a +1 magic item becomes. Trying to watch an experienced player attempt to explain to a completely new to RPGs player why a +2 weapon was cool really brought it into perspective to me.

Some magic weapons/shields only have the +1/+2/+3 as their magic benefit. The way I conceptualize and explain it to my players is that some weapons and armor were crafted using magical means to make them stronger, sharper, more balanced than a normal weapon can be. By using magic, the craftsmanship is better than even a master craftsman without magic can make. Of course, sometimes there are other magical weapons or armor with bonuses that also do additional strange or wonderful magical things. But the +2 or +3 sword may just be a very special sword crafted by a master craftsperson with the use of magic to make it one of the most amazing swords this world has known.

 

[happyhermit]

Some magic weapons/shields only have the +1/+2/+3 as their magic benefit. The way I conceptualize and explain it to my players is that some weapons and armor were crafted using magical means to make them stronger, sharper, more balanced than a normal weapon can be. By using magic, the craftsmanship is better than even a master craftsman without magic can make. Of course, sometimes there are other magical weapons or armor with bonuses that also do additional strange or wonderful magical things. But the +2 or +3 sword may just be a very special sword crafted by a master craftsperson with the use of magic to make it one of the most amazing swords this world has known.

I'm not saying that anybody should not use them, or not like them. I used them plenty in the past and came up with all sorts of ways to try to explain how the +1 sword was infused with magical energy/perfectly balanced/perfectly sharp, etc, and how the +2 sword was even more all of the above, and the +3 sword was even MORE of all of the above. It's fine, it can work great but I just don't see anyone finding it more inherently interesting than other potential magical properties, if they step outside of the "traditional" RPG paradigm.