Design & Development: Magic Item Levels

[MerricB]

from the article, "For example, all 9th-level magic items now cost the same number of gp to craft or to purchase"

Um, huh!?!

Why would you ever make a magic item for someone then. "It cost me 50GP to make this so I'll sell it for 50GP, I am a genius."

Heh.

Well, the D&D Economy isn't. Overall, the purpose of the D&D economy is purely to allow the PCs to buy and sell things, not to allow the world to actually function in a logical manner.

However, I expect that it still costs less to craft; it's just misstated in the article.

Cheers!

 

[Ahglock]

No, I'm stating that if PCs can make magic items then no amount of GM miserliness will stop the PCs from getting what they want because they can just mark off the costs to make the stuff, write it on their sheets and thumb their noses as the killjoy behind the GM screen.

I guess, though I expect if this is an issue for a game the DM will have a ton of other problems so this will seem insignificant.

 

[MerricB]

That is what I am assuming as well.

In fact I kind of expect your true BAB will be the same as in 3e.

Fighters get the .5 per level, and another .5 per level for being a fighter which talents and feats can improve further.

clerics get .5 per level and .5 per level every other level which talents and feats can improve though not as much as the fighter,

wizards get .5 per level which talents and feats can improve though not as much as the cleric.(though multiclassing will alter this)

Don't quite think so. I expect they're going to try to limit the difference between top and bottom BAB more than that. A 15+ difference at level 30 is problematic.

Cheers!

 

[Voss]

No, I'm stating that if PCs can make magic items then no amount of GM miserliness will stop the PCs from getting what they want because they can just mark off the costs to make the stuff, write it on their sheets and thumb their noses as the killjoy behind the GM screen.

Not sure about that. It could be just like now, as you suggest, but there could easily be restrictions on those rituals that we know nothing about. Time, material components, quest requirements, even a flat you can only do this 1/month. (Though... ugh. Don't really like that thought myself.

 

[Ahglock]

Don't quite think so. I expect they're going to try to limit the difference between top and bottom BAB more than that. A 15+ difference at level 30 is problematic.

Cheers!

I'd sort of agree but the 15 point swing is only for wizards who now can cast magic every round so BAB is less important to them. They don't have to hit true ACs just reflex defenses.

You may be right, but I hope you are wrong. I want wizards to suck in a brawl so bad that a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum is a fearsome foe. If wizards want any skill what so ever at kicking bootie they should multi class.

 

[Glyfair]

I was hoping that an elimination of the Christmas Tree effect would also mean not having to upgrade magic items or be considered underpowered. Andy Collins implies otherwise. My flaming sword is not trendy enough to hang with 12th plus level crowd, I'll just be killing boars in the forest. ;P

I do think the +X weapons will be the least affected by this. Sure, if everyone has +2 & +3 weapons a +1 is very unimportant. Still, it's not useless.

Now, a pair of slippers of spider climbing that can be used X times a day will become pretty useless when the warlock can do it all day, the boots of spider climbing are uncharged and teh rogue has a thief ability like it that can be used on an encounter basis. I think that is more the point they are talking about.

 

[MerricB]

I'd sort of agree but the 15 point swing is only for wizards who now can cast magic every round so BAB is less important to them. They don't have to hit true ACs just reflex defenses.

You may be right, but I hope you are wrong. I want wizards to suck in a brawl so bad that a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum is a fearsome foe. If wizards want any skill what so ever at kicking bootie they should multi class.

I'd prefer they have a not-so-bad chance to hit... but their actual effect in melee is lesser than the fighter. So a 30th level fighter might be doing 2d8+30 damage, whilst the Wizard does 1d8+5.

It really is the part of the system I want to see the most. The gap between levels was my biggest problem with 3e.

Cheers!

 

[Ismaul]

Another thing: While I have seen +X items in the article, I haven't seen 'pure' +X items, as a +1 longsword. Perhaps the non-"plus-X"-abilities are now an intrinsic property of the enhancement bonuses, i.e. a weapon with +3 would automatically have special effects (flaming, electricity, whatever) with a total value of +3 as well.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. Our old magic weapons were "+X weapon; property" (for example, +2 sword; flaming). Now, I'm thinking it's more like "+X property; weapon" (for example, +2 flaming; sword). So the +X is applied to the property rather than the weapon itself.

We'd have weapons with properties that can have different levels of efficacity. Maybe it works like the "Poisoned 5" we saw on the Spined Devil. So +2 flaming is another way of saying the potency of the flaming property, while still keeping the traditional +X nomenclature. That would go a long way in lessening the Chrismas tree effect.

 

[Andor]

No, I'm stating that if PCs can make magic items then no amount of GM miserliness will stop the PCs from getting what they want because they can just mark off the costs to make the stuff, write it on their sheets and thumb their noses as the killjoy behind the GM screen.

Umm... No? Making magic items requires the nebulous but expensive "magical components" that make up the entire cost of making a magic item outside of the actual item itself. If the GM does not allow them to purchase those components then their Item Creation feat would have been better spent on Toughness. Harsh, but frankly it would make perfect sense for the trade in 'components", whatever they are, to be regulated in a D&D world.

It also requires time, which some groups don't get a lot of to spare. It's actually been a fairly common complaint that Wizards don't get enough downtime to scribe spells and make items.

 

[Rechan]

I think this is the first thing I've seen that is a disappointment.