DMG2 - Replacing magic items with inherent bonuses?

[soulkeeper]

I was about to use the inherent bonus and saw that it apparently enabled mastercraft items for purchase? I turned it on and do not see them anywhere, am I missing something?

I'm a fan of the style where if you find a magic item that really is an amazing thing. Potions and scrolls are common, but to actually craft magic into an item is rare, so I think this will help us, but I want to make sure that's how it operates.

Thanks for any FMI

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

Is the inherent bonuses option supported by the character builder?

My group has gotten pretty dependent on the character builder, to the point of not wanting options that are not auto calculated...

 

[fanboy2000]

Inherent bonus are in the CB. You have to checkmark a box on the page where you give your PC a name.

 

[Teemu]

I was about to use the inherent bonus and saw that it apparently enabled mastercraft items for purchase? I turned it on and do not see them anywhere, am I missing something?

Well, there's only one type of masterwork item available in the game, masterwork armor. Once you check the Inherent bonuses box, you can buy them in the regular 'armor' section.

 

[erf_beto]

I've been using it and it works well, definitely a departure from the usual D&D game. Note that the rules still assume some magic items, but you can replace them with various boons, some given in DMG2.

I've seen mentioned somewhere (Wizard's forum?) to award boons and other inherent bonuses as a reward for a personal minor quest: everyone gets XP when they help you avenge your father, but you get a (very special) permanent +1...
This helps/encourages players to come up with all sorts of personal quests.

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

So...if my campaign started using the inherent bonus option I could throw out the current boring array of magic items? and instead award interesting custom items with neat effects...and the system math would all work out fine?

 

[Gort]

So...if my campaign started using the inherent bonus option I could throw out the current boring array of magic items? and instead award interesting custom items with neat effects...and the system math would all work out fine?

Yup. Effectively the inherent bonuses just replace the "plus" part of magic gear, so for instance at level 9 any weapon or armour you pick up counts as +2.

In effect, a level 9 guy who picks up a flaming sword counts as wielding a +2 flaming sword, while a level 30 guy who does so counts as wielding a +6 flaming sword.

Magic bonuses and the inherent ones don't stack, so if you wanted someone to have a better magic item than their level, you can still drop that +6 sword into the hands of a level 2 dude and it'll work.

 

[InspectorHound]

re: Character Builder
The nice thing about how the CB implements it, the Inherent Bonuses and the Magic Item bonuses don't stack, but it will use the highest one. So if you give out a +3 magic item, and their current Inherent Bonuses are only a +2 to hit, they will benefit from an >extra< +1 above their Inherent Bonuses -- at least until they hit a level where the Inherent Bonus 'catches up', so to speak.
So for a little while, the magic item is that much more extra special.

re: low-magic campaigns
I used to run a Warhammer Fantasy Campaign (1st and 2nd edition) and I was super-super-stingy when it came to magic items. Our group loves 4e so much that when we go back to Warhammer (the campaign isn't done yet), we're gonna use the 4e system instead. And I'm totally going to use Inherent Bonuses. It's perfect.
Yes, players will have fewer daily powers from magic items, but the whole 'magic item dailies' and 'milestones' system is one of the bigger tracking headaches in 4e and I won't miss it. I have a 13th level Wizard in another campaign, completely kitted out, and it's such a pain to manage.

re: crits
One thing to highlight... while you can get away with never giving out another magic neck item or magic armor and not worry about the player Defenses suffering... (well, >do< include masterwork armors)
But you probably want to give out magic weapons along the way -- 'cause otherwise, players will be missing out on their extra damage from crits.

 

[Redshirt]

But you probably want to give out magic weapons along the way -- 'cause otherwise, players will be missing out on their extra damage from crits.

I just plan on giving the extra damage based on the inherent bonus and not the weapon (at lvl 9 you get +2d6 dmg on a crit). That way the party wont loose out on the extra damage.

 

[Gort]

Well, I'm glad that there are no problems with the system. I'm gonna switch to it when my players hit paragon. I'll report back when I've gotten a feel for it.

You know, some of the major alterations and new systems for 3e were things like Conan, Iron Heroes and some of the Unearthed Arcana rules - major parts of these systems were simply replacing the fact that there were no magic items.

I remember playing Midnight where there was a theme where the baddies were in control, and had evil sniffer dogs that could "smell" magic items. Since an obvious way to play the game was subterfuge, it meant that characters usually carried no magic items so as to pass by these sniffer dogs undetected. The downside, of course, was that with no rings of resistance, amulets of natural armour and obviously no enhancement bonuses to armour or shields, the armour class of any hero was pathetically low - effectively the same at level 20 as at level 1. And somehow the creators had never thought of that.

I give 4e a lot of credit for making this option so simple, and building it into the DDI with a single checkbox.