Imbued magic part deux

[hong]

I've got the itch to run a D&D game again. And as part of this, I'm intending to mess around with magic items, much like I did the last time round. There's various reasons for this, but never mind that for now. Basically, I don't want to power down the game that much, but I do want to make gold less of a factor in balancing things.

The system I used last time is here. It worked okay, but was rather heavy on the bookkeeping (being, essentially, a straight port of the DMG magic item creation guidelines). This time I'd like something a bit simpler.

The basic approach I've got so far is that you get a "pool" of bonus points each level, that you can allocate to various things:
- Weapon enhancement bonus
- Armor enhancement bonus
- Shield enhancement bonus
- Natural armor AC bonus
- Deflection AC bonus
- Resistance save bonus (applies to all saves)
- Enhancement bonus to stats (per stat)
- Competence bonus to skills (per skill)

You pay points on a 1-for-1 basis to get a bonus: eg, you pay 4 points, you get +4 breastplate. For weapons, deflection AC and natural armor AC, it's 2-for-1, so the same 4 points only gets you a +2 sword. Skills are at 2/5 cost, so 4 points gets you a +10 bonus to one skill.

This is basically in line with the relative costs (between categories) in the DMG item creation guidelines: thus a +2 armor costs 4000 gp whereas a +2 weapon costs 8000. Skills are more expensive than in the guidelines, but then I consider skill boosters to be too cheap in the first place.

This is _different_ to the guidelines in that the costs scale linearly instead of quadratically. A +2 armor costs 2 points, but a +4 armor costs 4 points and not 16. I'm not sure that quadratic scaling really achieves anything in this situation except make the numbers bigger, and the simplicity of linear scaling is an attraction.

To stop people from grabbing +5 bonuses at the first opportunity, there would be a cap on the max bonus you can get: something like 1/3 your level rounded down. This means you can't get +5 armor/weapons/etc until 15th level, and no +6 stat boosts until 18th. Skills would be capped by 1/2 your level rounded up to the nearest +5, thus you can get a +10 skill booster from 11th level onwards, and nothing higher until epic.

Bonuses obtained in this way don't take up magic item spaces (since they're not, you know, items). Even if you get a +5 armor bonus to AC, that applies to any armor that you wear. Ditto weapons, although in this case I might split it by melee/missile category: so you can get +5 with sword, spear and axe, but if you want the same with a bow, you'll have to buy it separately.

Obviously a lot depends on how many bonus points you get per level. This is what I've got so far, after much hand-wringing (at least 10 minutes worth):

Level Points
1     0 
2     0 
3     1 
4     2 
5     4 
6     6 
7     8 
8     10
9     12
10    15
11    18
12    21
13    24
14    28
15    32
16    36
17    40
18    44
19    48
20    52

Naturally I'll be reducing gp awards so that people don't end up with bonuses out the wazoo. Actual magic items will still be important for anything that isn't a straight-up bonus, eg holy weapons, winged boots, fortification armour, etc. The bonuses from this scheme interact with those from an item in the expected manner, ie they overlap. Yes, this means you could potentially have a +1 holy orcbane demonbane undeadbane dragonbane flaming frost keen sword with a +5 bonus on top, kinda like GMW cheese. At this stage, I'm not too worried about that.

Comments?

 

[Goblyn]

I may have to take this new toy out for a spin, mang.

 

[Nellisir]

This sounds...pretty cool. I could see applying the magic bonuses to armor categories (light/medium/heavy/shields) or weapon groups.

 

[jmucchiello]

Actual magic items will still be important for anything that isn't a straight-up bonus, eg holy weapons, winged boots, fortification armour, etc.

Why not allow 4 points be spent on the "+2" cost for holy? Same with fortification on armor. Winged boots are a different problem. But you could probably create a formula for spell-like abilities costing spell level * caster level / 3 (or so) for 1 use/day. Additional uses cost +1 or +2 points. If someone wants to fly, they just take fly for 5 or so points.

Oh, and Voadom is correct. The weapon bonuses should be by weapon group. Otherwise these points will only be spent on ability scores.

Once you open the can of worms....

 

[hong]

Why not allow 4 points be spent on the "+2" cost for holy? Same with fortification on armor.

I still want some bling, mang.

(My previous attempt did allow you to get this stuff. And everyone did get holy/fortification/bane/etc. Which ended up causing the group to be a bit samey.)

Oh, and Voadom is correct. The weapon bonuses should be by weapon group. Otherwise these points will only be spent on ability scores.

Huh?

 

[Mighty Halfling]

I like it, Hong.
Two questions:
1) For Saves, do you mean that they get a bonus in every Save each time they select it?
2) For Skills, is it +1 each time? Seems a bit low, or am I missing something? Maybe +4 would work.
--
Another idea -- maybe an extra casting of a spell or something.

 

[hong]

1. Yep, just like getting a cloak of resistance: +N resistance bonus to all saves.

2. It's +5 per 2 points. This is more expensive than by the book, which would be more like +10 per point. But I'm of the opinion that the book is too generous when it comes to skill boosters (+10 to a skill is only 10000 gp!).

 

[jmucchiello]

I still want some bling, mang.

Perhaps not allow it to combine, or only allow one. I just think it would be cooler to be inherently "holy" that to be inherently "+2".

Huh?

I don't think I'd ever spend the point for "longsword" alone. Better to spend the points on Strength and Constitution and other stuff. If I could be inherently +1 with "swords", then I might spend those points. But as long as the points only go toward one weapon type, the ROI is a bit off.

 

[hong]

Perhaps not allow it to combine, or only allow one. I just think it would be cooler to be inherently "holy" that to be inherently "+2".

I think Corinth is on to something about gear being important, so I don't necessarily want to turn everything into innate/imbued. There's also something cool/exciting about picking through a treasure pile, hoping to find a holy sword. Besides, see below.

I don't think I'd ever spend the point for "longsword" alone. Better to spend the points on Strength and Constitution and other stuff. If I could be inherently +1 with "swords", then I might spend those points. But as long as the points only go toward one weapon type, the ROI is a bit off.

Uhh....

Bonuses obtained in this way don't take up magic item spaces (since they're not, you know, items). Even if you get a +5 armor bonus to AC, that applies to any armor that you wear. Ditto weapons, although in this case I might split it by melee/missile category: so you can get +5 with sword, spear and axe, but if you want the same with a bow, you'll have to buy it separately.​

So it already is by "group", the groups being melee vs ranged. (Thrown weapons apply whichever bonus is applicable to how they're being used.)

 

[jmucchiello]

So it already is by "group", the groups being melee vs ranged. (Thrown weapons apply whichever bonus is applicable to how they're being used.)

So I can't read.