Magic Item Compendium

[Nightfall]

Yeah I was going to ask the same thing (IE which issues). I think they didn't add them if they did, cause of Dragon Compendium.

Then again I could be wrong...

 

[Farcaster]

Aside from some changes to some age-old items like the beloved "Ring of Nine Lives," I'm still loving this book! I definitely recommend it. Although, I do wish they had revamped magic item creation rules and costs a little, and I would have liked if the original weapon and armor attributes would have been included as well.

 

[Kafkonia]

I always found that a smidge overpowered for a +1 effect. Maybe it's just me, but having a 50% chance of getting one or two extra attacks' worth of damage on a longsword hit seems like it should be more than a +1. (Edit) Even with the 25% chance of rolling a one, and just dealing regular weapon damage, that's still not enough of a downside.

I mean, heck, our powergamer DM used it on everything when he was playing.

Brad

Hmm. I can see where you're coming from. But I think it would be underpowered at +2, compared to the burst enchantments where you're guaranteed an extra nd10 damage on a critical hit.

And the higher the critical multiplier, the greater the chance of getting less than normal crit damage -- a x2 requires a 1d4 roll (25%), but x3 requires 1d6 (33%) and the rare x4 requires a d8 (37.5%.)

I wouldn't make it available at your everyday weapon's shop, but I think it's wonderfully flavourful for the right sort of person. It may show up in the armoury of certain chance- or chaos-themed NPCs...

 

[sjmiller]

There is no "well yeah", on ENWorld at least. I have yet to see anyone even suggest that no character should have an item worth more than about 1/8 of a character's total wealth at a particular level (which is exactly what the MIC is saying).

Umm, being that I just got the book the other day, I haven't had a chance to really delve into it. I am curious though, where do you read this assumption in MIC? I can't say that I have found anything that suggests this.

 

[Kerrick]

There is no "well yeah", on ENWorld at least. I have yet to see anyone even suggest that no character should have an item worth more than about 1/8 of a character's total wealth at a particular level (which is exactly what the MIC is saying).

I wonder how many people here think that no character lower than about 9th-11th (11th specifically, 9th as a "small exception") should have a +2 weapon...

Yeah.. I looked at that and said, "What are they smoking?" I use 1/4 wealth for design paradigms, and it works out quite well.

Umm, being that I just got the book the other day, I haven't had a chance to really delve into it. I am curious though, where do you read this assumption in MIC? I can't say that I have found anything that suggests this.

It doesn't state it right out -you have to do a little math, but it's in the back of the book, where they explain the "item levels" system.

 

[dagger]

Yeah.. I looked at that and said, "What are they smoking?" I use 1/4 wealth for design paradigms, and it works out quite well.

So you make sure no single item on the character is worth more than 25% of the total wealth? I have never really looked at the treasure of the players that way, maybe I should see how the wealth is distributed. Have you used this method up into high levels?

 

[Kerrick]

So you make sure no single item on the character is worth more than 25% of the total wealth? I have never really looked at the treasure of the players that way, maybe I should see how the wealth is distributed. Have you used this method up into high levels?

Yup - I use it at all levels. After 40th, though, you can pretty well toss wealth out the window and just adjudicate on a case by case basis, since the concept of "wealth" at that level is nigh meaningless - the PCs can get their hands on just about anything they want or need, short of unique items or artifacts, with only a little work and a minimal impact on their savings.

Hmm, I wonder if the 1/8 guideline actually means 1/8 excluding weapons and armor and shield...

Considering they have weapons and armor listed on the item levels table, I'd say no. And... has anyone else noticed that you wouldn't have a +6 weapon under that system until 41st level?

 

[Arnwyn]

Yeah.. I looked at that and said, "What are they smoking?" I use 1/4 wealth for design paradigms, and it works out quite well.


It doesn't state it right out -you have to do a little math, but it's in the back of the book, where they explain the "item levels" system.

Yup, exactly so. What Kerrick said.

I really like the idea of an item level, but somehow WotC even managed to screw that up - but the concept is there, and can be tweaked (not sure if I want to spend the time to bother). *sigh*

Though, just off the top of my head, maybe subtracting 3 or so from the item level might make it more workable (closer to 1/4 wealth, like Kerrick - and myself, incidentally - use) up to level 15, and then ignore the rest at higher levels (where there are fewer super-expensive items, anyways).

I wonder if the mechanisms behind the item level assumption is something WotC really does use in all their design work? (IIRC, while they've given the wealth system, have they ever explicitly said somewhere what the maximum gp value an item should be compared to their character wealth? You'd think since they included such a guideline they'd have gone into a tad bit more detail.) Anyone know? Because the difference between one's best item being 1/8 their level's wealth and 1/2 is quite significant.

 

[RichGreen]

Follow up question: Were the pricing guidelines for the "big six" changed at all? (I recall reading somewhere that it's now cheaper to add the big six enhancements to existing magic items than it was before).

No, but there is a table showing how much it costs to add saving throw, ability score and other bonuses to other items. For example, you can add a Dex bonus to boots of striding and springing.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Jhaelen]

Yeah.. I looked at that and said, "What are they smoking?" I use 1/4 wealth for design paradigms, and it works out quite well.


It doesn't state it right out -you have to do a little math, but it's in the back of the book, where they explain the "item levels" system.

If you are referring to the tables on page 227 - these are for npcs, so you have to compare it to npc wealth. Take level 7 for example: the most expensive items are set at 1/4 wealth!
The rules for pcs are on page 228 (there's no table since the rule's real easy).
Additionally the table on page 228 'Item level equivalencies' shows how to trade up two lower level items to get a single more expensive one.

Further, I think, getting a +2 weapon at level 9 is perfectly fine, especially since MIC introduced augment crystals for weapons. By applying one of these, you're getting your worth of what would normally be the equivalent of a +2 weapon a lot earlier.