D&D 5E Magic items in D&D Next: Remove them as PC dependant?

[ForeverSlayer]

I really really hope they get away from the dependency on magic items in D&D Next. I hated wish lists, I hated it when I just happened to find that piece of gear that I wanted because my build called for it. I used to base my PC's on gear that I found. I had an elven wizard that found a really nice bow, I changed him around and started taking archery type feats, took a few levels in fighter and took on the Arcane Archer PrC all because I found a bow.

I think it would bring the mystery back to magic items instead of an assumed commodity that is used to "build" your characters.

 

[Li Shenron]

I definitely hope so!

The key is actually in monsters design: if they are designed with assumptions on how many and which magic items the PC are supposed to have by that level (see DR in 3ed) then we're doomed.

I really really hope that 5e simply give each gaming group total freedom in what level of rarity and power magic items have in their settings.

 

[tlantl]

I agree.

For me a magic item is a way for a character or monster to gain an advantage. I like dropping obscure and interesting items into a treasure trove and limiting the total number of items available to very few.

When magic is designed into the character's effectiveness it takes away from my enjoyment of the game as I have to deal with the side effects of having things available in shops. I can't give the players items designed to be useful in some situations, because it might require an item slot that is filled with something they need more. I also hate having to make available stronger versions of the same items as they get gain levels.

And to those that try to counter this observation by saying that there's a rule to address this in 4e, I know this, but since I don't actually play that game it does me no good to know it exists. (It also reeks of limburger)

 

[BeauNiddle]

As long as there are other rewards given then I'm fine with rare / unique magic items.

I just dislike the games where the characters end up wondering around with more money than god and nothing to spend it on.

The main advantage of D&D to me is there is ALWAYS something worth having just ahead.

 

[Oni]

The key is actually in monsters design: if they are designed with assumptions on how many and which magic items the PC are supposed to have by that level (see DR in 3ed) then we're doomed.

DR has always been a funny thing to me, I mean it makes sense, but on the other hand if you don't have a way around it it can be a real challenge, but if you do have the means to circumvent it is basically meaningless. If they do have some sort of CR or EL system in the next iteration of D&D I hope they will give a rating if the party doesn't have a means to bypass the DR, a rating if most of them do, and then split the difference if only part of them do.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

As long as there are other rewards given then I'm fine with rare / unique magic items.

I just dislike the games where the characters end up wondering around with more money than god and nothing to spend it on.

The main advantage of D&D to me is there is ALWAYS something worth having just ahead.

There are other things to spend gold on then magic items. Also, your comment just shows the mind frame that some of us are talking about. You are expecting to walking around and find magic shops so you can spend your gold, magic items should be found, not bought.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

DR has always been a funny thing to me, I mean it makes sense, but on the other hand if you don't have a way around it it can be a real challenge, but if you do have the means to circumvent it is basically meaningless. If they do have some sort of CR or EL system in the next iteration of D&D I hope they will give a rating if the party doesn't have a means to bypass the DR, a rating if most of them do, and then split the difference if only part of them do.

I actually like DR because it makes sense with certain creatures. Try playing 2nd edition where you couldn't even hit the creature if you didn't have the appropriate plus on your weapon. DR is tame compared to what came before it.

 

[Bluenose]

I'd like to see it at least revert to the state of AD&D/BD&D. Apart from magic items being required to damage certain creatures, they were a nice bonus but hardly necessary. While I think it would be possible to get rid of even that, by requiring silver weapons against lycanthropes, cold iron versus incorporeal undead, and so on, that brings up another thing I don't like, the golf-bag of weapons.

 

[Recidivism]

Really, it ought to be something configurable by DMs. If you want a campaign where players have 0 magic items : No change. If your players have an average of 1 magic item : Make the following changes. Etc.

4th Edition made it more obvious how to dump the magic christmas tree effect (IMO), but it would've been a lot better if the core rules hadn't built into their expectations that players would be getting +X goodies regularly handed out in the first place. I really want players to care that they've just found a magical item, not act ho-hum because it doesn't fit exactly what they're going for and assume they can just pawn it off.

Tying in to not building magic items into the expectations of the game, some more sensible overall rules for treasure would be nice. These seem to go hand in hand since treasure is largely a guide for how many magic items you could buy. But I really don't think starting a higher-level campaign should mean that players automatically start with enough cash to buy a country. If players want to be rich they should have to seek out creatures known to be rich (e.g. Dragons), not just knock off a few level-appropriate foes and expect coins to pop out.

 

[FireLance]

The key is actually in monsters design: if they are designed with assumptions on how many and which magic items the PC are supposed to have by that level (see DR in 3ed) then we're doomed.

IMO, it's more a question of monster selection. Assumed magic items are simply that: an assumption. Adjusting for a different levels of magic items is just a little more work. IMO, 4E makes it ridiculously easy. If the system assumes you have +3 items, but you only have +1 items, you're approximately two levels less effective than your actual level. If you're DMing for such a party, pick monsters two levels lower than what you would normally send against them. Done.