D&D 5E Oct playtest magic items are legend---wait for it--ary!

[ZombieRoboNinja]

And AC 26 is looking to be the max, the defensive ideal, reached only by wearing a one of a kind artifact armor and wielding a very rare magic greatsword while two magic stones (one rare and one legendary) float around your head and fighting in a defensive manner (dumping all of the weapon's bonuses into defense). Discounting the Defender (which has a trade off that in some ways make it the equivalent of a +2 magic weapon and a shield), AC 23 (and 24 with a shield) is looking to be the expected max AC for a fully kitted out heavy armor character something that should happen after level 10 and only rarely even then.

You could add in the shield spell for another +2 (depending on whether sorcerers can use greatswords and/or how multiclassing and extra weapon proficiencies work). And the Dodge action for another +4 when you're not going anywhere for a while. So that's 26-32 AC with a very silly build. But that's also with just the items from the playtest, which don't include any +AC shields, for example.

The only real problem I see is in the Ioun Stones which need to be modified to avoid having the effects of multiple of the same color stacking.

I think I'd probably just ban ioun stones from my game (i.e. not give them out). Too many fiddly little bonuses.

 

[Alarian]

If this were 1E, with 10th level "name level", I'd agree ... otherwise, I think it's 2-4X more magic items than I'd like to see given the assumed economy (or lack there of).

So your saying by 10th level, you would like each player to have gotten perhaps 5 or 6 potions, 2 +1 equivalent items, 1 +2 or equivalent item and nothing else? Why even have magic in your game at all? I can't imagine there would be many people out there that would agree with this.

 

[billd91]

So your saying by 10th level, you would like each player to have gotten perhaps 5 or 6 potions, 2 +1 equivalent items, 1 +2 or equivalent item and nothing else? Why even have magic in your game at all? I can't imagine there would be many people out there that would agree with this.

I could totally see it. I think there are a lot of people who might go for that from time to time.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

So your saying by 10th level, you would like each player to have gotten perhaps 5 or 6 potions, 2 +1 equivalent items, 1 +2 or equivalent item and nothing else?

In a 20-30 level game, sure.

I don't want the game so overwhelmed with magic items that they cease to seem special.

 

[Gorgoroth]

that sounds

old school!! a perfect count of magic items to me.

I want the game to be hard to survive in, and slightly to somewhat less so, with magic items in your possession. The world you're in should have enough marvels so that you don't get bored in it without having that proverbial christmass tree attached to your PC's back.

 

[Alarian]

I've been playing since the 70's and I'm certainly not generous with my magic (I place almost every item I give out even if I'm running a module), but to me that seems a bit too stingy. To only find a couple of healing potions and a couple of other minor trinkets over what could easily be a year or two of playing seems to take the magic out of the world to me. I know every GM has their own vision for their world, but, and this is only my opinion, a near magic-less world doesn't seem very magical or fantastic to me.

 

[Lanefan]

I've been playing since the 70's and I'm certainly not generous with my magic (I place almost every item I give out even if I'm running a module), but to me that seems a bit too stingy. To only find a couple of healing potions and a couple of other minor trinkets over what could easily be a year or two of playing seems to take the magic out of the world to me. I know every GM has their own vision for their world, but, and this is only my opinion, a near magic-less world doesn't seem very magical or fantastic to me.

I agree, for the most part.

Another variable is how easy it'll be (or not) in 5e for items to be destroyed or broken. In 1e they were generally pretty fragile, meaning more could be given out as on average they'd have something of a variable but decidedly finite lifespan.

If they're easily destroyed in 5e then the numbers shown are way too low; if they're nigh indestructible then the numbers given are merely somewhat low.

Lanefan

 

[Christian]

And throwing axes are listed in the equipment.pdf as being 7 pounds, which is two pounds heavier than my replica of Anduril, which in itself is WAAAAY too heavy to be practical. Throwing axes are about one pound, I just watched a show about it. Being off by an order of magnitude is quite an error. Why not put real weights?

Because what this matters for is carrying capacity, which is simplified to be a matter of weight, when that is actually a very complicated calculation in the real world. Suppose a person can carry a 60-pound backpack comfortably, with the stuff in the pack balanced correctly (even left-right, heavier stuff on the bottom) and the pack hung correctly (with the weight balanced across the torso rather than entirely resting on the shoulders). Well, all of that balance and hanging stuff is way too complicated to simulate in a game--we'll just say the character can carry 60 pounds. But does that mean he can comfortably carry 60 throwing axes? Very doubtful. Instead, we set the encumbrance value of the axe at, say, seven pounds, to reflect its relative bulkiness and irregular shape. The character can carry about eight of those axes before it gets to be more encumbering than the 60 pound pack.

And there's actually an explanation like this in the 1E DMG. I guess it needs to be reprinted for each edition.

 

[Steely_Dan]

So your saying by 10th level, you would like each player to have gotten perhaps 5 or 6 potions, 2 +1 equivalent items, 1 +2 or equivalent item and nothing else? Why even have magic in your game at all? I can't imagine there would be many people out there that would agree with this.

Maybe even less, magic items should not be expected.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

I really like the way the magic items are looking. I especially like some of the restrictions such as having to be a dwarf to become attuned to the Dwarven Thrower.