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October Playtest Packet - Magic Items, Updated XP, Monster Traits
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<blockquote data-quote="Falling Icicle" data-source="post: 6029294" data-attributes="member: 17077"><p>So it's better for players to benefit more from an item because they have a lower score? It's okay for the fighter that invested heavily in Str to have those points "wasted" because he could have put fewer points into Str and ended up exactly the same with belt? I couldn't disagree more.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There's quite a large middle you're excluding here. Magic items can be awesome and rewarding for the PCs without being so powerful that they shatter game balance. One item of the same rarity shouldn't be strictly superior to another. When such unbalanced items exist, it makes all of the other items of that rarity less rewarding because all the PCs are going to think is "gee, I wish I had gotten a belt of giant's strength instead of this inferior item."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm pretty sure they said that +3 is the highest bonus that magic weapons and armor will ever get, including artifacts. That just shows how enormous the bonus from these belts is. Since PC stats cap at 20, a +4 bonus is the absolute minimum that a belt of storm giant strength can grant. And let's not forget, it's not like every PC fighter is going to have (or should have) a 20 Str to begin with.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No. It's not good game design to put items in the core rules that are grossly unbalanced and then just expect DMs to know better. That isn't "empowering" the DM, it is just putting more responsibility on their shoulders, especially new and inexperienced DMs. If they make the items balanced, people won't need to be afraid of giving them out to their players. </p><p></p><p>The DM shouldn't have to sit there and wonder "oh crap, if I give my players this, is it going to wreck game balance?" any time he wants to reward the PCs with an item. He should instead be wondering "will my players think this item is cool and be excited to get it?" After all, not all DMs are expert game designers, nor should they have to be. Making the various options in the books they print balanced and work well together is WotC's job, not the DM's.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Falling Icicle, post: 6029294, member: 17077"] So it's better for players to benefit more from an item because they have a lower score? It's okay for the fighter that invested heavily in Str to have those points "wasted" because he could have put fewer points into Str and ended up exactly the same with belt? I couldn't disagree more. There's quite a large middle you're excluding here. Magic items can be awesome and rewarding for the PCs without being so powerful that they shatter game balance. One item of the same rarity shouldn't be strictly superior to another. When such unbalanced items exist, it makes all of the other items of that rarity less rewarding because all the PCs are going to think is "gee, I wish I had gotten a belt of giant's strength instead of this inferior item." I'm pretty sure they said that +3 is the highest bonus that magic weapons and armor will ever get, including artifacts. That just shows how enormous the bonus from these belts is. Since PC stats cap at 20, a +4 bonus is the absolute minimum that a belt of storm giant strength can grant. And let's not forget, it's not like every PC fighter is going to have (or should have) a 20 Str to begin with. No. It's not good game design to put items in the core rules that are grossly unbalanced and then just expect DMs to know better. That isn't "empowering" the DM, it is just putting more responsibility on their shoulders, especially new and inexperienced DMs. If they make the items balanced, people won't need to be afraid of giving them out to their players. The DM shouldn't have to sit there and wonder "oh crap, if I give my players this, is it going to wreck game balance?" any time he wants to reward the PCs with an item. He should instead be wondering "will my players think this item is cool and be excited to get it?" After all, not all DMs are expert game designers, nor should they have to be. Making the various options in the books they print balanced and work well together is WotC's job, not the DM's. [/QUOTE]
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