Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Taking the Enhancement out of Magic Weapons/Armor/Neck Slot
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Estlor" data-source="post: 4880767" data-attributes="member: 7261"><p>I'm toying with the idea of removing the enhancement bonus to attack, AC, and NADs from magic items for my next campaign in an effort to let me put in a broader variety of wondrous items and consumables without feeling like I'm putting my party at a disadvantage by not providing them a steady stream of new weapons, implements, armor, and neck items to keep their attack and defenses in line with 4e's underlying mathematical assumptions. The base effect is all PCs will automatically receive an enhancement bonus to the three categories such that, roughly every five levels, it continues to scale like it would if they found standard 4e magic items. I don't have the exact specifics worked out, but I'm leaning 2/3/4, 7/8/9, 12/13/14, etc (so each PC has an "off" level at the beginning and end of the 5-level span) and may or may not determine what gets enhanced either by PC choice or by class role. (PC choice is probably easiest since role gets messy with hybrid classes.)</p><p></p><p>I see two immediate side-effects from this:</p><p></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Weapons, Implements, Armor, and Neck Slot items change in value as they only provide properties and powers now.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Treasure parcels need to be adjusted to account for the free "magic items" each PC gets automatically so that, over the course of 5 levels, each PC still has the approximate magic wealth of four 4e-baseline magic items.</li> </ol><p>Calculating the new "level" value of the affected magic items seems simple enough. Take the existing item, subtract a vanilla item of the same type and enhancement bonus from it, and that's the value of the item's properties/powers. (E.g., a +1 Symbol of Battle is a level 5 item, a Magic Holy Symbol +1 is a level 1 item, therefore the Symbol of Battle without an enhancement bonus is a 4th level item.) Once you've got the baseline, you project that out across all of the 5-level groupings. (E.g., our Symbol of Battle scales as 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, and 29th level.)</p><p></p><p>Of course, here is my first dilemma. <em><strong>Do</strong></em> I scale the items? I could very easily dictate that a 9th-level Symbol of Battle is necessary to deal +2d8 points of damage on a critical hit, or I could simply say a Symbol of Battle deals +1d8 per plus of your attack enhancement. Likewise, I could make my PCs get a "14th-level" Symbol of Battle to get the 2d10 damage from it's power, or I could just say when your attack enhancement bonus hits +3 that Symbol of Battle you carried around since heroic tier improves automatically.</p><p></p><p>I'm afraid if I keep bonus critical damage and power effects tied to an overall "level" of an item, I'll be right back where I started - obligated to give out more and more weapons, armor, neck slots, etc. On the other hand, will things get out of hand if you can buy a thundering weapon for the price of a level 2 magic item and instantly have the benefits of a 19th level magic item. Does it even matter if I continue to dock their treasure parcels for the value of the automatic enhancement bonuses they get? With armor I can justify charging a higher price because of masterwork armor - if you want that scale to be drakescale you've got to pay for it, buddy! But without masterwork weapons/implements/neck items, the same assumptions can't be made about the other items can't be made, and I'd like to avoid simply saying, "You can't buy magic weapon properties." I'd also prefer not to solve it buy building Weapon/Implement Expertise into the items as a gold cost and use that as masterwork items...</p><p></p><p>Thoughts? Suggestions? Belittling comments about me breaking the system?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Estlor, post: 4880767, member: 7261"] I'm toying with the idea of removing the enhancement bonus to attack, AC, and NADs from magic items for my next campaign in an effort to let me put in a broader variety of wondrous items and consumables without feeling like I'm putting my party at a disadvantage by not providing them a steady stream of new weapons, implements, armor, and neck items to keep their attack and defenses in line with 4e's underlying mathematical assumptions. The base effect is all PCs will automatically receive an enhancement bonus to the three categories such that, roughly every five levels, it continues to scale like it would if they found standard 4e magic items. I don't have the exact specifics worked out, but I'm leaning 2/3/4, 7/8/9, 12/13/14, etc (so each PC has an "off" level at the beginning and end of the 5-level span) and may or may not determine what gets enhanced either by PC choice or by class role. (PC choice is probably easiest since role gets messy with hybrid classes.) I see two immediate side-effects from this: [LIST=1] [*]Weapons, Implements, Armor, and Neck Slot items change in value as they only provide properties and powers now. [*]Treasure parcels need to be adjusted to account for the free "magic items" each PC gets automatically so that, over the course of 5 levels, each PC still has the approximate magic wealth of four 4e-baseline magic items. [/LIST] Calculating the new "level" value of the affected magic items seems simple enough. Take the existing item, subtract a vanilla item of the same type and enhancement bonus from it, and that's the value of the item's properties/powers. (E.g., a +1 Symbol of Battle is a level 5 item, a Magic Holy Symbol +1 is a level 1 item, therefore the Symbol of Battle without an enhancement bonus is a 4th level item.) Once you've got the baseline, you project that out across all of the 5-level groupings. (E.g., our Symbol of Battle scales as 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, and 29th level.) Of course, here is my first dilemma. [I][B]Do[/B][/I] I scale the items? I could very easily dictate that a 9th-level Symbol of Battle is necessary to deal +2d8 points of damage on a critical hit, or I could simply say a Symbol of Battle deals +1d8 per plus of your attack enhancement. Likewise, I could make my PCs get a "14th-level" Symbol of Battle to get the 2d10 damage from it's power, or I could just say when your attack enhancement bonus hits +3 that Symbol of Battle you carried around since heroic tier improves automatically. I'm afraid if I keep bonus critical damage and power effects tied to an overall "level" of an item, I'll be right back where I started - obligated to give out more and more weapons, armor, neck slots, etc. On the other hand, will things get out of hand if you can buy a thundering weapon for the price of a level 2 magic item and instantly have the benefits of a 19th level magic item. Does it even matter if I continue to dock their treasure parcels for the value of the automatic enhancement bonuses they get? With armor I can justify charging a higher price because of masterwork armor - if you want that scale to be drakescale you've got to pay for it, buddy! But without masterwork weapons/implements/neck items, the same assumptions can't be made about the other items can't be made, and I'd like to avoid simply saying, "You can't buy magic weapon properties." I'd also prefer not to solve it buy building Weapon/Implement Expertise into the items as a gold cost and use that as masterwork items... Thoughts? Suggestions? Belittling comments about me breaking the system? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Taking the Enhancement out of Magic Weapons/Armor/Neck Slot
Top