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
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Role of Magic Items in early D&D (and today!)
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="cbwjm" data-source="post: 8630618" data-attributes="member: 6788732"><p>I think the old school magic items (many of which have been updated over editions) were definitely ways to specialise your character. I remember back in the day wands of flame that had multiple fire spells in the them, staves of elemental power, that were recharged by absorbing the essence of an elemental, rings of djinni summoning! Elven chain was a much bigger deal back in 2e, allowing for a fighter/mage to cast magic in armour which helped fill the fantasy of a battle-mage armoured up and ready for battle. </p><p></p><p>Then you get the weapons like mace of disruption, flametongue, and luckblade. Many of these are likely still in 5e, but there was a definite gleam in a player's eye when they got one of these because magical items were the way that they gained additional features. Also, back before 3e, if you didn't have a weapon with a high enough +, you just straight up couldn't hurt some enemies. 3e mitigated this somewhat though until 3.5 the damage reduction was generally so high that it may as well have been immunity.</p><p></p><p>In 5e, magical items are cool, but I have enough other things going on with my character that I don't really feel like I'm missing out if I don't get them for a while. If I ended up with just a +1 weapon on a fighter, I'd probably fine with it. This isn't a bad thing, but back in 2e and basic, I really wanted magical items, which were generally easy to get since those older games were basically loot piñatas.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="cbwjm, post: 8630618, member: 6788732"] I think the old school magic items (many of which have been updated over editions) were definitely ways to specialise your character. I remember back in the day wands of flame that had multiple fire spells in the them, staves of elemental power, that were recharged by absorbing the essence of an elemental, rings of djinni summoning! Elven chain was a much bigger deal back in 2e, allowing for a fighter/mage to cast magic in armour which helped fill the fantasy of a battle-mage armoured up and ready for battle. Then you get the weapons like mace of disruption, flametongue, and luckblade. Many of these are likely still in 5e, but there was a definite gleam in a player's eye when they got one of these because magical items were the way that they gained additional features. Also, back before 3e, if you didn't have a weapon with a high enough +, you just straight up couldn't hurt some enemies. 3e mitigated this somewhat though until 3.5 the damage reduction was generally so high that it may as well have been immunity. In 5e, magical items are cool, but I have enough other things going on with my character that I don't really feel like I'm missing out if I don't get them for a while. If I ended up with just a +1 weapon on a fighter, I'd probably fine with it. This isn't a bad thing, but back in 2e and basic, I really wanted magical items, which were generally easy to get since those older games were basically loot piñatas. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Role of Magic Items in early D&D (and today!)
Top