The Magic Items that WotC cannot publish

[UniversalMonster]

There is software support for custom items. Right click on the builder, choose "Create custom element" and go to town.

The difference here is that WOTC has set themselves up as creating official items for character builds (aka GEAR), and the items he is talking about here are items that support the campaign story. Those aren't just DM only- those are unique to each campaign. And no, WOTC shouldn't publish stuff like that, because it will be treated as gear.

In the last major 3e Campaign I ran there was a chalice that would raise the dead upon command. It's not an item meant for a character build. It's not gear. But it was the key item for the campaign. Another item in my campaign was a snowglobe that contained an entire demi-plane that was christmas-themed. You could trap people in it if you unlocked it's secrets, but that was really only an excuse to run my little side-line christmas adventures. Trapping people is something characters probably want to do, but sorry, that's not what this item was *really* meant for, thus it isn't gear.

And in 3E terms, magic items have written out the XP cost and the price to make and all of that, and I never bothered with it then, either.


So in general terms, I think Wizards is doing the right thing.

 

[Dausuul]

That reason is simply that they exist to fill a niche in the character's power suite, rather than existing for themselves. In other words, they exist to add another daily power, and to increase your % on a die roll. It should be no wonder then that they are boring.

A magical item can be cool without being very powerful, but it can't just be an extension of the character's abilities.

That's a very good point, and one I wholeheartedly agree with.

 

[ExploderWizard]

There is software support for custom items. Right click on the builder, choose "Create custom element" and go to town.

Your software kung-fu might be better than mine. I can create things and descriptions but it won't let me give a bonus to all powers with the fire keyword for example.

 

[renau1g]

The worst thing I find is that some of the really cool flavour items (Let's say the Flagon of Ale Procurement) are much, much less desirable for a PC than say Deathcut Armour.

Problem I have with at-will dragon orbs is that they're either *press button* I win or else totally useless. They're like the save vs. die spells in 3e. Either they worked and you win or else you don't.

 

[Hjorimir]

Again, this just seems incredibly foreign to me as it relates to magic items.

Your example of taking away a class ability seems miles away from the idea that a PC should get any magic item they want from a book of non-standard magic items. The idea that a player would "moan" about this is something I find incredibly offputting. To the point that I would be reluctant to even game with that person.

I hear you, Rel. I guess I don't think it is as easy as labling something as "non-standard" when it comes to these kinds of things. I too would be reluctant to game with such people if it was just a matter of meeting new players, however my group of players are life-long friends (some of which I count the years of friendship in decades) and you just don't kick those kind of people to the street when they complain about their characters (if you catch my drift).

Now I personally don't have this problem. Heck, I don't even allow the magic item creation (mostly). I'm a certified RBDM. I'm just talking in principle here and from my own observations of other people's games and the general nature of players.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Apparently, we collectively can't be trusted with such material.

I normally give WotC and it's people a lot of leeway, but in this case, I'm a tad insulted.

That's because you're not just accepting the fact that WotC is building their D&D brand for more than just you and people like us... (i.e. experienced D&D players). They are building the game in many ways to the lowest common denominator, because that is what they've determined to be the best way to get the widest range and amount of people to play the game.

So yes, they've decided not to do much (if any) "advanced" rules... not because they don't trust you... but because they don't want to confuse and alienate new folks. They assume (and rightly so in most cases) that you, as an experienced roleplayer and D&D player, have every intention of creating, adding, and houseruling the game to fit your particular style. So if the 4E magic item design doesn't suit you, they fully expect to make it your own.

Just because you don't want to make it your own, is not their problem currently. Maybe eventually it will be (if enough people clamor for it)... but until then, they're leaving it to 3PPs to design it for us, or for all of us to create our own.

 

[UniversalMonster]

Your software kung-fu might be better than mine. I can create things and descriptions but it won't let me give a bonus to all powers with the fire keyword for example.

Use a number 2 pencil on the character sheet, lazy!

 

[keterys]

I believe it's actually possible by directly editing the xml - someone was posting about how a power had the wrong range in their character builder and someone pointed them at the range in its xml being set wrong somehow, and I did actually make a custom power at one point early on...

But it's sufficiently 'work' that I don't really consider it viable. It does make me wonder if it's more possible than I'd really given the charbuilder credit... I might have to see if I can make custom items and share the xml for someone to copy in. Hmmhmm.

 

[ExploderWizard]

That's because you're not just accepting the fact that WotC is building their D&D brand for more than just you and people like us... (i.e. experienced D&D players). They are building the game in many ways to the lowest common denominator, because that is what they've determined to be the best way to get the widest range and amount of people to play the game.

So yes, they've decided not to do much (if any) "advanced" rules... not because they don't trust you... but because they don't want to confuse and alienate new folks. They assume (and rightly so in most cases) that you, as an experienced roleplayer and D&D player, have every intention of creating, adding, and houseruling the game to fit your particular style. So if the 4E magic item design doesn't suit you, they fully expect to make it your own.

Just because you don't want to make it your own, is not their problem currently. Maybe eventually it will be (if enough people clamor for it)... but until then, they're leaving it to 3PPs to design it for us, or for all of us to create our own.

They are building a game to promote dependence on thier electronic nipple.

The push away from books and toward an online subscription model makes that pretty clear. Exclusive DDI content, 3PP material not available for the character builder, the reliance on the CB so much in the first place, etc.

The revenue stream from a large subscriber base looks pretty sweet so I can't blame them from a business standpoint.

 

[Garnfellow]

This article finally made me understand the claim that "4e feels more like 1e than any other edition."

It brought me back to the good old days when EGG admitted to using all sorts of variant rules and shortcuts in his house game, while simultaneously admonishing all civilian DMs to use only approved Official AD&D (tm) material strictly as written, because anything else was much too dangerous and unbalancing for use by amateurs.