Essentials: Magic Item Rarity Explained, it's actually good!

[Aegeri]

I disagree. There's a lot of evidence to say that the entire philosophy on the default balance level of 4e is different going forward.

Your disagreement is irrelevant. There is no evidence that the marked condition is going to be absent from 4E after essentials (considering marked is still described on the DM screen from essentials). The Knight uses different mechanics to make sure it has an alternative niche to the 4E fighter. In no way does this support the concept marks will be abandoned as a game concept.

Absolutely nothing else you wrote has anything to do with supporting the argument marks aren't going to be supported by future classes and monsters.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Absolutely nothing else you wrote has anything to do with supporting the argument marks aren't going to be supported by future classes and monsters.

I admit, we don't know for SURE. But the marked condition is kind of fiddly. You have to remember to use your power to mark people, you have to remember when you can mark, how often you can mark, and which creatures are marked and when they end.

Even amongst players who are very experienced some of these things are forgotten nearly every round. The solution used by the Knight is a pretty good one in that it eliminates most of the confusion. If I was in charge, I certainly wouldn't publish another class that uses the marked condition when you can use a variation of the Knight's power instead.

 

[keterys]

Marked is a complex and hokey mechanic to explain to certain people. Thus, the Essentials defender uses a different mechanic. That's it. Doesn't affect any of the old mark using classes. Doesn't mean that an Essentials Paladin couldn't take powers that mark or sanction, and get some mileage out of it.

 

[abyssaldeath]

Marked is a complex and hokey mechanic to explain to certain people. Thus, the Essentials defender uses a different mechanic. That's it. Doesn't affect any of the old mark using classes. Doesn't mean that an Essentials Paladin couldn't take powers that mark or sanction, and get some mileage out of it.

The essential paladin probably does mark considering that the Knight's aura mentions that is doesn't work on a marked creature. Seems to me that since the marked conditions is directly mentioned in the feature, instead of a side bar, that one of the other essential class's utilizes the marked mechanic.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

The essential paladin probably does mark considering that the Knight's aura mentions that is doesn't work on a marked creature. Seems to me that since the marked conditions is directly mentioned in the feature, instead of a side bar, that one of the other essential class's utilizes the marked mechanic.

I doubt it. I'm fairly certain that it just reinforces the concept that these powers work with the standard rules. Of course they have to refer to the marked condition. The power will be printed exactly as it appears in the Compendium where players who haven't even read the Essentials rules will be taking it. You can't hide how the class feature works with the Paladin or Warden in a sidebar.

 

[Stalker0]

I'm guessing that they did some focus groups amongst players who hadn't played D&D since 2e and one of the things they felt was odd was that there were no (or at least very little) items that had an effect at will.

I'm guessing they did some focus groups on people who have played any edition before 4th and who mentioned that 4e magic items are ....underwhelming.

I personally don't have a problem with items that have dailies, I don't even necessarily have a problem with items that only have a single daily. But so many daily abilities are just downright crappy.

A 1/day ability to add +5 to a single damage roll....yawn city. There are so many items like this.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yep, that was one of the things I liked about 4e: items no longer overwhelmed character abilities or defined characters or broke things too badly.

Of course, that didn't last long. But, at least the broken ones generally got updated eventually.

 

[Mouseferatu]

My personal hope is that they take the opportunity provided by the "rare" distinction to make items that aren't necessarily more powerful, but more interesting.

I couldn't really care less about any more +X items, or items that let you make a special attack. Give me items that do funky stuff. Give me back my decanter of endless water. My folding boat. My precious, precious wand of wonder.

I agree that magic items shouldn't overshadow the PCs. But I also feel that magic items--or at least the truly interesting magic items--do more than just make the PCs better; they provide options that PCs otherwise could never have. (And I don't necessarily mean combat options.)

 

[eamon]

Uncommon items with daily powers have become more attractive by virtue of the removal of the daily item use limit - and though some static bonus items were among the most attractive items, not all were.

In particularly, this change is going to make wondrous items much more fun and meaningful. There's quite a few cool wondrous items out there which end up being pointless because they aren't worth the daily magic item use - since you may need that daily item use for your armor or weapon to save the day.

In general, this change is definitely good, even though the pricing issue seems poorly explained; perhaps the books do better. In particular, hopefully there will be suggestions how to price rare and uncommon items - or at least a note that such things should be much more expensive than the book list price if the PC's happen to come across a dealer with such an item.

I do wonder how this will affect wishlist use and the unlikely presence of tailored items - I don't use them or like them - but will that be sustainable with rare items in play?

Also, previously items could be "upgraded" (raised 5 levels) using the enchant magic item ritual - should this be possible for rare and uncommon items?

How will this affect the guidelines for new character creation?

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't see much talk about this, but to me, it seems like Common items are going to be the most powerful ones. Currently it's the items with static properties that are the most attractive to players, like Iron Armbands, Staff of Ruin, Vanguard Weapon, Horned Helmet, Battle Harness, Dragon Shards, etc. I'm guessing there are details they haven't shared with us yet.

I agree.

statements like this

Common items lack activated powers. They usually confer a simple bonus or a static effect that you note on your character sheet and forget about.

seem strange, because when I was playing 4e I found that magic items with properties which were always on were far better, far more useful than magic items with a 1/day or 1/encounter power. Give me the Iron Armbands, Staff of Ruin etc every time!

Second point - I would have thought that the position of 'career defining magic items' would have been perfectly covered by the artifact rules - the best bit of 4e magic items by a long shot IMO. Especially since different artifacts are aimed at different tiers. It introduces items which are designed to be with people for a certain time, which are interesting and powerful. Why have a separate group of 'rares' then?

Cheers