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

[eamon]

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.

Timing timing - I was thinking the same thing! Although some old classics have no 4e equivalent, there actually are quite a few items like this already - it's just that they're often daily item powers meaning they're useless with the current daily item rules - but essentials promises to fix that!

 

[Edwin_Su]

wil they be maked with the colors green, blue and purple ?

 

[Tony Vargas]

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....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.

Well, those are unlikely to be the 'rare' items. Wonderous items with non-combat functions already evaded the daily limit by not having daily powers, even if they did have powers that functioned once a day. Everlasting Provisions, for instance: a 'property' that functions only at the end of an extended rest.

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.

Artifacts are a little involved, I guess. Another options would have been to give PCs a build option for a special, character-defining magic item. Something like a power swap feat, only you're swaping a power for a particularly awesome item.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

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'm in complete agreement. I worry slightly that some of the most powerful items were actually the non-combat items. The ability to pour infinite water out of a decanter at-will could often be more campaign defining than the fact that someone got a hold of a holy avenger.

I actually think that's why there are so many limitations on the number of uses and the price of non-combat items in 4e.

Who knows if some of the rare items will actually be non-combat items. I'd like to see some that are. That would allow a DM who wanted to see a default level of magic closer to 2e to give out lots of rare items instead of the default amount.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

wil they be maked with the colors green, blue and purple ?

No. But if you disenchant them, you will find the Residium to blink green, blue or purple depending on the item.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I agree.

statements like this

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

But maybe then you are missing the point of the classification - it's not merely about power, it's also about simplification and "fiddlineness".

Daily Item use tracking per character is gone, apparantly. Since Daily Items are uncommon and rare, you can't stack them up anyway. So, one fiddly bit removed.

You won't have many daily item powers since those are uncommon and rare. A fiddly bit removed.

Static bonuses that you can rely on are common. No fiddly bits to worry about.

Balance-Wise, the static properties were good and strong, but they had little issues interacting with other items. The ability to deal 5 extra points of damage per attack cannot be abused by combining it with a odd daily or encounter power. It's just 5 extra points of damage. All the time. But it's not part of any "infinite (or just ridicilous) damage/healing" loops you might be able to create by having a specific daily utility power, a item encounter power, and a daily item power and a certain at-will attack power.

 

[WhatGravitas]

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?

Well, I see rare items as a bridge between artefacts and normal items. The problem with artefacts, aside from the above-mentioned complexity, is that they have a time limit until they move on and that they are more-or-less NPCs with their motivations and their interaction with the party.

Artefacts are not simply career-defining, they're story-defining (or at least influencing) - unless you downplay the concordance a lot. Rare items are "dumb" items that can define a character without impacting the story more than wanted.

Filling that niche of powerful "dumb" item has the advantage it a) works straight out of the box and b) protects the artefacts' niche, making them more special when found, since you can then embrace and emphasise into the "Item NPC" role.

Cheers, LT.

 

[BASHMAN]

All magic items (up till this point) are uncommon. There are no rare items yet, unless you count artifacts.

Thanks for the clarification. however, that is still a little upsetting, since those books were marketed to players and not GMs... but since they're uncommon items, it will be the GM who decides which ones you get, since PCs can only choose their own common items, right? Or can you choose uncommon items based on your level?

 

[Tony Vargas]

The article says that players can't normally make or buy uncommon or rare items. It doesn't say anything about the items a character created above first level can simply choose.

 

[Tony Vargas]

But maybe then you are missing the point of the classification - it's not merely about power, it's also about simplification and "fiddlineness".

Daily Item use tracking per character is gone, apparantly. Since Daily Items are uncommon and rare, you can't stack them up anyway. So, one fiddly bit removed.

This is a trade-off. On the one hand, you don't have to track how many item dailies you have available based on milestones. OTOH, you have less incentive to keep going in a given day. You can now 'nova' with all your item dailies, and they all come back after a long rest. You may not have as many item dailies as you might have if you were intentionally abusing a much lower level item with a good-at-any-level daily, but they're much more available. Daily item use tracking gave a further incentive for the party to take on multi-encounter days. Reach a miles stone, get an action point and an item daily.

You won't have many daily item powers since those are uncommon and rare. A fiddly bit removed.

For the player, maybe. It may also be that a given player had mostly encounter and property type items - some players prefer them. The DM, though, now has to consider the balance implications of each item he hands out - since /all/ of the item dailies he hands out, over the course of the whole campaign, could all be used in any given situation.

But it's not part of any "infinite (or just ridicilous) damage/healing" loops you might be able to create by having a specific daily utility power, a item encounter power, and a daily item power and a certain at-will attack power.

Didn't catch the reference. But, in general, it's better to fix a broken combo by un-breaking it, than by making part of it 'uncommon' and leaving it to the DM to notice the combo and decline to give out the uncommon bit of it.