D&D 5E Bracers of Defense

[Xodis]

I just want to say WOW. All of the stuff a player looks for in a Module, without any of the spoilers (unless you count there actually being a Dragon as one lol). This is a great idea I didn't really see coming.

 

[KarinsDad]

They're rare and require attunement, and are the equivalent of +3 armor for people who don't use armor, yep.

I wouldn't call that imbalanced, unless you don't make +3 armor available to people who use armor. Or shields. And at least some of them probably won't take up one of your attunement slots.

+1 armor is rare.

7 out of 11 items in the Hoard of the Dragon Queen online supplement are rare and 3 out of 11 require attunement.

 

[Juriel]

+3 stacking AC can halve the hits coming in on the Monk/Wizard with Mage Armor/Sorc with Dragon scales.

So much for magic items not being needed in builds.

 

[Crothian]

+3 stacking AC can halve the hits coming in on the Monk/Wizard with Mage Armor/Sorc with Dragon scales.

So much for magic items not being needed in builds.

That doesn't sound like it is needed. It sounds like it would be desired by the character but not needed.

 

[transtemporal]

Everyone will have it

No no, surely not because they're "rare". Its not like PCs will continuously drop the hint to the DM and/or sulk until they get what they want... lol

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

That doesn't sound like it is needed. It sounds like it would be desired by the character but not needed.

If it's not just as rare as +3 armor, it is extremely undercosted. You can care about that or not but it's pretty clear IMHO.

 

[DogBackward]

No no, surely not because they're "rare". Its not like PCs will continuously drop the hint to the DM and/or sulk until they get what they want... lol

If you can't be firm with your players, then you probably shouldn't be DM'ing. Unless you like having your players run roughshod over you for the entire campaign.

 

[Remathilis]

So much for magic items not being needed in builds.

Barring the DMG creation rules, there is no way of guaranteeing you'll get a certain item (since this is now DM dependent; you can't drop a bunch of gold in the nearest metropolis and walk out with celestial chainmail) so building a character with a certain item "needed" is at best foolish.

If it's not just as rare as +3 armor, it is extremely undercosted. You can care about that or not but it's pretty clear IMHO.

Then its a good thing these items don't have an associated GP cost attached to them. Otherwise, we'd be back to cost/benefit analysis of every potion, armor, and cloak again.

I think the thing people will find the hardest to adjust to is the notion that magic items don't come what you want when you want it. They are not assumed nor required for the math to work, so any bonus you get is a good bonus. I just think 3e and 4e spoiled too many players into thinking they need +X items to be good (and they did in those systems) so the notion that you will need to get +X items in 5e will be a hard habit to break.

 

[transtemporal]

If you can't be firm with your players, then you probably shouldn't be DM'ing. Unless you like having your players run roughshod over you for the entire campaign.

Thanks captain obvious. Thats real helpful.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Barring the DMG creation rules, there is no way of guaranteeing you'll get a certain item (since this is now DM dependent; you can't drop a bunch of gold in the nearest metropolis and walk out with celestial chainmail) so building a character with a certain item "needed" is at best foolish.

Then its a good thing these items don't have an associated GP cost attached to them. Otherwise, we'd be back to cost/benefit analysis of every potion, armor, and cloak again.

I think the thing people will find the hardest to adjust to is the notion that magic items don't come what you want when you want it. They are not assumed nor required for the math to work, so any bonus you get is a good bonus. I just think 3e and 4e spoiled too many players into thinking they need +X items to be good (and they did in those systems) so the notion that you will need to get +X items in 5e will be a hard habit to break.

No, it's not a good thing if there is no guidance as to the relative value these items. A suit of +1 armor and bracers of defense are both "rare." One will boost a fighter's AC by 1 over mundane equipment and another will boost a monk or dragon sorcerer or barbarian's AC by 3. Are novice DMs supposed to just know innately that one of them is significantly more powerful than the other?

I mean, this info isn't really needed in a premade adventure, but I hope the DMG has at least more detailed tiers of items for new DMs trying to figure this out.