Fashionable and Practical

[Fauchard1520]

Do you guys ever deal with this problem?

I love me some magic items, but by the time I'm carrying around a golf bag full of weapons and wearing a hat over helm over a headband over a pair of night vision goggles, I begin to feel a bit silly. Is there an aesthetically pleasing solution to the adventuring Christmas tree problem?

 

[Celebrim]

There are things you can do, but since treasure is ultimately the DM's prerogative, ultimately it depends on the DM being the one to solve the problem and not the PC.

1) Hand out fewer but more broadly powerful items. Rather than placing three minor items that each offer some benefit, design more potent items that offer the three benefits in one package.

2) Create items that grow in power along with your PCs. This is an extremely practical solution that I try to adopt and which actually has reference to the most iconic magic items of all time - Tolkien's Rings of Power. According to the lore, the rings of power were more powerful the more power their wielder had. They not only required greater power to unlock their secrets, but they amplified the power of whomever wore them. In D&D terms, you have weapons that 'level up' with the players so that the sword which is +1 when first found is +2 in the hands of a sixth level character, and +3 in the hands of a 12th level character and so forth. Unlockable bonus abilities are also cool. For example, I like to drop items like Rings of Elemental Command relatively early in the game as otherwise innocuous 'rings of useful minor ability', knowing that at some future point the rings major powers will be unlocked when the characters defeat a force giant or kill a blue dragon or some other feat required to power up the ring. And it doesn't have to be an actual Ring of Elemental Command, you can do the same thing with other sorts of items if you are creative.

3) Enforce those item slot limitations while giving players no reason to violate them. Try to limit reasons for the player want to wear hat, helm, and headband, most critically because the hat, handband, and helm don't work together. Pick one. And this goes back to point 1 as well, because if the only reason the player is wearing a magic hat and a helm is that the magic hat doesn't work as a mundane hard hat, make that magic hat work as a mundane hard hat when you design it. It's a very minor point, but it does make the item more 'awesome' worthy.

4) Try to avoid running a game where the golf bag full of weapons is really necessary. This is the hardest one because it involves tweaking the rules and for most systems that involves very comprehensive changes with a deep understanding of what the consequences will be. But it is possible to run D&D in any edition where the magic item 'stack' that each player has isn't excessive. It involves balancing the PC classes better, investing more in skills and feats and non-spellcasting class abilities, nerfing spells that trivially solve problems that would otherwise require non-spellcasting PCs, tweaking monsters with the expectation of less gear given the PC's level, and so forth. This is probably the hardest to implement, but it's ok. You can ignore this point and forcus on the other ones and I think the result would still be good enough.

5) Make the items you give out aesthetically interesting and if possible pleasing to the player. This is both hard and easy at the same time. It's easy in the sense that it doesn't take a lot of effort to give a magic item some unique look to it. It's hard, because ultimately the PC's look is going to involve a combination of several of those items, and the more garish they are the more they will likely clash with each other. For example, I've a PC wearing a bear skin cloak, and wielding a painted monkey's skull in one hand and a living wooden wand (complete with leaves) in the other. Another PC wears a long black cape, ring armor, and wields two handed a rapier with a glowing pink blade. Yet another wears a suit of turquoise sea dragon scale armor, a white tabard with a black raven on it, a broad leather belt with a gold buckle, a black traveler's clock, and wields a shining silver morning star and steel shield. Plus he has a glaive (usually strapped to his stead), a bow, and a cutlass. So yeah, getting into the bag of weapons problem in that case. I have no idea how my players feel about the fashion choices that are forced on them if they want to use their gear, but at least they know what their gear looks like and we aren't yet at the point where it has gotten too garish.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I think there are two different issues here.

(1) The item itself is described in a way that doesn't fit your (character's) fashion choices.

The easiest solution, to me, is simply to change the description to be fashionable (in your opinion, obviously). Change the fluff but keep the mechanics the same. Some people are totally comfortable doing this, and some aren't.

If you're not comfortable changing the fluff, well... that's rough. But I suppose having your character refuse to equip a magic item for fashion reasons is no different than any other role-playing choice that has an adverse game mechanical effect. You do it because you enjoy the role-playing more than the game mechanical benefit, which is totally legit. Feel good about it!

Maybe work with your DM to locate a fashionable magic item that does what you want? There are zillions of items across D&D, so something may be out there; or you could get a custom item.

(2) The 'Christmas tree effect' in which characters pile on magic items unto ridiculousness.

This is an old problem. There's really no elegant solution.

The 'slots' system of late 3e and into 4e at least means the Christmas tree can only hold a limited number of ornaments.

(However, 4e's propensity to create "slot-less" items like Scabbards essentially broke the system. I recommend a house rule that "slot-less" items are not allowed, period. You have the 4e slots defined in the PH, and *that's all you get, ever*.)

I have experimented with setting very small limits (3 items at Heroic tier, 5 at Paragon, 7 at Epic -- not counting armor / weapon / neck slots) so that the players really had to choose their items with care. This is, again, just limiting the number of ornaments on the tree and ensuring that the ornaments chosen will be the most shiny and sparkly available... which I guess at least makes the tree pleasing to look at?

13th Age has a slot system *and* a maximum number of magic items you can equip before bad stuff happens. This also limits the number of ornaments on the tree.

You can of course completely do away with magic items, which solves the Christmas tree problem, but I feel it's like throwing out the baby with the bath water. Magic items are part of D&D and a lot of fun for (some) players.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I love me some magic items, but by the time I'm carrying around a golf bag full of weapons and wearing a hat over helm over a headband over a pair of night vision goggles, I begin to feel a bit silly. Is there an aesthetically pleasing solution to the adventuring Christmas tree problem?

Any number of them.

Reduce item dependency - flip on Inherent Bonuses, so normal armor & weapons are adequate and no 'neck slot' required; tone down the fantasy angle of the campaign, just a bit, no underwater adventures or flying combats or anything that make certain supernatural abilities necessary (because then magic items become a bar to participation); avoid rock-paper-scissors 'puzzle' challenges that require having bunches of options on tap, like that golf-bag of weapons to overcome varied resistances or whatever.

Simply give out fewer items and remove make/buy options.

Make magic items a character build feature, so few items, but they'll be items that really fit the character, and you don't have to worry about placing and policing items so much.

The Enchant Item ritual lets you change the form/appearance of an item.

Like items repel. You not only can't load two items into the same slot, you can't carry a same-slot item as one that you're using. It'll magically/coincidentally leave your possession.

Like items merge. You can have two or more same-slot items, but the most potent one assimilates the lesser (adding their value until it increments to the next + or Tier or whatever).

Too many items interfere: More than a threshold number (3, your CHA mod, 2/Tier, whatever sounds good) of items carried, create magical side effects or cause two or more items to stop functioning at inopportune moments.

Too many items are a crutch: Items in excess of a threshold cause you to gain reduced exp.

 

[Sunseeker]

When it comes to appearance I tend to let my players fill in the details on how an item looks unless there is a specific "special" item that looks a certain way for a certain reason: IE: the "Ruby Sash of the Rose" is a pale pink sash bedazzled with rubies.

When it comes to function I try to enforce slot usage and non-slot items do not function unless in active use.

I also usually allow players to get a custom version of the same item (if they're visiting a shop selling one and said shop makes the item) for a higher price and a time sink.

 

[Garthanos]

mumbles the words wish list and runs...

 

[Greenfield]

Two easy answers, neither one easy to implement.

First, enforce the item slot rules. One head item, one neck item, one cloak or cape, one belt, one vest or shirt or piece of armor on the chest, one pair of bracers or bracelets, one set of gloves/gauntlets, one pair of boots, one pair of lenses or goggles, two rings.

Second, enforce the encumbrance rules. That tends to cut down on the "golf bag" issue.

The reason it's easy is because it's all already there in the rules. The reason it's hard is because it forces the players to make decisions about their items.

As for "Fashionable": A cloak can look dashing. But not if you have a backpack, as pretty much every adventurer does. (I work at a Renaissance Faire, I've seen this, it's ugly, every time.) A hat can be fashionable or plain.

The big thing, estheticly, is to know what to leave on your horse. Minimize your personal load by placing excess in your Bag of Holding or Haversack. One sword, perhaps a main gouche across the belt in back, and a dagger. A Bow is fine. Want a mace instead of the sword? Okay, no problem.

Want the long sword, the bastard sword, the two handed sword, the second long sword, the Great Axe, two shields and a Haleberd? Even if you could find a way to walk with all of that (encumbrance rules), it's going to be ugly.

So enforce a simple rule for weapons, similar to the Slot rule: One weapon on the left, one on the right, a tiny weapon in back, and perhaps a two handed weapon in hand or across the back.

Want to wear that neat looking Odachi (Japanese great sword) across the back, with the grip up over the shoulder? Looks good, but not really usable if you're also wearing a pack.

So this brings us to the ultimate fashion accessory for the stylish adventurer: Your "gentleman", a servant or second to carry all the extra weapons and hand them to you as needed. Nothing says style like a manservant in medieval societies, after all.

He carries your pack, so the cloak looks dashing, the bow or greatsword can be drawn, and you aren't encumbered by all that gear you simply must have. He is.

 

[Fauchard1520]

For myself, I sometimes wonder if we could borrow a solution from the MMO world and introduce a mechanically supported transmog system.

http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Transmogrification

Maybe even allow minor skill bonuses for having a matched "diplomat's outfit" or a "warlord's panolpy." It would certainly make it easier to commission character art anyway.

 

[Celebrim]

For myself, I sometimes wonder if we could borrow a solution from the MMO world and introduce a mechanically supported transmog system.

You certainly could have a spell that broken down magic items into their constituent parts and then allowed players to craft what they wanted from the results. But the utility of that depends on how overtly gamist you intend your world to be. If you want to go that way, it would seem easier to just ignore the problem, handwave the problem away with items of item stowage, or allow magic items to transform to suit the taste and personality of the wearer.

 

[Sunseeker]

You certainly could have a spell that broken down magic items into their constituent parts and then allowed players to craft what they wanted from the results. But the utility of that depends on how overtly gamist you intend your world to be. If you want to go that way, it would seem easier to just ignore the problem, handwave the problem away with items of item stowage, or allow magic items to transform to suit the taste and personality of the wearer.

Adding a spell "Disenchant" that functions similar to MMOs in that it breaks down a magical item in to say, 50% of it's original materials would not be terribly gamist I think. I mean NPC crafters who make the items in the first place likely have some ability to do so. It would also justify random loot tables over wish lists much better than most alternative systems I think.

All of it of course depends on how readily available magic items, and their creation, are in the world. In WoW, it's pretty darn common. So the idea that someone has a magic forge or a magic paintbrush that can redeco your items is not world-breaking.

I think that RAW 5E, Transmogrification would probably stand out a bit, unless it was an incredibly rare feature limited to say, one very skilled Dwarven kingdom.