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D&D 5E Being strong and skilled is a magic of its own or, how I learned to stop worrying and love anime fightin' magic


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While folks mentioning the 3e christmas tree effect are surely right in some aspects about that problem, removing items entirely from the equation was IMHO a mistake.
There were a few problems with 3e items:
  • They had gold values attached to them.
  • Magic item shops were the default.
  • These two together meant that players pretty much had control themselves over what items they had. One of the designers even described the 3e item system as a point-based system bolted onto a class-based system, where the point is called "gold piece". That's not necessarily bad in itself, but:
  • Numerical bonuses were an expected part of progression. You needed a suite of magic armor, magic shield (possibly animated if you're dualwielding or using a two-hander), amulet of natural armor and ring of protection to keep up with monster attack bonuses. You needed a cloak of resistance for your saves.
  • You also had a system of item slots that restricted what you could use. No-one is going to use a brooch of shielding over an amulet of natural armor if they can help it.
    • This particular issue was addressed in late 3.5e with the Magic Item Compendium, which allowed you to combine a numbers bonus with a non-numbers item without a surcharge.
  • Non-numbers (primarily spell-based) abilities were greatly overcosted, at least for spells above 1st level. As an example, a cloak of arachnida is a damn cool item. It lets you climb as if you had a spider climb spell on you, you're immune to entrapment by webs and can move at half speed in them, you can cast web 1/day, and you get a +2 luck bonus to Fortitude saves vs poison from spiders. This item costs 14,000 gp. For 16,000, you can get a cloak of resistance +4 that gets you +4 to all saves. I know which one will help me the most.
The end result was that a typical 3e character was decked out in like a dozen items that all provided passive bonuses, and those bonuses were expected and accounted for in monster math (as much as there was any actual design behind 3e monster math). At best you might have a flaming sword (not a flame tongue, mind you) or a returning weapon. Oh, and a bunch of wands of cure light wounds, can't forget about them. So you have items that give you Big Numbers, but they don't actually let you do Cool Things.
 


10 foot standing broad jump is typical football player standing broad jump ... running jumps take a lot more skill and are a poor measure because of that
10-foot standing jump is NOT typical, even for football players. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of them, especially college/pros can do it, but they are the exception, not the rule.

Regardless, RAW a STR 20 PC can jump 20 feet with a 10-foot run-up. I've never seen or heard of anyone doing that IRL. Running at full speed my "leap" ability was about 16-17 feet, but I know I didn't have anything close to a STR 20 then (probably STR 12 at best).

Yes the distance to establish a run is underestimated for a guy with 10 strength too..

My standing broad jump was 8.25 in high school
The distance for the run-up is underestimated for nearly everyone really.

The rule SHOULD BE the run-up distance must be at least double the distance you jump when doing a running jump.

Anyway, the whole thing is oversimplified in 5E, poorly designed because it equates Strength with several measures: lighting, climbing, jumping, swimming, etc. Most people might be good a one or two things, but generally not all of them equally. But Strength is an equal measure and doesn't differentiate between them.

Like the aforementioned "lift" in 5E. What kind of "lift"? Dead lift, clean & jerk, snatch, military press, or what?
 

That said, I doubt WotC is going to give up on BA. That means trying to figure out what "super high power" means in a system with BA?
This is why I've said.. now years ago... that martials should be able to choice which path of power they go.

Think of it like the Avengers.

Do they hyperfocus on one weapon like Hawkeye to bypass Bounded Accuracy...
Or they hyperfocus on one armor like Black Panther to surpass BA or are they versatile at multiple weapons to be flexible like Gamora?
Are they enhanced by a special potion like Captain America with replaces their physical weakness or are they alright mighty and attract a special weapon that gives them secondary magic power like Thor.
 

This is why I've said.. now years ago... that martials should be able to choice which path of power they go.

Think of it like the Avengers.

Do they hyperfocus on one weapon like Hawkeye to bypass Bounded Accuracy...
Or they hyperfocus on one armor like Black Panther to surpass BA or are they versatile at multiple weapons to be flexible like Gamora?
Are they enhanced by a special potion like Captain America with replaces their physical weakness or are they alright mighty and attract a special weapon that gives them secondary magic power like Thor.
Well I dont think surpassing BA is supposed to happen. I suppose, breaking out of it is how you achieve a super high power characters, but im more curious what one inside BA looks like?
 

Anyone (comic fans in particular) know how much Captain America or Black Panther are supposed to be able to lift? How fast they can run? How far the can jump?

Examples from comics is great (Cap can lift an SUV over his head or something), or numbers from some sort of comic-database thing would be awesome. I recall some things from the Marvel Super Hero game back in the day...
 

Anyone (comic fans in particular) know how much Captain America or Black Panther are supposed to be able to lift? How fast they can run? How far the can jump?

Examples from comics is great (Cap can lift an SUV over his head or something), or numbers from some sort of comic-database thing would be awesome. I recall some things from the Marvel Super Hero game back in the day...

Back in the 1980s (if this is the right OHTHMU) only 800 pounds, but 30 mph is pretty darn good. Google says around 1200 lbs now. But they often don't specify what they mean by lift.



7-2-ww-ii-silver-age-captain-america-official-handbook-of-the-marvel-universe-v1-2.jpg

It's a hoot looking back at how little the various Marvel writers must have thought things weighed, given what folks who could lift up to 100 tons were able to throw.
 
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I personally feel a magic item economy and player agency over their gear is something that needs to come back.
I mean, that's a solution. A lot of people didn't like various ramifications of this -- as mentioned, it sorta stealth-turned the game into a point buy system with money instead of CP; getting captured and losing your gear was often a fate worse than death; plenty of people want their characters to be able to do interesting things, not have stuff that lets them do interesting things; plus it means that's what gold and magic items do, rather than any other given game-role.
Anyone (comic fans in particular) know how much Captain America or Black Panther are supposed to be able to lift? How fast they can run? How far the can jump?

Examples from comics is great (Cap can lift an SUV over his head or something), or numbers from some sort of comic-database thing would be awesome. I recall some things from the Marvel Super Hero game back in the day...
I'm sure they've put out dossiers on all of their teams multiple times (probably different each time). Tongue in cheek answer -- exactly as much (lifted), as fast(run), or as far (jump) as needed by the plot.
 


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