CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
Agreed; except in 5e there's a great big sword-of-Damocles question hanging over the whole arrangement: what can you usefully do with the rest of your items that aren't in your top three?
You can't by RAW sell them or - incredibly - trade them for other items. You could give them away, I guess, or just hang them over your fireplace or store them somewhere; or sacrifice them to the deities (but as they by RAW have no value, what's the point of that?), but none of those options are much fun.
This isn't a new phenomenon. We used to joke about the mage carrying around a golf-bag full of wands and staffs way back in the B/X days.Also, changing attunements does take an hour, so it's not like you can often go "oh hey, the dragon's lair is an underground lake, can I have a short rest to put on my ring of swimming?"
What generally happens in my experience is that players pick the best three items to attune to, and the rest just take up space on your character sheet (this was, granted in AL games, or I might have loaned some out or even given them away).
I think it was at the all-time worst in 3.X Edition, when characters were expected to not only find magic items in treasure, but also purchase them at Ye Olde Magic Emporium in every town, and craft anything else themselves.
I never played 4E, but it seems that 5th Edition hit the right balance for us with the Attunement mechanic. I hope we never go backwards on that mechanic.
(looks nervously at the Artificer)