D&D (2024) 1D&D; new ability cap at 18?

[ECMO3]

Every time Cindy starts doing face stuff Alice jumps in to shove BMC biker aside and play the angel summoner "I can help... let me talk to them" card... but Cindy has little to push back on because Alice is basically just as good. Bob is great at what he does in a fight & sometimes even plays the role of big scary slab of muscle to Cindy.... until Alice shoves Bob too out of his own spot in the venn diagram.... Like Cindy there is little Bob can say to push back on because she can do it too and does have better charisma.

Good for Alice. Cindy should have taken the skill expert feat or played a different class (Bard, Rogue or the absolute best Fey Wanderer Ranger) if she wanted to be the best at stuff.

]I will also point out that it highly unlikely both Bob and Alice can be good fighters as the chance of finding two magic heavy weapons is small. Cindy is the most well rounded character and considering spells and while she may not be as good a face, when you consider weapon choices, smites and spells she is probably the best of all three in combat.

Fast forward a few levels from the first session & everyone is noticing that Alice is a bit on the functional to ok side of things in combat. Alice mentions about how she really needs to get a pair of gauntlets of ogre power & as a mere uncommon item they should only be like 500gp or so.

If you have a game where you sell magic items sure (I don't particularly like those), but that is part of optimizing. It is pretty silly to invest in strength when you know you can buy a magic item at a low level to give you a higher strength.

Also I will point out that it is attunement, which comes with a steep penalty in a game where you can buy magic items. Alice can only attune to 2 other items and if you can buy items then he is going to come up short. I will also add that two can play this game and Cindy can buy a masquerade tatoo or several other items to compensate and make her better than Alice at face, while Bob can pick up winged boots instead of blowing attunement on a strength item and he has both a high strength AND can fly up and attack the dragon.

Dave sees where this will go for poor Bob & says no you can't find them. Slowly the campaign turns into "shopping" for gauntlets of ogre power belts of giant strength & being difficult or even salty to quest givers who can't or won't give those specific items. Bob has no good options because feeding the beast will only create a new problem he will need to deal with.

This is why I don't like selling magic items.

There are two easy ways to fix this too - don't give the characters money or don't let them buy magic items.