D&D 3E/3.5 3.5E magic item compendium

[ggroy]

(Just noticed this on amazon).

Wonder if this will just be straight reprint of the 3.5 "Magic Item Compendium" book from 2007.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Dungeons-Dragons-Compendium-Accessory/dp/0786964499"]Premium 3.5 Edition Dungeons & Dragons Magic Item Compendium (D&D Accessory): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786964499: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Awesome. This is the one 3E book I kick myself the most over not picking up. Now, if they could just reprint Lords of Madness, too.

 

[Stormonu]

It's actually not that great of a book. Many of the new magic items are overpowered and underpriced.

 

[the Jester]

It's actually not that great of a book. Many of the new magic items are overpowered and underpriced.

I strongly disagree, and would say that many of the old items were mispriced and mispowered.

 

[delericho]

I strongly disagree, and would say that many of the old items were mispriced and mispowered.

While that's true, unfortunately the MIC doesn't fix those items. This leaves the game with two half-systems for pricing items, neither of which is entirely satisfactory, and the incompatibilities between the two create merry hell for me dealing with the Artificer in my current campaign.

It's a real shame, because it should be a must-have supplement for the game. It could add so much.

That's not entirely the fault of the MIC, though. As it went on, 3.5e became progressively less balanced. Using the "Spell Compendium" as the only supplement to an otherwise "Core Rules only" game was really quite an eye-opening experience. Using late-edition monsters in such a game is likewise quite telling - they're generally designed assuming they're being used against the ultra-specialised PCs that became common as that edition went on (and that the Dungeon APs generally assumed and encouraged), and so they're significantly more powerful than creatures of equivalent CR in the first Monster Manual.

3.5e really did become a bit of a mess. Ideally, it needs a new edition.

 

[billd91]

While that's true, unfortunately the MIC doesn't fix those items. This leaves the game with two half-systems for pricing items, neither of which is entirely satisfactory, and the incompatibilities between the two create merry hell for me dealing with the Artificer in my current campaign.

Yes, it really is a bit of both - some things in the initial core were poorly priced (my prime example is rings of protection vs rings of shooting stars - compare with 1e's price list and tell me which you think did a better job) AND too many things in the MIC are too cheap/too good.

That's not entirely the fault of the MIC, though. As it went on, 3.5e became progressively less balanced. Using the "Spell Compendium" as the only supplement to an otherwise "Core Rules only" game was really quite an eye-opening experience.

It was for me as well. After running 3.5 with pretty much unregulated use of the Spell Compendium, I resolved to be a heck of a lot pickier with it.

My biggest peeve with the MIC, however, is its utterly abysmal organization. Finding a particular item in it is difficult. I'm not necessarily a fan of grouping everything by slot because it disrupts the immersiveness of the resource but it's dynamite from a utilitarian point of view. You can find all of the cloaks in one place - in the MIC, by comparison, you've got a bunch under "Cloak of xxx" but you've also got others scattered around depending on the name like "Piercer Cloak". You have to remember if you have a Wink Brooch or a Brooch of Winking - not always that easy to do.

 

[Wyvernhand]

I strongly disagree, and would say that many of the old items were mispriced and mispowered.

Agreed. Barring weapons, armor, scrolls, potions, metamagic rods and +stat items and other basic stuff (like the stuff mentioned in the affinity table in the back of the MIC), I just plain don't use the DMG for magic items. I like the cheaper 3 charges per day items better than a lot of the more expensive continuous or at will items in the DMG. I also like the swift action activation 1 round duration items. Once you get a few of them plus some other swift action abilities (like those in ToB), swift action economy and budgeting becomes an important part of the game. Should I switch to Leading the Charge and charge, or activate my Heartseeker Amulet and Power Attack, our should I just full attack and recover maneuvers in anticipation that the encounter will last a couple more rounds? Having options is awesome, and a lot if the late game books like the MIC and ToB give that.

 

[Dandu]

That's not entirely the fault of the MIC, though. As it went on, 3.5e became progressively less balanced.

Oh yes. I still can't believe anyone thought that introducing classes such as the Wizard, Cleric, and Druid were good ideas. Same thing with spells like Time Stop, Gate, Shapechange, Polymorph Any Object, Planar Binding, Polymorph, Simulacrum, Magic Jar...

 

[delericho]

Oh yes. I still can't believe anyone thought that introducing classes such as the Wizard, Cleric, and Druid were good ideas. Same thing with spells like Time Stop, Gate, Shapechange, Polymorph Any Object, Planar Binding, Polymorph, Simulacrum, Magic Jar...

Oh, don't get me wrong, there were issues even in the Core. But it's quite noticable that every spell you've listed there is high level, with the exception of polymorph.

It's also worth noting that the classes you've mentioned (and, in fact, the polymorph spell) become vastly more troublesome as the edition goes on, and especially as the SC and MIC are added.

It may just be a matter of my experience being an outlier, but I've had vastly fewer problems with "Core Rules only" than I have had with supplements added - even fairly benign supplements to the game.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I won't be using the MIC for straight 3E play, myself: It'll be a resource for C&C, so everything will be rebalanced anyway (and I will be making it a lot harder to just get the magic item from Ye Olde Magick Shoppe than 3E suggested was the case). So, for me, this is a resource for non-traditional magic items, which is always good, since most collections of new items are minor tweaks on the same old, same old.