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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9737489" data-attributes="member: 6790260">I certainly grant that it is much more engaging.I just don't think that forcing every single magic item into this mold is a viable strategy. The well of inspiration is only so deep, and if you hold things to this standard and they start becoming slop, it's going to be way, way worse than just putting out basic, useful, but not particularly engaging options.I think the more viable path forward is to have some things that...really are just tools made by societies to solve problems, and then also truly Wondrous Items that are things like this. So, maybe a third, or half, or whatever, of the magic items in any given supplement get this kind of treatment, and the remainder are more workhorse things. Things like your bag of holding, your basic +1 gear, your everburning torches, things of that nature. Stuff where it's understandable that any civilization which knows how to make them, genuinely would try to make a sufficient number to meet need. That first third (half, 60%, whatever), however, bring the cool and quirky, the fun and flirty. Ironically, 13th Age has Mr. Mearls beat to the punch--and they're coming out with a 2nd edition sometime in the near-ish future. If you haven't checked out their item quirk concepts, definitely give them a look. I think you'll find something that might be a useful stepping stone between what Mearls is doing--which I think is a bit extreme to ask of every single item--and the often unfortunately dull form a lot of D&D items take.Similarly, you might check out the Griffon's Saddlebag. Hussar quite enjoys many of its items, which tend to be quirky but not deep like this is. You might say that they're magic by way of whimsy, whereas Mearls' proposal is magic by way of...I suppose "history". Every item in his style needs an extensive and often complication-inducing history.Perhaps a mix of all of these things--utility, whimsy, and history--is a more effective approach than any one of them alone.</blockquote>

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