Altering stat-boosting magic items

[Hawken]

Eh... having it increase the score to a flat number means it'll be a lot more useful for some PCs than others (and not at all for anyone above 17). I think my idea will work well enough - as it is, they don't stack (they're both enhancement bonuses), and I see little reason to change the rules for this one case.

Yeah, but this brings up one of the core problems of 3rd edition and that's the eternal quest for higher stats and a general scorn of a stat that isn't +4 or higher. A +3 mod might be ok, but no one really wants to play a fighter that doesn't ideally have a +4 or higher.

Back in 1e or 2e, you didn't have that problem. You didn't get a Str modifier to attack or damage until 16. And you just went with it unless you came across the gauntlets or a belt. Now, in a lot of ways, an 18 is an 'average' and if you don't have it, you're somehow deficient.

And 3e kind of encourages this with their array of stats allowing for an 18 or a short trip to get an 18, the point buy that lets you get an 18 or really close to it. D&D was never so stat focused in earlier editions.

That's why setting a fixed score seems like a bad idea. Plus, you're missing one of the most obvious advantages to a fixed stat! If your gauntlets fix your Str at 18, what happens when you're hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement that should drop your Str by 10 points? Nada, zip, zilch, nothing! Because the gauntlets keep your Str at 18!

Not such a bad idea when you look at it that way, eh?

Headband of Intellect? Oh, 18 not good enough? Well, you'll be praising that headband when you're hit with a Feeblemind and your Int remains at an 18 and not dropped to 1!

Starting to see some possibilities here yet?

Now, maybe you want an item to baseline your Str at 20 instead of 18. Fine.

Why not come up with a series of items that baseline stats at a fixed value (thus protecting the character from a specific drain or loss), while allowing them to stack with items that actually enhance the score? The item that fixes the stat value instead becomes like an inherent bonus or something, whatever different from enhancement so the two could stack.

 

[ValhallaGH]

The other point to remember about enhancement bonuses is that they can't stack on the same thing. So an enhancement bonus to attack / damage from gauntlets wouldn't stack with an enhancement bonus to attack / damage from a magic weapon.
That just seems odd.


I'll also toss in a comment; I feel the primary flaw with D&D combat is that it attaches ability scores to attacks and defenses. Divorcing basic combat skill from physical prowess, and leaving it as a modifier for damage, saves, and other special abilities, goes a long way towards smoothing the math and emphasizing character skill and abilities, not raw stats.
Feel free to ignore that, since I'm not going to debate it here. But the idea might be useful to think about.

 

[Kerrick]

Yeah, but this brings up one of the core problems of 3rd edition and that's the eternal quest for higher stats and a general scorn of a stat that isn't +4 or higher. A +3 mod might be ok, but no one really wants to play a fighter that doesn't ideally have a +4 or higher.

Yeah... 3E design assumes that you WILL have a given stat at a given level, which pretty much forces you to do so or risk falling behind.

And 3e kind of encourages this with their array of stats allowing for an 18 or a short trip to get an 18, the point buy that lets you get an 18 or really close to it. D&D was never so stat focused in earlier editions.

That's because you didn't get a bonus until 16 - since 16+ was very hard to achieve, the vast majority of PCs had the same advantage, and it was easy to design monsters and traps. With d20's attribute bonus system, and the ability to increase stats every 4 levels, and the presense of stat-boosting item (especially that last), you have a much wider array of modifiers, which are assumed to increase over time, as I mentioned.

That's why setting a fixed score seems like a bad idea. Plus, you're missing one of the most obvious advantages to a fixed stat! If your gauntlets fix your Str at 18, what happens when you're hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement that should drop your Str by 10 points? Nada, zip, zilch, nothing! Because the gauntlets keep your Str at 18!

Wouldn't that mean that everyone and their brother would want one of these things? I mean, effective immunity to stat drain is not a small deal at all - it would probably triple the value.

Why not come up with a series of items that baseline stats at a fixed value (thus protecting the character from a specific drain or loss), while allowing them to stack with items that actually enhance the score? The item that fixes the stat value instead becomes like an inherent bonus or something, whatever different from enhancement so the two could stack.

Just looking at it (no testing), I think that might make the attribute inflation worse - all of a sudden you get items that grant inherent bonuses, along with others that add enhancement bonuses to the same stat. Course, let's not forget that there's a hard cap on inherent bonuses - +5 to a single stat (I think that's an official rule; I know I have it).

The other point to remember about enhancement bonuses is that they can't stack on the same thing. So an enhancement bonus to attack / damage from gauntlets wouldn't stack with an enhancement bonus to attack / damage from a magic weapon.
That just seems odd.

Oops. I forgot about that. You could just make an unnamed bonus, though.