Andy Collins: "Most Magic Items in D&D Are Awful"

[I'm A Banana]

It's a bit old, but I haven't seen much discussion on this: Design and Development

I think it reveals a key component about the necessity of magic items in D&D...specifically, which magic items are necessary, and how they end up crowding out "interesting" magic with their simple utility. It also displays elements of GP cost that I think are key: many magic items cost more than they should, forcing them into higher-level campaigns than they need to be in (and where they need to compete with powerful magic weapons and armor for "screen time" on a character).

The "big six" are, indeed, pretty much the only magic items I see PC's using or wanting (combined with the occasional high-level class-specific items). And it's good to see this book is going to help address that....perhaps....

So, discuss. Do most magic items in D&D suck? Are characters overly dependent on boring +x bonuses? Are Andy Collins, et al, encouraging munchkin min-maxing when they drop the price of some magic items by over half? Or are they trying to design magic items that will actually be used, in addition to the Big Six?

 

[Nifft]

I think that elimination of the "big six" will be my new secret design agenda.

-- N

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

By big six, do you mean stats?

I think they have to render Cloaks of Resistance and the myriad AC boosting items irrelevant as well before magic items stop taking over the game. Sometimes it felt like playing Diablo or Angband!

 

[Nifft]

By big six, do you mean stats?

There was a link up there, you know.

Instead, the majority of a character’s item slots are spent on what I call the “Big Six”:

• Magic weapon
• Magic armor & shield
• Ring of protection
• Cloak of resistance
• Amulet of natural armor
• Ability-score boosters

 

[Corinth]

To think that magic items have the same problem as the spells from which they derive? Not shocking. Simple, utilitarian magic always trumps the highly-specialized stuff when talking about everyday use; you keep the special-case spells on scrolls/wands/staves for when you need them, just like the items. Magic is just another toolset, folks. This result shouldn't surprise anyone.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I think that elimination of the "big six" will be my new secret design agenda.

I did this in FFZ by linking these bonuses directly to character advancement: everybody gains +x to hit, to damage, to saves, to ability scores, etc. as they level up, so you don't need to buy magic items to give you this boost. Instead, magic items are more interesting.

 

[MarkB]

There's certainly a lot of truth there. One of the only non-core magic items that sees regular use with all my characters is Complete Arcane's Vest of Resistance. Why? Because an item that costs the same as the Cloak of Resistance, but takes up the rarely-used Vest slot instead of the Cloak slot is extremely valuable to almost any class, opening up the possibility of using a more unusual Cloak instead of dedicating that slot to improving saving throws.

 

[Morrus]

I agree comletely - I find D&D's magic items to be dull, mechanical boosters,

 

[FullTinCan]

I did this in FFZ by linking these bonuses directly to character advancement: everybody gains +x to hit, to damage, to saves, to ability scores, etc. as they level up, so you don't need to buy magic items to give you this boost. Instead, magic items are more interesting.

Do you have the progression for this?

 

[Woas]

I agree with the article in general. Some magic items are just too good. I've been in games where if the players could not get a pair of Gloves of Dex +2 or Headband of Wisdom +4 (the DM was being realistic and not letting people use the back of the DMG as a Sear's Catalog of Magic gear), they were openly frustrated with the game because they felt their character was inadequate somehow. Even though there were plenty of other magic items available to them that they never wanted to use or figure out.