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<blockquote data-quote="dcollins" data-source="post: 578161" data-attributes="member: 876">Nice analysis, Hypersmurf.Yet another way of considering this is to evaluate the likelihood that such items show up when using the random treasure tables in DMG chapter 7 -- tables which not many people (I think) realize are statistically pretty stingy with treasure and magic items.Consider (with some approximations):- +5 enhanced armor and weapons can only ever show up as &quot;major items&quot; (Tables 8-3 and 8-10).- For all &quot;major items&quot;, 10% are armor and another 10% weapons (Table 8-2).- For major armor, about 33% (19/57) are +5 enhanced (Table 8-3).- For major weapons, about 22% (11/49) are +5 enhanced (Table 8-10).- Hence for all &quot;major items&quot;, the chance of a +5 enhanced armor or weapon is about: .33 x .10 + .22 x .10 = 5.5%.Then, if we look at the treasure table (Table 7-4), we see that &quot;major items&quot; are in fact quite rare, starting at a 1% chance for EL 10 and working up from there. For the following, I assume all encounters are at the party's level, and multiply by the 13.33 encounters expected over the course of that level, to see the chance of encountering any +5 item at any time during one party level:- EL 10: listed 1% for 1 major item; so .01 x .055 x 13.33 = 0.73% chance for a single +5 item any time through 10th level.- EL 15: listed 10% for 1 major item; so .10 x .055 x 13.33 = 7.3% chance for a single +5 item through 15th level.- EL 18: listed 20% for 1 major item; so .20 x .055 x 13.33 = 14.7 % chance for a single +5 item through 18th level.- EL 20: listed 35% for 1d3 major items; so on average .35 x 2 x .055 x 13.33 = 51% chance for a +5 enhanced armor or shield throughout 20th level.There are some minor approximations made in there, but nothing I believe changes the final conclusions (e.g., it considers only armor/shield enhancements bonuses -- not adding in armor/shield special abilities, not counting +6 rings or bracers , etc.). Using solely the DMG tables, there's only about a 50/50 chance for any party to find a +5 item throughout the entire 20th level of a party's adventuring career.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="dcollins, post: 578161, member: 876"] Nice analysis, Hypersmurf. Yet another way of considering this is to evaluate the likelihood that such items show up when using the random treasure tables in DMG chapter 7 -- tables which not many people (I think) realize are statistically pretty stingy with treasure and magic items. Consider (with some approximations): - +5 enhanced armor and weapons can only ever show up as "major items" (Tables 8-3 and 8-10). - For all "major items", 10% are armor and another 10% weapons (Table 8-2). - For major armor, about 33% (19/57) are +5 enhanced (Table 8-3). - For major weapons, about 22% (11/49) are +5 enhanced (Table 8-10). - Hence for all "major items", the chance of a +5 enhanced armor or weapon is about: .33 x .10 + .22 x .10 = 5.5%. Then, if we look at the treasure table (Table 7-4), we see that "major items" are in fact quite rare, starting at a 1% chance for EL 10 and working up from there. For the following, I assume all encounters are at the party's level, and multiply by the 13.33 encounters expected over the course of that level, to see the chance of encountering any +5 item at any time during one party level: - EL 10: listed 1% for 1 major item; so .01 x .055 x 13.33 = 0.73% chance for a single +5 item any time through 10th level. - EL 15: listed 10% for 1 major item; so .10 x .055 x 13.33 = 7.3% chance for a single +5 item through 15th level. - EL 18: listed 20% for 1 major item; so .20 x .055 x 13.33 = 14.7 % chance for a single +5 item through 18th level. - EL 20: listed 35% for 1d3 major items; so on average .35 x 2 x .055 x 13.33 = 51% chance for a +5 enhanced armor or shield throughout 20th level. There are some minor approximations made in there, but nothing I believe changes the final conclusions (e.g., it considers only armor/shield enhancements bonuses -- not adding in armor/shield special abilities, not counting +6 rings or bracers , etc.). Using solely the DMG tables, there's only about a 50/50 chance for any party to find a +5 item throughout the entire 20th level of a party's adventuring career. [/QUOTE]

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