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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 7808367" data-attributes="member: 6702445">I run a world-hopping campaign in which the PCs started at level 12 and are currently level 13.  I have been intentionally miserly about giving out any magic weapons or armor to the PCs because I feel like I need to get the hang of challenging them at this level without additional magic items skewing the balance.  And I told the players up front that I would not be giving out magic weapons or armor, and they seemed basically okay with this (although there was some grumbling).   The in-campaign explanation is that they are going through portals into other worlds and they can't take magic with them, although they can bring magic back from the other places.  I thought I might eventually dip a toe into giving them items by letting them use some equipment for the portions of the campaign that take place in their "home base" city, but I also feel like I don't yet reliably know how to design a proper challenge for them.  The PCs have a lot of resources at their disposal just from being level 13.(For context, the main reason I'm being so cautious is because I was pretty generous in letting the PCs buy magic weapons and armor in my Tyranny of Dragons campaign, and I felt like it really threw off the balance.  I still remember the time when a level 12 battlemaster fighter with a dragon-slaying rapier reduced an adult green dragon to less than 25% of its HP in one attack action, thanks to Action Surge.)However ... recently, the player of our College of Whispers bard came to me and asked if he could have an upgraded weapon because he feels like his character is lagging behind on damage dealing.  His character is using a regular rapier, and he'd like her to have a "masterwork" non-magical rapier +1.  I told him I'd consider it--non-magical masterwork +1 weapons is something I've considered in the past--but I also feel like if I give an upgraded weapon to one member of the party, I have to make that available to everyone in order to be fair, and the thought of the whole party having +1 weapons makes me worry!  Not to mention that if they all have +1 weapons, that won't really close the gap for this PC.The player did admit that he'd not selected the character's spells with an eye to maximum damage dealing.  And I never even realized that the character has the Psychic Blades ability, which would let her deal an extra 5d6 on a target, because the player basically never uses it!  He says that since Bardic Inspiration is a limited resource, he's always saving Psychic Blades for targets that really seem worthwhile, with the result that it doesn't get used much.Anyway, my question is this:  Has anyone here played at a table with a College of Whispers bard, and if so, do you feel they are underpowered when it comes to damage dealing?  Or is my player's problem caused by a combination of low-damage spells and reluctance to use Psychic Blades?Also, if you've ever played with a high-level CoW bard, how much of a difference does Shadow Lore (the level 14 class feature) make?  This is the first class feature since level 3 that's usable in combat, so maybe that will smooth out the differences he's perceiving?</blockquote>

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