Broken Spells in SC and Broken Items in MIC?
- Thread starter ydirbut
- Start date
I don't consider items like the Healing Belt and Artificers Monocle to be broken, per se, more of a drastic game design change. Whether that change is good or bad is debatable. Any item that provides an infinite-use of something that used to be single-use-at-significant-cost only has a huge impact on resource management.
If you're used to a game where resources are tightly managed - you keep track of all rations, spell components, and healing potions - these items give away something for free that used to be a significant cost. In that case, yes, they are broken beyond belief. OTOH, if you play a game where your DM never checks to see how much food you have and always just assumes you have whatever spell componenets you want, you may have been effectively playing with these items without knowing it. Puting them in the game will have almost no effect.
Personally, I think that both styles of play have merit, but some of these items really need to have a sidebar talking about them as optional items, and describing their effects on gameplay. They really have a greater effect on the game than some of the other "optional" rules listed in the DMG (auto-death on three natural 20s, for example). They're not the type of items you can throw into any game without regard to how they change playing style.
Any items that grant extra actions are right out. I thought we learned from that from the mistake of 3.0 Haste, but apparently WotC forgot. And that item (sorry, forget the name) that lets you go back in time is just plain stupid.
If you're used to a game where resources are tightly managed - you keep track of all rations, spell components, and healing potions - these items give away something for free that used to be a significant cost. In that case, yes, they are broken beyond belief. OTOH, if you play a game where your DM never checks to see how much food you have and always just assumes you have whatever spell componenets you want, you may have been effectively playing with these items without knowing it. Puting them in the game will have almost no effect.
Personally, I think that both styles of play have merit, but some of these items really need to have a sidebar talking about them as optional items, and describing their effects on gameplay. They really have a greater effect on the game than some of the other "optional" rules listed in the DMG (auto-death on three natural 20s, for example). They're not the type of items you can throw into any game without regard to how they change playing style.
Any items that grant extra actions are right out. I thought we learned from that from the mistake of 3.0 Haste, but apparently WotC forgot. And that item (sorry, forget the name) that lets you go back in time is just plain stupid.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
Deset Gled said:
My favourite part about that item is the once per day limit.
You use it, you go back in time 1 round... at which point, you haven't used it yet today, because the use occurred in the future that hasn't happened.
-Hyp.
Rystil Arden
First Post
Ah yes, that is indeed the funniest part (except maybe the explanations of people who try to refute your claim by saying 'the rules don't say it, but it's obvious that you lose the use').Hypersmurf said:
What were they thinking when they made that item? I know of maybe 3 GMs I've met in my life with a photographic enough memory to be able to rewind one round on demand without bogging down every round of the game with bookkeeping in fear of this item being used.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
I can't remember what it's called either, but I just think of it as the 'Omega-Six Device'.
-Hyp.
-Hyp.
The Shirt notifies you whenever a Level 4 or lower healing spell is cast within 30 feet. If a healing spell (any, not just 4th level or lower) is cast within 30 feet, 3 times a day you can have it affect you instead of the intended target. 8000gp.Mistwell said:
The potential exploit I see with this is that it allows the party cleric to heal the wearer at range (admittedly only 30 feet) by healing himself or the character standing next to him and having the wearer steal it. Still, close-ranged healing on one party member 3/day isn't game-breaking. It would be if it was unlimited- but it isn't.
The intended use- stealing the enemy's healing spells- isn't broken either, for these reasons:
It's only 3/day, so may tip the balance of one encounter per day- but probably won't.
It only notifies you of low-level spells- and once you reach the level where you can spend 8000 gp on an incidental item, the enemy have plenty of higher-level ones.
The effect isn't too major with low-level spells- at most you could snatch a Cure Critical.
Most foes won't be using too many healing spells anyway.
Granted, I'm not sure if this has been changed in the errata (I'd never have time to game if I spent the time to hunt down and incorporate errata), but....
Backbiter, the 1st level arcane spell from the SC. Cast from short range, no save unless the target weapon is magical, and the "self-hit" is automatically successful. In games that don't depend on the "christmas tree effect," (which is not nearly as impossible as some want everyone else to think) this spell is extremely powerful all the way into mid-level games.
Backbiter, the 1st level arcane spell from the SC. Cast from short range, no save unless the target weapon is magical, and the "self-hit" is automatically successful. In games that don't depend on the "christmas tree effect," (which is not nearly as impossible as some want everyone else to think) this spell is extremely powerful all the way into mid-level games.
