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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5775867" data-attributes="member: 59082">This seems to be one of the top five complaints about 4E, and one that I share. That said, I think it is easily solvable, especially in the context of what we've heard about 5E; WotC can present and support different approaches to dealing with magic items depending upon the type of setting and style of campaign.In other words, while the problem manifests mechanically (boring game mechanics for most magic items), it is largely because of a default campaign setting assumption that 4E holds: that magic items are common and are bought and sold. This, coupled with character advancement that requires magic item bonuses to keep up with monsters, makes magic items more akin to gear than treasure, more an extension of PC skills than something truly Other and thus wondrous that can truly change the course of a game.In a new campaign setting I'm dabbling with adapting from the 4E one I created, I'm thinking of differentiating magic items into two general categories: those that were created in ancient times by magical capacities that are now lost, and those that were created more recently. The former are more powerful, rare, and permanent in their powers, and many have further powers that "unlock" when a player is high enough level. The latter are more disposable and are in a sense more akin to mundane items that have been "charged" with magic dust (so to speak), and thus the charge will fade. In other words, the ability to make magic items both powerful and permanent has been lost.Now that's a campaign specific approach. I would hope that, given the stated 5E intentions of supporting a wide variety of styles, this could be accommodated, but that a different group could have a more 4E-style campaign.In a sense I think the question of how 5E will handle magic items--or pretty much anything--is answerable simply by looking at what Mike & Monte have said already: that 5E will be very customizable with tons of modular options and a create-your-own approach. They might have a default approach, or offer two or three default approaches, but I think the answer to the question of how it will be handled is, well, "All of the above."</blockquote>

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