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Can 5E bring the wonder and mystery back to Magic Items?
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<blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5777375" data-attributes="member: 54877"><p>In addition to what Olgar said, I think magic items should be explicitly divided between the "balanced" ones and the "unbalanced" ones. There might be a lot of correspondence on the rarity scale, but not exact. </p><p> </p><p>"+1 swords" are balanced. Everyone knows about them, and whether magical or not, you can talk about them in the PHB. I'd rather they stay in the +1 to +3 range so as to avoid being necessary, but you can reasonably be expected to pick one up eventually in most games. </p><p> </p><p>"Flametongue" swords are unbalanced, except for whatever limited plus they have. If you know you have a +1 flaming sword, the +1 part works just like you expect, but the flaming could vary. So these kind of properties, examples of how you might use them, ways you might vary them, are discussed in the DMG. </p><p> </p><p>Also in the DMG is a discussion of the time-honored techniques telling the DM how to deal with the unbalanced equipment. It isn't owed anyone, some of it gets destroyed or stolen, etc. </p><p> </p><p>Now not all "unbalanced" stuff is definitively unbalanced. (So we probably need a better term.) It just hasn't been vetted for balance--or more to the point, squashed in function so that it is balanced.</p><p> </p><p>A lot of items would be like this. You can buy your bog standard potion of healing down at the local temple, and it works like everyone knows it does, albeit nothing spectacular. But there are other potions of healing out there with enhanced effects, odd side effects, etc. </p><p> </p><p>For people that want no magic in the PHB, there is an option to mostly or entirely ban the PHB items. You can't find any bog standard healing potions, much less buy one. The +1 sword mechanics still tell you how that part functions, but you'll never find a sword that you know to be a straight +1 sword and nothing else. (The DM might know that all it does extra is shed light on command, but you'll have to find that out yourself.)</p><p> </p><p>It gets a little trickier going the other way, giving people who want more wide open magic access to a bigger list, but I see that as a bit of a problem no matter how you slice it. It is not as if the 4E PHB had all that great of an assortment of item, anyway. So the bulk of it is going to be in another book. Given that, if you want players to pour through and adventurers' vault book and make suggestions, great. If you want them to stay out (or they don't care to look at it), also great. So the only thing the 4E side is giving up here is having a huge list of items that WotC has said can be used in formal play environments. </p><p> </p><p>That's where DDI comes in. All those "unbalanced" items are rated by interested players on some kind of scale for how balanced or not they are. Any formal play can say that characters can manage their items if they want, but are limited to something rated under a certain threshold. And of course individual DMs can do the same thing if so inclined.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crazy Jerome, post: 5777375, member: 54877"] In addition to what Olgar said, I think magic items should be explicitly divided between the "balanced" ones and the "unbalanced" ones. There might be a lot of correspondence on the rarity scale, but not exact. "+1 swords" are balanced. Everyone knows about them, and whether magical or not, you can talk about them in the PHB. I'd rather they stay in the +1 to +3 range so as to avoid being necessary, but you can reasonably be expected to pick one up eventually in most games. "Flametongue" swords are unbalanced, except for whatever limited plus they have. If you know you have a +1 flaming sword, the +1 part works just like you expect, but the flaming could vary. So these kind of properties, examples of how you might use them, ways you might vary them, are discussed in the DMG. Also in the DMG is a discussion of the time-honored techniques telling the DM how to deal with the unbalanced equipment. It isn't owed anyone, some of it gets destroyed or stolen, etc. Now not all "unbalanced" stuff is definitively unbalanced. (So we probably need a better term.) It just hasn't been vetted for balance--or more to the point, squashed in function so that it is balanced. A lot of items would be like this. You can buy your bog standard potion of healing down at the local temple, and it works like everyone knows it does, albeit nothing spectacular. But there are other potions of healing out there with enhanced effects, odd side effects, etc. For people that want no magic in the PHB, there is an option to mostly or entirely ban the PHB items. You can't find any bog standard healing potions, much less buy one. The +1 sword mechanics still tell you how that part functions, but you'll never find a sword that you know to be a straight +1 sword and nothing else. (The DM might know that all it does extra is shed light on command, but you'll have to find that out yourself.) It gets a little trickier going the other way, giving people who want more wide open magic access to a bigger list, but I see that as a bit of a problem no matter how you slice it. It is not as if the 4E PHB had all that great of an assortment of item, anyway. So the bulk of it is going to be in another book. Given that, if you want players to pour through and adventurers' vault book and make suggestions, great. If you want them to stay out (or they don't care to look at it), also great. So the only thing the 4E side is giving up here is having a huge list of items that WotC has said can be used in formal play environments. That's where DDI comes in. All those "unbalanced" items are rated by interested players on some kind of scale for how balanced or not they are. Any formal play can say that characters can manage their items if they want, but are limited to something rated under a certain threshold. And of course individual DMs can do the same thing if so inclined. [/QUOTE]
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