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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nork" data-source="post: 5416659" data-attributes="member: 59879">Yea, the 'all players light up like a Christmas tree when detect magic is cast' is the origin of the term.That being said, you could have 4E characters that satisfy that requirement, so obviously there is a bit more to it.I think the real, if somewhat less dramatic definition is: Even if players do have a lot of magical items, will players even attempt to function if they have their mountain of magical gear taken away.In an inherent bonus campaign, if the PCs get captured, stripped of their gear, and then manage to overpower their guards and suit up in the guards non-magical armor and weapons, they are primed and ready to charge in and take on the big bad evil guy.In a Christmas Tree Lite system, if the PCs get captured, stripped of their gear, and then manage to overpower their guards and suit up in the guards non-magical armor and weapons, they are going to have some tough fights against normal mobs to escape and regroup, but its only like a 15% or 20% disadvantage, so they will go ahead and try to escape.  They are not going to go anywhere near a big bad evil guy until they get a proper magic weapon/armor/amulet though.In a Christmas Tree system, the players will sit very patiently and wait until the DM decides to let them have all their gear back, and they will NOT fight their way out without suiting in their personal sets, because they need a jigsaw puzzle of magical items to get all their bonuses to escape.Obviously the DM can play it by ear and make super easy encounters to adjust things for the under-geared PCs, but frankly there are not any guidelines in 3E or 4E on how to do that, so I don't consider that a valid basis to talk about somethings Christmas tree status.</blockquote>

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