D&D 5E Caster attack roll bonus items attunement vs. attack roll bonus items of other classes

[NotAYakk]

+1/+2/+3 DC could be very strong, it depends on the spells and could require attunement, just like the spell recovery.

The stacking also happens with ranged attacks with a bow +2 and arrows +2 You could even add a Giant/Dragon slaying into that mix.

As for melee characters vs spellcasters. A Ranger vs a Warlock: Not a great fighter, but can cast some spells vs. not a great spellcaster that can do decent amount of damage every round with cantrips.

Arrows are consumables. And if you follow the standard rules for consumables, very expensive to consume; they cost half as much as a non-consumable item of the same rarity!

Every 2 attacks with a +1 arrow you are throwing away a +1 magic sword. Finding replacement +X arrows is difficult if you use random tables, and expensive if you buy them at 250 gp per +1 arrow (!).

Even if you make a random +X ammunition (a) produce ammo the PC wants, and (b) give out 3d6 shots, you are lucky to find one such cache of ammunition your entire adventuring career, and each shot is used up and gone for good.

 

[FrogReaver]

Background:
I'm currently playing a Warlock that has a "Wand of the War Mage +1" and two other attunement items. Now I have gotten my hands on another attunement item and choices are now hard on what to attune.

I was thinking of other non-spellcasting classes and how they handle the limited attunement of weapons? And... They don't.

Not only do they get plusses to attack roll, but also damage, without the attunement requirement. Unless we're talking very special weapons. Even something like "Wraps Of Unarmed Prowess" don't require attunement by Monks. And even things like "Dragon/Giant Slayer" weapons don't require attunement. My next thought was, maybe this is because us casters have additional attacks with spells when we hit certain levels, but so have non-casters with (magical) weapons when they hit certain levels. Maybe it's because we make ranged attacks? But no attunement is required for magical ranged weapons, even worse, it can stack with non-attuned ammo. Resulting in a +6/+6 stack without any attunement required.

Sure, as a Warlock I can stack abilities on my attacks, but so can non-casters with their abilities...

It is as it is, I have no desire to get this house ruled, the best I can hope for is that it's changed in D&D5.5E, but I am wondering why this distinction has been made? Am I overlooking something why attack roll abilities of spellcasters are so 'special' vs the attack roll abilities of non-casters?

If Wands in general didn’t have atunement then the caster just pulls out the wand matching what he wants to do each turn.

If some wands keep attunement and some don’t then the caster can still have a bunch of non-atunement wand options he can cycle through each turn to match what works best for the spell the situation and spell he chooses.

 

[billd91]

I was thinking of other non-spellcasting classes and how they handle the limited attunement of weapons? And... They don't.

Not only do they get plusses to attack roll, but also damage, without the attunement requirement. Unless we're talking very special weapons. Even something like "Wraps Of Unarmed Prowess" don't require attunement by Monks. And even things like "Dragon/Giant Slayer" weapons don't require attunement. My next thought was, maybe this is because us casters have additional attacks with spells when we hit certain levels, but so have non-casters with (magical) weapons when they hit certain levels. Maybe it's because we make ranged attacks? But no attunement is required for magical ranged weapons, even worse, it can stack with non-attuned ammo. Resulting in a +6/+6 stack without any attunement required.

There's a good reason for this. Main spellcasters, warlocks included, have a lot of other abilities and flexibility to do things other than just combat or to alter the terms of the combat. Non-spellcasters or half-casting paladins and rangers don't. They have to compensate with equipment what spellcasters can do with spells and invocations. And some (though not all) of those are going to put addition pressure on their 3 attunement slots. Don't begrudge martials because they get a pass on basic magic weapons.

 

[Clint_L]

Also, most martial classes basically need magic weapons to function after 5th level or so as more and more creatures are immune to regular weapons.