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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5456340" data-attributes="member: 82106">I think there simply needs to be a level of trust between the players and the DM to have a good game. If the DM is going to be a wank about items and not make any effort to understand the players desires, or the players are going to simply treat items like they are class features instead of being elements of the story that the DM has legitimate input into then you're not going to get the best results out of the system.The problem with the original 4e item rules was that they were slanted almost entirely in favor of the players. Thus they became constricted by the kind of restrictions that must exist on class features and no room was left for story. Every fighter expected to have IAoP, etc. The new system puts story back in as a factor. The DM can now both invest item acquisition with some story significance and by moving them out of the realm of required class features (not completely accomplished, but much more true than before) he has the option to use more interesting and varied items. As for the thing about artifacts. This is just terminology. A rare or uncommon item need not be labeled 'artifact'. The functional result is the same, an item which cannot be acquired casually and thus can be more story related. There is now a nice scale, common items that anyone of sufficient level can craft readily, uncommon items one might be able to craft and may come up in treasures in small numbers, rare items which are one-of-a-kind, and the most significant items of all being artifacts which primarily drive the story.The old system simply lacked enough distinctions and put too much responsibility on the players, who are not in as good a position to judge story significance and are also motivated by other factors to naturally favor utility over anything else. Yes, bad DMs might use this system as some kind of stick against the players, but this is a classically disfunctional situation. The rules cannot fix that and it will manifest regardless of how items are handled. If you have an issue with allowing the DM even a modicum of control over the game I simply don't consider that a rules issue at all. Find a DM you can trust.</blockquote>

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