Design & Development - Necromancy & Nethermancy

[WalterKovacs]

I do agree that the reason to prefer magic items to inherent bonuses is that the "all at once" boost can make certain levels swing a great deal. Also, part of the fun of getting magic items is that your character changes before you level up. So, in practice, the bonus to hit/damage coming in part way through leveling is a bit more fun, and changes the dynamics of the party at a more steady pace, spread out over time, instead of coming all at once for all party members.

However, it has it's own benefits, as freeing up the "mandatory" item slots gives more chance for variety. (Also, different classes can share the fun of a ki-focus by being able to have a variety of weapons without having to worry about shelling out a lot on magic items, or carrying around useless items).

Just using lower level monsters does restrict things. It's not just a matter of less HP, lower defenses and the monsters having lower to hit and dealing less damage. Now, the PCs are dealing less damage, and will have lower to hit and defenses themselves, but the PCs will still have thier full HP without magic weapons/armor/neck slot items ... so at the very least, monsters will be less of a threat in that regard. Also, as monsters show up at different tiers, their powers change. Certain effects become more common at higher level, etc. Also, if the DM wants to keep the monsters interesting, he'd likely be delevelling appropriate level monters instead of just using lower level monsters. Ultimately, it's a lot of extra work just to avoid a small ammount of work on the characters (done by the builder).

 

[mneme]

Also, the big damage boosts on crits are, frankly, fun. Basically, the least fun part of magic items is managing them (either DM side or player side) in order to "keep up".

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Yes, with the new crit increase of dark sun it becomes more a whole. PCs having more hp should not be too worrisome, althoug new MM3 makes damage more serious, but a decrease of monster levels has a more signifcant influence on average damage.

I would just try it both ways.

And i really hope, boons and grandmaster training can soon be modified to give a bonus to hit and damage too. I like the idea of grandmaster training very very much.

But guys, you know, we are soooo derailing the thread, but i am standing my point, personal preference does not mean an idea is bad... I don´t like inherent bonuses, but they most surely work great. As will the necromancer!

 

[mneme]

Re creep: it happens. I'd be much more concerned about it if there were existing conversation on this thread to disrupt. Mind, a mod splitting the last few pages off would be useful.

I think the idea is that if you're using training/boons exclusively, you are using inherent bonuses, UL. Though it wouldn't be a hard hack to retrofit existing weapons as grandmaster training (that turned whatever weapon you were wielding effectively into the enhanced weapons). If inherent bonuses seem too abrupt, I suppose you could spread the three bonuses out among the level band every other level -- have the players pick which order they get them, so they can decide whether attack, AC, or NADs are most important.

Although...an entertaining rule would be to give out a fair amount of extra gold, but stictly hold to the rarity rules. Now the PCs can cheaply upgrade their gear (regardless of rarity; don't remember whether this is official, but it's what LFR uses) when they get to the appropriate level, but can't buy new (non-common) gear and so found treasure still feels magical -- but isn't essential.

Ree feedback: You're welcome!