D&D (2024) DMG 5.5 - the return of bespoke magical items?

[Lanefan]

Alternatively, you could actually design a game where each person is an important team member, from the word go. Then, there wouldn't be any relegating people to just being bodyguards of the ones who actually get stuff done.

Terms like "relegating" are IMO the issue here. A goalie can't win a hockey game by himself, he needs defenders in front of him to help and - ideally - a forward or two who can score at the other end.

Defencemen aren't "relegated" to helping the goalie keep pucks out of the net. It's their job, and they generally take pride in doing it well.

Ditto for an RPG combat. If supporting the blast mage is our best path to winning then that's what needs to be done. On other occasions beefing up and supporting the front-liners is the best path to winning, so that's what needs to be done.

As long as the party as a whole is "getting stuff done", that's all that matters - isn't it?

 

[Lanefan]

The fact that the meat shield can be fully replaced by an NPC with zero loss of functionality is pretty damning.

The caster can also be fully replaced by an NPC with zero loss of functionality. I've played in parties where this was the case - we all brought warriors or healers or scouts into the field and had to recruit an NPC to be our artillery.

 

[Lanefan]

In fact, expanding on that point, plenty of materials in D&D worlds are inherently magical, so the idea of a craftsman making magic armor out of, say, dragon hide, with skill instead of finger wiggling seems reasonable.

I disagree here. A craftsman could make pretty good non-magical* armour out of dragon hide but to give it any sort of actual enchantment still requires a caster of one type or another.

* - as in, it might still have some seemingly-magical properties e.g. granting near-immunity to the dragon's attack type and perhaps weighing somewhat less than it seemingly should, but it ain't magical in that Detect Magic won't pull it and Dispel Magic can't touch it.

 

[James Gasik]

I disagree here. A craftsman could make pretty good non-magical* armour out of dragon hide but to give it any sort of actual enchantment still requires a caster of one type or another.

* - as in, it might still have some seemingly-magical properties e.g. granting near-immunity to the dragon's attack type and perhaps weighing somewhat less than it seemingly should, but it ain't magical in that Detect Magic won't pull it and Dispel Magic can't touch it.

Why though? If a creature is innately magical, why couldn't a craftsman use those materials to create magical items out of it? Is there any real reason you'd need to be a magician, priest, or shaman to do this?

If it's just your personal preference that this be the case, that's fine, but I don't see why a sword made from a falling star engraved with runes of power and set with mystical gems couldn't be magical without a guy in robes wiggling his fingers at it while muttering "mumbo jumbo, alakazam".

 

[Distracted DM]

Why though? If a creature is innately magical, why couldn't a craftsman use those materials to create magical items out of it? Is there any real reason you'd need to be a magician, priest, or shaman to do this?

If it's just your personal preference that this be the case, that's fine, but I don't see why a sword made from a falling star engraved with runes of power and set with mystical gems couldn't be magical without a guy in robes wiggling his fingers at it while muttering "mumbo jumbo, alakazam".

It sounds like personal preference either way- it probably depends on the inspiration that each person is drawing from. IMO "engraving runes of power" sounds like spellcaster stuff.

For my part, I think the fiction I'm going off of is AD&D art of a wizard ensorcelling a blade as a blacksmith works on it.

 

[James Gasik]

It sounds like personal preference either way- it probably depends on the inspiration that each person is drawing from. IMO "engraving runes of power" sounds like spellcaster stuff.

For my part, I think the fiction I'm going off of is AD&D art of a wizard ensorcelling a blade as a blacksmith works on it.

Carves some runes into a stick

"Hey guys, I'm a spellcaster now!"

 

[Distracted DM]

Carves some runes into a stick
View attachment 384748
"Hey guys, I'm a spellcaster now!"

If your magic is as simple as carving some runes into a stick, that's the beauty of having your own setting. Sounds like it's more common than Eberron magic!

 

[tetrasodium]

Why though? If a creature is innately magical, why couldn't a craftsman use those materials to create magical items out of it? Is there any real reason you'd need to be a magician, priest, or shaman to do this?

If it's just your personal preference that this be the case, that's fine, but I don't see why a sword made from a falling star engraved with runes of power and set with mystical gems couldn't be magical without a guy in robes wiggling his fingers at it while muttering "mumbo jumbo, alakazam".

Important question... why is the PC incapable of a specialized craftsperson or even a PC with a class that gives relevantly adjacent enchantment knowledge?

Different individuals have different skills. I know how to and have made some fairly impressive pastries in my life, but the results look like a five year old tried if I compare them to the last at the little bakery down the street who spent time in France working at a literal Michelin star place at some point in the past

A f1 driver might know how to fix an engine and might even have some idea of how they work with a vehicle's transmission fuel pump and so on... But the folks who design and maintain those things are on a whole different level to the point where the most that driver could do to help is stay out of the way and stick to reporting observations because the driver practices driving while the f1mechanic & engineer practice bleeding edge race car tech.

If you don't want the NPC armorer going off to do the adventure instead of hiring the PCs it's probably a good idea to assume that the armor has a different set of specialized skills not gained through killing monsters

Carves some runes into a stick
View attachment 384748
"Hey guys, I'm a spellcaster now!"

Sure, too bad that you wrote it in using the guidance from a book titled "Medium Conduit runic Circles Sbe Qhzzvrf (va Uvtu Qenpbavp)" and needed to use a whole bunch of super expensive ultra rare components normally needed in extreme moderation when enchanting ultra high end object oriented distributed artifact grade glyphs normally used with dragon parts and it's going to burn out if you aren't careful. There's a reason those widely publicized runes are taught to apprentices & used to make things like self warming mittens or shipping crates with the usual slight durability bump & weight reduction. The mittens will probably wear out in a winter or two & the boxes can't be reused.

Spoiler

Where did you even find that book? Nobody has spoken High Draconic for several thousand years

 

[overgeeked]

Terms like "relegating" are IMO the issue here. A goalie can't win a hockey game by himself, he needs defenders in front of him to help and - ideally - a forward or two who can score at the other end.

Defencemen aren't "relegated" to helping the goalie keep pucks out of the net. It's their job, and they generally take pride in doing it well.

Ditto for an RPG combat. If supporting the blast mage is our best path to winning then that's what needs to be done. On other occasions beefing up and supporting the front-liners is the best path to winning, so that's what needs to be done.

As long as the party as a whole is "getting stuff done", that's all that matters - isn't it?

If D&D were actually designed and played like a team sport, this would hold up. In 4E, this is exactly how it worked, with dedicated roles (or positions) like defender, striker, leader, and controller. No other edition has made that explicit nor a specific part of the design. In 5E, everyone wants to be a forward and all classes are designed to play that way. The defensemen and goalie don't exist, mechanically or culturally speaking, in 5E. In older editions they mostly exist due to convention and experience, not as part of the design.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If D&D were actually designed and played like a team sport, this would hold up. In 4E, this is exactly how it worked, with dedicated roles (or positions) like defender, striker, leader, and controller. No other edition has made that explicit nor a specific part of the design. In 5E, everyone wants to be a forward and all classes are designed to play that way. The defensemen and goalie don't exist, mechanically or culturally speaking, in 5E. In older editions they mostly exist due to convention and experience, not as part of the design.

Sounds like a 5e problem then. Everyone else seemed to find a solution, one way or another.