Do Magic Item "Shops" wreck the spirit of D&D?
- Thread starter Emirikol
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I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
RC said:
No, in 3.X, you can customize your character using your imagination, role-playing, diverse stat block differences, AND magic items.
The more customization a character gets by default, the better IMHO. You don't always want all those options, but it's always nice to have the...er...option of having them.
Actually in 1e the main way I customized my characters was through the magic items. You just had to find the things first. If the DM's amenable to it, you told him what you're after and you hunted down whatever you needed for your concept and that's a fun way of doing things. But, if sorcery eBay's your only viable option, run with that, I guess.
3e makes the desire for customization via item less acute. Part of why straight stat boosters are common. They're not only useful, if you want a character with (say) sun powers, you pick a bunch of feats and maybe a prestige class - you don't need to center yourself around a sunblade and a helm of brilliance or whatever.
3e makes the desire for customization via item less acute. Part of why straight stat boosters are common. They're not only useful, if you want a character with (say) sun powers, you pick a bunch of feats and maybe a prestige class - you don't need to center yourself around a sunblade and a helm of brilliance or whatever.
Rolzup
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...and of course, you can also create brand new magic items, and astound the players with those.
One of the players in my game has an item that I hadn't thought too much about when they found it. It's a silver mug; fill it with alcohol, and three times a day it turns the liquid ito a potion of Cure Light Wounds. And you can also use the mug as a set of (essentially) +2 silver brass knuckles.
The player loves it, and has been using it as his only weapon ever since....much to my surprise, and with disturbing effectiveness, especially when he's prone and surrounded by foes.
(He's playing a Binder. When he's got Paimon bound, he gets Whirlwind attack. Nobody's ankles are safe.)
Two sessions ago, they recovered (among other things) a skull with a simple enchantment on it. At the proper command word, the eye sockets light up and it floats into the air to take up a position over the speaker's left shoulder. All it does is give him 60' darkvision and a +5 bonus to his Intimidate checks, but as I was coming up with this thing I knew how delighted he'd be with it.
Plus, y'know, they can buy stuff. So the best of both worlds, right there.
One of the players in my game has an item that I hadn't thought too much about when they found it. It's a silver mug; fill it with alcohol, and three times a day it turns the liquid ito a potion of Cure Light Wounds. And you can also use the mug as a set of (essentially) +2 silver brass knuckles.
The player loves it, and has been using it as his only weapon ever since....much to my surprise, and with disturbing effectiveness, especially when he's prone and surrounded by foes.
(He's playing a Binder. When he's got Paimon bound, he gets Whirlwind attack. Nobody's ankles are safe.)
Two sessions ago, they recovered (among other things) a skull with a simple enchantment on it. At the proper command word, the eye sockets light up and it floats into the air to take up a position over the speaker's left shoulder. All it does is give him 60' darkvision and a +5 bonus to his Intimidate checks, but as I was coming up with this thing I knew how delighted he'd be with it.
Plus, y'know, they can buy stuff. So the best of both worlds, right there.
JiffyPopTart
Bree-Yark
Raven Crowking said:
Because in OD&D your level 8 fighter had the same chance to smack anyone around with a stick as well as a halberd. If a snazzy +3 stick of smiting came along, you would start to use that instead of your +1 axe of flaying.
In 3.X your level 8 fighter is based on a Weapon Finesse build, using two handed weapons. When you kill a dragon and find a +4 two-handed vorpal backscratcher your character can't really use it withing negating your "build". "Build" in this case means you have decided your character likes to fight with two smaller weapons instead of one big one because he uses his speed instead of his might in battle. Ditching his 1 handed and light backscratchers for a MORE MAGICAL AND FUN +4 two handed backscratcher makes him a worse fighter.
DS
Rolzup
First Post
MerricB said:Which is what I've been doing with Legacy Items. I've also been scouring the new MIC for abilities to turn into legacy item abilities.
Cheers!
I'm pretty sure the Mug of Doom has turned into a Legacy Item, although as I don't actually have the book in question, it's hard to be certain. But its powers are going to grow over time; most recently it's started doing an additional 1d6 of cold damage when it hits something.
Maldin
First Post
Yes, this indeed a very old, weather-beaten discussion, yet interest still continues unabated, as evidenced by the sheer number of posts in just 2 days.
As the writer who personally placed two shops that sell magic items into the most recent official WotC version of the City of Greyhawk (Maldin and Elenderi's Shoppe of the Arcane, and Eridok's Expedition Provisions), I guess its clear that I have no problem with it. ;-) But, really, who cares? If as a DM you don't like it? Don't use it. Just that simple. However...
The answer to "do magic item shops wreck the spirit of D&D" is "absolutely not". Do DM's have the freedom to personally dislike them? Absolutely. But that is not the same thing, as others have already stated. The effect of such a shop on any game is a direct result of how the DM uses it. In any economy, supply and demand will govern whether something will be sold or not. When a fighter finds a wizard-only staff, or a wizard finds a +crazy suit of platemail, its natural for either to sell it off (because there IS demand). It absolutely makes sense that such shops would spring up (at least in larger cities frequented by people with both supply and demand). As a mechanic, a specialty shop is also the best way to take items off the hands of PCs. There is certainly a demand for magic items in a magical world, and their potential supply is completely controlled by the DM.
Some here have blamed the need/non-necessity or the usefulness/uselessness of such places on certain editions or campaign worlds. Possible "oversupply" has been around since forever, whether you are playing the magical cornucopia of the 1st Ed GDQ series, or an overpowered 3rd Ed FR ubergame. Edition certainly has little to do with it. The group only has their own DM to blame or thank, whichever your preference. ;-)
Denis, aka "Maldin"
========================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more!
As the writer who personally placed two shops that sell magic items into the most recent official WotC version of the City of Greyhawk (Maldin and Elenderi's Shoppe of the Arcane, and Eridok's Expedition Provisions), I guess its clear that I have no problem with it. ;-) But, really, who cares? If as a DM you don't like it? Don't use it. Just that simple. However...
The answer to "do magic item shops wreck the spirit of D&D" is "absolutely not". Do DM's have the freedom to personally dislike them? Absolutely. But that is not the same thing, as others have already stated. The effect of such a shop on any game is a direct result of how the DM uses it. In any economy, supply and demand will govern whether something will be sold or not. When a fighter finds a wizard-only staff, or a wizard finds a +crazy suit of platemail, its natural for either to sell it off (because there IS demand). It absolutely makes sense that such shops would spring up (at least in larger cities frequented by people with both supply and demand). As a mechanic, a specialty shop is also the best way to take items off the hands of PCs. There is certainly a demand for magic items in a magical world, and their potential supply is completely controlled by the DM.
Some here have blamed the need/non-necessity or the usefulness/uselessness of such places on certain editions or campaign worlds. Possible "oversupply" has been around since forever, whether you are playing the magical cornucopia of the 1st Ed GDQ series, or an overpowered 3rd Ed FR ubergame. Edition certainly has little to do with it. The group only has their own DM to blame or thank, whichever your preference. ;-)
Denis, aka "Maldin"
========================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more!
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