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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 3060019" data-attributes="member: 32164">Spurious logic at best - "You have no way of knowing whether they might have had magic socks, amulets and underwear that were never mentioned."To which I say: RUBBISH!There's plenty of evidence in the story. For example, Frodo most certainly did not, as everything he had was stripped from him when he was captured. Boromir was laid to rest with all of his worldly possessions.Gandalf also awoke "naked" and was clothed in white by the Elves of Lothlorien. The only items anyone commented on were Glamdring and Narya, and his (now white) staff. No headband of intellect in sight, and nothing recognizable from his old stuff.Aragorn was clad as a "Ranger of the North." He did have the elfstone, but didn't wear it as a matter of course. So unless you're going to ascribe all kinds of magical effects to his clothes, he too had nothing.So, I'd say the burden of proof is not on me to prove that they had nothing, but rather on YOU to prove they did. So....evidence?Hence, why D&D has BAB bonus; Defense Bonus, if you choose to use that variant rule; hit points; saving throw bonuses; ability score bonuses; skill points; feats; et cetera.Why shouldn't 90 percent of the character's abilities be intrinsic to them personally? Why should half come from their "stuff?" Are experienced adventurers really only 50 percent experience and 50 percent loot? If so, are they really THAT special?I definitely have less of a problem with items that autoscale with level. They're certainly a vast improvement. I'm still kinda annoyed by an item that makes a PC smarter (or, especially, wiser!) without drawbacks. Getting your fundamental personality adjusted without a penalty just feels kinda wrong somehow...I dunno. Maybe just me.</blockquote>

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