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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 3061914" data-attributes="member: 704">Kunimatyu, I think that at this point, we are mostly in agreement, aside from quibbling of some specific details.  I would say our main area of disagreement is in the preceived difficulty of tailoring encounters to a party that lacks stat boosting items.  I do not dispute that the game appears to expect a large number of such items to be present.  I also concede that such items are the easiest to deal with from a DM standpoint.You are also correct in that encounter selection is a big deal.  Even if you give those details, say 10th level iconic party with standard point buy in a combat intensive campaign, you need still more information.  What are you fighting most of the time?  Some DM's like giants, some like mind flayers.  A party that does well against giants might get slammed and man handled by mind flayers and magic users.DMs will know their own party's capabilities within the context of their campaign much better than anyone else, except perhaps their players.  But I do not think that folding intrinsic stat bonuses into level progression is the way to go.  Players may be dumping their money into the kinds of items you describe, but I doubt that every player has the exact same priorities.  Some prefer AC boost, others prefer weapon boost.The problem (if it really is a problem) may be that your players have more direct control over magic item aquisition than is normal.  Players tend to build their characters in a systematic way.  If they decide they want awesome saves, they will build to that goal.  And letting the players decide which items they will get turns magic item selection into a part of character creation.  So its no surprise that a 20 Str Half Orc Barbarian is going to choose a magical version of his weapon and Str boosting items, and some rings of protection as his magic items instead of a ring of water breathing, gauntlets of arrow catching, and an immovable rod.END COMMUNICATION</blockquote>

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