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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9239619" data-attributes="member: 6790260">And most likely not even that! Because what makes magic items feel wondrous often has absolutely nothing to do with how powerful or uncommon they are in-game. It has everything to do with three things: (1) how fresh and new they are to the player, (2) how valuable the magic item is to them personally (e.g. utility, symbolism, aesthetics, marketability, etc.), and (3) the manner in which the item was earned/acquired.You make magic items feel magical again, not by making boring +N items essentially unknown, but by not using boring items. Anyone can make a boring +2 Flaming Sword of Swiftness. It takes an actual DM, using the most important part of DM skill, caring about player enthusiasm, to create something like..."As you turn the finely-wrought lacquer-and-nacre scabbard in your hand, you realize that this must be an Arkhosian High Blademaster's sword. Drawing it, you see the curved blade within, austere in its perfection. The handle bears gold and mythril embroidery of cranes, the cross-guard lilies in crimson and gold, implying this sword once belonged to someone of a cadet branch of the royal family. After a few minutes of trial and error, an Arkhosian word that loosely translates as 'for blood and honor' sets the sword alight, the color and intensity clearly marking it as dragon-fire. And that leads to a second realization: though its greatest magic has faded slightly, it retains some final mote of the Golden One's flame, still burning after all these centuries. Karthedaas of clan Nyax, you hold in your hands one of the few treasures of Lost Arkhosia that remain, dimmed but not dulled by the turning of the ages--and now it is yours, to bring honor to your name and your clan. Or perhaps that unquenched spark may bring forth Arkhosia's light again, at your hand? You are not the first to have such thoughts...but none had the strength, or tools, or allies you have at your disposal."That is how you make a magic item wondrous. You make it matter. You give it weight and meaning.Something as simple as a leather duster that acts like armor, or a hat of disguise, can be a beloved and precious thing, to the point that losing it marks a ruthlessly determined quest to get it back, whatever the cost. Something incredibly powerful but nondescript and flatly presented can be a nothingburger largely ignored.The magic of the story is in the telling, not in the numbers.Fully agreed. Sadly, opaque design is quite popular, in part because people so readily confuse "X is designed to do Y well" with "X cannot do anything other than Y," and thence transform that into, "Because X is designed to do Y well, if you like stuff that isn't Y, you aren't welcome here." Thus we get intentional obscurantism; if you avoid ever explaining yourself, no one can (almost always mistakenly) feel like you've told them your game excludes them.</blockquote>

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