The article speaks of the rarity level in a very small sentence. Each of the items, except for the dragonlances, is supposed to be unique. The items are more "powerful". Think of them as between an artifact level item, and a rare level item and you're in the ballpark.
Sigh, except that the difference between "artifacts" and "rare items" wasn't supposed to be "power level" in 4e. I think this has to be the most poorly understood part of the 4e system - especially by the designers at WotC - bar none.
One more time, from the original 4e stuff:
"Magic Items" are items that are in the province of the characters and players. PCs can make them. Characters can buy them (albeit they might be scarce and hard to source). They all have a level, which should be truly representative of their power. Later on they also have a "rarity" which, as far as I can tell, relates mainly to how laxly and thoughtlessly they are designed.
"Artifacts" are the province of the DM. They are unique or rare items that cannot be made (any more?). They relate to the world setting or the story, not to the characters. They
might have intelligence and aims/goals of their own. They cannot, due to their uniqueness, readily be bought or sold. They do not have, nor do they need, a level - they turn up precisely when the DM means them to. Just like Wizards...
To the extent that the DL items fit each of these descriptions, as far as I'm concerned that is what they should be classified as. Note that Artifacts are
not, necessarily, especially
powerful. They can be as powerful as they need to be for their role in the story - no more and no less. That is, in essence, the point of them - they are not "party build" resources and so need not be designed as such.
This was such a brilliant and simple solution to such a long standing problem - and yet it was compromised even before 4e was consigned to ebay. Is it really so hard to understand???
