D&D 4E Economy of Inherent Bonuses

[Weather Report]

I not only implemented inherent bonuses, I removed the 1/2 level bonus auto-scaling; has made my DMing of 4th Ed much more enjoyable, no more To Hit/Defences bloat for the sake or it, and monsters are challenging over a much wider range of levels.

So, at 30th level, you are looking at a max to hit around +15, before weapon proficiency bonus (so, +17 to +18).

 

[Li Shenron]

One simple way would be to "combine" the effects of many magic items into one, to keep the whole economy of bonuses-by-level unaltered.

So maybe your Wizard only has one magic staff, your Fighter one magic sword, your Cleric one magic armor, and your Rogue one magic cloak, but each of these items are effectively a "merge" of several items.

You would "awaken" the magic properties gradually, as the PCs grow in level, by spending the gp normally required to buy or craft those additional items.

Then you can just let them find non-magical treasure.

Magic items worn and used by NPCs would simply not work for PCs, on the ground that "awakening" those powers requires years of attunement. You can loot the NPCs, but you won't normally get to use their magic items (artifacts of course are another matter).

If one item is too few (for instance a PC might want both a weapon and an armor, and maybe a shield too), there is no problem at all extending the allowance to more than one items per PC, as long as the wealth-by-level values are applied to the whole lot of items of each PC.

Note that any further rule on the matter, can probably be still applied easily if you want... for instance, 3e wealth-by-level system also warned not to give any item worth alone more than half that wealth value, but you can more or less keep this restriction valid by not granting any single power worth more than that. Furthermore, 3e had slots limitations, which you can still enforce by not allowing more than 1 power recreating the properties of an amulet, more than 2 powers recreating the properties of rings, and so on... Although generally speaking I would not worry much about these further restrictions...

 

[Jhaelen]

If there aren't magic items, what do the players spend their hard earned gold on? If I strip them of gold, what kinds of rewards are the best to give them?

Yep, that's a problem. I'm playing a character in a 4e Dark Sun campaign using the inherent bonus rules eand have recently reached Paragon tier. At this point I have amassed a significant amount of wealth, and I've been asking my DMs the same question: What the hell am I supposed to do with it, if there's nothing there to buy?

So I think, either you remove monetary rewards to a large degree, as well, or you must be prepared to offer 'something' that can be bought with gold (or ceramics ) that is worthwhile to adventurers.

 

[Ferghis]

Wine and wenches?


(looks awkwardly at the ascetic thri-keen monk...)

 

[d2OKC]

To be honest, I'm a lot less worried about the effects of magic items than I am the proliferation of them in the game to begin with.

I alluded to it in the OP - when I was starting my gaming career (I was about 12 or 13 - I'm 30 now, so there's been several edition changes, and the overall meta-culture of D&D has changed quite a bit since then as well) my thief got a +1 magic dagger. This was my prized possession. I was so proud of that simple +1 magic dagger! At one point in the game, we had to sacrifice a magic item, and it was determined randomly that my dagger was to be the sacrifice. I was torn up about it.

These days, +1 daggers are a dime a dozen. These days, with crafting skills, and a group of players that is extremely savvy when it comes to optimizing their characters, magic items are no longer special in the game. That is really the feeling I'm trying to recapture - and I brought up the economic issues, because I could see that being a problem if I didn't figure out a bit of it before implementing this rule.

My basic idea so far is this (let me know if you, as a player, would have a problem with these ideas):

MAGIC ITEMS IN EXILIA (The setting - a young sword and sorcorery-type world)
- The procedures for enchanting magic items has not yet been discovered. This may be because residuum is not yet known. It might be a tricky process that just hasn't been perfected yet. Whatever the case, this is something that cannot be done. Therefore, the only magic items in the world are those enchanted by the gods, perhaps. Or maybe items that were the unwitting recipient of demon possession or some other strange or bizarre circumstance.

- There are no magic item shops. There simply isn't a high enough supply or demand for magic item shops. This doesn't mean there are not magic items for sale, but they are extremely rare, and are worth significantly more than the "retail price" listed in the books. In fact, maybe the only magic items available are artifacts? And in order to get one, an adventurer must be either extremely lucky, unlucky, or daring. They do not come without a price (and, I'm not referring to money).

- Magic items are coveted. There are people willing to do very evil things to collect magic items. If a player finds one, it is best to conceal them, and keep them extremely close and safe. Magic hunters would be a real threat in a world like this.

- Rituals would probably be unaffected. Except, of course, for the rituals allowing magic item creation. I'm not sure yet about something like transfer enchantment, but I'm thinking it's a no.

This is just a start. It is far, far, far from a finished idea. Something as drastic as this, I feel, needs plenty of forethought before implementation.

So. Thoughts about those things?

 

[Ajar]

I like it, and don't really see any issues with it. It's a good explanation for why characters can have incredible magical powers and yet no one can create a +1 dagger.

 

[keterys]

If you can't buy magic items, money for rituals becomes a fantastic option. Maybe allow some consumables too. (ex: healing potions, alchemy, poisons)

Other than that, hiring people, world building (airships, castles, etc) is a good money outlet.

 

[Ferghis]

... world building (airships, castles, etc) is a good money outlet.

This. End hunger and disease. Build a benevolent and tyrannical city-state. Watch the arts and civilized races fluorish, and the dawn of a new golden age, shortly before the dying sun swallows it all.

 

[Balesir]

MAGIC ITEMS IN EXILIA (The setting - a young sword and sorcorery-type world)
- The procedures for enchanting magic items has not yet been discovered. This may be because residuum is not yet known. It might be a tricky process that just hasn't been perfected yet. Whatever the case, this is something that cannot be done. Therefore, the only magic items in the world are those enchanted by the gods, perhaps. Or maybe items that were the unwitting recipient of demon possession or some other strange or bizarre circumstance.

- There are no magic item shops. There simply isn't a high enough supply or demand for magic item shops. This doesn't mean there are not magic items for sale, but they are extremely rare, and are worth significantly more than the "retail price" listed in the books. In fact, maybe the only magic items available are artifacts? And in order to get one, an adventurer must be either extremely lucky, unlucky, or daring. They do not come without a price (and, I'm not referring to money).

- Magic items are coveted. There are people willing to do very evil things to collect magic items. If a player finds one, it is best to conceal them, and keep them extremely close and safe. Magic hunters would be a real threat in a world like this.

- Rituals would probably be unaffected. Except, of course, for the rituals allowing magic item creation. I'm not sure yet about something like transfer enchantment, but I'm thinking it's a no.

This is just a start. It is far, far, far from a finished idea. Something as drastic as this, I feel, needs plenty of forethought before implementation.

So. Thoughts about those things?

For the most part I don't see any real problems, here. Rituals and consumables should be able to take up some of the 'slack', money-wise.

Just one point: I think you need to select either "artifacts only" or "residuum needed, and the world is very short of residuum". The second allows much more future flexibility, but opens that door just a crack (although "very limited" could just be nil, leading to a "case 1 unless we change our minds"). If you do allow any magic items, though, I really, really suggest keeping Transfer Enchantment in. Without it, you'll either need to arrange some remarkable serendipity with the magic items that "happen to" crop up, or a good chunk of those oh-so-rare items will be next to useless for the party. Which kind of gives the lie to the "magic items are incredibly sought after" meme. The fact that you can actually use the things is part of the reason they're so neat.

 

[d2OKC]

All good points.

It occurs to me that the discovery and ensuing battle over residuum could be a pretty great campaign hook at some point in the future, if I decide I'm ready to start using items more liberally again!

I'm thinking something along the lines of "there are only magic weapons that weren't forged by normal people", i.e. naturally occurring magic stone, blessed weapons, cursed weapons, extraplanar items, artifacts, etc. Ideally, each magic item they encounter would be interesting in its own way - interesting enough to have a story hook of some kind, should the characters choose to investigate it.