Elf Cloak and Boots = weak?

[Kai Lord]

+5 Competence bonus to Hide/Move Silently, non-stackable with any other competence bonuses. Not too beneficial now, are they?

 

[sithramir]

If you don't consider being 5 levels higher in those 2 skills for pretty darn cheap I guess not. Stop comparing it to the overpowerful versions in 3.0. These are still great items. They just don't give any character the ability to be a thief or give a thieving character the ability to be invisible in pretty much any situation as who can beat your hide +10 with their spot? You roll 2 they roll like 20 and you can still probably win. A bit insane especially since lvl 2+ characters could afford it.

 

[Kai Lord]

If the price was too cheap, they should have raised it. Elf cloaks as "near invisibility" devices have been great staples of D&D for over 20 years. If every cool magic item had to be "2nd character level compliant" we'd have lots of lame treasure.

 

[coyote6]

Yeah, they're kind of weak, compared to previous editions and their fictional inspirations. You aren't going to be able to pull any Two Towers-esque stunts with the 3.5e cloaks.

It would have been cool if they let you use Hide in situations you normally wouldn't be able to. Hard to price, though.

 

[Super_Nerd]

Well I it wouldn't have been so bad if they would have balanced it out. Lets see easy +10 bonus to sneak no bonus item to listen, easy +10 bonus to hide +5 bonus to spot but its also more expensive. so I think they could have kept it if they had a counter balancing item

 

[Staffan]

The problem is that the 3.0 skill adders were way too powerful - a +10 bonus is equal to ten levels of advancement. The items overshadowed the character's own abilities, and that's no fun.

If you want a cloak of invisibility, make a cloak of invisibility. Don't expect a cloak of elvenkind to work like one.

+5 is still a very significant skill bonus, but it doesn't overshadow the skill ranks anymore.

 

[LordAO]

Bah. Yet another ridiculous nerf.

I'll take my Cloak of Charisma, thanks.

 

[Kai Lord]

The problem is that the 3.0 skill adders were way too powerful - a +10 bonus is equal to ten levels of advancement. The items overshadowed the character's own abilities, and that's no fun.

If you're playing D&D, 9 times out of 10 its because you think things like cloaks of elvenkind that make you nearly invisible are cooler than your character's skill ranks. This isn't GURPS, or Hero, or Cyberpunk 2020. I like cool elf cloaks. I think the "ability" to have my character find one is cooler than the "ability" to max out skill ranks in Hide and master the art of standing behind a tree.

If you want a cloak of invisibility, make a cloak of invisibility. Don't expect a cloak of elvenkind to work like one.

Actually I'd prefer that a cloak of elvenkind work the way I and those I play with have enjoyed for 20 years.

 

[Corlon]

aaaaa, they're changing things under my nose

and this may be a bit off of the cloak but the ruined the ring of jump, the most fun item in the game!

for a lot the items in 3.0, if you really or even just kind of wanted to abuse their power you could, but for people like me who just like the coolness factor of +30 to jump

and I would like to say that they shafted haste, but it really was too powerful.

anyways, back to the cloak discussion, I liked the +10 to hide the way it was, because with +5, I just don't see why I'd spend the money the cloak slot...

 

[Simplicity]

The +10 hide and move silently items were crazy. You'd have to be an idiot not to get them if you're a thief. And generally, there becomes virtually no reason to ever roll spot or listen checks
against that character anymore.

It's more important to make the game fun than it is to stick with the old way of doing things. It's easy enough to make a more powerful item that provides a higher bonus. Just make it more expensive than it was in 3e because that was totally out of hand.