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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9016102" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>If your players actually enjoy playing the equipment mini-game, then that's great. Of course I recognize there are some players who enjoy it, which is why I made sure to say "few players" rather than "all players" because every game system in D&D has their proponents. Most players though? My personal belief is that because all the editions from 3E and on have placed so many features, abilities, spells and skills into the character classes to give them so many different things to do during combat... the need to acquire lots of different equipment (AND magic items to a certain extent) to be able to do special things has been greatly lessened. Which is why most players nowadays don't need to comb the equipment lists for special stuff, because their class abilities, features, spells, and skills can already accomplish all the things the equipment used to have to do for them.</p><p></p><p>In the Before Times of AD&D... a Thief would be desperate to acquire a bag of caltrops and a bag of ball bearings because you never knew when you had to make a quick escape and these special pieces of equipment could slow your pursuers down-- and your Magic-User player probably did not have any one of their 5 spell slots prepared with an applicable spell, they were all lined up with Magic Missiles and the like. Thus it was a novelty and a great moment when the Thief player would tell the DM that this piece of equipment that no one probably though much of when they bought it was now going to be used to facilitate their escape.</p><p></p><p>But nowadays? There are probably 2 to 4 characters in the party who already have special class features and abilities that can slow pursuers down. So needing to buy special equipment (or magic items) that accomplish the same thing has been greatly lessened if not made completely superfluous. Heck... this is why Tools in 5E are like a vestigial appendage that they finally had to amend in Xanathar's to actually make their proficiency worthwhile. Because almost all Tool work got superceded by Skill use.</p><p></p><p>This is why I say that equipment and other things to buy are more story elements than would-be character abilities... because none of them have really any worthwhile <em>game mechanic</em> use. Instead, it's merely an additional flavor text to help with the narrative of what players wish to accomplish. The party wants to get into the castle in order to confront the Duke? The DM asks how they want to accomplish that... and the players says they "spend their money" buying extravagant clothing and expensive jewelry in order to make themselves look like nobles worthy to gain an audience with the Duke, and then they say they drop a few bribes here and there to get through the castle unimpeded. But all that is purely narrative driven and you don't need a big long list of "things to buy" in order to do that. And even if you did... chances are pretty good that equipment wouldn't have any mechanic connected to it for "bluffing your way into a castle", so it would still be up to the DM to just make a ruling for what all that bought stuff would do.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 9016102, member: 7006"] If your players actually enjoy playing the equipment mini-game, then that's great. Of course I recognize there are some players who enjoy it, which is why I made sure to say "few players" rather than "all players" because every game system in D&D has their proponents. Most players though? My personal belief is that because all the editions from 3E and on have placed so many features, abilities, spells and skills into the character classes to give them so many different things to do during combat... the need to acquire lots of different equipment (AND magic items to a certain extent) to be able to do special things has been greatly lessened. Which is why most players nowadays don't need to comb the equipment lists for special stuff, because their class abilities, features, spells, and skills can already accomplish all the things the equipment used to have to do for them. In the Before Times of AD&D... a Thief would be desperate to acquire a bag of caltrops and a bag of ball bearings because you never knew when you had to make a quick escape and these special pieces of equipment could slow your pursuers down-- and your Magic-User player probably did not have any one of their 5 spell slots prepared with an applicable spell, they were all lined up with Magic Missiles and the like. Thus it was a novelty and a great moment when the Thief player would tell the DM that this piece of equipment that no one probably though much of when they bought it was now going to be used to facilitate their escape. But nowadays? There are probably 2 to 4 characters in the party who already have special class features and abilities that can slow pursuers down. So needing to buy special equipment (or magic items) that accomplish the same thing has been greatly lessened if not made completely superfluous. Heck... this is why Tools in 5E are like a vestigial appendage that they finally had to amend in Xanathar's to actually make their proficiency worthwhile. Because almost all Tool work got superceded by Skill use. This is why I say that equipment and other things to buy are more story elements than would-be character abilities... because none of them have really any worthwhile [I]game mechanic[/I] use. Instead, it's merely an additional flavor text to help with the narrative of what players wish to accomplish. The party wants to get into the castle in order to confront the Duke? The DM asks how they want to accomplish that... and the players says they "spend their money" buying extravagant clothing and expensive jewelry in order to make themselves look like nobles worthy to gain an audience with the Duke, and then they say they drop a few bribes here and there to get through the castle unimpeded. But all that is purely narrative driven and you don't need a big long list of "things to buy" in order to do that. And even if you did... chances are pretty good that equipment wouldn't have any mechanic connected to it for "bluffing your way into a castle", so it would still be up to the DM to just make a ruling for what all that bought stuff would do. [/QUOTE]
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