How do You Handle the Big 6?

[Tequila Sunrise]

There have been games who have successfuly pulled off such a system such as Diablo 2 but a system of random magic items in D&D would be a colossal failure.

Would be?

I think it is.

If you want to, the same kind of scarcity applied to material goods can be applied to spells as well.

Oy, let's not derail the thread quite yet with the merits of the 'balancing the game by randomizing broken spells' theory. I believe there's already a thread for spells.

 

[Eldritch_Lord]

The issue with random magic items is that the D&D system was not designed for such a thing.

There have been games who have successfuly pulled off such a system such as Diablo 2 but a system of random magic items in D&D would be a colossal failure.

AD&D worked with random magic items just fine, thanks. The difference was that there was (A) a different system dynamic (saves were already quite good before ability boosters, which worked differently anyway; attack and AC bonuses were more constrained; etc.), meaning items weren't nearly as necessary, though fighters often got powerful magic swords anyway, and (B) there were no standard prices, leaving the DM free to determine the economics of magic in his world.

And even though they learned a certain number of spells automatically, those, too, were determined somewhat randomly* by the player having to roll to see if his PC had successfully learned it or not. The only spells a Wizard could choose from freely were those he found over the course of his career as an adventurer, on scrolls and in books.
[...]
* Whether this was a HR or not, I don't recall at the moment.

It wasn't a houserule to roll to learn spells, whether they were learned at level-up or learned from scrolls; if you failed that roll, you had to wait a level to try again, and the percentage chance to learn a given spell topped out at 95% for even the brightest magic-users. Also, magic-users could know a finite number of spells of each level until Int 19, and given the difficulty of raising ability scores (requiring several dozen wishes or a priceless tome) that was unlikely, leaving even Int 18 wizards with a maximum of 18 spells known of each level, a far cry from a 3e wizard's spellbook of every spell under the sun.

 

[Dandu]

If you want to, the same kind of scarcity applied to material goods can be applied to spells as well.

If you wish, but even if spells were scarce, you'd still automatically learn spells that you get to select when leveling up.

I suppose the DM could randomly assign spells learned... which would rather be like randomly assigning a fighter his feats.

Hm. Not a bad idea, come to think of it. What this does is it reduces the probability that every fighter knows the exact same feats... including the "game-breakers."

As for a non-Meta justification, I've always thought of it thus: the automatically learned feats represent the bits & pieces of martial techniques the fighter has been practicing while living his life as an adventurer. Even though he may be practicing more fervently his strikes for Power Attack, it may be that he had an epiphany when practicing Dodging instead- he just "got it."

 

[JamesonCourage]

If you wish, but even if spells were scarce, you'd still automatically learn spells that you get to select when leveling up.

I suppose the DM could randomly assign spells learned... which would rather be like randomly assigning a fighter his feats.

Hm. Not a bad idea, come to think of it. What this does is it reduces the probability that every fighter knows the exact same feats... including the "game-breakers."

As for a non-Meta justification, I've always thought of it thus: the automatically learned feats represent the bits & pieces of martial techniques the fighter has been practicing while living his life as an adventurer. Even though he may be practicing more fervently his strikes for Power Attack, it may be that he had an epiphany when practicing Dodging instead- he just "got it."

I guess it'd be the same if feats could be cast off of scrolls, huh? Too bad it's not the same at all.

 

[Particle_Man]

I guess it'd be the same if feats could be cast off of scrolls, huh?

As long as one is house ruling anyhow, well, why not?

 

[billd91]

The issue with random magic items is that the D&D system was not designed for such a thing.

There have been games who have successfuly pulled off such a system such as Diablo 2 but a system of random magic items in D&D would be a colossal failure.

You would be wrong on both counts. Random magic items in 1e and 2e AD&D worked reasonably well. However, both had magic item tables designed in the general direction of giving martial classes the magic weapons and armor they relied on. The same concept can work just fine in 3e.

 

[Alexander123]

I was not aware that a system of random magic items existed in 1st and 2nd edition. I have not played either.