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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kevtar" data-source="post: 5858090" data-attributes="member: 27098">Editing quotes for brevity is a fairly common practice on these boards and it's not against the code of conduct. However, I apologize if you had difficulty understanding the reply. I agree that +1 swords may be boring (I'm not going to assume they are always boring to all people), but I don't agree that they should be removed from the game in that some people may want to use them. Essentially, +n swords can be thought of as "Accuracy swords," with each "+ to hit" representing a marginal increase in one's percentage "to hit." Is that so bad? Not really. Is that the coolest sword ever? No, but does every sword an adventurer gets have to be the coolest sword ever?As I'm writing this, maybe the problem doesn't lie in +n swords, but rather in how treasure is managed in the game. +n swords and the like are definitely a product of the historical/cultural inertia of the game. They've lasted this long because of a combination of utility (+n to hit is useful, if even only marginally so) and because it's tradition, it's a default treasure type, and it "feels" D&D. None of those are particularly good reasons, and individually they don't really stand up to scrutiny, but collectively they present a commonsensical approach to treasure in the game. In 4e designers started to question the broader concept of treasure allotment by redesigning some types of treasure and, more importantly, redesigning it's distribution. "Wish lists," parcels, all those things in D&D that helped treasure distribution become more meaningful to players was a step in rethinking the purpose of +n swords. By adopting a flexible, customizable approach to treasure distribution similar to 4th edition in the new iteration of 5e, I think designers will solve the "problem" of +n swords. It stands to reason that if DMs and players are given a system that allows for more articulation in providing PCs with the weapons players & DMs want, then those who don't want "swords of math" will get what they want, and those who simply want a +n "sword of math" will get what they want. The important thing is that the basic design of the core game must accommodate player choice either through the basic rules or in a modular approach.</blockquote>

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