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Is Treasure and Magic Items Important To You?
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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8290807" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>I was just talking about this in an OSR thread, but the longer I game the more I'm interested in rekindling the idea that the powers that your character has arise from your class, your ability scores, your feats, your ancestry, and <em>your magic items</em>.</p><p></p><p>I think the end section on Matt Colville's video "No" explains my feelings very well:</p><p></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]6St9pH4-16E:843[/MEDIA]</p><p></p><p>Skip to 14:03 if it doesn't do so.</p><p></p><p>That idea of having your character's abilities defined by what you do <em>in game</em> instead of just the choices you as a player make while staring at the PHB is fundamental to D&D as a game, to me. It's what makes your character unique. It's how you carry the adventures you've had with your PC.</p><p></p><p>I'm really at a point where I'm kind of done with attunement. It doesn't serve my purpose anymore. It would be like making a character pick only three class abilities that they could use each day, and the rest would be unavailable. That's insane! Yes, spells do that, but you get quite a lot of spells to prepare (unless you're a Sorcerer). Further, magic items are rewards! They're supposed to be a benefit! They shouldn't just disappear because you got a new one. That's like saying you didn't catch the murderer in Waterdeep anymore because you also rescued the Duke's heir and you can only benefit from one of those. I mean, what?</p><p></p><p>The most infuriating play experience I've had with 5e -- the only one that has surpassed the frustration of playing a short rest Fighter in a party of 4 characters that recover abilities only on long rests -- has been having in my possession a <em>ring of jumping</em> and never being able to use it because I had to keep the <em>sword of awakening</em> (correction: <em>sword of warning</em>), <em>ring of protection</em>, and <em>amulet of health</em> attuned instead. Those three items always had benefits every adventuring day, and the ring rarely came up. Every time it would've come up, I got to feel like a fool because I picked the boring good reward instead of the fun, creative one. It's not cool to make your players choose between something fun and something good. That's like a Sophie's choice. Do you want to have fun playing D&D, or do you want your character to be good?</p><p></p><p>Games are often described as, "a series of interesting or meaningful choices," and while I agree with that sentiment, that doesn't mean that every choice necessarily improves the game or that more choices make a better game. Furthermore, I think the choices made at the time you take an action are more interesting than those you make in preparation. A choice informed by the situation carries more weight than one made at dawn.</p><p></p><p>Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not real interested in magic items causing power creep. I think a +1 magical bonus should be about as rare as a +2 or +3 sword used to be, a magical +2 bonus should be about as rare as a +4 sword, and a +3 sword is basically an artifact or relic. I also don't want magic items that are just <em>longsword, +1 </em>or <em>elven chain </em>wherever that could be avoided. That's super boring. Magic items should all feel unique, because they're all uniquely made. I've gone so far in some campaigns as to give my PCs magic items or boons that give them, in effect, a brand new subclass worth of abilities. I want magic items that give new abilities, not merely make you better at everything you do.</p><p></p><p>I just don't want a player to sit down session 0 and say, "This is what my PC will look like at level 20." That's just anathema to the idea of D&D to me. The idea that your character will not develop over the course of the campaign rather than be pre-defined on a spreadsheet before you've even met in a tavern? Now, I definitely like that players get to choose some abilities on their own. I want them to get the level of control the PHB gives them. But I want rewards and magic items to be curve balls and major boons.</p><p></p><p>As far as gold, I don't really care. Once the PCs have enough money to afford full plate, they're at the end game as far as equipment progression. You can give out vast sums of gold without any consequences.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8290807, member: 6777737"] I was just talking about this in an OSR thread, but the longer I game the more I'm interested in rekindling the idea that the powers that your character has arise from your class, your ability scores, your feats, your ancestry, and [I]your magic items[/I]. I think the end section on Matt Colville's video "No" explains my feelings very well: [MEDIA=youtube]6St9pH4-16E:843[/MEDIA] Skip to 14:03 if it doesn't do so. That idea of having your character's abilities defined by what you do [I]in game[/I] instead of just the choices you as a player make while staring at the PHB is fundamental to D&D as a game, to me. It's what makes your character unique. It's how you carry the adventures you've had with your PC. I'm really at a point where I'm kind of done with attunement. It doesn't serve my purpose anymore. It would be like making a character pick only three class abilities that they could use each day, and the rest would be unavailable. That's insane! Yes, spells do that, but you get quite a lot of spells to prepare (unless you're a Sorcerer). Further, magic items are rewards! They're supposed to be a benefit! They shouldn't just disappear because you got a new one. That's like saying you didn't catch the murderer in Waterdeep anymore because you also rescued the Duke's heir and you can only benefit from one of those. I mean, what? The most infuriating play experience I've had with 5e -- the only one that has surpassed the frustration of playing a short rest Fighter in a party of 4 characters that recover abilities only on long rests -- has been having in my possession a [I]ring of jumping[/I] and never being able to use it because I had to keep the [I]sword of awakening[/I] (correction: [I]sword of warning[/I]), [I]ring of protection[/I], and [I]amulet of health[/I] attuned instead. Those three items always had benefits every adventuring day, and the ring rarely came up. Every time it would've come up, I got to feel like a fool because I picked the boring good reward instead of the fun, creative one. It's not cool to make your players choose between something fun and something good. That's like a Sophie's choice. Do you want to have fun playing D&D, or do you want your character to be good? Games are often described as, "a series of interesting or meaningful choices," and while I agree with that sentiment, that doesn't mean that every choice necessarily improves the game or that more choices make a better game. Furthermore, I think the choices made at the time you take an action are more interesting than those you make in preparation. A choice informed by the situation carries more weight than one made at dawn. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not real interested in magic items causing power creep. I think a +1 magical bonus should be about as rare as a +2 or +3 sword used to be, a magical +2 bonus should be about as rare as a +4 sword, and a +3 sword is basically an artifact or relic. I also don't want magic items that are just [I]longsword, +1 [/I]or [I]elven chain [/I]wherever that could be avoided. That's super boring. Magic items should all feel unique, because they're all uniquely made. I've gone so far in some campaigns as to give my PCs magic items or boons that give them, in effect, a brand new subclass worth of abilities. I want magic items that give new abilities, not merely make you better at everything you do. I just don't want a player to sit down session 0 and say, "This is what my PC will look like at level 20." That's just anathema to the idea of D&D to me. The idea that your character will not develop over the course of the campaign rather than be pre-defined on a spreadsheet before you've even met in a tavern? Now, I definitely like that players get to choose some abilities on their own. I want them to get the level of control the PHB gives them. But I want rewards and magic items to be curve balls and major boons. As far as gold, I don't really care. Once the PCs have enough money to afford full plate, they're at the end game as far as equipment progression. You can give out vast sums of gold without any consequences. [/QUOTE]
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