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General Tabletop Discussion
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Is Treasure and Magic Items Important To You?
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8291171" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>My real issue with magic items is that the ultimately feel unnecessary because the PCs themselves get so many different features via their classes and races. So whatever special ability an item gives is just one in a huge pile of thirty-seven other things the character can do.</p><p></p><p>Back in the olden days when a AD&D Fighter had hit points, armor (and armor class), a weapon and some basic equipment... that was IT as far as features they could actually use. Thus getting a sword that boosted your attack by 1 and could burst into flame was a huge gain in power and variety. But now? PCs will gain bonuses to their attack rolls via dozens of different ways every single fight, so of course that +1 from the sword means practically nothing.</p><p></p><p> "You know what? Keep that +1 sword, I'll just take that cleric's <em>Bless</em> spell each combat instead."</p><p></p><p>And with the amount of class features and spells that are available to every party starting even at level 1, there are very few types of effects that can't be gained in some form or fashion from the beginning. Bonuses to movement? Spells and class features. Bonus to combat? Smites, Quarries, Blessings, etc. etc. Bonuses to defenses? Fighting styles, Shields, cover, obscuring terrain (both natural and magical). Bonuses to communication? Spells, at-will natural telepathy etc.</p><p></p><p>All the magic items end up doing is just saving a spell slot that would have been spent on the same effect. So it's really hard to see it as anything special.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 8291171, member: 7006"] My real issue with magic items is that the ultimately feel unnecessary because the PCs themselves get so many different features via their classes and races. So whatever special ability an item gives is just one in a huge pile of thirty-seven other things the character can do. Back in the olden days when a AD&D Fighter had hit points, armor (and armor class), a weapon and some basic equipment... that was IT as far as features they could actually use. Thus getting a sword that boosted your attack by 1 and could burst into flame was a huge gain in power and variety. But now? PCs will gain bonuses to their attack rolls via dozens of different ways every single fight, so of course that +1 from the sword means practically nothing. "You know what? Keep that +1 sword, I'll just take that cleric's [I]Bless[/I] spell each combat instead." And with the amount of class features and spells that are available to every party starting even at level 1, there are very few types of effects that can't be gained in some form or fashion from the beginning. Bonuses to movement? Spells and class features. Bonus to combat? Smites, Quarries, Blessings, etc. etc. Bonuses to defenses? Fighting styles, Shields, cover, obscuring terrain (both natural and magical). Bonuses to communication? Spells, at-will natural telepathy etc. All the magic items end up doing is just saving a spell slot that would have been spent on the same effect. So it's really hard to see it as anything special. [/QUOTE]
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