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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6301364" data-attributes="member: 5143">I think it was a combination of factors.  I played with (mostly) different people in 2e than I did in 4e.  My group back then had 15 members, though 8-10 of them showed up for any one session.  Our DM was draconian in ruling the game with an iron fist so that 10 people didn't attempt to talk over top of one another.  Because of that, we all learned to shut up and not say anything unless it was really important.  We had a party caller whose job it was to talk to the DM.  The DM didn't want anyone except the party caller to talk to him directly.  He was the mediator between the group and the DM.So, our group didn't have a lot of "I want that item!" "No, it's mine!" because our DM would fix us with a glare that could stop you dead in your tracks if you started that crap.  The common answer would be "Let's do what we always do, let's add it to the party treasure and identify it when we leave."  It didn't hurt that we'd exit most dungeons with an equipment list that looked like this:18 +1 Longswords12 +2 Longswords5 +3 Longswords1 +4 Longsword6 +1 Battle Axes1 +2 Greatsword18 +1 Chain Mail12 +2 Leather Armor5 +1 Full Plate1 Bag of Holding1 Ring of Protection(AC 3)1 Ring of Protection(AC 4)1 Wand of Cure Light Wounds (4 charges)1 Scroll of Mage Armor2 Scrolls of Magic Missile2 Scrolls of Remove Curse1 Censor of Elemental SummoningAt that time, our group considered anything below +4 to be junk we don't even really need.  We'd sell it at the next available opportunity.  The function of the Bag and Scrolls would be immediately apparent, the wand we knew we couldn't use without the command word which only an Identify would tell us.  So, the only thing left was the Censor...and we'd had too many bad experiences fiddling with magic items to let people attempt to use them without knowing what they were.  The only thing someone MIGHT do is wear the ring just in case it did something useful.However, our group used a strict "At the end of the adventure, we each roll a dice then we get one pick from the treasure list in the order of die roll.  When everyone has gotten a pick, we start from the beginning again until all magic items are picked" policy.  So, if we gave an item to someone part way through the dungeon, most of the other party members would feel that it was unfair because they didn't get a chance to roll and choose a magic item first.  Plus, once someone was using an item it was much harder to convince them to give it up.  Or they'd forget to remove the bonuses when we took it back for party treasure.  Or worse yet, someone would have removed it from party treasure and the PC gets an extra magic item than everyone else.However, in addition to those reasons, I believe it's because there were basically no cursed items in 4e.  If we found an item it was bound to be useful.  It was also bound to be CLEARLY useful.  In 2e, if we found a hat it might be a cursed hat, it might have a command word that we didn't know, it might be a non-magical hat with Nystul's Magical Aura cast on it(which happened to us a couple of times), it might only be useful for Wizards or Bards.  In 4e, if we found a magic hat and someone didn't have a magic item in their hat slot, then it would DEFINITELY add some kind of bonus.  There might be a particular person in the group who it worked BEST with, but going without a bonus that was sitting in party treasure was unthinkable to my group of min-maxers.Plus, in 2e, the Wizard likely had 1 or 2 Identifies prepared for the day.  When we found 80 magic items in a dungeon, which one did we use the identify on?  If we use it on this magic item, what if we find something that looks more interesting further in?  Meanwhile, in 4e, you could identify unlimited magic items with enough short rests.  If there were 5 people in the party, each one could identify one magic item.  Short rests could be taken WHILE searching and looting a room so it didn't use an extra time up.I believe even our old group would have stopped and distributed magic items on the fly given the rules in 4e.</blockquote>

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