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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Apok" data-source="post: 894714" data-attributes="member: 1969">Probably one of the biggest things about D&D in general that I don't care for is the overabundance of magical items.  Let's face it, in your typical D&D campaign, magic items are fairly common.  The game designers have even gone so far as to require a certian GP-value of magic items to be possessed by the PC's in order for them to remain competative against equivalent challenges.  Because of this, magical items have lost alot of their mystique and "coolness factor."  Sure, having a +4 Keen Rapier of Speed is pretty damn neat, but it's so formulaic.  The fighter next door could just as easily comission such a weapon to be made by the local mage's guild.  It's gotten tot he point where adventuring and acquiring magical treasures is a Diablo-esqe venture in finding new ways to combine the various pool of weapon powers to make the Ultimate BMF Weapon of Butt-Kicking.  Call me crazy, but this set-up just doesn't appeal to me.  I love the idea of magic weapons and items, don't get me wrong, but I think that they should all be unique, named with a rich history.  They should also be powerful, perhaps with some drawbacks attatched to them.  Yes, I basically feel that all magical items should be given the same treatment as D&D Artifacts; powerful and one-of-a-kind.  Another reason why the current system doesn't float my boat can be answered in one simple question; what do PC's fear losing more, their life or their stuff?  I think we all know the answer to that one, don't we?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Take away a character's magical toys, and he is suddenly the lesser for it.  He can no longer battle dragons or take on armies with confidence because all of his power is tied to his stuff rather than to him.  This is less true for spellcasters, but even they enjoy a pretty big boost from their various magical gewjaws.  I would really like to see D&D where a character's power was less dependant on magical items and more dependant upon his own abilities.  If you think this is a load of bollocks and I'm just talking out of my arse, here's a quick test; compare two medium to high level characters of the same class, one with the standard compliment of magical gear and one without, and see just how well they would fare against the same challenges.  How would they fare against each other, for that matter?  So, to get to my point, I am thinking of devising a system that would eliminate the need for characters owning tons of magical gear just to keep up.  It would be similiar to FFG's Path series which had schools where you could spend XP to gain the abilities of the school.  In short, I would create a number of Gifts, if you will, that would allow the characters to do extraordinary things as though they had the cool gear (though I would make them far more interesting than that) but that would be a part of them.  You spend the XP, you get a Gift of Power that lets you do Something Cool.  Think of them like Feats, but really powerful ones that cost XP.  I admit I'm sort-of stealing the idea of Charms from the game Exalted, but the concept is the same; minor powers that let the character do cool stuff without the need for magical enhancement.  This would let the characters become legendary instead of their equipment.  Would anyone be at all interested in seeing or using a system like this?  If I get enough positive feedback, I'll post my ideas in the House Rules forum.</blockquote>

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