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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jester47" data-source="post: 895111" data-attributes="member: 2238">Yeah, you could call it transhuman: the pointlessness.  As good ideas go I think this ranks right up there with FATAL and Synnibar.  There are some fallacies in the argument for this idea.  The first is that there is a certain value of magic items that the characters must possess to be able to go up against monsters of similiar challenge level.  In some cases this is true, but in most cases, the monster bleeds, shatters, dies, or whatever when steel and magic from spells hit it.  Please explain to me how a +4 keen rapier of speed is formulaic?   By definintion of the magic items section this thing is a very very special weapon, and if someone could go "get one forged" the problem is not the rules but rather the DM.   Anythying over +5 is supposed to be treated like an artifact.  Part of the balancing of magic items is that they can be taken away, destroyed, lost, and forgotten.  A Mega Feat cannot.   So such a thing, to be balanced would have to retard your level progression.  Also, it disrupts the very idea of level progression.  Why not just make the power a part of a prestige class and move it up a notch to a more appropriate slot and say "at x level character gets x mega feat."?    What is the difference between having the option to pay 5000xp to aquire the Mega Feat "Squash Enemy Like a Bug" at 4th level and just getting it a 5th? Thats the point of the magic item.   They are there (in stories and myth and legend) to beg the question "Is it the hero or is it his machine?"  You will notice when a hero in a story uses a machine (or device or weapon) to achieve his goal the item that allowed him that achievement is ussually eventually separated from him, or takes a big step into the background.  This is done to preserve the hero as a hero.  If the hero is not removed from the device, then he becomes a villan, for the hero is a slave to the tool and by definition that is not a hero.  He is no longer "ex pyrosis."  We see this with Gollum, Aragorn, Sauron, Elric, Beowulf, Ulysses, and Plato's Gyges. This idea combines the hero with his tool and smacks of the transhuman philosophy:  That it is better to be one with the tool than to maintain the ability to separate from it.  The magic item should not be seen as an enhancement to the character.  It never was, never is and should never be. The idea that certain enemies can only be defeated by certain powers of magic weapon is a trait of the quest.  The characters find out that thier foe is unbeatable except by one kind of weapon and then quest to find that weapon.  I think what we all  need to do is to reevaluate how items are used in our games pretty regularly.   Ask youself these questions:Do magic items ever leave the possession of the characters?Do magic Items ever leave the character's possession against the character's will?Has a magic item ever been destroyed in your game?Do the players speak of magic items like tools for a job rather than feats or abilities?Are potions, charged items and scrolls used often by your group?Can the players often beat tough challenges without magic items?If you answer no to most of these, then I would say you have a problem with magic item use in your group.Now, dont get me wrong, the idea that Apok has come up with does have merit.  Paying xp for abilities, whenit does not corrupt the advancement system is a cool idea.  I would say that if you were to use this system, scrap the levels, cause that is the only way it makes sense, at least to me.   What I think is a bad idea is dropping magic items in favor of this system.  It essentially trying to fix the problem betweeen the wheel and the seat by looking at the motor.</blockquote>

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