Magic Item Compendium: The Diablo II gems have made their way to D&D!

[ShinHakkaider]

If you can't change the rules, that's your own fault. Stop complaining about every little thing.

Blasphemy!!! Hasnt anyone told you complaining is what people do on the Internerd?

I actually agree that the costs are too low, but having come equipped with both patience, common sense and the ability to simple CHANGE things when they don't sit right with me in my game, I don't see any of the percieved issues as problems at all. This book wasnt on my radar before but it sure as heck is now.

 

[Clavis]

So much for the people who argue that 3.x edition isn't just a video game played at a table.

The thought of these crystals makes me nauseous. Once again we have an example of how 3.x magic has had all the wonder and mystery drained out of it. The very thought that a character would "trade-up" or "swap-out" something so precious as an enchanted item is contrary to the point of having something be "magical" to begin with. But what can I expect from designers who think that magic items ought to be for sale like loaves of bread.

 

[Zaukrie]

Um, in the games I played in 1E and 2E, if we found a more powerfule magical weapon, we practically threw away the +1 weapons we had. Trading out magical weapons for more powerful ones has nothing to do with 3E or 3.5E or 4E or any other edition, it is part and parcel to levelling up in most games.

How are magical gems any less "magical"?

Now, the overpowered thing, do people actually stick to the gp values of all the magic items in the DMG? I'd think most people don't, but that could just be my experience. Power creep? Maybe, but I guess that depends on the challenges you give your characters. Nothing here looks any more or less broken than that which already exists - it is how you implement in your game that really matters.

 

[Kestrel]

Great idea...

Two sessions ago I gave two items that eerily remind me of these crystals...they were one shot enhancement items for weapons, course these were permanent enchantments.

Stone of Sharpening: Adds Keen enchantment to +1 weapon
Blood of the Wraith: Adds Ghost Touch enchantment to +1 weapon
(each cost 6000gp if bought)

I did this becuase the pcs had heirloom items and in general they reject the selling/buying of items. I had to come up with a way to enhance thier current gear without trading it out.

Love the crystals, although I may make them non-interchangable.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Um, in the games I played in 1E and 2E, if we found a more powerfule magical weapon, we practically threw away the +1 weapons we had.

Or passed down to cohorts, so sold for spell components or new armor or for any number of reasons...

How are magical gems any less "magical"?

I was asking myself that same question...

Power creep? Maybe, but I guess that depends on the challenges you give your characters. Nothing here looks any more or less broken than that which already exists - it is how you implement in your game that really matters.

That's pretty much how I see it in a nutshell. Everyone's game is going to be different and a big problem around these parts is the declaration of something being broken without actually playing it. If it's a matter of flavor then I can kind of understand it, but even still just because you don't like gems doesnt mean that the magic can't take the another form and still be effective. Hell in one of my earliest D&D games I thought that I was handing out way too many potions so I changed the descriptor to a bag of magic beans instead of potionn vials. Same amount of doses as a potion except instead of doses it was handfulls. Worked just the same, but it was different.

Bottom line, with a little thought there's something usable in most any idea whether ne or recycled.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Great idea...

Two sessions ago I gave two items that eerily remind me of these crystals...they were one shot enhancement items for weapons, course these were permanent enchantments.

Stone of Sharpening: Adds Keen enchantment to +1 weapon
Blood of the Wraith: Adds Ghost Touch enchantment to +1 weapon
(each cost 6000gp if bought)

I did this becuase the pcs had heirloom items and in general they reject the selling/buying of items. I had to come up with a way to enhance thier current gear without trading it out.

See now THAT's what I'm talking about. Great ideas, simple solutions and effective.

 

[Kestrel]

See now THAT's what I'm talking about. Great ideas, simple solutions and effective.

Glad you liked it

 

[Kurashu]

IIRC, all of the 1E artifact sets had additional bonuses granted when you got both the eye AND hand of Vecna...

Don't forgot Vecna's head either.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey all!

Cool idea, but I see I am not alone in thinking the costs were "balanced" by a certified lunatic.

Surely they must have left out a '0' in every one of those market costs, otherwise the whole things just gone to hell in a handbasket!?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hey all!

Cool idea, but I see I am not alone in thinking the costs were "balanced" by a certified lunatic.

Surely they must have left out a '0' in every one of those market costs, otherwise the whole things just gone to hell in a handbasket!?

The gems don't really get good until you get to the greatest versions of each, IMO. If you're concerned about the balance, just up the number of pluses a weapon or armor has to have to use each tier.