Magic Item Compendium

[Victim]

There's a fascinating assumption with the item levels that I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet:

The MIC assumes that no one item a character has will be worth more than 1/8 of the character's wealth for a particular level, and recommends against going much higher for the most part. (I know, for example, there are some ENWorlders that use 1/2...) Interesting.

Well yeah. Multiple small items are usually far more effective than a few big ones. If you shell out for the more expensive items, it's usually only going to be more problematic for you, with a few exceptions - like a ring of blinking for rogues, since it enables their other abilities. All of the pretty effective, cheap items for every slot creates additional incentives to spread the money out.

 

[blargney the second]

like a ring of blinking for rogues

For just a second, I thought it said a bling of rinking.

 

[SteveC]

I just wanted to take a miniute to give kudos to WotC for this book. It is absolutely full of great ideas, from the magic item sets, to crystals and rune staves. The thing that I like the most, however, is the magic item levels rules, which do something that I've been hoping to see for a very long time: make the process of statting up high level characters (either PCs or NPCs) a lot easier.

This year I've picked up two WotC books, this one and Dungeonscape, and both have been excellent. I hope that there's something to be learned from this and we see more books at this level of creativity and content. This book really gets a "bravo" from me, which is something I haven't been able to really say all that often in the last year.

Good stuff all around!

--Steve

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I just got mine today, and one thing that stands out is that the maiming property is completely different from the similarly-named property from the Miniatures Handbook.

MIC -- extra damage on a critical
MH -- random critical modifier

I prefer the MH version.

I always found that a smidge overpowered for a +1 effect. Maybe it's just me, but having a 50% chance of getting one or two extra attacks' worth of damage on a longsword hit seems like it should be more than a +1. (Edit) Even with the 25% chance of rolling a one, and just dealing regular weapon damage, that's still not enough of a downside.

I mean, heck, our powergamer DM used it on everything when he was playing.

Brad

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I think it was just this book though, since I haven't heard of this problem previously. It wasn't just Amazon though, my local borders is 4 minutes from home, the LGS is 45 minutes. I get a coupon for borders (20-30% off) vs retail at LGS. Borders had it a week earlier...

I'd seen it at Books A Million down near Charlotte at about the same time mine was being shipped from Amazon. I thumbed thru their copy and then thru mine when it showed up.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Got this a couple of days ago -- pretty cool. Lots of great items.

I especially like the random treasure tables at the back. They are really user friendly.

 

[3catcircus]

Two Questions...

Did they provide clarification/guidance/updated rules for magic item creation so things are less nebulous?

Did they make magic items better than they should be (i.e. errata'ed something to give better benefits than before, or give the same benefits for a lesser price than before)?

 

[Nightfall]

3,

Well I can honestly say with regards to the relics from Complete Divine, they dropped the prices down considerably.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Did they make magic items better than they should be (i.e. errata'ed something to give better benefits than before, or give the same benefits for a lesser price than before)?

Mostly it seems like they powered something down and made it significantly cheaper. Many devices and items were altered into something like, usable 3 times per day but a swift action to activate. Read the Design Notebook articles on WotC's site to understand the philosophy behind the choices.

I guess the design choices came down to comparing an item with a selection of no-brainer items that every PCs seems to insist on. Comparing on price point and comparing on using the same body slot.

 

[Nightfall]

This is why I felt the stuff in Advanced Game Master's guide was better, for magic items anyway. The soverign materials, levin, etc, was pretty good at being good for DMs AND good for players.