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Magic Items, and what it says about the editions
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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6895813" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>Well, each edition has a different take on magic items. I'm not sure each focus intentionally re-inforces a particular style, nor that the influence they have on the metagame is always beneficial, probably the contrary in some cases.</p><p></p><p>It certainly depended on the DM. Using the modules as a touchstone or rolling on random treasure tables would get you a lot of magic weapons and potions, which would tend to help out the non-casting classes, and the 1e DMG did imply that the tables were intentionally weighted that way. But there were the notorious 'Monty Haul' DMs and, less notoriously, stingy ones.</p><p></p><p>That re-enforces the traditional need for a Cleric a lot more than it is re-enforced by the frequency of healing potions on the random treasure tables.</p><p></p><p>That is a limitted overview. Magic weapons were horribly expensive for what they did, and those who used them mostly dependent upon the DM to just place them somewhere. PCs making scrolls and wands and the like were a huge impact, and cheap Wand-based healing pushed 3e towards an encounter-paced style in which PCs could enter most fights at full hps, without their Cleric or Druid (zilla) expending a lot (or even any) spells on healing. </p><p></p><p>It really did, magic items are back to being a DM-driven resources, even a plot resource, as they were in the TSR era, the make/buy and wealth/level started with 3.0 (and continued in 4e). It also went back to items being able to do things PCs couldn't do any other way, and to items making PCs wildly more powerful (or, at least, "just better" as Mike Mearls has put it many times). Maybe not to the extreme of AD&D, but still a significant step back away from 3.5 make/buy rules that reduced magic items to mostly 'just' duplicating things PC casters could do (though of course, casters could do a lot), let alone the 4e made magic items (though an expected part of leveling) a relatively minor part of PC power/development....</p><p></p><p>There are still challenges you can't expect to take on without magic, but PC magic is almost ubiquitous in the form of casting and other class features, with only a handful of sub-classes dependent on magic items to make up the difference. Not only do more PC options include casting, casting is more flexible and less likely to lead to 'wasted' slots filled with a spell that doesn't come up, or used ineffectively. So magic items are far less necessary/more optional than in any other edition you've had experience with, though their pressence/absence will tend to be higher impact than in 4e, where magic items were assumed, but their absence in favor of inherent bonuses wasn't much of a game-changer, because items just weren't that significant a source of PC power. </p><p></p><p>But, aside from that, yes, 5e has less pressure to place magic items, so the DM is free to use them only as his setting or story or other needs of the game suggest. It still, as in 1e, might be a good idea to place an item or few that particularly help the non-casters in your party - that is, if you even have any. </p><p></p><p>Agreed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6895813, member: 996"] Well, each edition has a different take on magic items. I'm not sure each focus intentionally re-inforces a particular style, nor that the influence they have on the metagame is always beneficial, probably the contrary in some cases. It certainly depended on the DM. Using the modules as a touchstone or rolling on random treasure tables would get you a lot of magic weapons and potions, which would tend to help out the non-casting classes, and the 1e DMG did imply that the tables were intentionally weighted that way. But there were the notorious 'Monty Haul' DMs and, less notoriously, stingy ones. That re-enforces the traditional need for a Cleric a lot more than it is re-enforced by the frequency of healing potions on the random treasure tables. That is a limitted overview. Magic weapons were horribly expensive for what they did, and those who used them mostly dependent upon the DM to just place them somewhere. PCs making scrolls and wands and the like were a huge impact, and cheap Wand-based healing pushed 3e towards an encounter-paced style in which PCs could enter most fights at full hps, without their Cleric or Druid (zilla) expending a lot (or even any) spells on healing. It really did, magic items are back to being a DM-driven resources, even a plot resource, as they were in the TSR era, the make/buy and wealth/level started with 3.0 (and continued in 4e). It also went back to items being able to do things PCs couldn't do any other way, and to items making PCs wildly more powerful (or, at least, "just better" as Mike Mearls has put it many times). Maybe not to the extreme of AD&D, but still a significant step back away from 3.5 make/buy rules that reduced magic items to mostly 'just' duplicating things PC casters could do (though of course, casters could do a lot), let alone the 4e made magic items (though an expected part of leveling) a relatively minor part of PC power/development.... There are still challenges you can't expect to take on without magic, but PC magic is almost ubiquitous in the form of casting and other class features, with only a handful of sub-classes dependent on magic items to make up the difference. Not only do more PC options include casting, casting is more flexible and less likely to lead to 'wasted' slots filled with a spell that doesn't come up, or used ineffectively. So magic items are far less necessary/more optional than in any other edition you've had experience with, though their pressence/absence will tend to be higher impact than in 4e, where magic items were assumed, but their absence in favor of inherent bonuses wasn't much of a game-changer, because items just weren't that significant a source of PC power. But, aside from that, yes, 5e has less pressure to place magic items, so the DM is free to use them only as his setting or story or other needs of the game suggest. It still, as in 1e, might be a good idea to place an item or few that particularly help the non-casters in your party - that is, if you even have any. Agreed. [/QUOTE]
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