Magic items are finally rare !

[Phasics]

Putting a number to it I would only want magic items at any one time to increase the effectiveness of any character by max 10-20%, enough to notice but not enough to make it essential, or with balancing pentalies. +1 dmg -1 attk is the most basic example I can think of. Effectively Power Attack for free.

Alternatively give certain items feats. e.g. Armor of Bull Rush or a Axe of Great Cleaving.

 

[Lanefan]

I disagree with both of you.

PCs should be able to make magical items. What arbitrary rule says "That NPC wizard in town can make magical items, but you can't because you're a PC wizard"?

The NPC wizard in town can stay there and spend the year it takes to make a decent item. The PC wizard pretty much has to put her career on hold to do so. *That* is the rationale.

If the player wants to do it, let them do it, or give them story reasons why they can't "Well, sure you can make that magical ring, but the fair princess will surely be eaten by that troll before you finish".

As for labor of a lifetime, that's pretty harsh. Basically you're saying "sure, you can make a +1 sword, but you must give up being an adventurer and devote the rest of your life to your labor."

Decide: is your profession field-adventurer or stay-at-home-enchanter. It's the same as deciding whether your profession is field-adventurer or farmer, or field-adventurer or sage...in all cases the PCs are assumed to have decided on field-adventurer.

So, if there's a specific item you want made, pay the stay-at-home enchanter to make it and come back in a year to pick it up.

As for me, I'm always for any rule system that allows PCs total freedom to do what they want, certainly to do what other NPCs can do, and doesn't punish them for wanting to do that.

So make item creation harder for everyone...take it out of the realm of things PCs want to do and-or that most players are willing to role-play, and make artificer just like any other NPC profession. Heck, a PC could be an artificer as well, but has decided to adventure *instead*.

Why even create rules for doing something, and print them in the books, and waste space in those books that could have contained useful rules, if the rules you're creating are there only to discourage PCs from ever trying to use them?

Because if there were no rules at all for item creation there'd be complaints from here to eternity; see 1e for an example. Better to have a system in place that in effect says "here's how it works; if you want to do it, fine, but it isn't very heroic and will grind the game to a halt so best advice to PCs is 'don't do it'", and go from there.

Lanefan

 

[S'mon]

For me, D&D is about going into dungeons, killing monsters, and *finding* magic items. This quest is one of the game's primary drivers, along with XP/levelling. The easy item purchase & item creation rules of 3e were very harmful to this IMO. Furthermore I disagree with the assumption that magic swords, armour etc are churned out by spellcasters; I much prefer a setting where the magic sword is made by a master swordsmith, the magic shield gains its power from the hero who carried it, etc.

 

[Baby Samurai]

Well I know they are removing the big 6 – cloak of resistance, ring of deflection, amulet of natural armour, +X ability enhancers (headband of Int etc), damn, what are the other 2?

 

[Ragnar69]

Well I know they are removing the big 6 – cloak of resistance, ring of deflection, amulet of natural armour, +X ability enhancers (headband of Int etc), damn, what are the other 2?

+X arms and armor?

 

[Baby Samurai]

+X arms and armor?

I don't thinks so, as we now have +6 wands.

 

[BryonD]

There's a quote in Sword & Sorcery's Relics & Rituals: Excalibur which sums up the problem I have with the way they handled magic items in 3e. Since I can't paraphrase it and do it justice, I'll just quote it instead:

Trying to restrict all D&D games to a Kng Arthur model would be a vast mistake.
D&D is its own thing. One of the great things about D&D is that you and I can each refine it into the feel that we want. It would be a real shame to pick one appraoch and try to force everyone into it. It would also be a doomed effort.

 

[Gargoyle]

The quote about player characters not being Christmas trees, but yet being sort of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree makes me think that fewer slots and fewer unslotted items, and fewer items that give simple bonuses are going to be the most significant changes.

The specialization of the classes on specific weapons in the case of fighters (or implements in the case of wizards) hints at weapons of legacy type rules where you can upgrade your magical items rather than selling them and picking up new ones.

The inclusion of lots of at will and per encounter class abilities seems to eliminate the need for so many consumables such as wands (as spell batteries) and potions.

I really look forward to the magic item changes and hope that they make for the possibility of a low magic campaign at higher levels, while still allowing for worlds where every fighter does indeed have a magic sword.

 

[Doug McCrae]

The problem is that D&D's wealth system is basically tacking on a "point buy" system for character power to a game that's supposed to be level-based.

Except the wealth-by-level guidelines tie the amount of gold you get to your level. Just like the number of skill points and feats you have is tied to your level.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Except the wealth-by-level guidelines tie the amount of gold you get to your level. Just like the number of skill points and feats you have is tied to your level.

But the wealth by level system is used as a "fix" for this. In order to not screw game balance, DMs have to ensure not handing out enough or to little treasure, and the guidelines (and random treasure tables) ensure this.

Unlike skill ranks or number of feats, no mechanic explicitely ties your wealth to your level. There is no rule saying "a character of level n gains x gold pieces upon advancing to level n+1. These gold pieces must be spent immediately to enhance magic items or buy new magical item, or buy material components for spells."