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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kraydak" data-source="post: 3895848" data-attributes="member: 12306">From a game design point of view, there is a difference.  A magic item list has small granularity.  It provides a very broad range of effects.  It is broadly applicable across classes.  It can be transfered to make up for perceived power differentials in a party.  It can be used *fast*, as needed (oh look, we want to go underwater... time to buy underwater items), rather than abilities bought at level up.  It provides its own, very plausible, rebuilding mechanics.  Could you do it with character abilities?  Yes.  Would it be hard, and would it remove the very real joy of killing people and taking their stuff?  Yes.Most societies track inheritance of goods (or, sometimes, believe that people get to take their stuff into the afterlife if its buried with them...).  In which case looting the dead becomes stealing (at least friendly dead).  At which point the in-game advantage of not looting (friendly) corpses is legal.  Of course, high level PCs tend to be able to thumb their noses at legal issues...You read different literature than I do.  Lots of fantasy is filled with weak people who use magic items more powerful than they (and either get the beat down from more rounded people, or eventually grow into their own).If Covenant Items scale with time, then you just removed the joy of looting.  If Covenant Items scale with level, you still removed the joy of looting, because PCs can buy powerful items cheaply off lowbies (or take them, if the silly lowbies don't cooperate).  Remember that carrying around more loot than you can protect is very, very dangerous.</blockquote>

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