D&D 5E Magic Items in 5e... Lackluster?

[keterys]

I was quite happy that breastplate was +1 on my character who got it; otherwise it would have been lower AC than the splint mail I was wearing As it was, it meant I no longer had disadvantage on stealth checks and got advantage on dragon breath attacks. Which felt like a reasonable thing for a cool magic item to do.

That said, I'm all for having some limits to AC. Overly defensive characters have been a problem enough in the past. It's not like he won't get that +1 soon enough. Splint is just better AC than a Breastplate; kinda like finding magic heavy armor that isn't plate armor. It's just playing catchup.

 

[Nebulous]

I was quite happy that breastplate was +1 on my character who got it; otherwise it would have been lower AC than the splint mail I was wearing As it was, it meant I no longer had disadvantage on stealth checks and got advantage on dragon breath attacks. Which felt like a reasonable thing for a cool magic item to do.

That said, I'm all for having some limits to AC. Overly defensive characters have been a problem enough in the past. It's not like he won't get that +1 soon enough. Splint is just better AC than a Breastplate; kinda like finding magic heavy armor that isn't plate armor. It's just playing catchup.

It certainly wouldn't have broken anything to give him the +1, but I wanted more control of when and where he got it. He's already a tank, and pretty tough, definitely the front line man.

 

[Schmoe]

I felt like magic items in 3E had started to become rather formulaic, and what was actually wondrous usually lost in competition with the vanilla '+' items. I skipped 4E so can't comment, but the 5E DMG has rekindled some of that excitement I had when I was just a young lad reading about my very first Flametongue. I mean, it's a magical sword, and it's freaking ON FIRE!

 

[Magistus71]

I hated in 3.X, every couple of levels I had to ditch my weapon and get a new more powerful one. I like that I could conceivably have the same weapons for the my PC entire life.

 

[Magistus71]

In the campaign I am currently playing in, my rogue found a Shortsword of Accuracy, which in game terms means it is a magical +1 to hit, but does not have a +1 on the damage.

 

[Li Shenron]

The +1 is not there in all magic weapons though.

Flipping to the page on swords I see that the Sword of Life Stealing, Sharpness and Wounding are all "'+0" swords.

The Sword of Answering is a +3 and is legendary.

The Sword of Vengeance is a +1 but is also cursed.

That seems like a pretty good ratio of weapons with just special abilities and ones with bonuses.

IIRC in the latest playtest packets nearly all magic weapons had a +, it's hard to believe the PHB changed this...

OTOH only a minority of magic armors had +s, although there were generally few armors altogether.

 

[Li Shenron]

I tend to use the magic items listed as a foundation to build items from.

Definitely. I am most likely going to use published items only as a starting point. My favourite kind of magic items is the one that:

- has a story
- has secrets to discover
- has multiple properties
- might have some penalties
- works differently depending on the circumstances
- develops over time

If the DMG includes all those tables that were in the playtest, then there is a already a lot to help me create these kind of magic items. The ready-to-use ones would be just the place to start to build upon (after removing the +1).

Yeah, cause not getting hit an extra time one encounter in 5 is game breaking.

Well since 5% is indeed not at all gamebreaking, it could be as well a -1 to all magic weapons which bestow other bonuses, as in "magic always comes with a price".

 

[abirdcall]

IIRC in the latest playtest packets nearly all magic weapons had a +, it's hard to believe the PHB changed this...

Well, the DMG certainly changed it.

There are 27 regular named magic weapons in the DMG, 2 cursed and 11 Staffs.

2 Cursed weapons have a bonus

13 Regular ones do
14 Do not

5 Staffs do
6 Staffs do not

In total 20 named weapons have a bonus and 20 do not.

There are 15 special armours and 3 cursed ones.

5 have a bonus
10 do not

Of the cursed ones 1 has a bonus and the other 2 do not.

In total 6 named armours have a bonus and 12 do not.

 

[KarinsDad]

I hated in 3.X, every couple of levels I had to ditch my weapon and get a new more powerful one. I like that I could conceivably have the same weapons for the my PC entire life.

This is a cool aspect of 5E.

 

[Pickles JG]

I would have wanted WotC designers to do it because it would have been a useful message, instead now we still get a lot of people assuming that because the +1 is still there in all magic weapon then it must mean that all magic weapons need it, when it is in fact the contrary.

That, and not including a +1 (or +X) to magic weapons actually makes +1 weapons more desirable/useful. If every magic weapon comes with a +1 minimum, then finding a +1 weapon with no additional property is kind of sad: you just know that it will become junk as soon as you find a similar weapon with a special property, because it will also have the same +1.

Remove the +1 from every magic weapon that has other properties, and there's a tactical reason to keep that +1 weapon around forever.

Do they> Flame tongue, Frost brand & others do not mention any plusses.

edit: super ninjaed