D&D 5E +# magic items so much fun!

[Tony Vargas]

So, instead of a unique line of meaningless flavor text for each item, you have a few lines of meaningless flavor text in a table for all items to use communally? I fail to see the awesome.

 

[pemerton]

There's an Orc with a +1 shield in the Caves of Chaos, and I rolled and it turned out to be a Drow shield, so I narrated it as being made of dark metal and having a spider symbol. Suddenly, there was a bit of intrigue and mystery--are there Drow in the caves?

Are there? Or is the random just creating a red herring?

I'm not sure I fully get the connection between rolls on the random item history table, and gameworld development. Is it mere colour - which presumably any player who downloads the playtest documents will quickly work out for him-/herself - or is it meant to be part of the scenario design process?

 

[Grimmjow]

So, instead of a unique line of meaningless flavor text for each item, you have a few lines of meaningless flavor text in a table for all items to use communally? I fail to see the awesome.

seeing as how its designed for basic +1/+2/+3 ext magic items to make them a little funner then "You find a little more of powerful sword". Now you get "The sword you find is made out of dark iron. There are runes covering the surface of of the weapon but they make no sense". The player takes it anyway. Now he has a slightly better sword that doesn't let him sleep at night

 

[pemerton]

Now he has a slightly better sword that doesn't let him sleep at night

How does that interact with the healing rules?

 

[GameDoc]

"Legends often speak of Balduran's Butter Knife. The hero would allow no other utensil to touch his condiments. It is believed that his mother gave the ornate butter knife to him as an eighteenth birthday gift."

I never figured out that this item had any real powers, but it was my favorite item from Baldur's Gate, just from the flavor text.

Random traits of items are grist for the storytelling mill. As mentioned above, it might be a plot hook. Displaying the item in public might influence how NPCs react. If you have an evil looking demon-forged axe, maybe it can occasionally give you advantage to intimidate checks if you roleplay it right. Not as a magical power, but just because it's scary looking and puts common folk ill at ease.

I took the table as just another option a DM could go with if it fits into the style of his or her campaign or gaming group. I think it's just there if you want it and can make use of it.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

Would it be even cooler if, as a very minor effect, the bow could fire flaming arrows? No extra damage by default, but a potentially interesting exploration tool.

And for the Drow shield mentioned, again as a very minor effect, it gave you advantage to save against blinding light? A bit more combat-based, but the flavour would be that it reflects no light, which is also potentially useful in exploration play.

 

[pemerton]

[MENTION=882]Chris_Nightwing[/MENTION], the sort of stuff you mention in your post is where I would like to see some of those effects go. Less mere colour, and more stuff that engages meaningfully with the action resolution mechanics.

There are practical issues about not making things too fiddly (I'm looking especially at some elements of 4e - some item, feat and paragon path bonuses), but those could be dealt with via careful design and a bit of playtesting.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

[MENTION=882]Chris_Nightwing[/MENTION], the sort of stuff you mention in your post is where I would like to see some of those effects go. Less mere colour, and more stuff that engages meaningfully with the action resolution mechanics.

There are practical issues about not making things too fiddly (I'm looking especially at some elements of 4e - some item, feat and paragon path bonuses), but those could be dealt with via careful design and a bit of playtesting.

Yes - when I was thinking up ideas for those two items, I ummed and ahhed for the Drow shield, trying to avoid the powerful and the fiddly. It's tricky. The bow was easy though - it does extra damage already, make it optional fire damage and be able to set things (not creatures) on fire.

Whenever you come up with these effects, and make a codified list, there's that danger that someone finds an exploitable combination, or something becomes essential against a certain enemy to render them useless. Randomly assigning them might help there, if the DM can justify the story behind the item ending up where it did.

 

[I'm A Banana]

You could also have that before without having to roll on some table

RELEVANT (and a blatant self-promotion! )

Constraints yield creativity. Rules (in general) are desirable.

Whether or not this specific rule is desirable for you is up to you, and it doesn't hurt anything if you don't use it, since no one is forcing you to.

 

[Grimmjow]

Whether or not this specific rule is desirable for you is up to you, and it doesn't hurt anything if you don't use it, since no one is forcing you to.

exactly optional rules are there for people who want to use them and dont hurt the games of people who dont. And doesn't it say optional right next to it?