D&D 4E Magics Items in 4E

[Votan]

I agree. I'm hoping that the amount of monetary treasure dispensed in 4E is drastically reduced, so that you don't have 5th level characters popping out to the 24/7 magic shoppe on a Saturday night for a sixpack of cure light wounds potions.

Yeah, the way that 3.X made magic items into an easily manufactured good was not pleasant. previous editions had the rare ingredient dodge that I think helped a lot. It made items hard to get and it made people focus on finding items rather than designing/optimizing item combinations.

 

[Green Knight]

What I'd like to see is a system in which even the most powerful characters have about half-a-dozen magic items AT MOST. The legacy items they came out with are a pretty good dea. IMO, every magic item should be a legacy item. I'd rather see characters get magic items which become more powerful as they level, rather then having a +1 sword which they trade in for the first +2 sword they find, which they trade in for the first +2 Flaming sword they find, etc. I'd like to see players find a magic sword at 3rd level, and give them a reason to still be wielding that same sword throughout their careers, even when they reach 30th level. That, IMO, would be a successful implementation of magic items. If a 30th-level PC is using the exact same gear that he used at 8th-level, and doesn't feel gimped for doing so.

 

[hong]

What I'd like to see is a system in which even the most powerful characters have about half-a-dozen magic items AT MOST. The legacy items they came out with are a pretty good dea. IMO, every magic item should be a legacy item. I'd rather see characters get magic items which become more powerful as they level, rather then having a +1 sword which they trade in for the first +2 sword they find, which they trade in for the first +2 Flaming sword they find, etc. I'd like to see players find a magic sword at 3rd level, and give them a reason to still be wielding that same sword throughout their careers, even when they reach 30th level. That, IMO, would be a successful implementation of magic items. If a 30th-level PC is using the exact same gear that he used at 8th-level, and doesn't feel gimped for doing so.

Mind you, if you only ever use one magic sword, that does create the problem of what to do with all the other magic swords you find over the course of advancing from 8th to 30th level.

Hmm... maybe your sword must consume other swords to become more powerful....

 

[Hairfoot]

Hmm... maybe your sword must consume other swords to become more powerful....

Yes. Xorns are the mystery core race.

 

[Green Knight]

Mind you, if you only ever use one magic sword, that does create the problem of what to do with all the other magic swords you find over the course of advancing from 8th to 30th level.

Hmm... maybe your sword must consume other swords to become more powerful....

Or maybe you don't find other magic swords? There's no need to find new magic swords if the one you have is good enough. That'd certainly eliminate the need to pepper every dungeon, cavern, and grotto with half-a-dozen magical weapons. Eliminate PC's tripping over magic items every time they step foot outside of town, and you eliminate the need for other things like magic stores for PC's to sell their two-dozen magic swords at. Make it so that if a PC wants a magic belt, he doesn't go to MagicMart and pick up the latest +4 Belt of Uber Killyness. Instead, he finds a wizard capable of making the enchanted item he wants. He gathers the materials necessary for the wizard to cast the enchantments. He collects the money to pay the wizard for the work. He waits til the work is done. And best of all? All that work the PC went through to get his magic item made doesn't go to waste once he finds a better version of that item, as he won't be finding a better version in some random dungeon, and the item he had made will improve as he levels. And wizards won't be reduced to magical item factories, churning out a hundred +1 swords per day which are then randomly distributed to dungeons all across the countryside.

 

[chitzk0i]

Mind you, if you only ever use one magic sword, that does create the problem of what to do with all the other magic swords you find over the course of advancing from 8th to 30th level.

Hmm... maybe your sword must consume other swords to become more powerful....

Did you play Two Worlds? Mediocre video game, but it had an interesting idea. Your character had a mysterious, unexplained ability to mash two items of the same name together into a stronger version.

 

[AllisterH]

Personally, I think you're all looking at it in the wrong way which I find frustrating.

Unless you focus on what magic can do, you're setting up the non-magic users to fail.
Take a 15th level wizard in any edition and strip him of his magic items and his capabilities while NOT as effective, still are useable.

He can still cast 7th level magic, he can still affect monsters and he is still a viable character. The only major difference is that he has to use more of his personal power. He has to use more spells AND it takes longer to be prepared for battle but still, that 15th level wizard/cleric can at least take on 12-13th level challenges.

Anyone want to play a no magic item rogue or fighter?

What 3.x highlighted is that magic in D&D has been too easy. In previous editions, we as players rarely got past name level and thus we never saw the problem (take for example magic items a follower at 7th level was supposed to have) but 3.x allowed us to play at those levels without TSR/WOTC changing how spells work.

 

[Mallus]

... must consume other swords to become more powerful....

It's the gay porn version of Highlander!

 

[Dross]

What I'd like to see is a system in which even the most powerful characters have about half-a-dozen magic items AT MOST. The legacy items they came out with are a pretty good dea. IMO, every magic item should be a legacy item. I'd rather see characters get magic items which become more powerful as they level, rather then having a +1 sword which they trade in for the first +2 sword they find, which they trade in for the first +2 Flaming sword they find, etc. I'd like to see players find a magic sword at 3rd level, and give them a reason to still be wielding that same sword throughout their careers, even when they reach 30th level. That, IMO, would be a successful implementation of magic items. If a 30th-level PC is using the exact same gear that he used at 8th-level, and doesn't feel gimped for doing so.

I think that some of the 24/7 shopping came about because of the expectation that PCs would have a certain amount of magical items to "meet" the challanges they were going to face. A shop eliminates the need for a DM to provide an item specifically usable by a PC.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Personally, I think you're all looking at it in the wrong way which I find frustrating.

Unless you focus on what magic can do, you're setting up the non-magic users to fail.
Take a 15th level wizard in any edition and strip him of his magic items and his capabilities while NOT as effective, still are useable.

He can still cast 7th level magic, he can still affect monsters and he is still a viable character. The only major difference is that he has to use more of his personal power. He has to use more spells AND it takes longer to be prepared for battle but still, that 15th level wizard/cleric can at least take on 12-13th level challenges.

Anyone want to play a no magic item rogue or fighter?

I'm with you. Luckily, so are the designers.

The whole point of Martial "powers" and giving Wizards and Warlocks and "eldritch blast" which is similarly as effective as a normal melee attack, and making +6 Wands to match +6 Swords, is to make Martial characters and Arcane character equally effective at any given arbitrarily decided amount of magical item equippage.

The theory is that a Fighter and Wizard of the same level will be equally effective, whether they both have 100 gp of equipment or 10,00,000 gp of equipment. (not that you can buy and sell magical items in 4E as easily, from what I hear, but you know what I mean) And the cool thing is, that's supposed to be true at both 1st level (when Fighters had the out-right advantage in every previous edition) and at 20th level (when it was the opposite).

Whether they'll actually achieve such nirvannic character balance remains to be seen, but everything I've heard to date suggests this is what they're aiming for.


...

As for the OP's point, I want 4E to fix items too, but I'm not sure 100% how.

On the one hand, I do NOT like how 3E handles things. I want it waaaaay scaled back. I want magical items to evoke that sense of wonder again, and not be Yet Another Magic Sword. For that to happen, they need to be rare.

But the system has to support that. Monsters have to be tough and worthy opponents without magical equipment. Monsters have to be vulnerable to attack without the PC's needing the sword golf bag. There has to be a way to make magical items, but it can't be too easy. It can not be in any way connected to gold piece wealth, since divesting material wealth from character effectiveness is one of my key requirements for a good RPG.

It's a hard balance to strike, and I do not envy the designers their job on this one.