D&D 5E (2024) Martial Magic Items Thoughts?

[Zardnaar]

well, and the other half the reason they were claiming they 'weren't essential' other than it being outright false was that they were assuming hard that martials would all have their casters enabling them with the Magic Weapon spell, so they wouldn't need an actual magic weapon.

Haven't seen them claim that.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Online IRL it seems people hand out more than ENworld assumes.

WotC product is full of them.

Theres no assumptions for specific bonuses though.

I'm kinda old school in assigning them

You know I have always wonderd why so many monsters were only immune to non magical weapons. Well past the level that I thought that all martial classes would have them.

 

[Zardnaar]

You know I have always wonderd why so many monsters were only immune to non magical weapons. Well past the level that I thought that all martial classes would have them.

They also tended to be squishy.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Haven't seen them claim that.

i thought it was fairly common knowledge that had come out in an interview or something? i know it's been mentioned in discussions on here a good few times

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Online IRL it seems people hand out more than ENworld assumes.

WotC product is full of them.

Theres no assumptions for specific bonuses though.

I'm kinda old school in assigning them.

Only one 5e GM I've worked with came from ENWorld. The one I currently have, who has never been stingy with magic items (quite the opposite, he loves giving out quirky ones and seeing what we do with them.)

My experience still remains that, with 5.0 GMs, stingy-with-magic-items vastly outweighs any other stance.

 

[Zardnaar]

Only one 5e GM I've worked with came from ENWorld. The one I currently have, who has never been stingy with magic items (quite the opposite, he loves giving out quirky ones and seeing what we do with them.)

My experience still remains that, with 5.0 GMs, stingy-with-magic-items vastly outweighs any other stance.

Not just ENworld more online for pointless nitpicky arguments.

WotC adventures are loaded with them. Beyond that its DM dependent. Thats also a 5E thing as cash for items and assumed gp, bonuses etc from 3E and 4E were widely disliked.

Theres no baked in math for them which was what wotc claimed long ago.

4E you got a +1 item ACs went up by 1. Slight exaggeration but thats what they mean.
You generally dont get specific items or have guaranteed ones (except artificer).

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Not just ENworld more online for pointless nitpicky arguments.

WotC adventures are loaded with them. Beyond that its DM dependent. Thats also a 5E thing as cash for items and assumed gp, bonuses etc from 3E and 4E were widely disliked.

On forums. I've never once seen actual evidence that it was a broader issue.

If you're going to say "oh that's just forums" or "oh that's just online" for 5e criticisms, the exact same response applies to these others.

Theres no baked in math for them which was what wotc claimed long ago.

Except there is. That's literally my argument. The math is still baked in. Martials suck if they don't get good items. Do they suck less than they would have in 3e? Yes. That doesn't mean they don't still suck without that support.

4E you got a +1 item ACs went up by 1. Slight exaggeration but thats what they mean.

I mean, it's a total exaggeration, but whatever, I'm not interested in taking the bait here.

You generally dont get specific items or have guaranteed ones (except artificer).

Yes. I know.

And yet 5e is still designed with players needing to have magic items.

I literally had this affect me, personally, in the session I played this week. The damage dealt by the dragon-spirit summoned by summon dragon? Yeah, it's not magic damage. It's just mundane piercing. Which means that that dragon was nearly goddamn useless against the enemy we were fighting, who is immune to slashing and piercing damage from non-magical weapons.

We still won--though it was definitely a close call!--but the point stands. This is literally actually an issue, right now, in the game I'm currently playing. And that's WITH a GM who actively tries to give us quirky and cool items to play around with.

I don't even want to imagine what it would be like if I had to labor under the--according to every piece of evidence I've ever seen, extremely common--GM who sees giving players permanent magic items as the second worst thing they could ever do.

 

[Silam]

Not all adventures are replete with magic weapons…

For example, if you look at this excellent archivist work of compiling all magic items from Dungeon of the Mad Mage (a levels 5-20 adventure), you’ll see very few weapons. Most of the weapons are longswords, which is fine if you use that, and disappointing if you don’t… there are a few others, but with a strong emphasis on "few". Armors and shields are similarly infrequent. Moreover, whatever weapons and armors are present drop fairly late (assuming players go down the levels in sequential order, which they probably should, even though portals could take them much deeper in a jiffy!)…

The quest has a fair amount of items overall, though many of them are not that strong (except towards the end…). Also, this list does not include the fairly generous amount of spellbooks that can be gotten in many parts of the adventure. This is nice for Wizards as spellbooks are not that frequent as loot (in other adventures)…

Overall, if the DM does not allow crafting, purchasing or exchanging magic items, I could see DotMM being a bit difficult (though I haven’t played it myself, so can’t tell for sure).

 

[Zardnaar]

On forums. I've never once seen actual evidence that it was a broader issue.

If you're going to say "oh that's just forums" or "oh that's just online" for 5e criticisms, the exact same response applies to these others.


Except there is. That's literally my argument. The math is still baked in. Martials suck if they don't get good items. Do they suck less than they would have in 3e? Yes. That doesn't mean they don't still suck without that support.


I mean, it's a total exaggeration, but whatever, I'm not interested in taking the bait here.


Yes. I know.

And yet 5e is still designed with players needing to have magic items.

I literally had this affect me, personally, in the session I played this week. The damage dealt by the dragon-spirit summoned by summon dragon? Yeah, it's not magic damage. It's just mundane piercing. Which means that that dragon was nearly goddamn useless against the enemy we were fighting, who is immune to slashing and piercing damage from non-magical weapons.

We still won--though it was definitely a close call!--but the point stands. This is literally actually an issue, right now, in the game I'm currently playing. And that's WITH a GM who actively tries to give us quirky and cool items to play around with.

I don't even want to imagine what it would be like if I had to labor under the--according to every piece of evidence I've ever seen, extremely common--GM who sees giving players permanent magic items as the second worst thing they could ever do.

Summon Dragons kind of mediocre anyway Even when it works.

Top tip dont use summon spells as a general rule. Warlocks an exception. Undead and Aberrations are better.

 

[Zardnaar]

Not all adventures are replete with magic weapons…

For example, if you look at this excellent archivist work of compiling all magic items from Dungeon of the Mad Mage (a levels 5-20 adventure), you’ll see very few weapons. Most of the weapons are longswords, which is fine if you use that, and disappointing if you don’t… there are a few others, but with a strong emphasis on "few". Armors and shields are similarly infrequent. Moreover, whatever weapons and armors are present drop fairly late (assuming players go down the levels in sequential order, which they probably should, even though portals could take them much deeper in a jiffy!)…

The quest has a fair amount of items overall, though many of them are not that strong (except towards the end…). Also, this list does not include the fairly generous amount of spellbooks that can be gotten in many parts of the adventure. This is nice for Wizards as spellbooks are not that frequent as loot (in other adventures)…

Overall, if the DM does not allow crafting, purchasing or exchanging magic items, I could see DotMM being a bit difficult (though I haven’t played it myself, so can’t tell for sure).

This is what I call the one handed weapon advantage.

Interwebs do a lot of white room theory crafting.

In reality official adventures have a tendency for one handed weapons so dual wielding and great weapon are weaker than people think.

Otherwise DM dependent.