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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 9794604" data-attributes="member: 93670">There is an ocean of difference between a one off scry & fry because it's usedul to the gm or something compared to business as usual. My post accounted for that and at least one other poster has pointed out similar.[spoiler="behind the curtain:body slot affinities"][ATTACH=full]421496[/ATTACH]Meanwhile the 5e dmg practically tells players to decide for themselves what body slot usage is appropriate & provides the GM zero tools or guidance on it.  [/spoiler]The gm didn't need to be adversarial with it by " not handing out body slot fitting items" because it was a well designed set of subsystems & the GM could use giving cool stuff as a power check.  Instead the gm could give problematically underoptimized Alice stuff that fills her needed gaps enough to bring her up to a functionality useful state.  In conjunction with bringing Alice up, the GM could use those same tools to  give problematically hyper optimized Bob gear that does any of the following & maybe does it in a common slot needed for the build(ie head/arms for caster/martial.[Spoiler]<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Helps him with a feat or PrC prereq he wants/would like but can't really swing now or in any reasonable time.  This can literally sidetrack Bob off of his overoptimized role and set him down a path where he might be a little less or differently effective in terms of raw power but is doing something that is ultimately more fun. Bonus points when this could be done with a bonus type that is later erased from relevance at some point in that feat chain/PrC</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Brings up a crippling weakness of his laser focused idiot savant build to a less painful level.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Benefits his build in being directly more powerful but does so in a way that binds them to needing the party rather than simply carrying them.  Bracers of shielding/protection/etc taking up the same slot needed for the more commonly strength/dex boosting items is a great example that doesn't need a hypothetical build or anything</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">More situation specific things</li> </ul>.[/Spoiler]A lot of those depend on talking to Bob and it shows the missing piece of gm support of 5e's dismissive "talk to your players"mantra by being something cool the gm can offer as a result of the talk using gm support structures like magic item churn and body slot/bonus type conflicts. All of those are mechanical hooks and tools that 5e removed or even designed against being bolted on by the gm.Even your mention of wbl as some kind of player facing workaround to overrule these kinds of gm tools was factored into the tools themselves complete with spotlighting on the important reasons to make sure the GM knew</blockquote>

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