New article Design and Development Article on Magic Item Slots

[HeinorNY]

I like it.
Xmas tree effect has nothing to do with the amount of magic item or magic items slots, but the necessity of magic items.

Secondary Slots
These items don’t have enhancement bonuses. That makes them essentially optional. You could adventure with no items in your secondary item slots and not see a huge decrease in your overall power. Take what looks cool, but don’t worry about having empty slots.

That's how you decrease the xmas effect. Now DMs can give lots of (secondary) magic items, few, or none, without worrying that the party won't be able to fight the apropriate challenge, or that the non-caster character will fall behind the caster characters (the fact that all classes have powers also helps on that).

They lowered the 'power gap' between the party and the monsters (lowered but not eliminated it), so magic items won't be there entirely to fill it. They will be there to make the character funnier to play too. Also, players won't have always to choose those 'safe' magic items, they will be able to also get some items just because they are cool without worrying about not filling the 'power gap' and being unable to face apropriate challenges.

Good work guys, it's still D&D, thank you.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

Unhappy to see three categories with "pluses", unhappy to see that cloaks and necklaces are conflicting. But I can live with the latter.

And for the former: Well, the +2 weapon is an iconic item, it's a D&D staple. To get rid of it is to lose something very D&Dish, I can understand why it's still there, and hence it causes a ripple effect - if attacks (i.e. weapons and implements) get boosted, the defences have to be boosted as well (i.e. armour and F/R/W saves).

That seems exactly right. I wish they'd gone further though, and gotten rid of all the plusses. Magic swords and armor can still be just as fun to have without plusses. I can deal though, because it's a hundred times better than in 3e.

At the very least, I hope they'll give explicit guidelines for what plusses characters should have at each level, so DMs that don't want to bother with magic items can give characters those bonuses to fix the math problems caused by not having them.

 

[Another Gnome]

Having ring slots only open up as you level just doesn't seem right to me. It messes with my suspension of disbelief in all kinds of ways.

Totally.

And if rings are supposed to be another level of magic items, they could've made them all mini-artifacts that increase with power as the character wearing one does, or something.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Howdy!

because it is a played character, which doesn´t have only appropriate items (some maybe a bit higher, some lower than that)

I thought the '+' was level dependant, that way items would evolve with the character and they wouldn't have to keep upgrading.

For instance you might get a flaming sword at 5th-level (where it will be +1). As you level up the weapon '+' increases and so does its signature power - the flaming ability which could increase automatically when you get to 11th (paragon) and then again at 21st (epic).

 

[Irda Ranger]

Seriously people, this is D&D. Since 1st edition magic items have been a part of the game. D&D wouldn't be D&D without +X Swords and +X Armor.

QFT. I am a Christmas Tree hater, and love my Iron Heroes, but even I wasn't expecting items to go away fully. I can't even imagine the nerd-fury that would descend on WotC if they took magic items out entirely.

But, and this is very important, I think it will be very easy to House Rule away magic items in 4E. Why do I think so? First, let's go to the quote:

We've preserved a number of items that have traditional “plusses.” These are the items we expect everybody to care about, and the ones that are factored into the math behind the game. If you’re 9th level, we expect you to have a set of +2 armor, and the challenges in the game at that level are balanced accordingly...

Weapon/Implement: ... adds to your attack and damage... also set your critical hit dice

Armor: ...adds an enhancement bonus to your Armor Class.

Neck: ... increases your Fortitude, Reflex, and Will defenses ...

So, three pluses are expected: Att/Dmg, AC and Defense. There is an expected plus progression. We don't know what it is yet, but WotC will tell us.

Well then, just build that plus progression into all character builds! Whatever the progression is, just give everyone a +x to Att/Dmg, AC and all Defense once they reach level X. Done. All that's left is the flavor and the "extra stuff" that magical items do. Now all characters are still balanced vs. Monsters of the same level and all items are optional and plus-less.

In fact, this change is so easy I would not be surprised if it was an official "alt Rule" in the DMG or released on DDI.

 

[Jackelope King]

While I wish they went further, on the second read-through, an interesting thought occurred to me:

Now that armor and implement are stated as being slots on a character, it would be very interesting to see feat or talent trees that let you "trade in" these slots for level- or tier-dependent special abilities. In a way of thinking, this is precisely how to build a monk. Take your fighter, spend a talent to give up your armor slot which in return gives you a small bonus to AC and lets you add your Wisdom bonus to AC. And if you want to be an unarmed warrior, trade in that implement slot with another talent and you get monk-y fists of fury. Especially given that certain types of bonuses or abilities are now associated with certain slots, and this actually could be extended to the whole character to create a very interesting way to approach the good ol' Vow of Poverty...

 

[MerricB]

Wow. Some major, major changes there.

Here's the big one: Armour Class.

AC in 3e was insane. Let's count the ways you could improve it with magic items:
* Magic armour (still in)
* Magic shield (out!)
* Amulet of natural armour (out!)
* Ring of deflection (out!... possibly still in for vh level characters, but unlikely)
* Gloves of Dexterity (out!)

...and that's not counting some obscure items. The basic effect of that was to boost AC about 20 points above where it would have been otherwise by level 20. And, if you didn't invest in these items, you were sword fodder.

As far as level-dependent items go... well, yes. No-one blinks at the idea of Wizards needing to be 5th level to cast fireball, so why should magic items be different? Last time I checked, there are plenty of pieces of equipment in the real world that need training to use, so it's not much of a leap (possibly less of one) to include level restrictions for some 4e magic items.

Cheers!

 

[Hella_Tellah]

Additionally, what of Legacy type items? Most of my players would prefer items that grow with them*, not ones that they are "expected" to replace ever few levels.

*grow with them, and NOT make them weaker at the same time!

I do Legacy-type items in my games all the time--it's really easy, and requires no special rules whatsoever. I'll eat my hat if you won't be able to do this in 4e:

When you're planning out the treasure value for an adventure, figure out the cost to upgrade one of the PC's existing items (the MIC has a nice table). Then have a neat little magical event that makes it happen. I once had the PCs find a mosaic of an eye, with a hole in the center for the pupil. A few knowledge checks later, and the barbarian thrust her greatsword into the center of the eye, which emitted a burst of blinding light and added a +2 bonus to her sword.

 

[FireLance]

Well, my conclusions from the article are:

1. Secondary items are not necessary. Unlike primary items, they are not factored into the math behind the game. The item slots exists, but you don't have to change the game significantly if you choose not to fill them.

2. It will be easier to adjust the game for the lack of primary items. Without permanent stat-boosting items that affect attack rolls, damage rolls, AC and defences, each plus of difference translates to a 5% change in the chance to hit or be hit. As a DM, you could either make he increased difficulty a feature of your game, or just adjust the attacks and defences of the opponents directly (monsters will no longer be built by formula).

 

[DaveMage]

Very strange.

Are they still working on D&D 4E, or is this Iron Heroes 2E?

Wild, weird stuff.