Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Falling Icicle" data-source="post: 6030684" data-attributes="member: 17077">While magical items aren't going to be an assumed part of character's statistics at any given level, it's still important that they be balanced so that if people choose to use them in their games, it won't turn the game into a wreck.As I said before, the fact that magic items are optional doesn't mean that it's okay for them to grant bonuses that go through the roof. On the contrary, because the game doesn't assume their presence, it's even more important that the bonuses they grant be kept at a reasonable level.Rarity is only a rough overall gauge of power and also only measures an item's power by itself. It doesn't measure how items can interact and increase their power together. When items stack, their power together is often greater than the sum of their parts. This creates problems because one item of the same rarity can have a dramatically different impact than another item of the same rarity, depending on whether the PC has another item that stacks with it.The best solution to this problem is simply not to allow like effects to stack with each other, except in a few specific and carefully considered cases.I'm hoping there won't be +X shields at all. That said, it wouldn't be a big deal if their magical bonus didn't stack with that from armor or other AC enhancement items.What we have is only a small sample of items for playtesting. What really concerns me is how many of these items there will be later. By having a rule that prohibits them from stacking, we wouldn't have to worry about how many AC boosting items are published later. They'd just be extra options, rather than each one raising the AC cap even further.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Falling Icicle, post: 6030684, member: 17077"] While magical items aren't going to be an assumed part of character's statistics at any given level, it's still important that they be balanced so that if people choose to use them in their games, it won't turn the game into a wreck. As I said before, the fact that magic items are optional doesn't mean that it's okay for them to grant bonuses that go through the roof. On the contrary, because the game doesn't assume their presence, it's even more important that the bonuses they grant be kept at a reasonable level. Rarity is only a rough overall gauge of power and also only measures an item's power by itself. It doesn't measure how items can interact and increase their power together. When items stack, their power together is often greater than the sum of their parts. This creates problems because one item of the same rarity can have a dramatically different impact than another item of the same rarity, depending on whether the PC has another item that stacks with it. The best solution to this problem is simply not to allow like effects to stack with each other, except in a few specific and carefully considered cases. I'm hoping there won't be +X shields at all. That said, it wouldn't be a big deal if their magical bonus didn't stack with that from armor or other AC enhancement items. What we have is only a small sample of items for playtesting. What really concerns me is how many of these items there will be later. By having a rule that prohibits them from stacking, we wouldn't have to worry about how many AC boosting items are published later. They'd just be extra options, rather than each one raising the AC cap even further. [/QUOTE]

Verification