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<blockquote data-quote="ferratus" data-source="post: 5778459" data-attributes="member: 55966">I think for a magic item to feel like a magic item, it has to change the way your character plays.&nbsp;&nbsp; In other words, give access to a power that he isn't supposed to have.&nbsp; &nbsp; By doing this, you give the player a chance to break out of the restrictions of his race/class and have a new way to overcome challenges.In 3e (and especially) 4e, you generally only got boosts to existing abilities.&nbsp; Therefore magical items became equipment to boost your build, rather than a special treat that allowed your character to be strange or wierd.Even if you take skill and ability score boosting items in 2e, the best ones gave you powers you could never get on your own.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you wore gauntlets of ogre power, you knew you were the strongest man in the world.&nbsp;&nbsp; A cloak of elven kind made you nearly invisible (certainly as invisible as any thief or ranger)&nbsp; rather than just giving you an incremental 10-20% bonus to a particular skill.Of course, my argument falls apart when you think about +1 to +5 weapons, which are nothing but an incremental bonus.&nbsp;&nbsp; But then, I can't say I've ever seen someone excited about a +X anything that didn't have flames or lightning shooting out of it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ferratus, post: 5778459, member: 55966"] I think for a magic item to feel like a magic item, it has to change the way your character plays. In other words, give access to a power that he isn't supposed to have. By doing this, you give the player a chance to break out of the restrictions of his race/class and have a new way to overcome challenges. In 3e (and especially) 4e, you generally only got boosts to existing abilities. Therefore magical items became equipment to boost your build, rather than a special treat that allowed your character to be strange or wierd. Even if you take skill and ability score boosting items in 2e, the best ones gave you powers you could never get on your own. If you wore gauntlets of ogre power, you knew you were the strongest man in the world. A cloak of elven kind made you nearly invisible (certainly as invisible as any thief or ranger) rather than just giving you an incremental 10-20% bonus to a particular skill. Of course, my argument falls apart when you think about +1 to +5 weapons, which are nothing but an incremental bonus. But then, I can't say I've ever seen someone excited about a +X anything that didn't have flames or lightning shooting out of it. [/QUOTE]

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