Silam
Adventurer
The other two threads on magic items made me write a long response which made me think it ought to be its own thread… so here goes:
It’d be nice if magic items were a built-in part of the power balance.
As an example (tweak it however you want, this is just a rough draft)…
You have one "concentration point" per level (so 1 at level 1, 20 at level 20). (Or make them scale like proficiency bonuses if you prefer, it doesn’t matter what the actual number is, as long as it starts low and gets higher)
When you concentrate on a spell, it takes up some of your concentration points (the more powerful the spell, the more it costs). If you have enough points for it, you can actually concentrate on multiple spells. But a spell of the max level you can cast takes up 100% of your concentration.
Fighting styles, rage, unarmored defense, steady aim and all that jazz also require concentration points. They compete with spell concentration too. You can still be a gish, you just can’t concentrate on the best ever fighting style and the best ever spell simultaneously. You can do half-and-half.
And then we come to magic items. Those also take concentration points. If you don’t spend the points, the magic blade is just an inert piece of metal. You haven’t dominated it, mastered it. You’re too distracted focusing on a spell or a style or whatever else. There are no attunement slots, this mechanic replaces that.
In the case of very powerful sentient magic items, such as (but not necessarily limited to) artifacts, if you don’t sink enough concentration points into controlling them, they might control you. The One Ring is a cursed item for anyone but Sauron, who is the only one strong enough to control it.
This mechanic also opens up the door to scalable magic items. You pull Excalibur out of the rock all right, and surely you’re set for life with this thing. You won’t ever need any other weapon. It’s the best ever. But you may only be able to use it up to a +1 weapon for now. When you grow stronger, you might be able to allocate enough points into it to unlock its +2, then +3 power.
So you can pick a mid-level magic item and also concentrate on a mid-level CME and wack foes on the head. Or you can pick up a non-magic weapon (or simply not concentrate on unlocking the full power of your magical weapon) while concentrating on a maxed level (for you at least) CME. The choice is yours.
Either way, it’s built into the core system. The system truly doesn’t care if you have magic items and even if you do, whether you actually use them. Your max power is still capped by your max concentration. Maybe the magic weapons help you last a bit longer when you’re out of slots to concentrate on your own spells… but increased lasting power does not equal increased max power.
Thoughts?
It’d be nice if magic items were a built-in part of the power balance.
As an example (tweak it however you want, this is just a rough draft)…
You have one "concentration point" per level (so 1 at level 1, 20 at level 20). (Or make them scale like proficiency bonuses if you prefer, it doesn’t matter what the actual number is, as long as it starts low and gets higher)
When you concentrate on a spell, it takes up some of your concentration points (the more powerful the spell, the more it costs). If you have enough points for it, you can actually concentrate on multiple spells. But a spell of the max level you can cast takes up 100% of your concentration.
Fighting styles, rage, unarmored defense, steady aim and all that jazz also require concentration points. They compete with spell concentration too. You can still be a gish, you just can’t concentrate on the best ever fighting style and the best ever spell simultaneously. You can do half-and-half.
And then we come to magic items. Those also take concentration points. If you don’t spend the points, the magic blade is just an inert piece of metal. You haven’t dominated it, mastered it. You’re too distracted focusing on a spell or a style or whatever else. There are no attunement slots, this mechanic replaces that.
In the case of very powerful sentient magic items, such as (but not necessarily limited to) artifacts, if you don’t sink enough concentration points into controlling them, they might control you. The One Ring is a cursed item for anyone but Sauron, who is the only one strong enough to control it.
This mechanic also opens up the door to scalable magic items. You pull Excalibur out of the rock all right, and surely you’re set for life with this thing. You won’t ever need any other weapon. It’s the best ever. But you may only be able to use it up to a +1 weapon for now. When you grow stronger, you might be able to allocate enough points into it to unlock its +2, then +3 power.
So you can pick a mid-level magic item and also concentrate on a mid-level CME and wack foes on the head. Or you can pick up a non-magic weapon (or simply not concentrate on unlocking the full power of your magical weapon) while concentrating on a maxed level (for you at least) CME. The choice is yours.
Either way, it’s built into the core system. The system truly doesn’t care if you have magic items and even if you do, whether you actually use them. Your max power is still capped by your max concentration. Maybe the magic weapons help you last a bit longer when you’re out of slots to concentrate on your own spells… but increased lasting power does not equal increased max power.
Thoughts?
…
