Player input please on a couple of custom world rules...

[Storminator]

These house rules should be easy to implement, and seem like they would work fine.

As a world believability question, how many magic items are you thinking are in the world? If they can only be made in a few places, they are going to be exceedingly rare. Where are +1 swords coming from? Are there any?

PS

 

[burntgerbil]

This should be in the 4e house rules forum, I believe.

That aside, with my game I run, I award the PC's +1 to all defenses, attack and damage rolls and +1d6 to crits at 3rd and every 6 levels thereafter. The magic items they find confer no plusses, so if someone finds a nice flaming longsword early on and they want to use it at 14th level, there's no problem.

 

[DracoSuave]

These house rules should be easy to implement, and seem like they would work fine.

As a world believability question, how many magic items are you thinking are in the world? If they can only be made in a few places, they are going to be exceedingly rare. Where are +1 swords coming from? Are there any?

PS

There are no +1 Magic weapons in D&D 4th. They are impossible to acquire as treasure and no one ever needs to buy or make one because more powerful weapons are more readily available.

Thusly, they are the -rarest item in the world-

Also: +1 Magic Armor, +1 Amulets of Protection, and +1 Magic implements of any discription.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Enchanting Items:
Since I’m trying to increase the ‘WOW’ factor of magic items and since you won’t be able to wander into any store in Midkemia and pick up a Flaming Sword +8, the issue of Enchanting Items needs to be addressed.

Making the players unable to get magical weapons and armor will not make +1 swords feel special. A +1 sword is boring because all it does is add a static bonus to hit and damage (well, they're slightly less boring this edition because of the crit bonus too, but still fairly meh).

You make magical items special by restricting the special stuff, and that's something that 4e already does. You can't craft something that is above your level. Since items that you find are one to four levels above that, anything you craft is likely to be pretty lacklustre.

Not to mention the fact that the DM has ALWAYS been able to make people go "oooh, ahhh" at magic items by simply handing out something that doesn't exist on the lists.

I'm not trying to rag on your idea, just point out that you might be solving a problem that doesn't really exist.

Anyway, on to critiquing the rules that you've put up:

Firstly: Why doesn't streetwise have any effect unless you go black market? Surely it should have an effect on finding legitimate sellers as well as illegitimate ones? Not to mention: usually a black market for goods that aren't illegal is not MORE expensive than the regular market...

Secondly: Doesn't this system just lead to players asking down their wish list, one item at a time until they get lucky?
"I look for a +8 flaming escutcheon"
"I look for a +8 frost escutcheon"
"I look for a +8 lightning escutcheon"
etc etc.
It means that people looking for boring stuff (like more boom) are going to get everything they want, while people looking for interesting niche items are going to miss out.

Finally, the place of power thing isn't really going to be much of a restriction: players will just make sure they go to a place of power, and whip up everything they need. The only real regulator to that is the DM restricting the players freedom constantly, and that really never makes players feel happy. I suppose if the places of power are governed by people who heavily regulate their use, then things are different, but then they either have the right to use it, or they don't... and as soon as they do, it's magic items galore!

 

[chitzk0i]

Actually it's that 'All they need is the +x items' attitude that -makes- items feel unspecial.

There's some cool items outside those three lists, if anything, the DM should be making those items the more commonly found goods, and the +x items the mundane stuff the players buy/make for themselves.

Then items will seem more interesting, as items won't just be '+x to blah + whatever'.

The problem with this is that the game designers assumed that the PCs would be getting +to-hit items higher than their level. Affording anything of your level is pretty difficult and the exponential increase in prices makes even something one level higher than you pretty far out of reach.

If you want +X items to be exciting, find enchantments that your players would actually want.

 

[bobcat_grad]

Good feedback

I'm glad I asked this question in the first place. There's been a lot of stuff offered up by you guys that I'll have to think over and consider. Some of it I'll take more to heart than other parts, but I'm glad I asked the question.

I find myself questioning the item purchasing mechanic I suggested, but I'm pretty dead set on the item enchantment mechanic. There just aren't a lot of people that can make new magic items - most of what exists has been around for ages.

 

[Jhaelen]

There are no +1 Magic weapons in D&D 4th. They are impossible to acquire as treasure and no one ever needs to buy or make one because more powerful weapons are more readily available.

Thusly, they are the -rarest item in the world-

Also: +1 Magic Armor, +1 Amulets of Protection, and +1 Magic implements of any discription.

I disagree. If you're using the standard treasure parcels, there'll always be fewer magic items than pcs and not all of the items will be weapons.

Weapons are typically considered the most important magic items to have (followed by implements), thus the first items that will be bought from excess gold will be magic weapons. Since +1 weapons are the most affordable, that's the ones that will be bought.
They are also interesting as secondary weapons (e.g. ranged or for two-weapon fighters).

Additionally, several of the official adventure modules include +1 items in addition to the standard treasure parcels.

So, they may not be as rare as you think.

 

[DracoSuave]

I disagree. If you're using the standard treasure parcels, there'll always be fewer magic items than pcs and not all of the items will be weapons.

So, they may not be as rare as you think.

I don't mean +1 items.

I mean +1 Magic weapons. A very -specific- piece of treasure.

Go through the parcels and count how many level 1 magic items you get. Now go and count again.

The answer is zero.

And while level 1 items are only 360, that's not much less than 2nd level items which give a power or property and are more likely to fit into a character build.

By the time an individual player can afford a magic item, he should have gotten one from the many treasure parcels he has available at that point. By level 2, in fact, you're starting to find level 6 items. And the DM is advised not to hand out useless items, especially not in the early get go.

 

[Jhaelen]

I don't mean +1 items.

I mean +1 Magic weapons. A very -specific- piece of treasure.

Go through the parcels and count how many level 1 magic items you get. Now go and count again.

The answer is zero.

And while level 1 items are only 360, that's not much less than 2nd level items which give a power or property and are more likely to fit into a character build.

I understood you perfectly well and I still disagree. A level 2 item still costs more than a level 1 item and this may well be the difference between each of the pcs getting a magic weapon or not.

This is actually based on personal experience: The only item my players cared to buy after gaining level two were +1 magic weapons. They also did not want to wait until everyone got their magic weapon(s) from treasure parcels.

And regarding my second point:
Go through the official adventure modules and count how many level 1 magic items they include. Now go and count again.

The answer is NOT zero.

 

[Storminator]

There are no +1 Magic weapons in D&D 4th. They are impossible to acquire as treasure and no one ever needs to buy or make one because more powerful weapons are more readily available.

Thusly, they are the -rarest item in the world-

Also: +1 Magic Armor, +1 Amulets of Protection, and +1 Magic implements of any discription.

While I appreciate the humor, a +1 Lifedrinker (level 5) is still a +1 sword...

PS