Power-creep Inevitable, But is that Bad?

[Celebrim]

I'm not sure that I believe 'power creep' is inevitable, but I am sure that power creep sells books. And for that reason, on a practical level, power creep is probably 'inevitable'.

WotC has long known from MtG that imbalance makes money. It creates excitement. After a while, to many people more balance would feel boring.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Celebrim's statement is true.

Power creep exists because people want it to exist. If all the books with power creep didn't sell because people didn't want to overpower their games, then the bookmakers would stop making books with power creep because they don't sell.

 

[Goumindong]

No. Power Creep is absolutely inevitable.

I don't want to go into great depth here, but the basics of this.

Any two systems which, internally are the same power, when combined will necessarily be of higher power due to efficiency gains in increased choice.

Now, there are some downsides to that(it gets harder to choose stuff) but as time goes by and information proliferates, at least in this system, the net result of another book which is just as strong as the PHB will be power creep.

And of course, we know power creep is bad, because it makes life harder for DM's.

The question then, is simply how much creep will occur[and that limiting it as you can, is good], and whether or not it stresses the system enough to become problematic.

 

[Deset Gled]

Powercreep destroys to ability to measure the potential power of a character based on level, XP, and CR. It also destroys game balance if it happens in an asymetical manner (that is, not a consistent level of powercreep over the different classes). Whether or not these things are important is a matter of personal preference.

 

[Byronic]

Hmm, the new Drow article has power creep.

Elven Cloak (from the PHB)

L17 +4
L22 +5
etc

Item property: Gain item bonus to Stealth equal to enhancement bonus of the cloak.

This is the Elven Cloak from the PHB, a nice Cloak made out of leaves for people who like Elven fashion and sneaking. However it pales in significance to the new cloak in the Drow article:

Piwafwi Level 17+
A long cloak of woven spidersilk sparkles in the moonlight.
Lvl 17 +4 65,000 gp Lvl 27 +6 1,625,000 gp
Lvl 22 +5 325,000 gp
Item Slot: Neck
Enhancement: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will
Property: Gain an item bonus to Stealth checks equal to the cloak’s enhancement bonus. Gain resist 5 fire.
Level 22 or 27: Resist 10 fire
Power (Daily ✦ Illusion): Minor Action. You have
concealment until you make an attack or are hit
by an attack.

It offers the exact same bonus to Stealth as the Elven cloak on exactly the same level. The difference however is that it also gives you resist fire and inbuild concealment.

The only advantage that the Elven cloak has is that it's available before level 17. If they're going to make new items make them good items, but also leave us with at least the illusion of choice.