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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brother MacLaren" data-source="post: 3772954" data-attributes="member: 15999">The problem is the arms race aspect of the game.If a fighter has a better Will save progression, such that he has a 60% chance of making his Will save against an effect he's likely to face at his level, players will seek to boost that to 90%.  If there is any magical way to increase it, they'll want to buy, craft, or steal such an item, or badger their party casters to pick up that spell and use it.  Then the game designers will realize that the Will save DCs in the core MM are too easy for many games, and they'll seek to increase them in future Monster Manuals to account for these magical effects.  That leaves the fighters without the magical effects stuck.  The magical effects now become essential to survive.Basic/Expert fixed this by simply having a very limited spell list, a very limited magic item list, few stacking modifiers, no magic stores, and difficult magic item creation.  You got what you found and that was it.  There were hard limits.  You couldn't get Str past 18, and you couldn't get AC below -10 (above 30 in d20 terms).But once you give the PCs expanded options and freedom, the problem escalates.  Some designer, somewhere, is GOING to say "Hey, wouldn't fighters like a magic item that lets them make Will saves more often?"  Only by HEAVILY increasing the cost/benefit ratio of this item could you slow down the arms race.</blockquote>