Rodney Thompson on Magic Items

[Nahat Anoj]

WOW!! Wizards will now be able to cast 25th level spells!

Does that mean the old 9th level spells are now 25th, or have they gone 16 levels past the old 9th level spells?

I'd wager that there are going to be 30th level spells (a spell level for each character level). I'd also further wager that there will be a bunch of basic effects that become more powerful as you go up in level. So instead of Clerics having Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, etc., there will be just one Cure spell that can be cast at various levels.

 

[Szatany]

I won't miss the items that give generic bonuses to the abilities- I see that as part of the "Christmas Tree problem."

However, I wouldn't be opposed to items that let one perform special actions tied to abilities. From the description of an item granting "quick bursts across the room", that seems to be where they're headed.

So the item doesn't grant a numberical bonus to move so much as it lets you do a particular thing really fast. Likewise, Gauntlets of Ogre Power won't completely increase strength, but could let you hurl rocks or bench press an ogre or whatever.

That would just reinstate a problem 2nd edition had: if a glove gives you ogre's strength (in whatever incarnation), then someone stronger than ogre actually suffers from wearing it. I don't want it to work like that.

 

[Jhaelen]

I can't believe how much I disagree with this. More dice=More Fun.

Not my idea of fun. I've already done away with those rolls. I never roll more than two or three dice. I simply add a constant number to get the same average number. Now, seriously, why bother rolling 10d6?

Because of the bell-curve distribution the probability for rolling a result of 10-20 or 50 to 60 is extremely low. It doesn't really take away anything from the game if you use 2d6 + 28 instead.

 

[RodneyThompson]

I've updated my last post to clarify things a bit. I don't want anyone to be misled by anything I've posted. All I was trying to get across is that, in 4th Edition, magic items won't necessarily be what makes your character cool, but rather what your character can do is what makes him cool. Some of the wording was a bit misleading as to what exactly that meant for what magic items will do.

 

[DonTadow]

Now that is an interesting idea, thought I'm not sure the damage is scaling properly.

Maybe they will have a dice chart or something similiar to what they have now 1d6 2d8 ect.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Personally, I think having max spell level = caster level is pretty self-evident, and one of those changes I'm surprised they didn't make sooner. In all likelihood, they've set max spell level at 25 to give casters some levels at which to play with their most powerful toys (much like the current 17-20 in 3e).

 

[Szatany]

Maybe they will have a dice chart or something similiar to what they have now 1d6 2d8 ect.

Please no, I beg . That doesn't sound like simple game at all.