Scoop!?! New Magic Item Format in D&D: The Complete Animated Series

[JPL]

These writeups were intended for the adventure provided in the same booklet. They were not this competant in the show.

Hank - Ranger 7
Eric - Fighter 7 specialized in Shield
Diana - Monk 7
Presto - Wizard 7
Sheila - Rogue 7
Bobby - Barbarian 7
Uni - Small unicorn 3 HD

Venger - CR 21 half fiend Sorcerer 13/archmage 5
Shadow demon - CR 8 CE Medium outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar, incorporeal)

The writeups are good, though it's more D&D 3e than D&D cartoon. Each magic item is a detailed magic item between 20K and 30K. Although Hank's bow is a cool magic item, it's not the bow of infinite wishes that is portrayed in the cartoon.

But my writeups for the kids in the cartoon would look something like this:
Hank, Eric, Presto, Sheila, Bobby - Commoner 1 with improved evasion and plot-device magic item
Diana - Expert 1 with improved evasion and plot-device magic item

Well... the real problem is that those kids weren't D&D characters, they were Cartoon Action Hour characters. They never killed anything and took its stuff. They didn't really seem to improve in prowess over the course of their adventures. They appeared to be heavily dependent upon their magic weapons to simulate the abilities associated with their purported "classes" --- Presto couldn't cast spells without his hat, for example.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I'm actually really impressed at the effort that has (apparently - I don't have it yet) gone into the DVD. Lots of extras and going the extra mile. Whoever put this out should be congratulated.

 

[Kerrick]

First monsters, now magic items?

No. No. Not again.

It's not "faster" or "more intuitive" if I've got the old formet memorized.

Yeah... It takes up ten times as much space. We don't need to know how it's activated, or what body slot it takes up - anyone with half a brain can figure those out. But... I've already had my say over at the Wizards boards when Andy first revealed it, along with a lot of other folks, and nothing's changed. *shrugs*

 

[der_kluge]

This still doesn't change the fact that the WoTC item creation rules really, really suck.

I mean, can someone tell me why I need two feats to create a ring of water walking and boots of water walking?

 

[Ashimaar Extorris]

Well... the real problem is that those kids weren't D&D characters, they were Cartoon Action Hour characters. They never killed anything and took its stuff. They didn't really seem to improve in prowess over the course of their adventures. They appeared to be heavily dependent upon their magic weapons to simulate the abilities associated with their purported "classes" --- Presto couldn't cast spells without his hat, for example.

Presto didn't need his hat to cast the dragon banishing spell in the first episode...

 

[VirgilCaine]

This still doesn't change the fact that the WoTC item creation rules really, really suck.

I mean, can someone tell me why I need two feats to create a ring of water walking and boots of water walking?

Because a ring is much smaller than a pair of boots. Entirely different type of expertise needed. That's just obvious.

 

[JPL]

I haven't seen these in years, so I might be mistaken. My recollection is that Presto couldn't do much of anything without the hat. Heck, maybe he really was a spellcaster and just didn't realize that he was generating most of those effects himself, using the hat as a spell focus / psychological crutch? Of course, we never saw him with a spellbook...maybe a sorcerer?

I guess they didn't need a cleric because no one ever got hurt...probably would've upset the 1980s D&D = devil worship crowd, too. I'm guessing that's why they called their druid a nymph....

 

[Shade]

I like this new format sooo much better than the last bloated attempt.

 

[Scribble]

Well... the real problem is that those kids weren't D&D characters, they were Cartoon Action Hour characters. They never killed anything and took its stuff. They didn't really seem to improve in prowess over the course of their adventures. They appeared to be heavily dependent upon their magic weapons to simulate the abilities associated with their purported "classes" --- Presto couldn't cast spells without his hat, for example.

I think it's interesting how they did the show... In effect they were closer to "real" D&D characters then if they just made them straight characters.

The items that give them the powers sort of symbolize the game itself. Like people who play the game, the characters take on the role of wizards and fighters, but aren't really those things themselves.

Just found that kind of interesting.


I like the streamlined magic item tables. Nothing slows my game down more then forgetting what an item does, and then having to read half a page worth of stuff to find its properties...

 

[Alzrius]

Including stats was devilishly clever of them. Now I absolutely need to get the set just for that. Though between those, and the stats for Warduke from about two years ago, most of the show has been covered now.