D&D 5E Should martial characters be mundane or supernatural?

[Tony Vargas]

All of those are story rewards and/or actions. Are you saying the class should require the DM, regardless of circumstance, to just make this part of the game as soon as they hit the requisite level?

Originally, magic-users only got new spells by finding scrolls and spellbooks and transcribing them. Very quickly, they started getting spells as they leveled. It didn't seem to force DMs to place spells for them (though, if you were using 1e's weighted tables, MU scrolls would pop up, anyway).

 

[Maxperson]

Ooh, maybe we can get Draupnir too! So I can complain even more about having nothing to spend all my gold on.

And after a fireball, Sif's Hair! Though that was the elves.

 

[Tony Vargas]

And all of those things would have been better off with different systems, like in the TSR editions, IMO.

Except the spell repetition across classes, which TSR also engaged in, of course.

But, ultimately, I'm not sure. Putting every class on the same xp progression, for instance, is a clear simplification that doesn't hurt the game, at all (it makes balance more theoretically achievable, possibly helping the game, if anything), and doesn't hurt the implied fiction, either.

 

[Maxperson]

Exactly. I don't want narrative mechanics.

Honestly, for me it doesn't matter. A runesmith would be fun, but so would narratively getting the stuff. It's not hard for the DM to come up with a valid reason why the fighter gets the magic item right then. At worst the fighter has to wait a short time in game to receive the item, but that's a fantastic roleplaying opportunity.

 

[Corinnguard]

If Sif's Hair was a magic item, only female characters would be able to attune to it. It ought to give the wearer prehensile hair similar to Medusa's in Marvel Comics. Then they would have reach and grapple attacks.

 

[Oofta]

If Sif's Hair was a magic item, only female characters would be able to attune to it.

Are you sure?

 

[Minigiant]

It's still not the same argument.

"Should martial characters be mundane or supernatural?" is saying that the martials should have class abilities and not rely on magic items.

"Are magic items assumed or optional?" is saying that it should be magic items and not class abilities.

Those are different arguments which is why the "how" is different. You said one is the same as the other and it's not.

If you're saying that we are debating here how martials should be equalized, then I agree with you. If you are saying that one method of equalization is the same as the other(s), then I don't agree with you.

It is the same argument as the people who say that martials should be mundane should have magic items.

 

[Corinnguard]

Are you sure?
View attachment 301820

The only way to be sure is to ask Sif herself. Does anyone have her number?

 

[Maxperson]

It is the same argument as the people who say that martials should be mundane should have magic items.

Okay, you're confusing me with this position. I'm going to need a detailed explanation for how one argument is the same as the other for me to be able to get it.

 

[Corinnguard]

It is the same argument as the people who say that martials should be mundane should have magic items.

Why do you want the OP's question to involve magic items? Why can't it be about class abilities?