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<blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4010361" data-attributes="member: 1054">So, just to put this in perspective, you'd be perfectly OK with the following:Only elves can use magical bows. ALL magical bows, not just &quot;The Elvish Bow Of Being For Elves Only.&quot;Only dwarves can use magical axes. ALL magical axes, not just &quot;The Axe What Was Forged By The Dwarf Lords In The Long Ago&quot;.Only evil wizards can use wands.Only lawful good tieflings between 6th and 12th level can use magical necklaces, except on Tuesdays.And you wouldn't find any of this arbitrary or odd, or wonder if there might be more elegant ways to achieve the design goals.I can see why someone might want to make a specific item usable by a race/class/alignment. I cannot see why an entire *class* of items is arbitrarily worthless to anyone below 11th level. Is there something about a round band of metal which rejects low level spells? (A *small* round band of metal. I can make Bracers Of Protection +1 which will work for anyone, it seems.) We accept a lot of silly things in the name of game balance. It's part of the designer's job to make sure that these things slap us in the face with their silliness as little as possible. A fiat &quot;Rings don't work if you're under 11th level, that's that&quot; is basically taking the player's head and slamming it into a brick wall labeled &quot;Balance&quot; over and over and over, then tattooing 'Game' on the inside of his left eyelid and 'Balance' on the inside of his right eyelid in glowing neon ink, so he sees it while he sleeps. &quot;It was just as stupid in prior editions&quot; isn't really much of an excuse. Weren't they supposed to be FIXING problems, instead of just making new ones?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lizard, post: 4010361, member: 1054"] So, just to put this in perspective, you'd be perfectly OK with the following: Only elves can use magical bows. ALL magical bows, not just "The Elvish Bow Of Being For Elves Only." Only dwarves can use magical axes. ALL magical axes, not just "The Axe What Was Forged By The Dwarf Lords In The Long Ago". Only evil wizards can use wands. Only lawful good tieflings between 6th and 12th level can use magical necklaces, except on Tuesdays. And you wouldn't find any of this arbitrary or odd, or wonder if there might be more elegant ways to achieve the design goals. I can see why someone might want to make a specific item usable by a race/class/alignment. I cannot see why an entire *class* of items is arbitrarily worthless to anyone below 11th level. Is there something about a round band of metal which rejects low level spells? (A *small* round band of metal. I can make Bracers Of Protection +1 which will work for anyone, it seems.) We accept a lot of silly things in the name of game balance. It's part of the designer's job to make sure that these things slap us in the face with their silliness as little as possible. A fiat "Rings don't work if you're under 11th level, that's that" is basically taking the player's head and slamming it into a brick wall labeled "Balance" over and over and over, then tattooing 'Game' on the inside of his left eyelid and 'Balance' on the inside of his right eyelid in glowing neon ink, so he sees it while he sleeps. "It was just as stupid in prior editions" isn't really much of an excuse. Weren't they supposed to be FIXING problems, instead of just making new ones? [/QUOTE]

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