(small) essentials rules change

[WalterKovacs]

I never understood having to make a roll to detect whether an item is magical.

According to the rules, if the party misses and item, you're supposed to give that treasure to them later on anyway right? So what's the point, the party is going to have to get the item one way or the other or the "math" of the system will break.

I'm sure a PC would be fine with waiting until the end of the adventure and getting all the treasure at once instead of finding stuff along the way. It's not like they couldn't have say ... used the magic items immediately.

Considering how closely WotC's own adventures follow the "rules" about magic items, it doesn't seem that failure to comply will break the math. As long as the party has the armor, weapon/implement and neck slot item within +1 of their half-tiers value, it's pretty much within the expected area.

 

[Dan'L]

DM: Good stuff. There's nothing when you flip the mattress, just an old photograph tucked beneath it.

That would seem pretty magical to me in a fantasy setting

ROGUE: This must be it! See how the essence of people have been captured in a mere slip of paper? Magic most dire!

***

Regarding more powerful magic being harder to detect, I'm picturing a situation where you get a huckster pawning off "artifacts" on unsuspecting marks.

Wizard: (rolls Arcana) You sure this is a magic dagger? It looks like a butter knife, and I detect no magic.

Rogue: (rolls Bluff) Oh, aye, that's because it's so powerful. That you can't detect it is just a sure sign of how powerful it is! And I'll let you buy it for the low, low price of everything you've got.

Wizard: (crappy passive Insight) Sounds plausible to me. I'll take it!

-Dan'L

 

[Ahrimon]

I like the highly tuned analogy. The more powerful the item the less it stands out. Low level item is the old 1960 pickup truck that sputters and backfires constantly. High level item is the the modern sportscar that you can barely hear the engine running until someone uses it.

 

[Henry]

So the WOTC answer to players who cannot be bothered to actually explore the game environment is to make sure all the loot twinkles with little sparkles so everyone knows what to click on.

No Thanks.

Better to roll a skill check and THINK you've found all the magic around you in 60 feet, than to cast a cantrip and remove all doubt.

 

[Lordhawkins9]

I'm sure a PC would be fine with waiting until the end of the adventure and getting all the treasure at once instead of finding stuff along the way. It's not like they couldn't have say ... used the magic items immediately.

You misunderstand, (or maybe I misunderstood you ) my group doesn't wait and get everything at the end.

They tell me they're searching...I give them the magic item, no rolls needed.

 

[P1NBACK]

That would seem pretty magical to me in a fantasy setting

ROGUE: This must be it! See how the essence of people have been captured in a mere slip of paper? Magic most dire!

Depends on the fantasy setting I guess.

Or, just replace photograph with locket with a painted picture in it.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The default is you roll Arcana to detect magic, but figure out how to use an item just by taking a short rest with it, right?

You could make detecting magic a fixed DC check, it's just a matter of the arcanist 'opening up' to the magical vibrations of the area or whatever - like an old detect magic spell, a meaningful thing to try at low level, trivial at higher levels. But, figuring out how to use (or even 'atuning' or 'awakening') the item is a level-based check or even Skill Challenge.

Oh, or under the new system:

Common: take a short rest with it under your pillow.

Uncommon: Moderate diff Arcana Check after a short rest.

Rare: Full on skill challenge to identify and 'attune' to the chosen wielder - risks magical backlashes that could do damage, inflict curses (that work like diseases, but are 'treated' with arcana), or loose 'psychic screams' that alert enemies of the items wareabouts if failed.

Now that'd make the rarity system interesting...

 

[Mouseferatu]

Spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, and spam.

Reported.

 

[RigaMortus2]

DM: " You find a small room. In the room is a....."

Rogue: "Yeah yeah yeah, whatever.

Your little faux scenario there is a misrepresentation of what would happen in a typical group.

First off, why is the player interrupting the DM in your scenario? Is he the one running the game? I think if a player said something like that in a typical game, the DM would have words with them.

However, lets say this is a scenario that would actually happen... So the player rolls a 35 and finds the ring. Even if the player isn't interested in describing how he goes about doing so, the DM can still describe it.

DM: A 35? Wow, good roll... Ok, you search high and low, and find something sewen into a fancily embrodered pillow, about the size of a ring. It appears the only way to get it out is to rip open the pillow. What would you like to do?

Of course, if your player interrups the DM AGAIN, before his description, I'd say you have much larger issues going on here. Perhaps the player isn't the right fit in the group. Perhaps the player will find a group more in line with his style, and if he DID, do you think there is anything wrong with that? Should we all play D&D the way you do?

 

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