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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4947964" data-attributes="member: 58197">It strikes me as heavy-handed and poorly handled, but I can see where the DM is coming from. Basically, it's a conflict between the DM's reluctance to audit the players' every niggling purchase and the DM's need to know the players' capabilities when planning encounters and puzzles. If you design an elaborate quest to find someone who can translate an inscription, and one of the players busts out a magic translating device right at the start, that's a lot of work down the tubes and a table full of players staring at you while you scramble for something else to do that evening.(While I support rewarding player ingenuity, buying a magic item does not strike me as ingenious.)It was much worse in 3E and previous. Back then, you had to watch every spellcaster like a hawk, or they'd whip out random utility spell #248 and bypass the whole damn adventure. This was one of the driving forces behind &quot;core-only&quot; games. 4E has dramatically reduced the number of potential plot-smashers - for the most part, all you have to worry about nowadays are magic items and ritual spells - but the problem is really inevitable in D&amp;D's splatbook-driven sales model.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 4947964, member: 58197"] It strikes me as heavy-handed and poorly handled, but I can see where the DM is coming from. Basically, it's a conflict between the DM's reluctance to audit the players' every niggling purchase and the DM's need to know the players' capabilities when planning encounters and puzzles. If you design an elaborate quest to find someone who can translate an inscription, and one of the players busts out a magic translating device right at the start, that's a lot of work down the tubes and a table full of players staring at you while you scramble for something else to do that evening. (While I support rewarding player ingenuity, buying a magic item does not strike me as ingenious.) It was much worse in 3E and previous. Back then, you had to watch every spellcaster like a hawk, or they'd whip out random utility spell #248 and bypass the whole damn adventure. This was one of the driving forces behind "core-only" games. 4E has dramatically reduced the number of potential plot-smashers - for the most part, all you have to worry about nowadays are magic items and ritual spells - but the problem is really inevitable in D&D's splatbook-driven sales model. [/QUOTE]

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