Stock magic items are not special

[diaglo]

what do you consider stock items?

i'm with Crothian.

every + X weapon or item in my campaign has a backstory. whether the player/PC spends time to find out about it or not.

even most of the non magic items do.

Barl Henfagger's trusty axe. Handed down generation after generation that when kept in service was able to fell any tree. (nonmagical)

 

[francisca]

Which, if the GM is crafty, can lead them into all sorts of adventures. I mean, there's a reason the Baron destroyed the swords, so that sword is special even if that's not reflected in the game mechanics. Maybe it was a geas - the Baron will not die save he is killed with a sword bearing his crest. Now the sword's necessary for them to kill the undead lich-Baron, even though it's "just a +1 sword".

J

Yeah what he said. Magic has been scarce enough in my homebrews that a +2 sward was a big deal and had a story behind it.

 

[Crothian]

i'm with Crothian.

huh, that's a first.....

 

[Crothian]

You could always just tell the players to stop meta gaming. A low level character that has found his first +1 weapon is not going to be be calling it bland. Sure the player might know there are better things out there, but the character doesn't have to.

 

[diaglo]

huh, that's a first.....

if you read the story hour in my sig. you will see i still name the items i find. even when the DM doesn't. although, i'm sure the DM, Olgar Shiverstone, does have some background behind them. it's just that our Bard sucks at his bardic knowledge checks.

but that's not any different than any Bard. to quote Tom Jackson from the WotC boards: "Bards Suck"

 

[Pbartender]

I'd have to agree with Crothian here...

My players just recently picked up three magic items from a BBEG that they haven't Identified yet. A quarterstaff, a breastplate, and vest-like robe. They are all engraved, etched and ebroidered with undecipherable sigils in spider and spider web motifs. It is only a +1/+1 Quarterstaff, +1 Breastplate and a Vest of Escape (small spider climb out of the Vest's pockets to help with picking locks and disabling traps). They will discover, with Identification, that these items were all gifts of the Demoness Lolth, Mistress of Deceit to one of her most loyal and favored followers. That itself provides a clue to a new plot hook, and, knowing my players, they may well shun the items simply based on the description and history.

What Good Hero would use the Tools of Evil, or give them away for others to use?

 

[drnuncheon]

Of course, if even 1/5 of the permanent magic items become plot devices, you'll soon be swamped in plots.

It is easier if you're playing a low-magic campaign. But if you were playing a high-magic campaign, then commoditized magic items probably aren't a problem you need to correct (because they really are "just a +1 sword"

J

 

[AuraSeer]

If the DM treats them as special and the campaign world treats them as special, then they become special.

Sometimes that works, other times not. Even if the PCs find the legendary Sword Of Heroes at the culmination of the most thrilling adventure in their lives, in a world where magic is rare and wondrous, the players may still find it anticlimactic when you reveal that it only adds +2 to the dice rolls.

You can present things however you like, but you can't control how the players feel.

 

[IcyCool]

A frostbrand made of ice as hard as steel, and steams in warm air.

Bah! It's only a frostbrand. Nothing special about that.

Seriously though, an item is only special if it is treated that way. And players are most likely to treat it that way if the GM treats it that way. If the GM simply says it's a finely crafted sword with a faint magical aura, and the players later identify it as a +1 sword, that's going to get boring pretty quick. By making each item "unique" (give it a history, name, etc.), you make the items more special.

 

[Abstraction]

In my game, scrolls, potions and wands are bland. Well, there were a couple gee-whiz one, but mostly bland. Every other "permanent" type magic item is unique and has some interesting power, even if that power is useless. Just as an example, the players are currently fighting a dark elf bad guy. He is wearing "Armor of Teeth". This is basically +2 studded leather. The studs, however, are teeth and each time the wearer is struck by a weapon, the teeth grind and inflict 1 hp of damage to the weapon, bypassing hardness. This power is so unlikely to ever destroy a weapon, it might as well not be there at all. Except for the fact that it makes the armor cooler.