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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5777034" data-attributes="member: 53980">Scrolls and wands are a big part of that, yes. There's not a huge difference between a fighter who can craft and stock up on full heal potions, and a caster who could stock up on 2 of every spell and a few wands on top. It allows the class to completely circumvent their innate limitations, which in my experience is one of the most gamebreaking elements you can introduce into the game. The main difference being, I just made up full heal potions.Don't get me wrong, one or two scrolls does not a game break. However, I did see 3e broken utterly by just such a mage, and I haven't played it since as a result. I don't necessarily think that everything has to be balanced to within one percent of variation, but this was at the complete opposite of the spectrum. I don't want a game that can be gamed to that degree. What's the point of vancian limitations if a mage can simply craft himself nearly infinite additional spell slots?Permanent items were also an issue, though to a lesser extent. Yes, there were limitations, but you could nonetheless cherry pick anything you wanted as long as you had the right spells. Too bad if the DM thinks that a Flaming Frosting Shocking Corrosive Longsword + 1 is silly conceptually, you've got the spells and you're going to start cranking out your Swords of Nonsensical Damage (at half the cost, no less).I believe I know how to retain item crafting without opening the floodgates of brokeness, but I doubt it would be a popular option. Make crafting hard, like it was in 2e. Require items that the players have to adventure for, such as kraken blood for a scroll, or dragon bone for a staff. Perhaps even bring back esoteric components, such as the smile of a virtuous man. This way players can craft items, but they certainly cannot mass produce them, and moreover, the wizard cannot have a scroll for every occasion because then all he would ever do is adventure searching for scroll writing components. But as I said, I don't see this being too popular.I'll be happy as long as there's an option for preserving class limitations. However, I nonetheless believe it would be wise for them to excise the scroll option from the game completely (something like the 4e ritual scrolls, on the other hand, is harmless). Wands aren't quite as bad, since they aren't a solution to every conceivable problem. I think many people didn't see issues with it because the xp costs (marginal though they were) scared a lot of players off. That was the case for a very long time in my group, who used crafting feats sparingly or not at all. In the hands of a canny player though, I can attest to just how broken an option they really were.</blockquote>

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