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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alex319" data-source="post: 5026390" data-attributes="member: 45678">Here's my take on this whole issue.First of all, it's possible that what's being asked for here has a fundamental flaw. If the goal is to have "cool" or "unique" magic items, and the definition of "cool or unique" includes both (a) being more powerful than regular magic items and (b) being rare or unusual, then any attempt to codify rules for such items will just lead to players choosing them all the time (because they are more powerful) and then they wouldn't be cool, unique, or unusual - they would just be yet more items that everyone has to have to keep up. (And of course everyone on the boards would be screaming about "power creep".)Of course one solution would just be to make it harder for the PCs to get those items, like making it harder to produce them, making them cost more, or preventing you from buying them. But that means you have to have the DM say "No, you can't have that item." And I think that's what the author means by going against the "say yes" philosophy.Second, let me clarify what I think the original author's point was about the magic items. Let's make up an example of a magic item with a "cool power" - let's say it's a rod that you point it at an undead monster, and you automatically control it, and this power is usable as often as you want and doesn't wear off. In some campaigns, this could be completely useless (like if there are no undead monsters). In other campaigns, it could make the entire adventure trivial (say, if the goal was to enter an ancient tomb and all the monsters you were fighting were undead, you could just control them all.) And it's possible to come up with a campaign where that item could make it much more interesting (say, you have a cemetery where you can spawn undead and control them, so you can have an army of undead and if they're dead you can spawn more, but you have to protect the cemetery etc. etc.)The point is that the design goal is to have the magic items be as broadly useful as possible, and not have lots of hidden "traps" for either the players or the DM. You don't want the player to spend lots of money on an item that proves to be useless, and you don't want a DM to spend hours coming up with an adventure (or $20-$30 to buy a module) and then the player walks in with an item from New Splatbook #37 and trivializes the entire adventure.The goal, rather, is to have a "baseline" of items that create a baseline power level, and then DMs who don't want to bother modifying the rules can still have a reasonably balanced baseline, while DMs who do can modify it to suit their tastes.I think that one thing that might help make this discussion more productive is some clearer examples of what we are talking about. What kinds of items with "cool powers" were in previous editions that were removed from 4e (or people want to add but can't), and what barriers does the system provide to bringing them back in?</blockquote>

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