Things other than rulebooks

[Silveras]

On another note, something *I* would like to see, while still another rulebook, is a book on adjusting the presumed magic level of the D&D game.

The DMG points out that insisting on having peasants be ignorant of magic, under the core, is silly. They would know, naturally, that going to the temple will get them magical healing. I found the tone of that particular piece of text unnecessarily dismissive of low-magic, though.

I *am not* suggesting/asking for a low-magic setting.

I *am* suggesting that guidance on adjusting the presumed level of magic in the D20 core is an area that has not been touched upon thoroughly, yet. There are many ramifications to making such changes; a good book that discussed what they were and what the "ripple effects" were likely to be ... that would be useful.

 

[BSF]

Is that by RAW, or by the AH rules? I've never tried to create bracers of mage armor. How do the prices compare to bracers of armor?

RAW - He just flat out ignores the armor bonuses. Bracers of a 1st levle spell that provide a +4 force armor bonus are relatively cheap.

Even in AH, it isn't too terribly expensive to bump those up to a permanent effect. But that is the primary reason why there is an armor bonus.

I like the fact that with AH, I can adjust my world's economy to my liking. I like the fact that I can also turn that around and completely break my economy by handing out a million gp gem or something. With spell slots, the PCs still won't be able to get outrageous with a magic item.

 

[BSF]

On another note, something *I* would like to see, while still another rulebook, is a book on adjusting the presumed magic level of the D&D game.

The DMG points out that insisting on having peasants be ignorant of magic, under the core, is silly. They would know, naturally, that going to the temple will get them magical healing. I found the tone of that particular piece of text unnecessarily dismissive of low-magic, though.

I *am not* suggesting/asking for a low-magic setting.

I *am* suggesting that guidance on adjusting the presumed level of magic in the D20 core is an area that has not been touched upon thoroughly, yet. There are many ramifications to making such changes; a good book that discussed what they were and what the "ripple effects" were likely to be ... that would be useful.

A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe touches a little on these things. Mostly they discuss how the core assumptions would change the Medieval environment. But you could work from that to some degree. Still, a book that discussed the implications of modifying the magic level up or down would be interesting.

In this way, WotC could take a lead from HERO. HERO powers might list why they could be a problem in a game. If there were a book that discussed spells and items in this detail, and then provided a checklist of what you allow into a game, you would have a toolkit for adjusting your game.

I'm talking about stuff like marking all the movement type spells as troublesome for certain styles of game. Stuff like the teleports is an obvious one, but also windwalk and overland flight. Imagine the impact these spells would have had in LotR. What if you wanted to run a game with high level PCs that didn't include these spells. What would the impact be? What spells and items would be banished from the campaign world? What monsters? I mean, you get rid of windwalk, but you still have Giant Eagles, Griffons, Pegasi, and Hippogriffs. A Charm Monster now becomes an issue. Do you ditch those monsters? Tone down their frequency? Ditch Charm Monster? Advice like this would be golden for the budding homebrew designer.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Complete Arcane had a chance to address some of the "problem" types of spells -- charms, flight, teleportation, divination -- but the writers completely blew it. Instead of suggesting (1) adventures that require the PCs to use those magics to succeed, or (2) the ramifications of eliminating such spells, they just rambled on with Mickey Mouse advice.

So I agree that there is a niche product waiting to happen here.

Hmm. Kinda sounds like something Bad Axe Games would put out. Paging Wulf Ratbane!

 

[BSF]

Yeah, I definitely see that niche being filled by somebody that likes to seriously evaluate all the rules and is a third-party publisher. I don't think it would be a product with deep sales. It would be of most interest to homebrew DMs and it would need to cover a lot of ground. Including adventure ideas would help broaden the appeal though. Especially if there were a generous portion of the book devoted to that.