D&D 5E Two suggestions for handling magic items in 5e. (I'm sure these have all been said before but I haven't been keeping track.)

[Li Shenron]

My solution is that +N weapons/Armor exist, but aren't magical -- they're just mundane items crafted with exceptional skill or using rare/special materials. Magic provides special effects. So you can have a +N weapon without special effects (masterwork but mundane), or a magical weapon with special effects but no +N, or a +N magical item with special effects.

This would have been great in 3e, to have masterwork bonuses replace magic bonuses. In 5e however they have to deal with bounded accuracy so the range of bonuses will need to be smaller, but I like your idea.

There always needs to be a baseline. 3e assumed the baseline was X magic knowing that people could still choose to have have <X magic (and make the game harder) or >X magic (and make the game easier).

Yes. Yes it does mean that a campaign where everyone uses magic weapons everyone is doing more damage and doing better. Because it is above the baseline. Just like awarding more magic than was assumed by 3e.

Yes, but the baseline doesn't have to be "everybody with a magic weapon has +1 to hit".

The baseline could be "everybody with a magic weapon has 1 additional special ability".

This way, there is less impact to bounded accuracy. The baseline is not a "vertical bias" but a "horizontal bias". It means there is much less to worry about re-balancing monsters between groups using magic weapons and groups not using them.

As I said, notice that the same used to be the baseline for armors "everybody with a magic armor has +1 AC", but in 5e this is gone, it's not the baseline anymore (only a few armor give that), despite what it used to be in previous editions... so why couldn't it also be the case for magic weapons?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

This would have been great in 3e, to have masterwork bonuses replace magic bonuses. In 5e however they have to deal with bounded accuracy so the range of bonuses will need to be smaller, but I like your idea.

Agreed. I'd max them at +3, and spread out the bonus cost more so that one might equate +1 to levels 5-10, +2 to 11-15, and +3 to 16-20.

 

[Jester David]

Yes, but the baseline doesn't have to be "everybody with a magic weapon has +1 to hit".

The baseline could be "everybody with a magic weapon has 1 additional special ability".

There are four problems with this:
1) 5e is really trying to keep a character's "hand size" low with few extra powers and choices that might create option paralysis.
2) +1 to hit does not add *that* much damage to the game. An average of 1.25 damage per round at 10th level and less than a point of damage at lower levels. The +1 to damage has more impact at low levels.
3) There are precious few magic swords with "powers" in fiction. The vast, vast majority of magic swords just tend to be super sharp.
4) It's changing something that has been a part of the game longer than I've been alive. Not something done lightly.

This way, there is less impact to bounded accuracy. The baseline is not a "vertical bias" but a "horizontal bias". It means there is much less to worry about re-balancing monsters between groups using magic weapons and groups not using them.

Again, there's almost no noticeable impact to the bounded accuracy.

And if the damage output between a magic weapon with a power and the +1 sword is identical, then the only difference is perceptual.
Okay, that's not true. There's another difference. If magic weapons with powers deal as much average damage as +1 weapons then the difference is you miss less with the +1 weapons. You do more damage with the special weapons, but you miss more often. You waste 5% fewer turns.
This is not a bad thing.

As I said, notice that the same used to be the baseline for armors "everybody with a magic armor has +1 AC", but in 5e this is gone, it's not the baseline anymore (only a few armor give that), despite what it used to be in previous editions... so why couldn't it also be the case for magic weapons?

Hard to say as there are only four examples of magic armour and three give bonuses to AC. (Plus two examples of nonmagical armour that is made of special material.)