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Two suggestions for handling magic items in 5e. (I'm sure these have all been said before but I haven't been keeping track.)
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<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6163291" data-attributes="member: 37579"><p>Okay, you say:</p><p></p><p>But you also say:</p><p></p><p>The thing is, a +1 to attack is potent but functionally comes up once every twenty rolls, or every other session. But <em>could</em> be relevant with any roll, so it is always in use (plus the damage bonus). But an At-Will power will come up potentially every single round. That's significantly more powerful than a +1 or even a +4 sword (which is relevant four out of every twenty attacks [4/20] or once every 5 attacks essentially being an Encounter power).</p><p></p><p>At level 10 a good attack should easily be doing 20 damage. We'll say a min-maxed 25. So the +1 sword turns 0 damage into 25 damage once every twenty attacks. To balance with that, an At-will power of a sword would have to spread out the same damage over the twenty attacks, doing an average of 1.25 per attack or roughly 2.5 per hit. So the cool At-Will power has to be roughly equivalent to adding a 1d4 to the damage of every attack. Not exactly world shaking. </p><p>(This does mean a +2 sword is almost balanced with a +1 flaming sword dealing 1d6 fire damage with a hit. Coincidentally what 3e had for magic item design.)</p><p></p><p></p><p>Because tradition. </p><p></p><p>This isn't just 3e, as even back in 1st Edition AD&D all magic weapons had a plus. Most magic weapons amounted to "+1, +[#>1] vs. [monster type]. The famous flame tongue spent two editions being "sword +1, +2 vs. regenerating creatures, +3 vs. cold-using inflammable, or avian creatures, +4 vs. undead." </p><p>All magic swords conferring a base bonus to hit <em>IS</em> D&D. And in an edition explicitly designed around emulating all editions - especially old ones - and emphasising the elements common amongst all six versions of the game it would be silly to single-out magic items for a change. </p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a matter of taste. Simple works for some people. Sometimes people don't want an extra power. </p><p>Plus, again, without simple magic items the ones with amazing at-will powers don't feel as special. They become the baseline and you have to make even cooler magic items to award something special. </p><p></p><p>And not every game has the same level of magic. Many settings make lesser magic items common; <em>Eberron</em> for one, and <em>Dragonlance</em> and the <em>Realms</em> both seem rife with minor magic weapons. In those cases you want a simple magic item that's still magic but not not a flaming sword of fire. </p><p></p><p></p><p>In my experience, even a +1 longsword can be special if it is presented as being special. If it's just "here's a +1 longsword" it will always be lame, but if you say "here's <em>Ice</em>, forged of Valyrian steel over four centuries ago during the Age of Heroes." then the sword will be special and memorable even if it is just +1.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 6163291, member: 37579"] Okay, you say: But you also say: The thing is, a +1 to attack is potent but functionally comes up once every twenty rolls, or every other session. But [I]could[/I] be relevant with any roll, so it is always in use (plus the damage bonus). But an At-Will power will come up potentially every single round. That's significantly more powerful than a +1 or even a +4 sword (which is relevant four out of every twenty attacks [4/20] or once every 5 attacks essentially being an Encounter power). At level 10 a good attack should easily be doing 20 damage. We'll say a min-maxed 25. So the +1 sword turns 0 damage into 25 damage once every twenty attacks. To balance with that, an At-will power of a sword would have to spread out the same damage over the twenty attacks, doing an average of 1.25 per attack or roughly 2.5 per hit. So the cool At-Will power has to be roughly equivalent to adding a 1d4 to the damage of every attack. Not exactly world shaking. (This does mean a +2 sword is almost balanced with a +1 flaming sword dealing 1d6 fire damage with a hit. Coincidentally what 3e had for magic item design.) Because tradition. This isn't just 3e, as even back in 1st Edition AD&D all magic weapons had a plus. Most magic weapons amounted to "+1, +[#>1] vs. [monster type]. The famous flame tongue spent two editions being "sword +1, +2 vs. regenerating creatures, +3 vs. cold-using inflammable, or avian creatures, +4 vs. undead." All magic swords conferring a base bonus to hit [I]IS[/I] D&D. And in an edition explicitly designed around emulating all editions - especially old ones - and emphasising the elements common amongst all six versions of the game it would be silly to single-out magic items for a change. This is a matter of taste. Simple works for some people. Sometimes people don't want an extra power. Plus, again, without simple magic items the ones with amazing at-will powers don't feel as special. They become the baseline and you have to make even cooler magic items to award something special. And not every game has the same level of magic. Many settings make lesser magic items common; [I]Eberron[/I] for one, and [I]Dragonlance[/I] and the [I]Realms[/I] both seem rife with minor magic weapons. In those cases you want a simple magic item that's still magic but not not a flaming sword of fire. In my experience, even a +1 longsword can be special if it is presented as being special. If it's just "here's a +1 longsword" it will always be lame, but if you say "here's [I]Ice[/I], forged of Valyrian steel over four centuries ago during the Age of Heroes." then the sword will be special and memorable even if it is just +1. [/QUOTE]
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Two suggestions for handling magic items in 5e. (I'm sure these have all been said before but I haven't been keeping track.)
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