D&D General Weapons should break left and right

[Hussar]

That is a great magic item and a very cool idea and I would like to have that instead of +1 sword any day of the week, but sometimes, someone just wants to have a better weapon.

If that was true, I'd likely not have any real problems. But, the second I allow magic items to be bought, interesting goes straight out the window in favor of practicality. In all the years since 3e when you could build or buy magic items, on forward, not one single time have I seen a player buy magic items that weren't primarily just practical and almost always just flat pluses - either to hit, damage, AC, saves or stats. 99% of the magic items in the DMG might as well not even exist as far as any player I've ever seen is concerned.

 

[M_Natas]

If that was true, I'd likely not have any real problems. But, the second I allow magic items to be bought, interesting goes straight out the window in favor of practicality. In all the years since 3e when you could build or buy magic items, on forward, not one single time have I seen a player buy magic items that weren't primarily just practical and almost always just flat pluses - either to hit, damage, AC, saves or stats. 99% of the magic items in the DMG might as well not even exist as far as any player I've ever seen is concerned.

Than just don't sell those +x items? Like, in my current campaign I run I have some magic shops and stalls, none sells +x Items.

 

[GrimCo]

If that was true, I'd likely not have any real problems. But, the second I allow magic items to be bought, interesting goes straight out the window in favor of practicality. In all the years since 3e when you could build or buy magic items, on forward, not one single time have I seen a player buy magic items that weren't primarily just practical and almost always just flat pluses - either to hit, damage, AC, saves or stats. 99% of the magic items in the DMG might as well not even exist as far as any player I've ever seen is concerned.

It might be due to style of play. I'll give you two examples. One of my friends runs PF1. It's all about combat, almost 80% of every session I've played in his campaigns were - combat. So, what did we buy or make? Items that boosted combat capabilities. Were those boring? Hell yeah they were. Most of the time it was - +x armor,weapon, shield, +x to main stat, +x to spell DC. Then it's stuff that adds resistances, or various types of damage or boost class abilities.

Other friend who is mostly DMing in my primary group, runs totally different kind of games. Role play heavy, 3-4 session in a row without single combat are quite normal, most sessions with combat have 1-2 meaningfull encounters only, with rare "H&S session" thrown once in a while to spice things up. Since combat isn't main focus, interesting magic items that are just there for fun and which at best can be usefull situationaly are more common. Some magic items are just there for the gag, like cursing staff ( it spews profanities that would make average drunken dockworker blush) or ring of mighty potence ( you guess where you wear it, but user becomes very popular with the ladies). Sure, my character does have rip off lightsaber, but it also has that ring, and eavesdropper earings (you can hear whispered conversations from 100ft like you stand right next to someone).

 

[Hussar]

Some magic items are just there for the gag, like cursing staff ( it spews profanities that would make average drunken dockworker blush) or ring of mighty potence

Yes, but, did you buy those items or find them?

Look, again, I'm not really looking for a fix to be honest. I know this is 100% a ME problem. The players like it. They have no problems with it and seem to gravitate towards it every single time, so, obviously it's pretty clearly what they want. Who am I to wee in someone else's cornflakes?

It's just one of those sort of proud nail things in D&D that I just ignore for the most part.

 

[GrimCo]

Yes, but, did you buy those items or find them?

Mix. Very few were found since we rarely do classic dungeon looting, some bought, some were rewards. Ring was created by my character, along with few other items (except my sword, all others were just fun gimmicks with situational usefulness). Point is, if you shift focus away from combat, quirky and fun items become more interesting to players. Especially if they can use it in creative ways. Not one item in this campaign is regular +x item.

 

[LordBP]

Random items remind me of Diablo. You would get tons of random magic items, some were good, some were ok, some were just crap to sell. Sure, items had durability, but once you found good stuff, you repaired it. Most anoying items in Diablo were good weapons and armors that were ethereal. You find it, it has awesome stats, even sockets, but it has reduced durability and cannot be repaired. So, you either don't use good items for sockets or you use it sparingly.

Ultima Online had something similar, but when you repaired an item the max durability decreased and at some point, the item would break and couldn't be fixed.

Most people would horde the good items they found and only use them for certain things (PvP or really hard monsters) as at some point, they wouldn't have the good items any longer.

The upside to this, it did create a pretty good economy as items would get taken out after a while.

 

[Umbran]

If that was true, I'd likely not have any real problems. But, the second I allow magic items to be bought, interesting goes straight out the window in favor of practicality.

That's to be expected.
If you present any significant variety for purchase, you turn it into an extension of the resource management game. Buying them becomes a question of how much bang they get for the GP.

 

[Hussar]

That's to be expected.
If you present any significant variety for purchase, you turn it into an extension of the resource management game. Buying them becomes a question of how much bang they get for the GP.

Oh, again, I totally understand why players do it. Heck, I probably do it to some degree when I am a player too. It's not like I don't understand the reasoning. I just don't like it very much.

Like, why buy winged boots (uncommon) when a Broom of Flying is faster, can work independently and doesn't have a time limit, all for the same price? Oh, and the Broom isn't attunement, so, you can save your attunement slots for other goodies. Or, a Carpet of Flying, which is Very Rare, meaning you can buy about ten Brooms of Flying for the same price.

So, gee, shock, all I see are PC's buying Brooms of Flying.

 

[Horwath]

If that was true, I'd likely not have any real problems. But, the second I allow magic items to be bought, interesting goes straight out the window in favor of practicality. In all the years since 3e when you could build or buy magic items, on forward, not one single time have I seen a player buy magic items that weren't primarily just practical and almost always just flat pluses - either to hit, damage, AC, saves or stats. 99% of the magic items in the DMG might as well not even exist as far as any player I've ever seen is concerned.

well, people are practical, or atleast the should be.

before any luxuries, you need your basics sorted out.
and sure, some goofy magic item might be cool for roleplaying in tavern, maybe even help you there a bit, but it will do F all for you in a dungeon or survival in a swamp.

maybe limit more max GP that can be spent on an item, that will leave more GP to go on more "fun" items.

 

[Umbran]

Oh, again, I totally understand why players do it. Heck, I probably do it to some degree when I am a player too. It's not like I don't understand the reasoning. I just don't like it very much.

Like, why buy winged boots (uncommon) when a Broom of Flying is faster, can work independently and doesn't have a time limit, all for the same price? Oh, and the Broom isn't attunement, so, you can save your attunement slots for other goodies. Or, a Carpet of Flying, which is Very Rare, meaning you can buy about ten Brooms of Flying for the same price.

So, gee, shock, all I see are PC's buying Brooms of Flying.

Maybe not the greatest example, as I would not consider a broom intrinsically less interesting than boots.

The more solid comparison would be "Do I buy a +2 weapon, or a +1 weapon with an enhancement that is only occasionally better than another +1?" And why buy an Arrow of Gazebo Slaying when you aren't really expecting to ever run into a Gazebo that you need to kill?