D&D General Weapons should break left and right
- Thread starter loverdrive
- Start date
Hussar
Legend
Well, the thing to remember is that AD&D had actual rules for maneuverability in flying combat. So, turning radius and that sort of thing mattered.
Hussar
Legend
Gee, you don't say. Never? Could it possibly be that your players know that purchasing something like a Broom of Flying isn't worth it because you're going to add in a bunch of extra restrictions, and instead simply choose something else? Gee, shock.
I mean, think about it this way. No one ever says, "Oh, those new rules look really interesting and fun. I want to try those!" All they do is shrug and choose the thing that you're not going to nerf.
But, the whole point of this was never about the power levels of the items. That's not the point. The point is that the players will ALWAYS choose the most practical item. In your game, that means Boots of Flying because Brooms are restricted by additional rules. But, at no point around your players choosing lots of other flying items that might be less effective than brooms or boots, but are more interesting.
Which is the point I've been making all the way along.
Hussar
Legend
Heh. Went and dug up the DMG. I was wrong. My bad. One rule that I don't think ever came up was that rings failed 20% of the time for gnomes, dwarves and halflings. Was there any justification ever given for that?
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
No. They've never done it, so I've never had to rule on it. They have no idea other than it's subpar compared to the boots.
GrimCo
Hero
To a degree. From personal experience, that's usually case when there is heavy focus on the combat in the game. Then standard loadout is usually +x weapon/armor/shield, ring of protection, cloak of resistance, +x item to primary stat, with some variations depending on the class. On the other hand, when combat becomes sparse, then players mix it up a bit and start to choose fun or cool items. Key is - they need to perceive item as useful, be it in meaningful way to help them achieve their goals, be it in using in in fun creative way to prank and troll NPCs.
As a DM who goes mostly with "rule of cool", playing with other DMs of similar mindset, no brooms or boots were ever purchased. For some reason, ability to fly never had that much appeal, at least not on the individual level. On the party level, sure, but that's like having private jet, you use it to save time on travel.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
It went along with their whole resistance to magic piece. Dwarves and Hobbits couldn't be arcane casters, and got save bonuses vs magic.
The Gnome being on that list, however, doesn't make sense.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Huh. I must have nerfed the remote-action piece without even realizing it, as I've never let brooms do anything without a rider on board.
That said, I see I wasn't misremembering about there being a weight limit, namely 182 + (14 x 30) or 602 lbs. after which it has a move rate of 0. I guess you can argue with your DM over whether it can still levitate but not move if loaded with more than 602 lbs.; if I'm the DM, no it can't.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
The bolded is, to me, rather shocking.
Next to invisibility, always-available flight is the best individual ability a character can have! So useful in so many situations, even including combat.
Hussar
Legend
LOL. And why do they think that it's subpar compared to the boots?
But, again, thank you for so clearly illustrating my point. They choose the boots, not because they are interesting or cool, but, because they are the "best" option. Which, again, is entirely my point. At no point would players ever choose something like this:
The Helm of the Headless.
