What classes are 'less' dependent on magic item loot?

[Emirikol]

In our 3.5 games we did away with magic items. The ninja's and whatnot turned out to be really strong. In 4e, I'm wondering which classes will be affected if I do something like this again.

Thoughts?

jh

 

[Doug McCrae]

Will you be giving the PCs the +1 bonus to attacks and defences every 5 levels that the system expects? If not, at high levels the PCs will be significantly weaker than they're supposed to be relative to the monsters. The defender will probably suffer more than other roles as he really needs AC to do his job properly.

 

[drothgery]

... which is to say that in 4e, no class is really significantly more item-dependent than another (except that some classes, or at least some builds, really need a weapon and an implement rather than just one).

 

[Emirikol]

Will you be giving the PCs the +1 bonus to attacks and defences every 5 levels that the system expects? If not, at high levels the PCs will be significantly weaker than they're supposed to be relative to the monsters. The defender will probably suffer more than other roles as he really needs AC to do his job properly.

I would be giving just the usual benefits, but no magical items whatsoever.

I can see defenders being affected by AC, but most agree that defenders are the least necessary class type right?

Probably just drop the xp pool monster "EL" by one at higher levels. Lower it doesn't even seem to matter since characters are so tough.

jh

 

[Zsig]

I can see defenders being affected, but most agree that defenders are the least necessary class type right?

IMO, both your statements are very wrong.

 

[Emirikol]

IMO, both your statements are very wrong.

Which , IYO (or your campaign), is the least necessary class type?

THey're not "my" statements of course, just conjecture from my players and stuff I've read here. My players walked all over KOTS like it was nothing so I'm estimating that levels 4,5 will be similar..and this has been without magic items..but YMMV, especially with less-experienced players

jh

 

[blargney the second]

Leaders would be the least affected. They have the most abilities that don't require them to attack enemies, so the missing attack bonuses don't matter as much.

Btw, leaders & defenders are the most necessary roles for a party to have, followed by strikers then controllers.
-blarg

 

[Zsig]

Which , IYO (or your campaign), is the least necessary class type?

This:

Leaders would be the least affected. They have the most abilities that don't require them to attack enemies, so the missing attack bonuses don't matter as much.

Btw, leaders & defenders are the most necessary roles for a party to have, followed by strikers then controllers.
-blarg

Except for Warlords which are dependent on a weapon to hit their attacks, since most their powers works only on a hit.

Otherwise, I think all classes are equally dependent on items.

 

[blargney the second]

Except for Warlords which are dependent on a weapon to hit their attacks, since most their powers works only on a hit.

Commander's Strike specifically gets around that problem.

 

[Jhaelen]

... which is to say that in 4e, no class is really significantly more item-dependent than another (except that some classes, or at least some builds, really need a weapon and an implement rather than just one).

This. Alle 4E classes are equally dependent on magic items.

The least important role according to the DMG is the striker. Anecdotal evidence from these boards indicates you may get along well without a controller, but imho, that's mostly just true for lower levels.
Defenders are only less important, if there are no controllers or strikers in the group.

Leaders are imho the most important role of all. This will become more noticeable at higher levels and is already noticeable in hard encounters at lower levels. Hard encounters (party level +3 to +4) often have monsters with very high defenses (so you'll need the leader's buffing powers) and tend to last long, which depletes resources (so you'll need the leader's healing powers).