The Souljourner said:
I like the changes. Like reapersaurus said, it's nice that a character's actual abilities matter now. Before, when you could get +10 to a skill for like 2000gp, why would you care if you spent skillpoints on it? With that one item, you get the skill of a 7th level character who has maxed out the skill.
Actually, the real problem with the skill system is not that magic items were too potent in 3E, it was that character got too few skill points. So, most characters tend to have a few potent skills at most and cannot do the most basic of other things (like Climb, Swim, or Ride).
The Souljourner said:
Karinsdad, I think you're way too concerned with tradition. I think tradition is all well and good when it doesn't interfere with playing the game. Some of the magic items from 2.0 would interfere with 3.x if they stayed the same. In 2.0 they were ok, because the DM always got to choose what items went into a campaign. Now with magic item creation, he can't always.
I think the items are still fine. What is wrong with an Elvencloak that actually camouflages a character?
What is wrong with a ring that actually allows a character to jump 30 feet?
It is not a matter of being concerned about tradition. It is a matter of change for the sake of change. The 1E / 2E Elvencloak and Rings of Jumping were totally fine, regardless of whether the DM handed out the item or the player purposely went seeking it.
They were not unbalanced. Suddenly, they are nerfed in 3E. Definitely not unbalanced now since they are less potent. In 3.5, instead of increasing the price of the item, they nerfed it so much that it really isn't worth persuing. Sure, if you happen to find such an item, fine. But, most players will be more interested in getting +1 weapons or wands with charges of real spells than getting +5 to a single skill they will probably rarely use anyway.
Elvencloaks used to be special items that players were willing to go on quests for. Now, Cloaks of Elvenkind are minor items, less useful than a +1 Ring of Protection. IMO.
The Souljourner said:
I think that's one of the main problems with 3.x - allowing PCs to create magic items. Potions and scrolls and wands and staffs? Ok. Anything with charges is difficult to abuse. But constant magic items, especially wondrous items, are easy to abuse, and that's why there have to be strict guidelines on prices and how magic items get made.
The problem here is not with the creation of magic items.
It is the proliferation of wealth in the game.
And, the game designers do not understand that, so instead of increasing the prices of items that are too powerful, they decrease the power of the item.
As a rough rule of thumb, a CP = $1. A SP = $10. A GP = $100.
When you have 5th level characters with 10,000 GP worth of stuff, each character is worth $1 million.
In a matter of months, characters go from being dirt poor to millionaires.
At 20th level, maybe two years of game time, they become billionaires.
That's basically ridiculous. The concept of gaining 2 SP and 4CP at 5th level off a dead Orc is one to make most players grumble (or minimally laugh).
Economics is totally skewed in DND. Just look at the wages of hirelings. It's ludicrous when compared to the amount of wealth that PCs find in a single minor treasure horde. If the vast majority of the population had so little wealth, how could the upper classes have so much (it's hard to get blood out of a stone). Where would the dragon get his 50,000 GP horde? Since most peasants do not even carry around a single gold piece, he would have had to kill tens of thousands of peasants and wiped out hundreds of caravans to gain that much wealth.
The entire economic system is internally non-consistent. And because it is, it makes crafting magic items easier than it would be if PCs did not acquire wealth so easily.
