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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 4587222" data-attributes="member: 907">A big chunk of the lack of "wonder" in 4e items comes via 3e and its item costs. Assigning a gp value to every item is essentially turning the items into a point-based system, and point-based systems tend to have a lot less flavor in them.For example, look at the ring of shooting stars in 3e. It's a pretty cool item, letting you cast dancing lights or light with varying frequencies as well as a pair of cool offensive powers (ball lightning and shooting star). But it costs 50,000 gp, making it the kind of thing you find at 15th to 20th level. At that level, lightning balls that hit for a total of 4 to 6 d6es once per night and what's essentialy a 7d6 fireball (DC 13 for half) paired with 3d6 impact damage (except they're both static values) twice per week just isn't that exciting. From a power level point of view, the +5 to AC you'd get from a ring of protection +5 is way better. Hell, the +4 you can get from little over half the price is also better, or the defensive benefits of a ring of evasion. So, you won't be seeing many 3e characters with a ring of shooting stars.This is also the same reasoning that probably makes wands of cure light wounds the most common magic item in the D&D universe - they are so dirt cheap for what they do that not using them to get back on your feet after a fight makes no sense at all.I think this is the same thing that happens when you compare point-based and class-based systems. Class-based systems allow, to a greater degree, that you include some nice flavor or situational abilities as well, that in a point-based system would get eschewed in favor of greater ability in your area of specialization.For example, take my Warlock character in WoW. Her focus is on spells that inflict lots of ongoing damage, life-draining spells, and summoning a demon that keeps enemies away from her. But she also has a couple of utility spells, like Water Breathing, or summoning a demonic eye that she can send out to scout on the surrounding area. If I had built the character with a point-based system, I would never have chosen abilities like these, but since I have them anyway I might as well use them, and I feel they add quite a bit of flavor.I think they were on the right track with things like these when they talked about "siloing" abilities in 4e design, but the implementation seemed only to extend to turning a bunch of stuff into rituals, and to some extent separating utility powers from attack powers (though most utility powers are still combat powers).</blockquote>

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