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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 4599868" data-attributes="member: 66434">There are two separate instances regarding the feel of magic as it pertains to D&D play. The first is from the perspective of the player and the second is from the perspective of a fictitious character within a fantasy world.  To the player at the table, that sense of wonder at discovering magical items and thier function when first encountering them  is difficult if not impossible to maintain. Experienced players are familliar with the workings of such items after years of play and so the standard array of items become all too ho-hum and expected. Keeping the player mystified by the workings of magic requires a constant influx of non-standard magic to keep them guessing which can amount to a lot of work. To a character within a fantasy world magic will be as wonderous as it is rare and unknown. If the vast majority of magical items are available for sale or can be constructed by the typical adventurer then what was once magic simply becomes designer gear. 3E brought about this style of magic with the detailed item creation rules. Suddenly any adventurer with the right feats, and resources could make items that were magical, and functional. Made to order gear became standard (RAW only-subject to individual tweaking) and thus wonderous items became standard gear, not only to the players but to their characters as well.  I remember a section on magical items from the 1E DMG that talked about the rarity of or even unique nature of certain items. It was suggested that perhaps only a few or even one of certain items might exist within the campaign world. Lets take a typical wonderous item such as a pair of boots of speed for example. Suppose these items were crafted long ago by a famous elven wizard. Only three pairs are known to exist and one of those pairs is owned by a well known retired adventurer. While exploring a ruined city, the PC's discover a pair of these boots in the lair of some beastie. How valuable and treasured a find will this be? On the other hand if these boots can be cranked out by a party member with some time, gold and a Keebler elf sweatshop then they will probably get tossed in the pile of other goodies to sell because everyone in the party who wants such an item probably already has it.  The 4E design that was supposed to put an end to the reliance on magical gear could have made magical items actually magical again but it didn't. Magic items are still just designer gear like they were in 3E with a narrower selection of must have slotted items and larger percentage of add-hoc doodads. If you add the ability to squish unwanted gear into magical poop to fertilize other items with then its easy to see where the magic has gone. That ooh-ahh feeling from simple magic items may be next to impossible to get back for the players but making magic rare and not so easily obtainable can help bring back that feeling for the characters.</blockquote>

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