Why Put magic Items in The PHB?

[Jhaelen]

All the other shopping lists are in the PHB.

Exactly. It's just the next step in a logical development that is currently represented by the MIC.

 

[frankthedm]

SO, where is this quote about "magic Items in The PHB"?

Just about any spell based consuamable or simple enhancement is not unreasonable to have in the PHB. IMHO odder things belong In the DMG though.

 

[delericho]

I don't think that putting the magic items in the PHB would be a good idea. My thinking is nothing to do with sense of wonder, or secret information, or what have you. Rather, it is this: there are a finite number of pages in the PHB. If 50 are being used for magic items, what is going to be cut to make room? It can't all be Gnomes - they're Small.

 

[Nifft]

Presumably:
- Some spells will go
- Some classes will go
- Combat rules will be simpler, and take up less space
- Magic rules will be simpler, and take up less space

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nikosandros]

But still the PHB will be shorter than it currently is... will there be room to fit also magic items?

 

[Doug McCrae]

And also the magic items probably won't take up 50 pages.

Dunno how they're going to fill the DMG though.

 

[Gentlegamer]

As a side note, I hope there is less a list of magic items but tools and guidelines for creating your own magic items of a certain "level" analogous to those being developed for building monsters in 4e. I also hope there are more built in drawbacks to higher "level" magic items (swords that require the blood of the innocent, chance of going insane, etc.).

Let's make magic items "rare and wondrous" again!

 

[delericho]

And also the magic items probably won't take up 50 pages.

The "50 pages" figure was just one I plucked out of thin air. However, the magic items chapter in the 3.5e DMG is 77 pages long, so if we're talking of cutting it to less than 50 pages then we're talking about cutting a lot of material.

I may well be wrong, but it's starting to sound like there's an awful lot less in this 4th Edition than there has been in the current edition (even counting just the Core Rulebooks). I know some of that can be made up by better organisation (a single 'fire' spell that can be templated to every level, for instance), but that only goes so far.

(Actually, on reflection, that last paragraph is a little silly - AFAIK, the 'magic items in the PHB' thing remains an unconfirmed rumour. Still, as Doug refers to it below, I'm going to leave it in.)

 

[Gentlegamer]

As for page count, remember that there will be yearly updates to each book in the series, PHB 2, 3, 4, 5 . . .

You may have to pay each year to get the "full" content in some cases.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Some races will go, but races will be more detailed. Some classes will go but there will be more options. Let's say that cancels out. The combat section in the 3.5 PHB is surprisingly short - 28 pages. I don't think much can be cut there.

The behemoth of the PHB is the magic section. 135 pages in total, 108 of which are separate spell descriptions. I figure you could easily trim 50 pages, maybe more. So many of the spells are unnecessary, and have their own little rules.

Also fewer classes means fewer spells. Maybe no bard, maybe no druid. Rangers probably don't cast spells any more.