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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Worlds of Design: When There's Too Many Magic Items
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<blockquote data-quote="Martin Ell" data-source="post: 7768190" data-attributes="member: 6901603"><p>Sorry, i'm a bit late to this discussion. Thought I'd throw in my 2c - as always, please feel free to disagree (bonus points given to people who can cogently state *why* they disagree).</p><p>Limiting usage: Easy to do, but only exacerbates the stated problem of characters having too many low-powered items.</p><p>Destroy them: Not so bad if it's a consumable item - that's expected - but when permanent items get destroyed, it generally alienates the players, or frustrates them at the very least. You can build a mechanic for this that players accept: armour might be damaged by weapons of equal or greater potency, magical fire can damage wood or cloth items and so on. As long as the players understand and accept that the risk exists, it's usable.</p><p>Enforcers: Why? Seriously, any GM that pulls that trick *deserves* to lose their players unless thay can build it into the story (e.g. You've found the legendary Sword of Damos Westfield, mage slayer, and rumor spreads that you have it. The local fighters' guild wants it as a trophy, the local wizards' guild wants it publically destroyed, and every thief in the neighborhood knows it's worth more than ten thousand - and you're only a group of level 2 characters. Fear of enforcers therefore becomes part of the ongoing story and used to create dramatic tension - they don't actually need to be used.</p><p></p><p>As a general thing, as a GM, I don't mind giving out magic items - but they're uncommon, and therefore valued. Some of them are a bit offbeat. Some of them can be given as unique gifts to guilds or nobles in return for favors, others can be given to henchmen who've distinguished themselves, others can be sold or traded. By making magic items uncommon, they're always in demand - but the local economy may not have sufficient available coin for buying them - do they barter them for something else if its available, or perhaps they'll want to head to Big City to sell them - and thus starts another adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Martin Ell, post: 7768190, member: 6901603"] Sorry, i'm a bit late to this discussion. Thought I'd throw in my 2c - as always, please feel free to disagree (bonus points given to people who can cogently state *why* they disagree). Limiting usage: Easy to do, but only exacerbates the stated problem of characters having too many low-powered items. Destroy them: Not so bad if it's a consumable item - that's expected - but when permanent items get destroyed, it generally alienates the players, or frustrates them at the very least. You can build a mechanic for this that players accept: armour might be damaged by weapons of equal or greater potency, magical fire can damage wood or cloth items and so on. As long as the players understand and accept that the risk exists, it's usable. Enforcers: Why? Seriously, any GM that pulls that trick *deserves* to lose their players unless thay can build it into the story (e.g. You've found the legendary Sword of Damos Westfield, mage slayer, and rumor spreads that you have it. The local fighters' guild wants it as a trophy, the local wizards' guild wants it publically destroyed, and every thief in the neighborhood knows it's worth more than ten thousand - and you're only a group of level 2 characters. Fear of enforcers therefore becomes part of the ongoing story and used to create dramatic tension - they don't actually need to be used. As a general thing, as a GM, I don't mind giving out magic items - but they're uncommon, and therefore valued. Some of them are a bit offbeat. Some of them can be given as unique gifts to guilds or nobles in return for favors, others can be given to henchmen who've distinguished themselves, others can be sold or traded. By making magic items uncommon, they're always in demand - but the local economy may not have sufficient available coin for buying them - do they barter them for something else if its available, or perhaps they'll want to head to Big City to sell them - and thus starts another adventure. [/QUOTE]
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