Wouldn't it be cool if...

[FreeTheSlaves]

...high level characters were distinguished by their lack of needing magic items.

A bit like Raistlin in Dragonlance (except for the staff of Magius mind you, oh, and that dragon orb) who didn't use magic items because his spells were powerful enough.

Like Raistlin, the higher level characters would have a legendary or sentimental item, a bit like a trade mark.

All non-legendary magic items would have been created as a crutch for non-legendary characters. Legendary items would only be usable by worthy legendary characters. Neat utility items would still circulate.

I figure you would have to make it that higher level characters get the benefit of 'stock' enhancing items as they progress so that they actually become less dependant on their equipment. Hmm, this brain-fart would take some serious work, determining what count as 'stock' enhancers would be the first place to start.

Sound like a good idea?

 

[thullgrim]

your basic "stock" enhanceers are the stat boosters and save items, and the AC adders (natural armor, etc). Not to long ago there were several threads floating about personal items that advance in power as the character does, with a variety of abilities for the item based on what the character wanted it to do. These signature items are usually related to weapons but there is no reason the rules could not be worked into other items.thull

 

[thullgrim]

your basic "stock" enhanceers are the stat boosters and save items, and the AC adders (natural armor, etc). Not to long ago there were several threads floating about personal items that advance in power as the character does, with a variety of abilities for the item based on what the character wanted it to do. These signature items are usually related to weapons but there is no reason the rules could not be worked into other items.thull

 

[Tewligan]

Hmm...so, you're suggesting that, rather than having an actual magic item, a high level character would instead have a magic item's benefit inherent in himself? Like, I guess, becoming able to naturally detect poisons rather than getting a wand that does that? Huh...actually, that IS a pretty cool idea. It would cut down on the tendency of high level characters to look like travelling magic shops, and it puts the focus on the character rather than his stuff.

 

[Jeph]

Instead of giving out GP, give out Hero Points using Four Color to Fantasy. Its pretty broken in many areas, but then, so are a bunch of magic items.

 

[RangerWickett]

Instead of giving out GP, give out Hero Points using Four Color to Fantasy. Its pretty broken in many areas, but then, so are a bunch of magic items.

There you go again, providing publicity for the book (thank you) saying it's broken (that's cool), but not explaining why (damn you!). So, do you want to tell me what's broken about it? We're about to release the revised edition, and I'd like to fix any problems there are before we start selling it.

 

[Jeph]

There you go again, providing publicity for the book (thank you) saying it's broken (that's cool), but not explaining why (damn you!). So, do you want to tell me what's broken about it? We're about to release the revised edition, and I'd like to fix any problems there are before we start selling it.

From my experience with 4ctf via PbP games, the powers can get a bit out of hand. Of course, that's more an inherrant quality of any point-based character creation system, than one of four color to fantasy it's self. Perhaps a cap on the number of times that some powers can be purchased, either relative to total HrP, character level, or absolute, might serve to help a bit. *shrug* It's brokenness isn't a problem if everyone is using it, since then everyone will be able to munch it. But if only one character uses it, or the bad guy's don't have access to it, it can really tip a battle.

Tip as in the iceberg tipping the titanic. Ask reapersaurus about shield bashing and he'll give you the specific character build that swayed my opinion on the subject.

 

[Saepiroth]

I prefer the Mutants & Masterminds system to Four Color to Fantasy. FCtF just feels shoehorned to me.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Thanks for the replies. It does look like a lot of work for the d20 d&d rules. I think I'll tinker away and try it out next campaign.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Returning to our regularly scheduled thread....

4ctf does have rules you could use for this. I think they're aimed more at the comic/superhero type powers, so you may not want quite that kind of feel.

A couple of books spring to mind if you're looking to spend the money: AEG's "Good" has a "faith point" system that is used to replicate spell-like abilities; though this doesn't really replace magic items in any way. It does, however, reward the PCs for doing good acts, instead of just assuming that they'll want to do them.

The Game Mechanics have PDFs for swords and staves which level up with the characters. I haven't read them, but the reviews are good, and there's a combined print version coming out soon.

If you're looking for something fairly different, the Second World Sourcebook has what are called "warden powers." These are essentially spell-like abilities which are bound into the character, and therefore take one of the magic item slots. Binding an armour boost, for instance, would mean that you couldn't wear magical armor. Another option (more for modern games) that is presented is specialized training to provide the enhancement bonuses to armor, weapons, initiative, etc. Both the powers and training have xp and gold costs just like magic items.

Finally, what I did for a swordsman in my campaign was to adapt the leveling for a samurai's daisho (sp?) from Oriental Adventures. Looking through the DMG could probably give you a pretty good idea of the power scaling, too.

It seems like the biggest trick would be to get the players used to the idea of not having armloads of magic items. Maybe we should just get rid of bags of holding....