I'm making some Ankheg armor for a player who loves Baldur's Gate.
The problem is, the description for 'Breastplate' is being included automatically, and it directly contradicts the description of the item I'm making.
The armor is made from the chitin of a giant bug. (Wait, no, Wizards says it's metal. Sorry Druid, no decent medium armor for you!)
Why is this being put in there? What problem are you trying to solve that's worth creating this conflict?
The similar magic items in the DMG, like Dragon Scale Mail, don't have these descriptions.
Can I make a few suggestions for something that would work in my situation?
Idea 1: Make it optional.
Idea 2: If you were trying to make sure creators put in some kind of a useful description like this, make it help text and advice in the Homebrew creation interface. Nothing is stopping you from providing advice about how to write content that fits the '5e' design guidelines. In fact, I think it would be a great idea - whenever I design a new item, I basically steal the language from other 5e magic items as much as possible so it feels like it belongs.
Idea 3: Make it visually distinct in the Item Details page. If you want to put something like that in there, then at least set it aside from the text I wrote, in some kind of callout box with smaller text, and give it a title that indicates it's a category description. Otherwise, this is directly messing with my Ankheg armor and shields, and I bet this won't be the only time it happens.
I'm making some Ankheg armor for a player who loves Baldur's Gate.
The problem is, the description for 'Breastplate' is being included automatically, and it directly contradicts the description of the item I'm making.
The armor is made from the chitin of a giant bug. (Wait, no, Wizards says it's metal. Sorry Druid, no decent medium armor for you!)
Why is this being put in there? What problem are you trying to solve that's worth creating this conflict?
The similar magic items in the DMG, like Dragon Scale Mail, don't have these descriptions.
Can I make a few suggestions for something that would work in my situation?
Idea 1: Make it optional.
Idea 2: If you were trying to make sure creators put in some kind of a useful description like this, make it help text and advice in the Homebrew creation interface. Nothing is stopping you from providing advice about how to write content that fits the '5e' design guidelines. In fact, I think it would be a great idea - whenever I design a new item, I basically steal the language from other 5e magic items as much as possible so it feels like it belongs.
Idea 3: Make it visually distinct in the Item Details page. If you want to put something like that in there, then at least set it aside from the text I wrote, in some kind of callout box with smaller text, and give it a title that indicates it's a category description. Otherwise, this is directly messing with my Ankheg armor and shields, and I bet this won't be the only time it happens.
Thanks for listening.
Old school knowledge / without all the baggage