I'm thinking about the practical difference of a PC having five smaller magic items vs one big scalable magic item that does five things.
People seem to freak out over powerful magic items but I don't see the practical difference. In fact, it seems to me that five small items that produce a similar net value could be better. If I lose one of five magic items I'm better off than if I lose my one item that does five things. Further, I can swap out one of my five things but likely can't alter a pre-made, big-ticket item.
In both cases I can add power over time to help maintain balance.
(I do see the problem with dropping a fully functioning legendary item in the hands of one member of a level 3 party.)
Thanks to all for the help in thinking this through.
If you have to attune to the items, having all the abilities in one piece is very good. You don't have to burn all of your attunement slots. But, you can't share the items with party members.
Having all the bonuses on one item can also be much better. One +3 weapon is better than three +1's.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
Five things will be worse if they need attunement, as you can only attune to 3 things (Unless you're an artificer). We would need a few examples, as it depends on the item
so if i have a longsword +3, goggles of night, a ring of spell storing (and a generous caster friend), boots of elvenkind, and a carpet of flying, i can do lots of excellent stuff for one attunemt.
it's hard to do direct comparison because many of the named legendary items do "extra stuff" but it's easy to argue that some of those items do less in terms of utility.
(i do think the attunement argument is 100% valid, by the way. appearance would be a factor too. maybe one item draws less attention or can be hidden easier than several, depending on what they are.)
it just seems with DM care or scaling (i suppose there's no reason in a game to take any legendary weapon or artifact and turn it into a scalable item), balance can be maintained while introducing "really cool stuff"
Discussion on theory for DM...
I'm thinking about the practical difference of a PC having five smaller magic items vs one big scalable magic item that does five things.
People seem to freak out over powerful magic items but I don't see the practical difference. In fact, it seems to me that five small items that produce a similar net value could be better. If I lose one of five magic items I'm better off than if I lose my one item that does five things. Further, I can swap out one of my five things but likely can't alter a pre-made, big-ticket item.
In both cases I can add power over time to help maintain balance.
(I do see the problem with dropping a fully functioning legendary item in the hands of one member of a level 3 party.)
Thanks to all for the help in thinking this through.
If you have to attune to the items, having all the abilities in one piece is very good. You don't have to burn all of your attunement slots. But, you can't share the items with party members.
Having all the bonuses on one item can also be much better. One +3 weapon is better than three +1's.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
Five things will be worse if they need attunement, as you can only attune to 3 things (Unless you're an artificer). We would need a few examples, as it depends on the item
sure... that's a fair point.
so if i have a longsword +3, goggles of night, a ring of spell storing (and a generous caster friend), boots of elvenkind, and a carpet of flying, i can do lots of excellent stuff for one attunemt.
it's hard to do direct comparison because many of the named legendary items do "extra stuff" but it's easy to argue that some of those items do less in terms of utility.
(i do think the attunement argument is 100% valid, by the way. appearance would be a factor too. maybe one item draws less attention or can be hidden easier than several, depending on what they are.)
it just seems with DM care or scaling (i suppose there's no reason in a game to take any legendary weapon or artifact and turn it into a scalable item), balance can be maintained while introducing "really cool stuff"
thanks for the feedback.