Anyone find that PCs are disheartened by this reward?

I only do point buy/standard array and it seems that an item like this that raises a stat to 19 kinda makes their investment in that stat during character creation feel wasted. Like, if I was a fighter who put points into strength and then I got this, I could feel cheated as those points I put in strength are now "wasted" and should have been put somewhere else.

Has anyone had experience with giving their players this item? How was it received?

Also, what do you think of the idea of changing them so their power is "+2 to Strength, to a maximum of 19". That way people who invest in strength can still get a low level bonus out of them (likely bumping str from 16 to 18) but it enhances their character creation choice instead of dismissing it. Also anyone could use them to get a useful bonus, without over shadowing the player who invested in strength.

Gauntlets of Ogre power should NOT be taken by the Fighter.

They do wonders for a Cleric.  Particularly for a cleric that has Heavy Armor proficiency and a Strength of 14.  Suddenly they can put the gauntlets on and wear Full Plate.  He can hit harder, carry more, etc. etc.

They also work really well for your minions, if you go that route.

A long time ago, gauntlets of Ogre Power gave their bearer 18/00 strength.  This was one step below hill giant strength (19). Back then, somewhere around a stat ranking of 12 or 13 and at increments of 1, the stat began increasing its bonuses and usefulness.

I have used the 5e version and found it to lead to looking at numbers instead of "this is a cool item".   Going forward, I think I will just set it at "the wearer now has 20 str", this would then let the fighter or whomever choose feats instead of bumping up ASIs.

I think your +2 version would be fine. Good for the fighter while also quite good for Mog's cleric.

Quote from Koradgee >>

 A long time ago, gauntlets of Ogre Power gave their bearer 18/00 strength.  This was one step below hill giant strength (19). Back then, somewhere around a stat ranking of 12 or 13 and at increments of 1, the stat began increasing its bonuses and usefulness.

I have used the 5e version and found it to lead to looking at numbers instead of "this is a cool item".   Going forward, I think I will just set it at "the wearer now has 20 str", this would then let the fighter or whomever choose feats instead of bumping up ASIs.

 
Back then there were no ASIs or Feats at level up either.

I don’t think it would be bad to find. It would be pretty nice to know I can spend my asi on things besides bumping my str. A 19 isn’t a 20, but it’s good enough that it opens up my options.

It is actually a really good item, and one that most parties would not give to their fighter.  Instead, give it to the cleric, the ranger, or whomever is a borderline front-line type not needing STR as the main stat.  They immediately hit harder, can carry more, and likely received a major increase in their STR.  

I've been DM for two games in which these gloves were found. Both campaigns used standard array for ability scores. In both a cleric (one was life domain, the other tempest domain) grabbed the gauntlets with both hands and wouldn't let go. In the campaign that's still running the gauntlets are still in use at level 15 with the character using them not having found a better item to be attuned to. Which isn't bad for an uncommon item found at level 4.

Gauntlets are great for people who want to hit things with weapons as a secondary skill. People who hit things with weapons as a primary skill usually have a stat of 18+ by the time they see gauntlets so they don't have much effect (it's useful if you went dex primary and want to carry things or wear plate, but that's an edge case).

Giving it to a monk for grappling is also a potentially great option for a party. 

The strength points might not be wasted if they were fighting say, a beholder. That main eye with the anti-magic can be a real pain if you rely too heavily on magic items like the gauntlets of ogre power. I'm not super familiar with the every monster and potential enemy, but any with spells or abilities to nullify magic items would make those strength points worth it.

Quote from Garr_Feyld >>

Anyone find that PCs are disheartened by this reward?

I only do point buy/standard array and it seems that an item like this that raises a stat to 19 kinda makes their investment in that stat during character creation feel wasted. Like, if I was a fighter who put points into strength and then I got this, I could feel cheated as those points I put in strength are now "wasted" and should have been put somewhere else.

Has anyone had experience with giving their players this item? How was it received?

Also, what do you think of the idea of changing them so their power is "+2 to Strength, to a maximum of 19". That way people who invest in strength can still get a low level bonus out of them (likely bumping str from 16 to 18) but it enhances their character creation choice instead of dismissing it. Also anyone could use them to get a useful bonus, without over shadowing the player who invested in strength.

 
I dunno, I've always been very turned-off by this meta-approach to the game. If you're worried players might feel "disheartened" that a magic item would "waste" an "investment" they made, I mean... wow, entitled much? Also, just don't include the item? If it comes up on a random table, ignore it and pick something else. Go with your homebrew option.

But consider that an item's usefulness to a game can be a lot more than how it affects some numbers on a spreadsheet. They can always try selling it for gold, trading it for another magic item, or a powerful enemy could know they have it and try and take it from them. There's like a dozen more ways this or any other magic item can be useful to a campaign beyond a stat bloc.

Quote from Garr_Feyld >>

Anyone find that PCs are disheartened by this reward?

I only do point buy/standard array and it seems that an item like this that raises a stat to 19 kinda makes their investment in that stat during character creation feel wasted. Like, if I was a fighter who put points into strength and then I got this, I could feel cheated as those points I put in strength are now "wasted" and should have been put somewhere else.

Has anyone had experience with giving their players this item? How was it received?

Also, what do you think of the idea of changing them so their power is "+2 to Strength, to a maximum of 19". That way people who invest in strength can still get a low level bonus out of them (likely bumping str from 16 to 18) but it enhances their character creation choice instead of dismissing it. Also anyone could use them to get a useful bonus, without over shadowing the player who invested in strength.

 In my opinion, the right way to award this item is for you as the DM to homebrew the item to give +4 strength and raise the strength cap to 22 instead of setting the strength to 19.

I agree that Gauntlets of Ogre Power shouldn't be taken by the STR fighter. Setting clerics, monks, etc aside, this item worked wonders for an arcane archer with a STR score of 8. This archer was forced to (badly) dual-wield scimitars in melee until she reached level 7 , but as soon as she saw these gauntlets in a monster's loot, she grabbed them, threw away her scimitars, and got out the greataxe, +1 that the party hadn't known what to do with for 3 levels. She's level 18 now, and still doesn't go anywhere without those gauntlets (although, of course, she had a local artificer transfer the magic into a pair of silk gloves so that they didn't impede her archery).

That, folks, is how to properly use Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

Quote from KanedaSyndrome >>

Quote from Garr_Feyld >>

Anyone find that PCs are disheartened by this reward?

I only do point buy/standard array and it seems that an item like this that raises a stat to 19 kinda makes their investment in that stat during character creation feel wasted. Like, if I was a fighter who put points into strength and then I got this, I could feel cheated as those points I put in strength are now "wasted" and should have been put somewhere else.

Has anyone had experience with giving their players this item? How was it received?

Also, what do you think of the idea of changing them so their power is "+2 to Strength, to a maximum of 19". That way people who invest in strength can still get a low level bonus out of them (likely bumping str from 16 to 18) but it enhances their character creation choice instead of dismissing it. Also anyone could use them to get a useful bonus, without over shadowing the player who invested in strength.

 

 In my opinion, the right way to award this item is for you as the DM to homebrew the item to give +4 strength and raise the strength cap to 22 instead of setting the strength to 19.

 Uhhm, your solution to a non-existent problem is to take a perfectly good Uncommon magic item and turn it into a slightly weaker version of a Very Rare magic that already exists???  (Belt of Frost Giant Strength)

I’m DM’ing a campaign where the party found a Headband of Intellect. The wizard grabbed it and loves it! She’s still increasing her intelligence score with ASI’s (they’re 8th level now) and at some point she’ll give it to someone else. But until she gets her intelligence up to 20 it’s a boost for her that she is using very effectively!

That’s pretty much the same as a fighter, Paladin, or Ranger taking Gauntlets of Ogre Strength. 

Quote from Mog_Dracov >>

Quote from KanedaSyndrome >>

Quote from Garr_Feyld >>

Anyone find that PCs are disheartened by this reward?

I only do point buy/standard array and it seems that an item like this that raises a stat to 19 kinda makes their investment in that stat during character creation feel wasted. Like, if I was a fighter who put points into strength and then I got this, I could feel cheated as those points I put in strength are now "wasted" and should have been put somewhere else.

Has anyone had experience with giving their players this item? How was it received?

Also, what do you think of the idea of changing them so their power is "+2 to Strength, to a maximum of 19". That way people who invest in strength can still get a low level bonus out of them (likely bumping str from 16 to 18) but it enhances their character creation choice instead of dismissing it. Also anyone could use them to get a useful bonus, without over shadowing the player who invested in strength.

 

 In my opinion, the right way to award this item is for you as the DM to homebrew the item to give +4 strength and raise the strength cap to 22 instead of setting the strength to 19.

 Uhhm, your solution to a non-existent problem is to take a perfectly good Uncommon magic item and turn it into a slightly weaker version of a Very Rare magic that already exists???  (Belt of Frost Giant Strength)

 

 Yeh, I guess that might be a bit over the top, at the same time I don't really agree with the categorization of "uncommon" for this item. An item that has the potential value of 5.5 ASIs to me is not "uncommon" but on the "very rare" spectrum.

Quote from Tim >>

I’m DM’ing a campaign where the party found a Headband of Intellect. The wizard grabbed it and loves it! She’s still increasing her intelligence score with ASI’s (they’re 8th level now) and at some point she’ll give it to someone else. But until she gets her intelligence up to 20 it’s a boost for her that she is using very effectively!

That’s pretty much the same as a fighter, Paladin, or Ranger taking Gauntlets of Ogre Strength. 

 At 8th level her INT isn't already 18?

19 isn't any better than 18.

Often a Wizard will want Warcaster before 8th level. It is arguable whether it is worth an Int of 20.