I am aware of the Sane Prices for Magic Items opus. It is important work.
But is just blows me away that WOTC could not check over the true power levels of magic items. There are so many that are way out of whack with their Rarity. I am looking at a few that are obvious.
Anything that gives Non-Concentration Flight must be considered Rare, not Uncommon.
A Bag of Holding, an Uncommon item, is superior to the Rare Heward's Handy Haversack, in all aspects, except for the carrying weight of 15 pounds to 5 pounds. But if you have most of your worldly goods in the Bag, weight considerations becomes irrelevant anyway.
A Luckstone, giving a +1 to all saves and ability checks, is incredibly useful, especially for chars that focus on skill-based utility. That should be Rare.
As a DM, I have the ability to control the flow of magic items, so the point is really moot. But in some games in which I play, many DM's create magic item supermarkets. That has been addressed before as ludicrous, but it persists. For those DM's that continue to do that, a real effort must be made to make them understand the true Rarity/Power ratio for so many items. This is especially important for inexperienced DM's.
There's a false assumption in trying to equate rarity with power. In general, with some items, that's true. But not everything neatly fits into this category. The scarcity of an object is just as important.
There's a false assumption in trying to equate rarity with power. In general, with some items, that's true. But not everything neatly fits into this category. The scarcity of an object is just as important.
I will agree that the actual scarcity of an item does increase its value. I am pretty sure Boots of Elvenkind would be wildly valuable in a game setting where Elves are very rare themselves. But the issue to me is that the vast majority of the items, and from WOTC itself, is that the more Rare an item, the more powerful it will be, in general.
I would say that rarity is not at all connected to power, except at the highest levels. It is part of the law of supply and demand. If an enchanter (or group that works together to create a magical item) develops the ability to make something, the sovereign will think this is great and ask for scores or hundreds of the item for his top folks to possess. The enchanter will be supplied with the goods and supported while he makes the order. One pitfall is that (s)he may begin to feel as a slave, required to only pursue this task. High strung mages and other high-level characters want to pursue other interests.
So it would be very natural for Boots of Elvenkind to be more common in an Elven culture than their power suggests. Elves live for a very long time, so an Elven craftsman that had the skills to make this item could easily create hundreds over a lifetime. And (s)he would pass this skill along to others. It would be likely that every Elven scout would have a pair.
The top tier items, such as a Staff of Power, would still be very rare in my view. An item of this type was created by an individual that had endured a long and arduous process of study and practice. Creating them would be a long and laborious process, possibly fraught with dangers. The individual that achieved this feat would have the staff he wished to create and likely wouldn't be interested in seeing other capable mages also having them. So absent a strong motivation for him to create more, he's probably done. One questions might be, how good are his notes for another to create one? Is he sufficiently ego-driven to wish his accomplishment documented in this manner?
And then there are items that would require divine intervention to create. Items that are tied to Deities would be as rare as the Deity wanted it to be; and that would likely be pretty rare.
So just because an item is powerful doesn't mean it would be rare from the point of view of a collective desire for a society to have plenty of "that" around to serve the society.
I was also struck by the Heward's Handy Haversack item being inferior to a BoH. My thinking is that once the original creators worked out the process for making HHH, they tried to do the same thing and make messenger bags with the same property. In doing so, they found that making the BoH produced a better item, so they stopped making HHH. And the HHH became more rare than the BoH. But since the BoH is a better item, it should cost more, regardless of rarity, unless you are dealing with a "collector."
Good luck and Enjoy the Game.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Rarity just means scarcity, something could be more valuable and more abundant. Something could have arbitrary collectors value for being scarce while having no actual significance, like that potato chip in the image of Jesus Christ, super duper rare... and useless.
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I am aware of the Sane Prices for Magic Items opus. It is important work.
But is just blows me away that WOTC could not check over the true power levels of magic items. There are so many that are way out of whack with their Rarity. I am looking at a few that are obvious.
Anything that gives Non-Concentration Flight must be considered Rare, not Uncommon.
A Bag of Holding, an Uncommon item, is superior to the Rare Heward's Handy Haversack, in all aspects, except for the carrying weight of 15 pounds to 5 pounds. But if you have most of your worldly goods in the Bag, weight considerations becomes irrelevant anyway.
A Luckstone, giving a +1 to all saves and ability checks, is incredibly useful, especially for chars that focus on skill-based utility. That should be Rare.
As a DM, I have the ability to control the flow of magic items, so the point is really moot. But in some games in which I play, many DM's create magic item supermarkets. That has been addressed before as ludicrous, but it persists. For those DM's that continue to do that, a real effort must be made to make them understand the true Rarity/Power ratio for so many items. This is especially important for inexperienced DM's.
Yeah, I agree with you there.
Enjoy my magic items, spells, monsters, my race, and a few feats. And GIVE ME FEEDBACK... or else.
Like what I say?
⬐ Just press this little guy right here.
I'd just ignore rarity and due magic items on a case by case basis. Sovereign Glue is legendary, but can have less effect than a +1 weapon.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
There's a false assumption in trying to equate rarity with power. In general, with some items, that's true. But not everything neatly fits into this category. The scarcity of an object is just as important.
I will agree that the actual scarcity of an item does increase its value. I am pretty sure Boots of Elvenkind would be wildly valuable in a game setting where Elves are very rare themselves. But the issue to me is that the vast majority of the items, and from WOTC itself, is that the more Rare an item, the more powerful it will be, in general.
I would say that rarity is not at all connected to power, except at the highest levels. It is part of the law of supply and demand. If an enchanter (or group that works together to create a magical item) develops the ability to make something, the sovereign will think this is great and ask for scores or hundreds of the item for his top folks to possess. The enchanter will be supplied with the goods and supported while he makes the order. One pitfall is that (s)he may begin to feel as a slave, required to only pursue this task. High strung mages and other high-level characters want to pursue other interests.
So it would be very natural for Boots of Elvenkind to be more common in an Elven culture than their power suggests. Elves live for a very long time, so an Elven craftsman that had the skills to make this item could easily create hundreds over a lifetime. And (s)he would pass this skill along to others. It would be likely that every Elven scout would have a pair.
The top tier items, such as a Staff of Power, would still be very rare in my view. An item of this type was created by an individual that had endured a long and arduous process of study and practice. Creating them would be a long and laborious process, possibly fraught with dangers. The individual that achieved this feat would have the staff he wished to create and likely wouldn't be interested in seeing other capable mages also having them. So absent a strong motivation for him to create more, he's probably done. One questions might be, how good are his notes for another to create one? Is he sufficiently ego-driven to wish his accomplishment documented in this manner?
And then there are items that would require divine intervention to create. Items that are tied to Deities would be as rare as the Deity wanted it to be; and that would likely be pretty rare.
So just because an item is powerful doesn't mean it would be rare from the point of view of a collective desire for a society to have plenty of "that" around to serve the society.
I was also struck by the Heward's Handy Haversack item being inferior to a BoH. My thinking is that once the original creators worked out the process for making HHH, they tried to do the same thing and make messenger bags with the same property. In doing so, they found that making the BoH produced a better item, so they stopped making HHH. And the HHH became more rare than the BoH. But since the BoH is a better item, it should cost more, regardless of rarity, unless you are dealing with a "collector."
Good luck and Enjoy the Game.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Rarity just means scarcity, something could be more valuable and more abundant. Something could have arbitrary collectors value for being scarce while having no actual significance, like that potato chip in the image of Jesus Christ, super duper rare... and useless.