I’ve come to believe that there is something lacking in how magical items are distributed and used. In a way, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I know, I’m suggesting we apply logic to a world where magic is real, but stay with me for a couple minutes.
Magical items fall into one of three categories. First, there are the consumable items, such as potions and scrolls. Next, there are the items that you might refer to as utility magical items, things that were created to perform menial tasks to make life easier for the general public. These might include a stone that can be used to heat up your food instead of building a fire, or a bullseye lantern with an ever-burning flame inside it, or a coin purse that contains one coin of each denomination every morning when you first open it. Last, there are the items that are designed to enhance a person’s ability to perform, such as to attack, to cast, to hide, to protect yourself, to fly, to climb, to breath under water, or to convince animals or undead that you want to be their friend. Included in this category would be all types of armor or weapons, wands, staffs, cloaks, musical instruments, and just about all the rest of the items you might find in a magical world that don’t fit into either of the first two categories. In my opinion, all of these should fall under the attunement guidelines, and the number of items you can attune to should depend on a character’s charisma and constitution, or maybe their charisma and wisdom, or charisma, wisdom and intelligence. I haven’t thought that part of all this out yet. In my opinion, if a level three barbarian picks up a +1 great sword, attunes to it, and proceeds to carry it with him until he’s level twenty, that sword should “level up” with him, in a way. It should begin to take on characteristics of the person carrying it, or the places it might go, or the powerful creatures it has killed. By level twenty, it should be The Sword of Grog, a +5 vorpal greatsword of dragonfire, a sword that matches the personality of Grog the barbarian. And if Grog should fall in battle while wielding this power sword, it should take a portion of his soul into the weapon, giving it a semblance of his character . . his wisdom, charisma, and intelligence. This is where artifact magical items come from.
Only by following a system like this will players begin to treasure the items they find in the magical world. They will treat items less like they are playing a video game, and more like real people living in an actual world.
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From when D&D wasn't cool, but we played it anyway. I got started when some geeky guys where I worked invited me to play with them and I gave it a try. My first character was a human cavalier named Tara the Giant Killer. We used to play once a month on a Saturday. We would start at 7 or so in the morning, and quit somewhere around midnight. Fun times and fond memories.
In 4th edition, and to a lesser extent 3.5, a certain quantifiable accumulation of magical items was every bit as much of what you were entitled to expect while leveling up as your Proficiency Bonus is today in 5e. Character Level X? Than they should have Y gp of magic items! In those systems, something like this would work very well, where what matters is a binary "does the character have a magic weapon or not?", while the precise +X value of that weapon scales to a power level appropriate for their tier.
5E is not that system. You might have magic items at level 1, or not until level 10, or never. Monster AC's and attack bonuses are not keyed off of a certain projected power level of equipment, apart from the equipment, class features, and mundane ability score ranges described in the PHB. If you have a +1 Sword at level 20, hey, that's +1 better than you should have as a baseline, so be happy.
5e is not as dependent on magic items as previous editions, but they still are a pretty major factor in the power level of fighter types; between accuracy and damage, the damage difference between +1 and +2 weapons is usually in the 15-20% range (the difference between mundane and +1 is much larger, due to creatures that are resistant or immune to nonmagical weapons).
Yes they are good. But there is nothing in the PHB or DMG that says how many (if any) you should have Tier 1, 2, 3, whatever. Thus, ranking them up at tiers is pretty speculative, and probably overpowered, considering that finding a +1 sword in Tier 3 is just fine.
Yes they are good. But there is nothing in the PHB or DMG that says how many (if any) you should have Tier 1, 2, 3, whatever.
True, but that doesn't mean the game isn't balanced (to the extent it is) on having them, because unfortunately some classes are far more magic item dependent than others. Spellcasters don't really need magic items for their offense, a magic implement increases neither spell damage nor save DC, but weapon wielders are pretty heavily dependent.
I honestly never noticed that that chart exists! However, for a normal campaign, please note that even at 16th level it still only suggests two uncommon magic items, meaning... you still only have a Weapon, +1, and aren't even entitled to Armor, +1. Thus why I would be hesitant to give magic swords automatic scaling at tiers, considering a +1 Sword is already an end-game item!
I didn't know about that chart either. I did know about this chart in XGtE that suggests how many magic items of what strength to distribute at different tiers. So level 16 PCs probably all have at least a +1 weapon and shield, and maybe a +2 weapon/shield or +1 armor (or equivalent spellcasting focus for non-martial characters).
I'm against the idea of having all magic weapons just automatically increase in strength and ability at certain levels or whatever. However, something I wouldn't be opposed to would be a homebrewed uh... let's just call it a "materia" system. Where instead of acquiring wholly new weapons throughout the game, you instead acquire some other magical item that can be "slotted" into your weapons, allowing you to customize your weapons over time instead of just... for example, abandoning your Family's heirloom sword that you started the campaign with for a Flametongue Sword you found on a dead Hobgoblin halfway through the game.
If the DM puts the right weapon in the hands of the party, with a reasonable expectation that it will end up with the right player, then that player will end up treasuring their items. I have frequently forgone the opportunity to “upgrade” simply because I loved what I had too much to give it up until it was truly outclassed. Even then I kept them because I cared about them.
I’ve come to believe that there is something lacking in how magical items are distributed and used. In a way, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I know, I’m suggesting we apply logic to a world where magic is real, but stay with me for a couple minutes.
Magical items fall into one of three categories. First, there are the consumable items, such as potions and scrolls. Next, there are the items that you might refer to as utility magical items, things that were created to perform menial tasks to make life easier for the general public. These might include a stone that can be used to heat up your food instead of building a fire, or a bullseye lantern with an ever-burning flame inside it, or a coin purse that contains one coin of each denomination every morning when you first open it. Last, there are the items that are designed to enhance a person’s ability to perform, such as to attack, to cast, to hide, to protect yourself, to fly, to climb, to breath under water, or to convince animals or undead that you want to be their friend. Included in this category would be all types of armor or weapons, wands, staffs, cloaks, musical instruments, and just about all the rest of the items you might find in a magical world that don’t fit into either of the first two categories. In my opinion, all of these should fall under the attunement guidelines, and the number of items you can attune to should depend on a character’s charisma and constitution, or maybe their charisma and wisdom, or charisma, wisdom and intelligence. I haven’t thought that part of all this out yet. In my opinion, if a level three barbarian picks up a +1 great sword, attunes to it, and proceeds to carry it with him until he’s level twenty, that sword should “level up” with him, in a way. It should begin to take on characteristics of the person carrying it, or the places it might go, or the powerful creatures it has killed. By level twenty, it should be The Sword of Grog, a +5 vorpal greatsword of dragonfire, a sword that matches the personality of Grog the barbarian. And if Grog should fall in battle while wielding this power sword, it should take a portion of his soul into the weapon, giving it a semblance of his character . . his wisdom, charisma, and intelligence. This is where artifact magical items come from.
Only by following a system like this will players begin to treasure the items they find in the magical world. They will treat items less like they are playing a video game, and more like real people living in an actual world.
From when D&D wasn't cool, but we played it anyway. I got started when some geeky guys where I worked invited me to play with them and I gave it a try. My first character was a human cavalier named Tara the Giant Killer. We used to play once a month on a Saturday. We would start at 7 or so in the morning, and quit somewhere around midnight. Fun times and fond memories.
I think the vestiges items in the upcoming wildhunt book will work similar to this.
But the attunement rules as they are were tested and balanced to limit certain bonuses from being able to infinitely stack.
In 4th edition, and to a lesser extent 3.5, a certain quantifiable accumulation of magical items was every bit as much of what you were entitled to expect while leveling up as your Proficiency Bonus is today in 5e. Character Level X? Than they should have Y gp of magic items! In those systems, something like this would work very well, where what matters is a binary "does the character have a magic weapon or not?", while the precise +X value of that weapon scales to a power level appropriate for their tier.
5E is not that system. You might have magic items at level 1, or not until level 10, or never. Monster AC's and attack bonuses are not keyed off of a certain projected power level of equipment, apart from the equipment, class features, and mundane ability score ranges described in the PHB. If you have a +1 Sword at level 20, hey, that's +1 better than you should have as a baseline, so be happy.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
5e is not as dependent on magic items as previous editions, but they still are a pretty major factor in the power level of fighter types; between accuracy and damage, the damage difference between +1 and +2 weapons is usually in the 15-20% range (the difference between mundane and +1 is much larger, due to creatures that are resistant or immune to nonmagical weapons).
Yes they are good. But there is nothing in the PHB or DMG that says how many (if any) you should have Tier 1, 2, 3, whatever. Thus, ranking them up at tiers is pretty speculative, and probably overpowered, considering that finding a +1 sword in Tier 3 is just fine.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
True, but that doesn't mean the game isn't balanced (to the extent it is) on having them, because unfortunately some classes are far more magic item dependent than others. Spellcasters don't really need magic items for their offense, a magic implement increases neither spell damage nor save DC, but weapon wielders are pretty heavily dependent.
The DMG has a chart that states suggested magic items by tier. It's in chapter 1 under "Tiers of Play".
I honestly never noticed that that chart exists! However, for a normal campaign, please note that even at 16th level it still only suggests two uncommon magic items, meaning... you still only have a Weapon, +1, and aren't even entitled to Armor, +1. Thus why I would be hesitant to give magic swords automatic scaling at tiers, considering a +1 Sword is already an end-game item!
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I didn't know about that chart either. I did know about this chart in XGtE that suggests how many magic items of what strength to distribute at different tiers. So level 16 PCs probably all have at least a +1 weapon and shield, and maybe a +2 weapon/shield or +1 armor (or equivalent spellcasting focus for non-martial characters).
I'm against the idea of having all magic weapons just automatically increase in strength and ability at certain levels or whatever. However, something I wouldn't be opposed to would be a homebrewed uh... let's just call it a "materia" system. Where instead of acquiring wholly new weapons throughout the game, you instead acquire some other magical item that can be "slotted" into your weapons, allowing you to customize your weapons over time instead of just... for example, abandoning your Family's heirloom sword that you started the campaign with for a Flametongue Sword you found on a dead Hobgoblin halfway through the game.
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If the DM puts the right weapon in the hands of the party, with a reasonable expectation that it will end up with the right player, then that player will end up treasuring their items. I have frequently forgone the opportunity to “upgrade” simply because I loved what I had too much to give it up until it was truly outclassed. Even then I kept them because I cared about them.
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