Item Tweaks

[thaelis]

The new custom items are very cool! I love the little backstories and often the "quotes" in their descriptions

As for their gameplay value, I can think of a few ways they could be much more widely used whilst not becoming overpowered.

Stone Shield
DR 3 vs. piercing
(better than adamantine against piercing weapons, meaning it retains some use later on, whereas the current +2 AC vs. piercing becomes redundant with increased enchantment bonus)

[Item] of Dark Warding
DR 5 vs. negative energy instead of +2 save bonus. At higher levels, saves become more or less irrelevant unless DC is over 30, which is rather rare!)

All Enchanted Bows
Should be at least mighty +2. As with armor/weapons having to be masterwork before they can be enchanted, why would someone go to the trouble of making a Protective Longbow that everyone just treats as a piece of junk.

Magical Halfplate
Why would anyone enchant it? It is inferior to plate in every way and I can't see anyone apart from a fresh character wearing it. Just more trader junk. Maybe make it Dwarven plate instead? Armor Bonus +9, Dex +0 and slows movement slightly ><

Attack Bonus vs. Enchantment Bonus
It would be nice to see more items with enchantment bonus. Even if its +1 enchanted instead of a +2 Attack bonus. The reasoning for this is that if someone really likes a weapon or suits their character they can enchant it further and keep wielding it. Items which have some kind of powerful custom effect should be the only ones that use Attack bonus to prevent them becoming too super

Junk
What is the point in finding a pair of +1 reflex save boots in a high level area? If there are many more powerful boots in a store, and they are cheap and easily accessible, it just seems silly. Trader junk. Then again, without the junk it may seem a little boring just getting gold all the time...Which brings me to:

More Consumables in loot tables!
From the custom alchemical items we already have (e.g. Suregrip, Flash pellets) to super rare Netherese blast globes, Teleport runes/keys, these would be a great way to fill the gap left by junk magic items.

Alchemist's Fire/Holy Water/Acid
Have a chance to kill/seriously injure an enemy (X dmg on hit, then X/2 dmg per round until save is made?), even if its a minuscule chance.

Obviously these are only suggestions, and I'm sure there's some players that like all of these items the way they are.

[Yevelian]

Some of that junk can be sold to people who can use it and appreciate it.

[[DM] Grinning Death]

As far as dropped items go, I'll only say this: the best items will be faction items (besides crafted items, eventually).

[Doubtful]

Magical Halfplate
Why would anyone enchant it? It is inferior to plate in every way and I can't see anyone apart from a fresh character wearing it. Just more trader junk. Maybe make it Dwarven plate instead? Armor Bonus +9, Dex +0 and slows movement slightly ><

I've crawled out of my hole for this...

Firstly GD is spot on, the idea behind generic loot items is just that. They're cool, useful, fun but a little generic. They'll fill holes in peoples arsenal but in terms of pure stats they'll lag behind the more focused faction rewards, custom made crafted gear and character orientated DM generated rewards.

Now, as for the full plate thing. Really? Should we just take out any armour that isn't the top of the line so you can squeeze the maximum possible AC/AB out at every opportunity? Of course not.

Think of half plate as an off the peg suit, it'll fit and do the job, but it certainly won't do it as well or with as much style as a tailor made and fitted suit. The chances of that goblin you just murdered in the face carrying around a fully funcfional, perfectly fitted tailored suit made just for you are pretty slim. Chances are its been canibalised a bit or isnt in the best of condition, hence it not being optimal.

Buying from a crafter or smith allows them to fully tailor a suit of armour to your character ensuring that it fits well enough to provide that extra spot of protecfion and movement. Thats without getting into any other lines of thought on the matter.

Personally I'd rather see all the dropped enchanted full plate switched to half.

[ManUtd4Ever]

Personally I'd rather see all the dropped enchanted full plate switched to half.

I agree! That way those of us that are crafters & enchanters would get even more business.

Cheers!

[Kitsunestume]

I agree! That way those of us that are crafters & enchanters would get even more business.

Cheers!

Seconded!

[Fezzik]

Bows that are not Longbows... not many good shortbows out there (like the icebow of doom everyone uses!)

[thaelis]

Now, as for the full plate thing. Really? Should we just take out any armor that isn't the top of the line so you can squeeze the maximum possible AC/AB out at every opportunity? Of course not.

Think of half plate as an off the peg suit, it'll fit and do the job, but it certainly won't do it as well or with as much style as a tailor made and fitted suit.

Thats exactly what I mean, every suit of magical armor is mastercrafted and had a ton of time/money invested into it. It seems absurd for a wizard to invest that much resources into an inferior product.

Anyway. Half-plate: understood...we like having it. I will put up with my internal "Argh" whenever I find some, and wonder which sick sense of humour wizard created it.

As for selling those junk items to other players...lol. Do you want to buy the +1 reflex boots Yev? Or the protective longbow of non-mightyness?

Also, I still strongly advocate the advancement of alchemy! (i.e. Barrel of black powder, 10d6 fire damage)

[Lugwy]

Alternatively, cost issues. Full plate costs a whole lot to make/enchant. A person may turn to half plate or less if they're on a tight budget, and they could be accustomed enough to the cumbersome qualities of half plate that they're willing to enchant it.

A bit of a stretch, but it's better than trying to explain away protective enchantments on bows as the possession of an archer with a Leeroy Jenkins mentality. :P

[Kitsunestume]

Also, I still strongly advocate the advancement of alchemy! (i.e. Barrel of black powder, 10d6 fire damage)

We got these! It's called a satchel-charge, and the secrets of smoke-powder seems to be pretty well kept by the Gondish community. You can purchase them for pretty reasonable prices from Golden Bough Artifice and Arcana though, if you've got the documentation for it!

[thaelis]

If they are only available from Golden Bough, then where did James get the plans etc from? :O I want to make them rather than buy them... my alchemy is like 25, that should be enough right?

[Fezzik]

The full plate mold costs about 12k to buy, yet the price of full plate is about 1.2k. That means that after materials, fatigue (time) a basic smith is basically getting nothing from a custom piece of armour.

I'm pretty sure (although it would require a lot of scripting) that you can basically "bind on equip" an item so that only the person that it was made for can actually wear it -- I think this might make sense for Full Plate. I very many people would be able to walk into to their local Glenbow museum (although I think they sold off all their armour to other museums) and put on a Heavy Suit of Full Plate Tilting armour from the 15th century and walk easily in it. Bind the Full Plate to the person, and it solves a lot of problems (no more "hand me downs" either... if you want a set of Full Plate, you better be sure that you're happy with it's look and whatever enchantments you want on it!).

.... and we need better enchanted short bows

[Kitsunestume]

If they are only available from Golden Bough, then where did James get the plans etc from? :O I want to make them rather than buy them... my alchemy is like 25, that should be enough right?

Didn't say they were restricted, just takes a willingness to deal with questionable sources. And they take craft contraption-making, rather than alchemy. [Edit: I did find smokepowder as the item, it's in Magic Of Faerun, p.165]

"Only continued efforts by the Church of Gond have kept smokepowder in check, and, inadvertently, preserved the faith's untrammeled status in most cities. The church takes whatever steps are necessary to ensure such technology remains proprietary, eliminating rivals with sabotage, diplomacy, and financial influence"

Not sure if that particular portion of Gond's description is supported by the staff, but it would certainly indicate that finding either actual barrels of gunpowder or the means to make them might be event worthy if you were inclined.

The full plate mold costs about 12k to buy, yet the price of full plate is about 1.2k. That means that after materials, fatigue (time) a basic smith is basically getting nothing from a custom piece of armour.

I'm pretty sure (although it would require a lot of scripting) that you can basically "bind on equip" an item so that only the person that it was made for can actually wear it -- I think this might make sense for Full Plate. [. . .] Bind the Full Plate to the person, and it solves a lot of problems (no more "hand me downs" either... if you want a set of Full Plate, you better be sure that you're happy with it's look and whatever enchantments you want on it!).

An individual smith, paying for all his own materials, yes, would have a significant loss in revenue, but the molds can be borrowed or rented, and avoid the cost all together (hence the use of networking between crafters). As for the Fullplate:

Each suit of full plate must be individually fitted to its owner by a master armorsmith, although a captured suit can be resized to fit a new owner at a cost of 200 to 800 (2d4×100) gold pieces.

It would be awesome to see 'bound' items, to an extent, so long as it IS possible to alter them for someone else. After all, changing out a few joints and badly-fitting plates is a lot less work than making an entirely new set of armor.