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The thing is, while these sorts of items may be common among adventurers, adventurers aren't common in the world. Personal backstory not withstanding, adventurers are individuals that have risen above the common rank for one reason or another. I'd say having an arcane focus would qualify for that. I vaguely recall one handbook or another even saying somewhere that a commoner's stats usually sit around 8 or something, so even a level 1 adventurer is a cut above.
I thought a regular person was supposed to be 10 across the board
Sure but they don't know Thieves Cant or how to harness their rage or they don't have the favour of a God or anything.
I vaguely recall one handbook or another even saying somewhere that a commoner’s stats usually sit around 8 or something, so even a level 1 adventurer is a cut above.
I already knew all of the stuff you mention in this, and this part is just actually wrong outright. I've never heard of any of the rules saying commoners would have such low traits, and have always heard it as - 10 is the average amount for a human/commoner. 7-9 is slightly below average, anything below is remarkably low, 1-2 is near death. Now, yes, even a level 1 adventurer is uncommon and more powerful on a base-line than a commoner, but IMO that shouldn't mean magic should be cheap for them. I suppose I do say uncommon at least, though. Common would probably work too, but requiring attunement would make sense considering it's supposed to be a sort of conduit for an individual's magic, and magic is usually considered very personal as far as fantasy tends to portray it.
Well you are on the money, nobody wants to manage inventory.
I played an arcane trickster without a focus, once, it was a fun experience, especially since it was in a world where magic was frowned upon. So my character was constantly looking for some weird components, trying to make it look like he had a perfectly sane reason for that and it was not at all about magic, it gave us great roleplaying moments. But then again, this was a rogue, with a bit of magic : he could manage without spells. Playing a wizard at level 1 is already punishing enough without going through such ordeal. :) i would totally have the wizard of the group buy a new component pouch from time to time, though, just to remember them it's not a magically infinite source.
I’m always looking for analogies. Even if they don’t work that well lol. This one reminded me a lot of my first level digital photography class.
Most of us had artistic experience before we even walked in. We were expected to all have a good quality expensive camera from the get go.
And we took really good pictures! With time we got so much better using the same instrument we started with.
I would say that analogy is a way of playing that’s valid. It’s especially good for casual or beginner DND player.
On the other hand, our professor had a camera body that they added components to as needed. It was crazy all the cool things they had at their disposal from different places! So a vet photographer might find it a normal and necessary, perhaps, to customize their tools of the trade.
I consider this like a DND veteran or someone who wants a serious experience.
Hope that made sense.
This is actually a very fine analogy...for utility magic. But when we're talking about combat and healing magic and whatnot, I don't really think it works. Even melee weapons wear down over time. Ranged weapons require ammunition. Yes, you may be using the same gun your entire career as a soldier, but you sure as hell aren't recovering the same handful of bullets to be reused all the time. The same logic applies here - you may be using fireball to solve all your problems, but you can't use the same wand or sulfur as ammunition FOREVER. At least, not without some serious upkeep to that wand.
Kinda wild as DnD was born out of Gygax and Kaye's TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) and their desire to develop tabletop simulation games... Role Playing games have gone a whole other direction since at least 2000, maybe earlier, to focus on the role playing, which is cool. Give the players what they want and all. But having played pre 2nd edition as a kid and spending countless hours reading through all the 1st edition manuals, i kinda miss it, even if it was mostly rules interpretation... And knowing i'm just not ever going to have the kind of friends, attention span or time to play that sort of thing again.
yeah my first experiences with DND were AD&D 2nd edition and wow when I started to play 5th, there were so many things that were weird. You are given so much power early as a spell caster compared to the old days. Like I was weirded out by the concept of cantrips. I was used to it being a level 1 spell dealio but now you basically get a handful of spell you can just constantly cast and then material components don't really even matter these day its so weird. Like I get it but it does remove a ton of the mystique of being a spell caster.
I totally agree! I think it would be a net benefit for the game if we just remove cantrips entirely - magic is too cheap. I get that that would make a lot of players mad. Maybe a compromise would be reduce the damage of attack cantrips...by a LOT. And then make pretty much most non-attack cantrips level 1 spells. Yes, including prestidigitation.
Either way, all these comments mentioning how AD&D and 2e and whatnot does it makes me want to play them. I've already looked into playing 3.5e and 4e, but honestly I'm just slowly realizing that 5e is...kind of bad? So maybe that's unrelated...
I'm always thrown that the concept of managing inventory is always treated as such a huge burden. Most of the time its just a list you update with quantity and weight. It always feels like such a low lift thing for everyone to hate so much. Like seriously, even if you just want people to track how many arrows they fire some will get grouchy.
I can sort of understand - a lot of players unfortunately just kinda wanna roll dice and kill monsters. I say, though, that if that's what you wanna do, play a martial. (Note: I fully realize the way martials are designed is still bad and they absolutely need to be able to do more than just hit things, but as of their current design my point stands.)