But surely you would police this to some extent. Having a character just announce that they now have a dragon slaying sword out of this air for 2HP is very dangerous because then everyone will want one. Sure the odd family treasure being passed on is one thing but Narrator discression and balance is very important here. I would at least expect some past reference to the said item within gameplay to establish it as a clan/bloodline artifact that the character could conceivably gain at some point.
> > Unless you were running a high
> > level game I would really rather not see this being done as it
> > detracts too much from the idea of working for things in game. I
> > think you would quickly find that all new players would try to use
> > this perceived power up route (even though it isn't) and the group
> > dynamic would change.
>
> What is so 'high power' about having a magic item?
I said perceived power up, not High Power. I think the 13/17/1W/5W is fine. It's just that a lot of players see Magic Items = powerful hero.
> There is no real difference between having a 'Jump 13' physical
> ability, a 'Jumping Feat 13' magical ability or a 'Boots of Jumping
> 13' magic item. The only difference between the three are the
special
> effects, not the real effect when using them.
Granted. But what about feats such as "Mile Long Javelin throw", this is definitely something I would not allow as an ability without a very good character write up. And what about cult secrets in magic items. Would you allow these to starting characters?
> Don't forget that applying an augmentation is an unrelated action. A
> hero attempting to use numerous magic items will be spending time
> rubbing their magic lamps, fingering amulets and saying magic words
> rather than directly engaging their opponent.
Sure but you can only augment with one ability at a time whereas you can use multiple feats as long as each is only used once. Yes it takes longer but there is a slight difference, even if it is not necesarily better.
Anyway my original point was that part of the fun of the game is adventuring to find these items or to gain the friendship of other cults. Allowing this sort of starting point for new characters IMHO detracts a lot from the gameplay, certainly in a mid level game. If I was to run a high level game then I would probably allow more items for starting characters, just not at mid level.
Jarec
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