Well, the rules don't say that every magical item is self-identifying= , only 40% of them. As a DM, you could just say your players are very un= lucky, and always find the 60% that don't identify themselves. Also, you= get a power a minute, which is 6 rounds. So, unless you want to stand t= here while the bad guy is turning you into a fine red mist, you may not b= e able to wrestle their items from them. Does Third Edition favor the players? I don't think so, but that's b= ecause I use mostly NPCs (not monsters) as my villains. The rules may fa= vor characters, but you can create NPCs that are just as tough as any PC.= The rules apply across the board, and it's the DMs job to make sure tha= t their NPCs get as many breaks as the PCs. In the end, I believe the DM should be providing very tough opponents= for the players, and I think you can do that in third edition. I also t= hink that we may not be using the rules to the advantage of the DM often = enough. For example, the new rules seem to state time and again that a l= ot of monsters should have character levels. The troop of gnolls isn't s= o tough, until you make a few gnoll fighters or barbarians. The Resistan= ce wiped up quite a few dragons, but how would they have done against a d= ragon cleric of Tiamat, or some dragon sorcerers? Robert Deibler wrote: > BOO HISS, I read that to, but don't whole heartily agree. I think it ta= ke the flare out of magic. Little jimmy commoner walk to a ruin finds a w= and picks it up and bam he knows all about it... Technically then when we= are in a battle we could all charge the enemy wrestle him to the ground = grab his magic item and bam be able to use it back. I think some items sh= ould be like that items with teh functionality built in, Some artificat h= igh level magic items, but not all of them. Thats just my opinion, Crista= and I just last night has a discussion about that. > > Crista and I had a melee last night over rules and the game. I look at = it this way in the DM light, and its possible good that I am playing a ch= aracter to get that perspective. I like the rules to be limiting, attacks= of oppurtunity, getting hit and making CON checks to see if teh spell go= es through Grappling, subduel. ect.. This allows for a good fight and the= victory to teh group that know how to utilize the rules in their favor. = Crista did not like all the rules against spell caster. I asked her is sh= e thought rolling the was a bother or if she just wanted me to tell her a= ll the monsters are dead, again she didn't like that. 3rd addition alread= y make the characters much stronger and more likely to make a save or hit= a monster, the rules help a DM keep a brother down, you take more out th= en you make the game to easy for the already streriod induced characters.= The other side of the coin is the pace of the game and keeping Combat go= ing. I just like to keep characters on thei > r toes and this in only in my DM opinion. As a chacrater I say we all = get a bonus automatical critical once per night and three magical items p= er night. > > Just a FYI, Tori is one of only 3 chatacers I have ever played to or pa= st 4th level. The 1st being a druid back in the late 80's with Kevin Lehr= =2E Saka the monk in the al quadim game with John and Tori with Damon. I = am severally character perspective limited, so you have to excuse my one = wayed DM look on things.. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Johnathan Detrick [mailto:jdetrick@xxxxxxxxxxx] > Sent: Mon 12/9/2002 10:01 AM > To: Riders II > Cc: > Subject: [dungeoncrawl] Magic items > > > > Guys, > I've been re-reading the Magic of Faerun book, and I've com= e across > an interesting rule. I know that magic items always seem to be= a > problem for us as DMs; do we just tell the characters what the = darn > thing does, or do we try and make them figure it out? Well, ac= cording > to this book, 40% of the items in the Realms are self-identifyi= ng. > Simply hold the item, and it reveals a power a minute to the ho= lder. I > thought that was interesting. > John > > > > > -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis -- > -- Type: application/ms-tnef > -- File: winmail.dat