Rust Monster

Well here we are again. It’s been a while since the last installment here so I’d like to talk about the most recent article from Design and Development over at WotC. They brought up the topic about magic item slots in Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. At first I was like, “Hmm, what can they possibly change about this?” Well surprisingly enough I think this change is rather nice. It’s not a new system altering change but one that attempts to simplify and streamline the game.

Basically they’ve trimmed down the number of magic item slots we’ll have to deal with plus altered the the purpose or effects of particular slots.

One of our goals in 4th Edition was to reduce characters’ reliance on magic items. The most important portion of this goal involved removing a lot of the magic items that were essential just so your character could feel effective, like stat-boosting items, amulets of natural armor, and the like.

I guess thats a good thing. I never liked handing out stat-boosting items as a DM, they just didn’t seem to pack a lot of mystical punch. I was always excited to hand out a cool pair of boots or gloves that had some interesting ability use or something like that.

So here is what they’re giving us: primary slots, secondary slots and other slots.

Primary slots will be the traditional “pluses” and include weapons/implements, armor, and neck slots. The weapons and implements can be something like your longsword+1 to a wand but things like holy symbols are also included here. They will serve to add bonuses to your attack and damage and affect your critical hits. And of course, you have two hands so it goes to reason that you can possibly have two implements equipped. Armor is armor but now includes cloth armor - something like robes a wizard might wear. Armor will enhance your AC like it has in the past. Then there was the neck, for things like cloaks or amulets. The items will typically enhance your Fortitude, Will, or Reflex defenses. Pretty straight forward there.

Secondary slots will not include enhancement bonuses. So according the WotC this makes them optional. The slots include arms, feet, hands, head, rings, and waist. Arms slot includes things like shields or bracers - but shields will not provide AC bonuses anymore but give you defensive effects, and bracers will provide some kind of offensive effect. Feet will affect mobility, hands help your attacks or manual dexterity, head for mental skills or senses. Another major subcategory for the head includes orbitals, such as ioun stones which will be the purview of an epic character. Rings were interesting. They still figure rings to be among the mighty magics so you can’t use one until you reach paragon tier (11th level) and two when you’re epic (21st level). And then waist items are usually about protection, healing, or increasing your Strength.

The other slot is really not a slot but for items that take no slot - hmm, that’s a confusing line. The concept isn’t confusing though. Things like potions and wonderous items fall here. Wonderous items will no longer include wearable items, they’re utility items only.

So it sounds like a good move to me. I like the simplified slots and their purposes sound obvious. So when your new 4.0 character picks up a cloak he’ll have a good idea of what it will be for - or how to try to experiment with it. What do you think about it?

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