Make a goblin super intelligent with the goal of making a new race of goblins that are spatter and more capable. He partially succeeds. This new race although less human looking and having shorter life spans is exceptional more intelligent. Although saddened by his failure the goblin doesn’t let it hold him back and now aims to spread this new race and bring goblin kind into a new age with him as their king. Interesting enough hook for a campaign villain.
Imagine those stat boosting books being passed down through a family a ritual being done every hundred years when the book resets for the heir to gain stats from it to aid them in their position
So what I'm hearing is, Artificer is the most in demand class in these worlds? Actually, I'd argue more in demand than even that because an Artificer can relatively easily render an infusion null to put a stop to any peasant/union uprisings.
funny enough, an alchemist artificer in particular is likely more valued than others for their ability to cure diseases and more effectively treat wounds. so they have finally found a niche: npc
The headband of intellect could have some horrific Flowers for Algenon situations, especially if it could be used to treat brain damage or similar situations. Someone would certainly test why it affects cognitive brain function but not other brain functions. And if a child uses it throughout their schooling if they removed it as an adult would their intelligence have developed or would they revert back to the capabilities of a two year old from when it was first put on?
Thinking about it, I`m not sure which would be worse. Flowers for Algernon, or Lawnmower Man. Both would be tragic. I don't think they would revert, but I do think there would be a noticeable difference. On the conditions that they actually studied and trained when they had it, and also had life experiences in general. My source? Multiple head injuries. Or as I like to tell people, I used to be smart about five major head injuries ago. The funny thing? I might have forgotten large CHUNKS of what I studied, but the process of studying stayed with me. I can still learn, because I learned how to learn. Am I smart? Not anymore, but I`m not mentally handicapped either. Can I tell the difference? Absolutely!
The problem for Charlie was that his surgery was a temporary boost to his intelligence. A headband of intellect does not have to be removed. Maybe, if it was used to improve magical research efforts, it could be used to discover a way to make the effect continue without the need of a magic item.
@@zednumar6917 Absent a source of brain damage, If you used a Headband of Intellect to study, train and truly grasp high level information, then took it off would you lose what you grasped? I don't believe so. You might not be as able to learn new information without the external aid, or be able to grasp new information as easily, but unless something actively removes your memories and understanding, you should retain it. As a study aid, it should be top tier. As far as the brain damage goes, from personal experience, you do lose information, but not really the skills you learned. The only skill I ever lost was the ability to have multiple timers in my head at once. Also, I don't actually believe I lost that particular skill, but it`s just that I don't have the focus to use it right now.
here's a fun idea, how would the spell "goodberry" affect the world? Think about it, a spell that makes 10 berries that remove your need to eat or drink for an entire day, and can restore 1 HP? if a Stone Age village figured out how to do this spell they would be able to gather the food surplus to kickstart civilization much earlier. The 1 HP doesn't sound like much, but for that small village, it would be the difference between life and death in an era where tiny scratches could kill you. Militaries would see this spell as a must-have for soldiers, removing the need for supply caravans to send food or medical equipment. Heck, if 1/10th of Napolean's army had this spell, he probably would have been able to conquer Russia!
No you still need water, by RAW, Goodberry only works for the nutrition (or food) part. But the point is mute because Create or Destroy Water is also a first level spell that Druids also know.
Two important things to discuss here is: 1. A soldier that uses these gauntlets or a wizard that uses this headband would be weaker than one with the same str/int but an extra attunement slot at their disposal 2. Sending children to battle sounds like a great way to lose a lot of money. You're sending inexperienced children without the emotional grit to battle only for them to die and their magic items looted. There's no way that's feasible Also, intelligence is not wisdom. If you give a child both these items, that does not mean they'll have the wisdom to make hard decisions and survive
Regarding your second point, any society sending kids to battle as anything other than a last resort likely is so militarized that those kids would begin training as soon as they are mobile
Your 1st point is true, but the common milita soldier doesn't have +4 to its strength And i would prefre the wizard aprentice casts hold person with 19 int instead of 15 int.
@@prosamis That depends almost entirely on how much it costs to produce those items. If they are dirt cheap, or worse function like an Artificer`s Infusion, where they can make multiple items per day and looting does no real good because they are basically temporary, then no it is in fact Cheaper and far more feasible to send children into combat. Why? Because raising a person to adulthood costs society a TON of money, time and effort. Don`t believe me? Just look at college tuition and Student loan debt in the U.S. And that's only college, not high school, grade school, medical costs, food and clothing for years, etc... Even just looking at the time it takes to train a soldier. What, you have to spend eighteen, nineteen years, JUST to barely get them to the very edge of adulthood? Not counting any actual training? I guess I should add that things like enchantments, and thus Artificer Infusions would also be a factor. Look at the Repeating Shot Infusion that does away with reloading and ammunition, Weapons like the Scimitar of Speed that grant what would otherwise be a class feature, things like that. If those things become cheap, if the Wand of Fire Balls becomes mass producible, then yes children are cheap. Six months of training and you have a new soldier, and If you only had to spend ten years to get them to that point... It`s the moral aspect that's the only real factor truly worth considering...
D&D settings already allow people to talk with animals and plants, as well as just directly peering an individual's thoughts. Just having this ability to communicate without traditional language barriers would revolutionize cultural perceptions of, well, a lot of things, though also the deaf.
Well even without telepathy there is literally a language called common that almost every intelligent species on the planet is practically born knowing so... The setting just sort of took that issue away from the get go
Aside from these stat increasing magic items, I've always wondered the Implications of a "Ring of Regeneration". Most Major ailments and accidents can be solved by just putting this thing on your finger for an hour, then just like that you're OK and the next person can use it. No more Amputeism, Paralysis, Dementia, Alzheimers, Brain Damage, Cirhosis, Certain types of Cancers, Certain types of Blindness/Deafness e.t.c. A single one of these completely revolutionises the Healthcare industry. .... .... .... The only flaw is that Regeneration restores you to an ideal state, but what determines what that is? Would someone born deaf/blind benefit from this item? How would it interact with common Cancers? Most Cancers are a result of cells growing out of control. Would this escalate that process? (If aging is simply Cell degradation, how does this interact with that process?) ..... ..... If you read this, I think a video on your thoughts concerning it would be enlightening. There's always new things to think about after watching your videos.
Wasn't there an XP to Level Three video about that? Albeit a comedy sketch, but it's not impossible to imagine a hospital that has one or more rings in circulation.
A ring of regeneration is "very rare". So it really depends on the size of cities whether there is even a single item of this kind in the city, let alone one to go around to use for everyone for free. It is possible to create such a world. But IMHO it is far more interesting if miracles of healing are not readily available at all times for anyone, as it makes for more difficult choices. Will the clerics heal the nobles? Or will they create a lottery which determines who will be healed and who will not be healed? Will they heal an unbeliever from a foreign land or even an enemy?
Regarding deafness in society, it is important to remember that an Ear Horn of Hearing completely negates deafness for anyone who can hold it to their ear, and is a Common magic item. I imagine that you can find one of these chained in almost any temple where they have anything they want to teach people, and anyone seriously deaf from a wealthy, or even middle class family will own one.
A level 1 wizard with a ring of spell storing can be enough to give an entire populous each their own familiar. It could be a tradition, that by the time your child reaches a certain age, you have saved enough gold for your child to bring to the town "familiar father". The wizard casts the spell into the ring, consuming the gold in the spell casting, then hand it to the child, who in front of a crowd of people, summons their own familiar. Familiars last indefinitely, and as long as they aren't slain with violence, never die. Of course, if your familiar is destroyed, you'd have to revisit the wizard, who, likely will charge you quite a bit more. "First one is free." An entire town where everyone has their own companion. The streets are safeguarded by day by dogs and ravens, and at night the cats and owls prowl and perch, keeping a lookout. Being served your ale by a glowing monkey would be a normal occurance. I like familiar town. It seems happy.
Find Familiar is a level 1 spell, and Variant Humans get a free Feat as part of their race. Instead of a town wizard, you could easily say that EVERYONE has the Magic Initiate feat and learned Find Familiar as their leveled spell. Kinda like in His Dark Materials where people have dæmons that are physical manifestations of their own soul.
25:01 I like the idea of a holy order of Midwife Paladins whose holy symbol is an amulet of health, and they travel the world aiding people giving birth with their magic and amulet, seeing as childbirth was dangerous for most of human history
An amulet of health could prevent miscarriages and death during childbirth, saving the lives of pregnant women, then be passed on to babies to block childhood diseases.
Wow, my requested video only two weeks after I asked? I don’t have time to watch at the moment, but thank you so much! I am certainly anticipating watching when I have the chance!
I like the idea that stat boosting items would greatly change how the world would work. 5e/dnd is really bad at guaging how their spells and items would affect a setting when people besides adventurers can get them
imagine an Artificer acting like a Warlock Patron, loaning out powerful artifacts like these to their servants in exchange for helping them achieve other goals by using said artifacts...
Imagine items that enhance DEX, WIS, or CHA... In fact there are many common and uncommon items that would change a lot of things, for example in regards to disease there's an uncommon amulet that makes you immune to disease while suppressing any diseases you already have
Imagine a scenario in which the royal heir had such an amulet, but the amulet was stolen. Adventurers must restore the amulet to the heir before he expires of his/her dire disease. Time is ticking... find out who stole the amulet and why! Plenty of potential intrigue there. Did the Countess steal it to restore her own heir? Did a pickpocket grab it to restore his mother? Was it stolen by the royal advisor to throw the realm into chaos, making way for his own power play?
I think the lack of armor proficiency is more of a factor for the plate than the strength. Any random person won't have that proficiency. I think that guards would though (CR1/8)
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't consider the possibility of bootstrapping that a Headband of Intellect would enable. With so many hyper-intelligent wizards running around, producing such objects at scale would become much more feasible, allowing them to suddenly become quite a lot more common. A really thoughtful and enterprising society might even come up with the idea to use a Wish spell or some other advanced means to provide themselves with the necessary components on an ongoing basis, potentially in a centralized location which could function similarly to a mint, allowing for some degree of state control of production if such a thing were desired.
Technically it depends on which setting you're in. The default Forgotten Realms setting is middle of the road for magic where Eberon has way more and Dragonlance has way less.
@@Wanderingsage7 Well, they are an optional rule, but eh - dnd5e is very much laser-focused on dungeon crawling and dungeon crawling is usually done for loot, which often includes magic items. So, if you play the system as a dnd game, aka a dungeon crawler, your character probably should get a lot of magic items over their career. The system doesn't communicate it's intended gameplay clearly, but in it's defense dnd always was a dungeon crawl focused system and, starting at 3e, a combat focused system. Ig if you play a more narrative campaign, like most dnd5e groups do, extreme wealth and plentiful magic items might be scarce and spellcasters, designed for long "war of attrition" dungeon crawls, gain even more advantages due to having huge out-of-combat utility unlike the martial classes and not having to ration their spellslots when most groups do 1-2 fights on a long rest
I'm not sure I like the idea that these items would somehow prevent degenerative diseases or injuries. Like an athlete who has trained all their life, there will be damage done to joints, bones, etc. The thing is supposed to give strength, not an enhanced constitution. Also, on size comparison - being larger tends to give longer limbs, helping to optimize leverage points. Children were used in these dangerous positions in society because they were seen as less valuable and easier to replace. Who would you rather lose, a stone mason with many years of experience or that new kid still in the first year of his job?
i love the idea in general of magic items being used by disabled people, and it needs to be explored more. your examples are pretty creative, particularly when it comes to chronic illness and the amulet of health. i know some people irl who would benefit from such a thing.
I remember when our party gave one of these to two kids we really liked after we got better magic items to replace them . We later found out several years later that they both joined the same adventuring party and were in love
I have never been in a PF2e party without at least one Goblin on it. ...Because of that context, I think the thought of a Goblin being able to easily lift a cow is somehow even more terrifying.
Wonderful video. I think there is room for a Part Two, sometime. Think of Headbands of Intellect in academic institutions (especially in magic schools); think of what it would be like paying off the rich kid with the Headband to lend it to you for your exam, and maybe the night before; think what it would do to any grading system as well. And think about what it would be like to grow up with a Headband of Intellect from infancy; you would probably have advantages even on those who achieved an intelligence score of 20 naturally in their adulthood. Gauntlets of Ogre Power have fewer unique possibilities, but one thing I have discussed with friends is the potential offered by their transferability. If a business (or an army, etc.) owns a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power, they will have them passed between different shift workers for 21-hour use each day (must leave time for attunement) for near-continuous incredible labour. And talking of businesses, I am very curious to hear about how Gauntlets of Ogre Power and Headbands of Intellect would work as guild property. I don’t have specific ideas, but I would think that many guilds would want them. In turn, guilds bring thieves’ guilds to mind, and I have thought for a long time that these two items would be many criminal gangs’ highest priority to obtain. I would think that few stat-boosting items would stay in a given family for more than a generation or two, because they would be such magnets for crime. And so we pass to the question of working against a criminal genius in every city. Of course, investigating magistrates (or whatever relevant authorities there may be), would be equipped with Headbands as well, and a high Wisdom score could also prevail against a genius Intelligence crime lord.
I think you missed the rules about carrying capacity being based on size category. Plus centaurs have a feature that like doubles their carrying capacity for having 4 legs. So based on that, large quadruped creatures will have a huge inherent str advantage over a human of the same strength.
I loved this episode! I’ve been in a bit of a funk for a while but now I have a good quest in mind involving an amulet of health and a few wandering clerics, plus it’ll help me get a proper grasp on my party’s morality if they don’t return it.
items being uncommon is weird to me because any society that sees what a belt of giant strength does would simply hire the guy who made it to build 1000
and in the forgotten realms they did, just that was back before the Elves almost destroyed the world and again before Karsus also almost destroyed the world. The Guy who made this magic item or that magic item isn't typically around anymore.
The reason that items don't let you meet the requirements for multiclassing is practicality - it keeps you from breaking your character if you lose the item. If your player and DM understand the risks then it's a ruling that can easily be ignored.
OK, other magic items I would like to see covered: The Pot of Awakening, AKA the poor man’s Manual of Golems. For 25 gp (less than a year’s wages for an unskilled hireling) create an Awakened Shrub that obeys your instructions and doesn’t listen to anyone else. Low ability scores, but probably requires no wages besides water and some time in the sun. Good servants, incredible spies, and in a group, they make fine assassins of those with Commoner hitpoint pools. RAW, will never reveal your secrets, or respond in any way to anyone else, even under torture, unless you tell it to respond to someone. Lantern of Revealing. At the expense of burning a little oil each day, permanently nullify invisibility in a high-security area. A must at jails, banks, and homes of leaders, and an absolute necessity if you are running a magic item shop and don’t want to lose everything. Maybe pair with a shrub watchman. Spellwrought Tattoo. Potential: infinite. Note that Sage Advice says that Spellwrought Tattoos do not exclude each other from a body part; you can have a full-body tattoo and still add more. Alchemy Jug. Let’s hear it for the item that can produce enough acid per day to finance a lavish lifestyle, or enough water and mayonnaise for a small ship’s crew to live on indefinitely. Bag of Holding. Forget convenient carrying or banishment to the Astral Plane, this thing lets you effectively break the Law of Conservation of Energy by bringing 500 lb. in and out of your world. Build engines! This is what makes a clockpunk world viable! Bracers of Archery. For the price of ten bows, gain proficiency with bows (longbow proficiency might take ten years to acquire in the real world) and crossbows even if you have no experience with them, and a hefty accuracy boost. Every army will be filled with these. More to come, but I have to go now. I will comment with more soon.
Onward. Chest of Preserving. This unlimited duration refrigerator is a Common magical item; it may change the food industry as a whole (equal in cost to 25 days’ Comfortable living expenses!), and certainly does change the tables of the rich. As an added bonus, no more need to cast Gentle Repose on Kobolds; more seriously, it means that you can bring back monster parts for crafting with far less trouble (keep in mind that Beholder bodies turn to stone within an hour of death). Clockwork Amulet. Guarantee an average result in doing something. Once a day, but it does not require attunement and is a Common item. If there is anything you need to be certain won’t be botched, use this. Decanter of Endless Water. More conservation of Energy shenanigans! Also all the water you need. Dust of Dryness. Ultimate mass manipulation, but one-time use. Goggles of Night. I just have a hunch that non-attunement dark vision capability is one of those things this channel will say can change the world. Helm of Telepathy. Someone else already mentioned this one. This seems like another world-changer, and much cheaper to run than castings of Zone of Truth. Still fallible to those few with the right mental training, though. Heward’s Handy Spice Pouch. Gives you a meaningful amount of spices. For the price of one sailing ship, you can get 200 of this Common Magic item, enough to season 1,500 servings of food with the spice of your choice. EVERY DAY! You are now a major player in the spice trade, for the price of a single ship, and able to change to whichever spice brings the highest price on any given day. This is an especially big deal when you find out that in 4e, chili peppers cost 300 gp per pound. Immovable Rod. I don’t have to say a thing about what you can get up to with one of these. Just tell us how it changes the world. I again have to go, but there is still more to come!
Onward! Paper bird. Poor man’s Sending, and this channel has already discussed what a big deal that is. Communication isn’t instant, but it does provide very reliable free mail delivery to anyone on the same plane, and can be used indefinitely. As a bonus this is also a great way to find the location of anyone on the same plane as you. It is also worth remembering that, while the message on the sheet of parchment itself caps out at 50 words, the paper bird has the strength to carry up to 7.5 lb, if you attach it to the main sheet in a way that will not interfere with its folding. Peripapt of Health. Disease immunity. For most of the purposes discussed in this video, this an actual step up from an Amulet of Health, and yet it is only an Uncommon magical item. It won’t cure an existing disease, but it will suppress it indefinitely until that casting of Lesser Restoration. Periapt of Wound Closure. Slow death is impossible; you will always stabilize if you live to the beginning of your own turn. Philter of Love. One hour of sincere belief that the first suitable creature you see is your true love. This would probably change general attitudes toward love in some ways. Psi Crystal. Telepathy all you want, especially for smart people. Have to go again, but not done yet.
This is why in my campaign world, a group of dispel magic specialists (Decasters) are always found in most town watch, and army units. Takes out most mass enhancements.
I could definately see a representative democracy or some similar structure of government have a requirement for those in higher offices to be attuned to headbands of intellect. After all, no matter what side you support, nobody wants an idiot in charge. And with the headbands you can ensure a minimum intelligence for anyone who is in office. Likely it would also act as a symbol of the office, being passed from elected official to official.
LOL Just because someone has high intelligence doesn't mean they aren't idiots. I had a teacher that knew everything about math. He'd talk about this next theorem that is going to change everything if they could just get this math part or that part correct but he just could not understand the computer the school provided. He never bother preparing any of the lessons on it. It was all overhead projectors and slide.
I remember way back in 2nd edition, the Dark Sun campaign setting had a reputation as being extremely high-powered due to some of the character creation rules. I'm now imagining a setting that exists post- some kind of magical industrial revolution, where uncommon magical items are as available to the common man as normal adventuring gear like rope and pickaxes. A world where every single menial laborer you encounter is likely to have 19 strength, and the foreman is going to hit like a giant.
I think there should be a series of rings or similar jewelry of uncommon value that increase a stat by +1 or raise it to 13, whichever is higher. No attunment, but wouldn't stack with items/effects that set stats like the Circlet of Intellect. This can be extremely useful for roleplay without being detrimentally strong in a min-max setting. They would also be great on NPCs, especially if there is a rare and legendary version that still only provide a +1 but make the minimum 15 and 17. That way some NPCs could be leveraging the items to give them power on scale with adventurers. But said items wouldn't specifically make the adventurers themselves any stronger, at best shoring up their weaknesses. Though naturally the real benefit is giving them to the party pets or friends to boost them up.
I love all your videos! And those about implications of magic and magic items are the most thought provoking and directly applicable videos for world and aventure building ❤
Honestly, I always thought the 'common to legendary' system of ranking magic items is silly. How common something is does not need to also make it less potent in all cases like we see in practice. Even within 5e there are cases of incredibly powerful rare and uncommon items, so much so they clearly stand out amongst items within their ranking. This video does a great job highlighting this issue. So who's to say that a nation wouldn't invest it's resources into procuring these items in particular to the point they become common themselves? This would not in any way diminish their usefulness.The headband of intelect can be given to random people for example with the purpose of creating more such items with their newly gained intelligence, until every person can have one. Just imagining a nation of wizards all equally and extraordinarily intelligent... And by the way since they are aware of using magical items on a large scale, who's to say they might not also wear a certain belt and gauntlets, eliminating the few weaknesses the stereotipical wizard may have.
Just to point out from an in game perspective, DnD takes into account the size of the creature. One size larger doubles the amount that they can carry. That means the ox by being a large size means that it would have double the strength of a medium creature. But then the ox has beast of burden meaning they count as size huge. In relative terms the ox will have four times that of a medium creature with a strength of 18. Even so I think the item that would have THE most effect on society is the Chest of Preserving. Chests can hold 300 pounds of stuff and CoP can keep food fresh indefinitely. That is one item the would be a prized possession. It would be passed down from generation to generation. A working CoP would be something that people would fight over, like say someone else wanted to steal it well the owner would really put up as much of a fight as they could. Alchemy Jug is also another item that will change society. 4 (15.14 liters) gallons of beer every single day? 1 pint of oil will give you 6 hours of light in a hooded lantern and it cost 1 sp per. The jug give you two such so 12 hours of light. LMAO it is a little gross thinkin about eating just Mayonnaise but one day's worth from the jug would give out 47,840 calories. But then you can get 12 gallons of salt water. If you use the saltiness of sea water then that 42 ounces of salt and if you can recover the water then that is 1,494 ounces of water Or 11.67 gallons (44 liters) There are many other uncommon (or even common) magical items that would have significant impact on society. Common Candle of the Deep-- Always have light when ever it is needed and Always have a source of fire. Starting a fire in wet conditions is pretty difficult but this changes that because it will always give off light and heat plus water does not extinguish it. Glamorweave and Shiftweave-- Mostly serve the same purpose. Namely cutting cost by buying just one set of clothing. Heward's Handy Spice Pouch-- Saffron is listed 15 gp per pound or 453.59 grams. The pouch dispenses spice in the measurement of a pinch. 5 pinches equal 1 gram which is the minimum amount that it recharges every day. That equals around 3(ish) copper a day not a lot of money but pretty lucrative for just pulling spice out of pouch and you still can do whatever else during the day. Hat of Vermin and the spell Animal Messenger-- In 24 hours a flying messenger can cover 50 miles and a swimming or running can cover 25 miles. But the bat, frog, or rat from the hat is only active for one hour so they can cover a slightly over 2 miles (3.22 km) or 1 mile (1.6 km). It wouldn't work for a huge city like Waterdeep or New York City but It would work as a messaging system for a medium size college or a small village. Uncommon Tan Bag of Trick-- Ever beast you pull can be useful in one way or another. They can be either used as a mount or they can at least be a hunting companion. Goggles of Night-- Night vision for bad human eyes may not be game changing but would be a great benefit. You could quite a lot of money paying for fuel for lighting. Well if you have business dealing at night. Helm of Comprehending Languages-- If there is a fashion of wigs, hats, and crowns because of Headband of Intellect then there would be double that for this gem. No attunement and at a moments notice you know what every one is saying around you. You can read any language just as long as you can touch the page it is written on. Circlet of Human Perfection-- Your are now hot, well at least hot for a human. But one the biggest effect I think would be Sending Stones. They can only be used once per day and have a limited word count but don't underestimate the power of long distance communications. You can drop many words small words and the meaning will still be mostly understood plus the person you send to can respond. Since it is uncommon one rich person or a military leader could have several. But then if you contact a spell caster then they could also use spell slots for other types of communication.
Crafting a uc magic items, looking at 250gp with 1 week of labor. Then you have the special materials, but if they are this useful there would be a market to farm said items ) amung many others, I imagine bing for a UC item (cr4 i recall) they would also be fairly obtainable.
yeah, maybe not entire armies, but a kingdom could for sure have a few units of elite solders, and an economy insentive to hunt monsters for the purpose of butchering and crafting such items. The best wizards, artificers and soldiers. And since we are at it, lets also equip them with magic weapons and armor. As well as some scrolls and potions.
The most important factor in crafting any magic item is that you need to know how to make it, so if you don't have a recipe/schematic/formula you'll need a genuine article to reverse engineer, which may cost a lot more than 250gp for an uncommon magic item upfront, or you'd have to do Research and Development which would cost much much more. Also for a bit of perspective while 250gp isn't much to adventurers(Adventurers have no idea how money works) and is an acceptable expense for the nobility, it is often more than a commoner will earn in a year.
@@williamstokes4282 Just to keep things in perspective for the rich and powerful, the recommended buying price range for Uncommon magic items is 50-500 gp, and a warhorse costs 400 gp.
As for episode suggestions, would you consider exploring very weak magic items? The last game I ran was in 3.5 and I included low value magic items such as gripping dust, which was a consumable that for the duration of the effect, the player could reroll a 1 in combat or where grip on an item was important. I also gave my players a magic whetstone that gave one blade per day a keen edge (double the chance for a critical hit) on the first attack after sharpening. It can be easy to justify such items as research by a mage who tried to make something more powerful, but fell short and got a mildly useful item. Or as this channel often explores, magic items that are mass produced using a minimal expenditure. Regardless, these items can be used to teach your players to appreciate the +2 sword that required several sessions to get, rather than complain that they don't have a +5 holy avenger.
One magic item I thought of that would have to exist is a Wardrobe Of Holding. Nobels could have near infinite wardrobes with no hassle when it comes to storage. After all if the enchantments for a Bag Of Holding exist, what's stopping an Artificer from enchanting a Wardrobe the same way?
In some previous videos i have made long comments on how the video inspired me, in the latest videos i have not found such ideas, therefore haven't commented. This doesn't mean i haven't been inspired however, each and every video does. Much like this one, which will be used and referenced as i proof myself with a bit of free hand writing towards a goal IRL i shall not be discussing. These ideas and inspirations simply have been less tangible. but Tom, they are everpresent.
@@grumbolaya bizarrely, (and this is why I mention the rat calculation) , your carrying capacity is only halved when you're tiny. Small creatures have exactly the same carry/drag/lift as medium creatures, and tiny is half of medium. It's wild, but true.
I love your videos. I know most of these are meant for dnd rp. But this one is the first to not apply at all to pathfinder. The magical items you mention their equivalent in pathfinder is a major artifact.
This just reminds me that the item rarity level really need to be overhauled. It’s why I always tell my players that I have changed the rarity of items on a case by case basis
A single headband of intellect can be used by beast trainer to teach their beast of choice language abilities. It may take some time, going one by one... But if you find a pack of talking wolves, there may be a druid with a cool headband nearby
On the topic of donating an amulet of health to a child, the wandering priest may well need to take said child into their care for the sake of the safety of the child. Such an item would be fantastically valuable. And could easily make the child and their family targets for those who desire such power for themselves.
The amulet of health could potentially allow sick people (who would otherwise die or be sick for a long time) to make full and speedy recoveries. Every medicine guild would want as many of these as they could get their hands on.
This is really a cool video. However, it is predicated upon the notion that people without class levels (or monsters and golems) can attune to magic items. I don't know that's the case. Attunement may be something only 'special' individuals can perform.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide consistently refers to “a creature” attuning a magic item, and specifically addresses monsters attuning magical items that would ordinarily be limited to particular classes (they can do it if they have any spells from the relevant class’s spell list from other sources). It talks about prerequisites like a class or spellcasting; it is pretty clear that any prerequisites for magic item attunement will be the ones listed in the item description. Official adventures have included numerous NPCs and monsters with magical items, and some, I am sure, required attunement. Those without class levels can definitely, DEFINITELY attune magic items.
Even without the headband of intelect i believe the physically disable would be better understood and taken care of due to other sinple magic such as telepathy and even utility cantrips.
So all noble and kings will confiscate all these items for their own use… to strengthen their family and allies… small and children can still worl the mines they dont need strength for that
You missed a part when talking about the Headband of Intellect: Basic spells. Lesser Restoration ends blindness and deafness, meaning people will either already associate these conditions with disease as a result of LR's primary use being to end diseases, or the spell's existence will hamper people using Headbands of Intellect to notice that deafness is independent of intelligence.
A ring of regeneration might serve a similar role, mind you being a rarer object, being passed around, probably to people in higher positions of power, to restore limbs lost in battle or accident when there isn't a 13th level spellcaster who knows regenerate around.
The interesting part in a world full of magic items is when people don't even know they have them. Say an orc army comes through a region. After they have been defeated, someone looks at the losses and notices that one village is missing. Not destroyed, but simply not there any more, as if it had never existed. No dead, no ruins, nothing. What if one of the villagers had a Ring of Wishes or a Genie Bottle with no knowledge what it was? And for the first time in centuries someone held the heirloom and made a wish? Where did it end up? What if the Player Characters were in that village when the wish was made? Or with the Headband of Intellect, a family would always have one genius in each generation. Maybe never even knowing why. Though the wearer would probably figure it out once they removed it a few times, but would they share the knowledge? Their weakness, which could be stolen? And so on.
I see it as far more likely that a rich benefactor with several of these items would instead of giving them to the needy, would instead have a contract with individuals to use the items in service of the benefactors. Consider in the movie Avatar (blue people, not benders), the protagonist was a paralyzed twin who was offered the use of the body designed for his brother, provided he joined the security team. That was a very narrow use case that enabled the plot, but I could see an entire adventuring team of the discards of society serving someone of uncertain morals in order to be able to walk or hold an intelligent conversation again.
If you do look up how anabolic steroids make muscle, one could argue that the same can be done with healing potions but better. Imagine how that could influence armies.
How about a video about attunement, Tom? I could never wrap my head around this practice, other than being a meta-tool against power creep. Is it like entering personal data into a new cell phone, before you can use it?
What about the magic tomes and how they benefit or push great libraries and academic endeavors and institutions for archaeology, natural “sciences” and so on? Having, collecting and preserving eternal attribute enhancing tomes can be a powerhouse for a city or kingdom! Specially if the secrets in their making are lost or hard to execute (since the tomes recover their magic every century)… This could lead to building Great Libraries as a geopolitical necessity and help establish organized (State) organized mages and scholars much sooner than in our Earth references
Kinda makes you wonder why Raistlin never seemed to have heard of an Amulet of Health, doesn't it? 😉 As far as suggestions go, if you haven't already done something on them, I think that in the right (or wrong) hands (judges, diplomats, etc.), either a Medallion of Thoughts or Helm of Telepathy could have society-changing (or society-destroying) effects.
Suddenly I'm feeling very concerned over the fact that there are no items that set Wisdom, at all, and the ioun stone and magic book that buffs it are both in the very rare category... cause I'd argue Wisdom to be more valuable for rulers and guards (it does govern Insight, after all), not to mention the effects of alzheimer's and dementia that would blast both ability scores... also nothing to set dexterity to offset parkinsons or charisma for just general orneriness (jk)
Basing how rare magical items would be in other settings, based on how rare they are, in the game is a terrible idea, because their rarities are only based off of fair rune or however, you spell it which that world has head multiple big civilizations that are super advanced compared to the current timeline for them. They are only common because they mass-produce them back, then setting that super rare could actually be super easy to make it’s just that there’s not that many of them, the easiest comparison to make is a cloak of protection, compared to a ring of protection. There’s a lot more cloaks of protection then there are rings of protection, even though they have the same enchantment and that’s because they were mass produced because back when the setting was made, it was a different addition and, you only had a certain amount of rings that you could use and not being able to have a spell storing ring because you had a ring of protection on kind of sucks
Are there any other similiar items for other stats? Not just +1 or +2, just straight up, "have an 18" ? To turn a dumpstat into a top stat for one atunment slot? (amulet of health in the rare slot. 3 stats left).
My only real issue with this is the idea that the nobility would give their stat boosting items to their servants when not needed. Maybe it would make moving shipments easier, but maybe it would make it easier to crush you with a lump of masonry if they decide to quit. What royal would willingly put themselves in a position where they might need to worry about their staff turning into super soldiers and coup-ing them. Advisors are already dangerous enough without giving them a headband that makes them objectively smarter than you. And its bad enough talking about humanoids. Monstrous abilities already make these creatures threats to the kingdom without the ability to think circles around your dumbest infantry, to say nothing of your court's wizard.
This is just another example of why It's probably better to make your world's magical innovations be spell based instead of item based. As fun as it would be, the party could easily break things if they were just able to steal a bunch of Ogre Power Gauntlets by raiding a nearby mine full of child workers.
Saying shorter/ smaller people would be better soldiers with ogre gauntlets is SUCH metagamey interpretation of the effect. And even THEN, it's still untrue. Being smaller does make you harder to hit (to an extent), but also makes your sidesteps shorter, your ducks less shallow (comparatively), and worst of all, you'd have LESS REACH due to shorter arms and legs (yes, even those count, especially for lunges). And we didn't even get to the fact that even if both sides have the "same" strength to wield the same weapon, having shorter arms means you have lesser control over longer ones like spears or pikes, make bulkier weapons like an arbalest be very finicky to use due to literally having to lie it down for reloads, and also have shorter draw length, disallowing them to use larger, higher poundage bows. So no, (thankfully) there is little reason for child soldiers in plate armor and ogre gauntlets.
As far as I recall, I never state that a smaller person will be a better soldier than their equivalent adult wearing plate. They will be better at fitting in small spaces for rescues or mining, but not a grand melee. What I meant was that young people will likely be going to war anyway, assuming that history looks anything like our DND world. If that's the case then they will probably be better than a regular combatant with a boost to 19 strength, and plate, regardless of their reach. Yes, reach is significant, but not the only factor, especially when you're mounted and your enemy is not (and scions of noble houses would be much more likely to be mounted than the regular soldier). Hope that clarifies my position.
@@Grungeon_Master I'm 70% sure that somewhere in the video (which is 27 minutes, so not gonna check it to be 100%) you said something amongst the lines of "if both combatants are strength 19, the smaller one is better", then amongst the reasons why I think I heard the ususal "harder to hit" trope, hence my initial comment. But if that's not what you said/ meant, then okay. You did say about an increase in plate armored child soldiers at the end of the video though, so it's a bit weird that you say this now (which WASN'T a thing in history, for the record, combatants were for most times 15+, and those under 18/20 were usually auxiliary troops like squires or shield bearers).
Magic is not free, all magic has a price, especially helpful magic. What priest would be willing to help someone that doesn’t follow the same god, and what self-respecting wizard would give away the power he has slaved away over books for, day after day for years on end, to the fucking normals who ridiculed him for doing so? It’s ridiculous that we would apply humanist standards to what would otherwise be a medieval setting without Christian principles.
Didn't Rick and Morty make an episode about making pets smart. Also, I thought only a sapient creature could use magic items. (Also, also, I don't think animals can focus on anything that long.)
Imagine a campaign where these are mass produced... with the Sauron clause that it subjects their will to the master ring. Imagine trying to convince people that it is bad to use these magic items because of some conspiracy theory seeming explanation.
I'm hearing that D&D 5e endorses Non-verbal child soldiers!(This is a joke, internet.) Considering your videos and reasoning, you can't maintain a medieval society with rapid communication, widespread technological/magical availability, agricultural surpluses, an open road to personal magic, and no monotheistic or centralized religion(which can also empower it's devotees) to enforce the status quo. It's funny that your videos just continually point us towards a world that favors a rapidly progressing Renaissance, evolving towards an Imperium or maybe a league of city states and the precipice of radical changes. Flesh it out enough and you can do Age of Exploration, Revolutions, or Early Industrial. At that point, you have many more options: you can do continent-wide or almost world war, or choose a calamity to occur and play post spell-pocalypse. Or you can do this as background for a points-of-light setting.
@Grungeon_Master it's worth a double check but as I recall it's only 3/4 for small. I don't recall with certainty on the tiny; they may only be 1/6- it's a pretty steep curve though. Now If you had a powerful build on a small creature then yes the same. If I'm misremembering no worries then lol
Gaunlets of ogre-power are vastly overrated; a typical 1st-level fight will have STR 16 or even STR 18. So the advantage gained is rather small or even non-existent. The same is true for wizards and headbands of intellect. 3E had a better approach by giving a flat increase in attributes. For an army, magic items are far too expensive. You could as well hire ten additional soldiers with full kit instead of buying that magic item.
You would NOT be as strong as an Ogre or Ox. It would be somewhat close, but size matters, and both are large compared to your medium. A rat could carry 93lbs or drag 187.
The biggest (and most horrible) question that arises is... does this impact the actual genetic makeup of the people who come from offspring of the superhuman society? If so, that will make magic tool users targets for kidnapping and/or conscription.
I disagree about the staff part. As a lord you are gonna want to keep such items out of the hands of employees for the most part. Even if you have not slighted them, if they feel they can get away with even some of your wealth by threatening to squish your head like a cherry, you are done for.
A draw back for headband of intellect: if you use int*10=IQ, many of the people with 190 IQ find it nearly impossible to interact with society at large. So you might end up with people taking their headband off to just be able to interact with their loved ones without feeling like everyone else is going to slow.
That is an idea that is not backed up by the rules. There are people of genius intelligence who can interact perfectly fine with other people while others are more like Sheldon Cooper, which IMHO is a result of low WIS and/or low CHA.
no shame in proudly displaying having both the wealth and forethought to equip yourself with peak human intellect. perhaps even a whole rituals develops around donning the headband. with norms around when it is appropriate and innapropriate to wear. also, with how dnd splits up int, wisdom and charisma, some mind find it rather difficult to hide thier sudden boon in processing power. i am thinking it would be a bit similar in outward effect to the limitless pill, specifically how it is portrayed in the tv series.
Oh sweet now my players are about to meet a goblin in full plate, gauntlets of ogre power, and a headband of intellect.
run an OSR game so I use The Monster Overhaul,I decided to name him using a randomable. Rolled 99: "Ottamus Prime" Distinction: Riveted armor plates.
Make a goblin super intelligent with the goal of making a new race of goblins that are spatter and more capable.
He partially succeeds. This new race although less human looking and having shorter life spans is exceptional more intelligent.
Although saddened by his failure the goblin doesn’t let it hold him back and now aims to spread this new race and bring goblin kind into a new age with him as their king.
Interesting enough hook for a campaign villain.
@@theashen2019 Nice! I think he will be a problem for a good long while. So his having a plan and a long game is perfect.
Hope you plan on giving those to the party after the 12 seconds of combat needed to cast hold person and smite one time.
Smite only damages undead though. Make it fireball or something.
Imagine those stat boosting books being passed down through a family a ritual being done every hundred years when the book resets for the heir to gain stats from it to aid them in their position
This reminds me of those Chinese and Korean novels about family members fighting each other over who gets to use the cultivation materials...
Or being hoarded by a single elf
@@ZarHakkar Well I think they can only use the books once but yeah multiple elves can use a book in one generation for them
@@zacharyweaver276 nah if you can wait 100 years nothing stops you from using a book again
@@ZarHakkar If that's how it works than yeah definitely have an elf buffed to the Abyss with them
So what I'm hearing is, Artificer is the most in demand class in these worlds?
Actually, I'd argue more in demand than even that because an Artificer can relatively easily render an infusion null to put a stop to any peasant/union uprisings.
Welcome to Eberron.
funny enough, an alchemist artificer in particular is likely more valued than others for their ability to cure diseases and more effectively treat wounds. so they have finally found a niche: npc
So, a belt of giant strength, an amulet of health, and a cape of flying and you've basically got fantasy superman.
You would also need bracers of defence to improve AC.
And a spellbook to stand in for his eye beams, frost breath, and enhanced senses
@@softpaw6234or that one spell storing magic item, forgot it's name
@@placate9051 If such an item exists he'd need several, it would be easier to just be a caster naturally
The headband of intellect could have some horrific Flowers for Algenon situations, especially if it could be used to treat brain damage or similar situations. Someone would certainly test why it affects cognitive brain function but not other brain functions. And if a child uses it throughout their schooling if they removed it as an adult would their intelligence have developed or would they revert back to the capabilities of a two year old from when it was first put on?
Thinking about it, I`m not sure which would be worse. Flowers for Algernon, or Lawnmower Man. Both would be tragic.
I don't think they would revert, but I do think there would be a noticeable difference. On the conditions that they actually studied and trained when they had it, and also had life experiences in general. My source? Multiple head injuries. Or as I like to tell people, I used to be smart about five major head injuries ago. The funny thing? I might have forgotten large CHUNKS of what I studied, but the process of studying stayed with me. I can still learn, because I learned how to learn. Am I smart? Not anymore, but I`m not mentally handicapped either. Can I tell the difference? Absolutely!
The problem for Charlie was that his surgery was a temporary boost to his intelligence. A headband of intellect does not have to be removed. Maybe, if it was used to improve magical research efforts, it could be used to discover a way to make the effect continue without the need of a magic item.
@@zednumar6917 Absent a source of brain damage, If you used a Headband of Intellect to study, train and truly grasp high level information, then took it off would you lose what you grasped? I don't believe so. You might not be as able to learn new information without the external aid, or be able to grasp new information as easily, but unless something actively removes your memories and understanding, you should retain it. As a study aid, it should be top tier.
As far as the brain damage goes, from personal experience, you do lose information, but not really the skills you learned. The only skill I ever lost was the ability to have multiple timers in my head at once. Also, I don't actually believe I lost that particular skill, but it`s just that I don't have the focus to use it right now.
here's a fun idea, how would the spell "goodberry" affect the world?
Think about it, a spell that makes 10 berries that remove your need to eat or drink for an entire day, and can restore 1 HP? if a Stone Age village figured out how to do this spell they would be able to gather the food surplus to kickstart civilization much earlier. The 1 HP doesn't sound like much, but for that small village, it would be the difference between life and death in an era where tiny scratches could kill you.
Militaries would see this spell as a must-have for soldiers, removing the need for supply caravans to send food or medical equipment.
Heck, if 1/10th of Napolean's army had this spell, he probably would have been able to conquer Russia!
No you still need water, by RAW, Goodberry only works for the nutrition (or food) part. But the point is mute because Create or Destroy Water is also a first level spell that Druids also know.
I'm pretty sure he already made a video on this, or maybe it was someone else not sure.
@@Sadstone11 Would love a link to this video if you can find it.
A guard station that trades off the gauntlets when your shift is up
Libraries that trade off the headband to interns so they can do tedious research
Two important things to discuss here is:
1. A soldier that uses these gauntlets or a wizard that uses this headband would be weaker than one with the same str/int but an extra attunement slot at their disposal
2. Sending children to battle sounds like a great way to lose a lot of money. You're sending inexperienced children without the emotional grit to battle only for them to die and their magic items looted. There's no way that's feasible
Also, intelligence is not wisdom. If you give a child both these items, that does not mean they'll have the wisdom to make hard decisions and survive
Regarding your second point, any society sending kids to battle as anything other than a last resort likely is so militarized that those kids would begin training as soon as they are mobile
@@lordsergal8783 that's fair, just pointing out that it's unfeasible even without considering the moral aspect or surrounding culture
@@lordsergal8783 Also child soldiers are terrifyingly willing to kill, its why many real world warlords use them to this day.
Your 1st point is true, but the common milita soldier doesn't have +4 to its strength
And i would prefre the wizard aprentice casts hold person with 19 int instead of 15 int.
@@prosamis That depends almost entirely on how much it costs to produce those items. If they are dirt cheap, or worse function like an Artificer`s Infusion, where they can make multiple items per day and looting does no real good because they are basically temporary, then no it is in fact Cheaper and far more feasible to send children into combat. Why? Because raising a person to adulthood costs society a TON of money, time and effort. Don`t believe me? Just look at college tuition and Student loan debt in the U.S. And that's only college, not high school, grade school, medical costs, food and clothing for years, etc... Even just looking at the time it takes to train a soldier. What, you have to spend eighteen, nineteen years, JUST to barely get them to the very edge of adulthood? Not counting any actual training?
I guess I should add that things like enchantments, and thus Artificer Infusions would also be a factor. Look at the Repeating Shot Infusion that does away with reloading and ammunition, Weapons like the Scimitar of Speed that grant what would otherwise be a class feature, things like that. If those things become cheap, if the Wand of Fire Balls becomes mass producible, then yes children are cheap. Six months of training and you have a new soldier, and If you only had to spend ten years to get them to that point...
It`s the moral aspect that's the only real factor truly worth considering...
D&D settings already allow people to talk with animals and plants, as well as just directly peering an individual's thoughts. Just having this ability to communicate without traditional language barriers would revolutionize cultural perceptions of, well, a lot of things, though also the deaf.
Well even without telepathy there is literally a language called common that almost every intelligent species on the planet is practically born knowing so... The setting just sort of took that issue away from the get go
Aside from these stat increasing magic items, I've always wondered the Implications of a "Ring of Regeneration".
Most Major ailments and accidents can be solved by just putting this thing on your finger for an hour, then just like that you're OK and the next person can use it.
No more Amputeism, Paralysis, Dementia, Alzheimers, Brain Damage, Cirhosis, Certain types of Cancers, Certain types of Blindness/Deafness e.t.c. A single one of these completely revolutionises the Healthcare industry.
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The only flaw is that Regeneration restores you to an ideal state, but what determines what that is? Would someone born deaf/blind benefit from this item?
How would it interact with common Cancers? Most Cancers are a result of cells growing out of control. Would this escalate that process?
(If aging is simply Cell degradation, how does this interact with that process?)
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If you read this, I think a video on your thoughts concerning it would be enlightening. There's always new things to think about after watching your videos.
Wasn't there an XP to Level Three video about that? Albeit a comedy sketch, but it's not impossible to imagine a hospital that has one or more rings in circulation.
A ring of regeneration is "very rare". So it really depends on the size of cities whether there is even a single item of this kind in the city, let alone one to go around to use for everyone for free. It is possible to create such a world. But IMHO it is far more interesting if miracles of healing are not readily available at all times for anyone, as it makes for more difficult choices. Will the clerics heal the nobles? Or will they create a lottery which determines who will be healed and who will not be healed? Will they heal an unbeliever from a foreign land or even an enemy?
Regarding deafness in society, it is important to remember that an Ear Horn of Hearing completely negates deafness for anyone who can hold it to their ear, and is a Common magic item. I imagine that you can find one of these chained in almost any temple where they have anything they want to teach people, and anyone seriously deaf from a wealthy, or even middle class family will own one.
A level 1 wizard with a ring of spell storing can be enough to give an entire populous each their own familiar. It could be a tradition, that by the time your child reaches a certain age, you have saved enough gold for your child to bring to the town "familiar father". The wizard casts the spell into the ring, consuming the gold in the spell casting, then hand it to the child, who in front of a crowd of people, summons their own familiar.
Familiars last indefinitely, and as long as they aren't slain with violence, never die. Of course, if your familiar is destroyed, you'd have to revisit the wizard, who, likely will charge you quite a bit more. "First one is free."
An entire town where everyone has their own companion. The streets are safeguarded by day by dogs and ravens, and at night the cats and owls prowl and perch, keeping a lookout. Being served your ale by a glowing monkey would be a normal occurance.
I like familiar town. It seems happy.
Find Familiar is a level 1 spell, and Variant Humans get a free Feat as part of their race.
Instead of a town wizard, you could easily say that EVERYONE has the Magic Initiate feat and learned Find Familiar as their leveled spell. Kinda like in His Dark Materials where people have dæmons that are physical manifestations of their own soul.
25:01 I like the idea of a holy order of Midwife Paladins whose holy symbol is an amulet of health, and they travel the world aiding people giving birth with their magic and amulet, seeing as childbirth was dangerous for most of human history
An amulet of health could prevent miscarriages and death during childbirth, saving the lives of pregnant women, then be passed on to babies to block childhood diseases.
Wow, my requested video only two weeks after I asked? I don’t have time to watch at the moment, but thank you so much! I am certainly anticipating watching when I have the chance!
I like the idea that stat boosting items would greatly change how the world would work. 5e/dnd is really bad at guaging how their spells and items would affect a setting when people besides adventurers can get them
imagine an Artificer acting like a Warlock Patron, loaning out powerful artifacts like these to their servants in exchange for helping them achieve other goals by using said artifacts...
i play a tiefling armorer artificer in a party with three rogues, and they are my Unofficial Warlocks! it's very entertaining
Imagine items that enhance DEX, WIS, or CHA...
In fact there are many common and uncommon items that would change a lot of things, for example in regards to disease there's an uncommon amulet that makes you immune to disease while suppressing any diseases you already have
Those were in all past editions of the game
@@brianzmek7272 i bet, though it's thankfully easy to implement them as homebrew
Imagine a scenario in which the royal heir had such an amulet, but the amulet was stolen. Adventurers must restore the amulet to the heir before he expires of his/her dire disease. Time is ticking... find out who stole the amulet and why!
Plenty of potential intrigue there. Did the Countess steal it to restore her own heir? Did a pickpocket grab it to restore his mother? Was it stolen by the royal advisor to throw the realm into chaos, making way for his own power play?
@@imayb1 i like that, good job ^^
As someone who's immunodeficient, I'm really happy that you talked about people like me! Now we just need to get an amulet of health in real life
I think the lack of armor proficiency is more of a factor for the plate than the strength. Any random person won't have that proficiency. I think that guards would though (CR1/8)
21:00 ahhh, yes.
The perfect gift for a person with a debilitating anxiety condition: the headband of enhanced over-thinking
Hell yeah, i was waiting for something like this. Hope you do more item vids
I think wealth disparity becomes a massive issue with these magical items. With enough money you are stronger, smarter and healthier than anyone else
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't consider the possibility of bootstrapping that a Headband of Intellect would enable. With so many hyper-intelligent wizards running around, producing such objects at scale would become much more feasible, allowing them to suddenly become quite a lot more common. A really thoughtful and enterprising society might even come up with the idea to use a Wish spell or some other advanced means to provide themselves with the necessary components on an ongoing basis, potentially in a centralized location which could function similarly to a mint, allowing for some degree of state control of production if such a thing were desired.
Imagine having a headband of intellect taken away. That would be a horror as your ability to think clearly is instantly snached away
i experience this when i look at the sun
DnD escapes all such heavy magic item stuff by saying that pretty much all magic items are not easily available iirc
Yet requires you to have them to play at higher tiers
Technically it depends on which setting you're in. The default Forgotten Realms setting is middle of the road for magic where Eberon has way more and Dragonlance has way less.
@@Wanderingsage7 Well, they are an optional rule, but eh - dnd5e is very much laser-focused on dungeon crawling and dungeon crawling is usually done for loot, which often includes magic items.
So, if you play the system as a dnd game, aka a dungeon crawler, your character probably should get a lot of magic items over their career.
The system doesn't communicate it's intended gameplay clearly, but in it's defense dnd always was a dungeon crawl focused system and, starting at 3e, a combat focused system.
Ig if you play a more narrative campaign, like most dnd5e groups do, extreme wealth and plentiful magic items might be scarce and spellcasters, designed for long "war of attrition" dungeon crawls, gain even more advantages due to having huge out-of-combat utility unlike the martial classes and not having to ration their spellslots when most groups do 1-2 fights on a long rest
@@Wanderingsage7 Well, the average higher-tier adventurer is similarly rare, so it balances out.
@@Alex-cq1zr just don't fight any fiends, golemns or dragons and you should be good :-)
I'm not sure I like the idea that these items would somehow prevent degenerative diseases or injuries. Like an athlete who has trained all their life, there will be damage done to joints, bones, etc. The thing is supposed to give strength, not an enhanced constitution. Also, on size comparison - being larger tends to give longer limbs, helping to optimize leverage points. Children were used in these dangerous positions in society because they were seen as less valuable and easier to replace. Who would you rather lose, a stone mason with many years of experience or that new kid still in the first year of his job?
i love the idea in general of magic items being used by disabled people, and it needs to be explored more. your examples are pretty creative, particularly when it comes to chronic illness and the amulet of health. i know some people irl who would benefit from such a thing.
I remember when our party gave one of these to two kids we really liked after we got better magic items to replace them . We later found out several years later that they both joined the same adventuring party and were in love
I have never been in a PF2e party without at least one Goblin on it.
...Because of that context, I think the thought of a Goblin being able to easily lift a cow is somehow even more terrifying.
Wonderful video. I think there is room for a Part Two, sometime. Think of Headbands of Intellect in academic institutions (especially in magic schools); think of what it would be like paying off the rich kid with the Headband to lend it to you for your exam, and maybe the night before; think what it would do to any grading system as well. And think about what it would be like to grow up with a Headband of Intellect from infancy; you would probably have advantages even on those who achieved an intelligence score of 20 naturally in their adulthood.
Gauntlets of Ogre Power have fewer unique possibilities, but one thing I have discussed with friends is the potential offered by their transferability. If a business (or an army, etc.) owns a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power, they will have them passed between different shift workers for 21-hour use each day (must leave time for attunement) for near-continuous incredible labour.
And talking of businesses, I am very curious to hear about how Gauntlets of Ogre Power and Headbands of Intellect would work as guild property. I don’t have specific ideas, but I would think that many guilds would want them.
In turn, guilds bring thieves’ guilds to mind, and I have thought for a long time that these two items would be many criminal gangs’ highest priority to obtain. I would think that few stat-boosting items would stay in a given family for more than a generation or two, because they would be such magnets for crime. And so we pass to the question of working against a criminal genius in every city. Of course, investigating magistrates (or whatever relevant authorities there may be), would be equipped with Headbands as well, and a high Wisdom score could also prevail against a genius Intelligence crime lord.
I do like these deep implication of fantasy items / spell / fantasy abilities videos GM does. :)
I think you missed the rules about carrying capacity being based on size category. Plus centaurs have a feature that like doubles their carrying capacity for having 4 legs. So based on that, large quadruped creatures will have a huge inherent str advantage over a human of the same strength.
I loved this episode! I’ve been in a bit of a funk for a while but now I have a good quest in mind involving an amulet of health and a few wandering clerics, plus it’ll help me get a proper grasp on my party’s morality if they don’t return it.
items being uncommon is weird to me because any society that sees what a belt of giant strength does would simply hire the guy who made it to build 1000
and in the forgotten realms they did, just that was back before the Elves almost destroyed the world and again before Karsus also almost destroyed the world. The Guy who made this magic item or that magic item isn't typically around anymore.
The reason that items don't let you meet the requirements for multiclassing is practicality - it keeps you from breaking your character if you lose the item.
If your player and DM understand the risks then it's a ruling that can easily be ignored.
OK, other magic items I would like to see covered:
The Pot of Awakening, AKA the poor man’s Manual of Golems. For 25 gp (less than a year’s wages for an unskilled hireling) create an Awakened Shrub that obeys your instructions and doesn’t listen to anyone else. Low ability scores, but probably requires no wages besides water and some time in the sun. Good servants, incredible spies, and in a group, they make fine assassins of those with Commoner hitpoint pools. RAW, will never reveal your secrets, or respond in any way to anyone else, even under torture, unless you tell it to respond to someone.
Lantern of Revealing. At the expense of burning a little oil each day, permanently nullify invisibility in a high-security area. A must at jails, banks, and homes of leaders, and an absolute necessity if you are running a magic item shop and don’t want to lose everything. Maybe pair with a shrub watchman.
Spellwrought Tattoo. Potential: infinite. Note that Sage Advice says that Spellwrought Tattoos do not exclude each other from a body part; you can have a full-body tattoo and still add more.
Alchemy Jug. Let’s hear it for the item that can produce enough acid per day to finance a lavish lifestyle, or enough water and mayonnaise for a small ship’s crew to live on indefinitely.
Bag of Holding. Forget convenient carrying or banishment to the Astral Plane, this thing lets you effectively break the Law of Conservation of Energy by bringing 500 lb. in and out of your world. Build engines! This is what makes a clockpunk world viable!
Bracers of Archery. For the price of ten bows, gain proficiency with bows (longbow proficiency might take ten years to acquire in the real world) and crossbows even if you have no experience with them, and a hefty accuracy boost. Every army will be filled with these.
More to come, but I have to go now. I will comment with more soon.
Onward.
Chest of Preserving. This unlimited duration refrigerator is a Common magical item; it may change the food industry as a whole (equal in cost to 25 days’ Comfortable living expenses!), and certainly does change the tables of the rich. As an added bonus, no more need to cast Gentle Repose on Kobolds; more seriously, it means that you can bring back monster parts for crafting with far less trouble (keep in mind that Beholder bodies turn to stone within an hour of death).
Clockwork Amulet. Guarantee an average result in doing something. Once a day, but it does not require attunement and is a Common item. If there is anything you need to be certain won’t be botched, use this.
Decanter of Endless Water. More conservation of Energy shenanigans! Also all the water you need.
Dust of Dryness. Ultimate mass manipulation, but one-time use.
Goggles of Night. I just have a hunch that non-attunement dark vision capability is one of those things this channel will say can change the world.
Helm of Telepathy. Someone else already mentioned this one. This seems like another world-changer, and much cheaper to run than castings of Zone of Truth. Still fallible to those few with the right mental training, though.
Heward’s Handy Spice Pouch. Gives you a meaningful amount of spices. For the price of one sailing ship, you can get 200 of this Common Magic item, enough to season 1,500 servings of food with the spice of your choice. EVERY DAY! You are now a major player in the spice trade, for the price of a single ship, and able to change to whichever spice brings the highest price on any given day. This is an especially big deal when you find out that in 4e, chili peppers cost 300 gp per pound.
Immovable Rod. I don’t have to say a thing about what you can get up to with one of these. Just tell us how it changes the world.
I again have to go, but there is still more to come!
Onward!
Paper bird. Poor man’s Sending, and this channel has already discussed what a big deal that is. Communication isn’t instant, but it does provide very reliable free mail delivery to anyone on the same plane, and can be used indefinitely. As a bonus this is also a great way to find the location of anyone on the same plane as you. It is also worth remembering that, while the message on the sheet of parchment itself caps out at 50 words, the paper bird has the strength to carry up to 7.5 lb, if you attach it to the main sheet in a way that will not interfere with its folding.
Peripapt of Health. Disease immunity. For most of the purposes discussed in this video, this an actual step up from an Amulet of Health, and yet it is only an Uncommon magical item. It won’t cure an existing disease, but it will suppress it indefinitely until that casting of Lesser Restoration.
Periapt of Wound Closure. Slow death is impossible; you will always stabilize if you live to the beginning of your own turn.
Philter of Love. One hour of sincere belief that the first suitable creature you see is your true love. This would probably change general attitudes toward love in some ways.
Psi Crystal. Telepathy all you want, especially for smart people.
Have to go again, but not done yet.
@@animationlover219do it again
This is why in my campaign world, a group of dispel magic specialists (Decasters) are always found in most town watch, and army units. Takes out most mass enhancements.
Insightful and inspiring as always, dear Tom! Thanks!!
I could definately see a representative democracy or some similar structure of government have a requirement for those in higher offices to be attuned to headbands of intellect.
After all, no matter what side you support, nobody wants an idiot in charge. And with the headbands you can ensure a minimum intelligence for anyone who is in office. Likely it would also act as a symbol of the office, being passed from elected official to official.
LOL
Just because someone has high intelligence doesn't mean they aren't idiots. I had a teacher that knew everything about math. He'd talk about this next theorem that is going to change everything if they could just get this math part or that part correct but he just could not understand the computer the school provided. He never bother preparing any of the lessons on it. It was all overhead projectors and slide.
I remember way back in 2nd edition, the Dark Sun campaign setting had a reputation as being extremely high-powered due to some of the character creation rules.
I'm now imagining a setting that exists post- some kind of magical industrial revolution, where uncommon magical items are as available to the common man as normal adventuring gear like rope and pickaxes. A world where every single menial laborer you encounter is likely to have 19 strength, and the foreman is going to hit like a giant.
I think there should be a series of rings or similar jewelry of uncommon value that increase a stat by +1 or raise it to 13, whichever is higher. No attunment, but wouldn't stack with items/effects that set stats like the Circlet of Intellect.
This can be extremely useful for roleplay without being detrimentally strong in a min-max setting.
They would also be great on NPCs, especially if there is a rare and legendary version that still only provide a +1 but make the minimum 15 and 17. That way some NPCs could be leveraging the items to give them power on scale with adventurers. But said items wouldn't specifically make the adventurers themselves any stronger, at best shoring up their weaknesses.
Though naturally the real benefit is giving them to the party pets or friends to boost them up.
I love all your videos! And those about implications of magic and magic items are the most thought provoking and directly applicable videos for world and aventure building ❤
Honestly, I always thought the 'common to legendary' system of ranking magic items is silly.
How common something is does not need to also make it less potent in all cases like we see in practice.
Even within 5e there are cases of incredibly powerful rare and uncommon items, so much so they clearly stand out amongst items within their ranking. This video does a great job highlighting this issue.
So who's to say that a nation wouldn't invest it's resources into procuring these items in particular to the point they become common themselves? This would not in any way diminish their usefulness.The headband of intelect can be given to random people for example with the purpose of creating more such items with their newly gained intelligence, until every person can have one. Just imagining a nation of wizards all equally and extraordinarily intelligent... And by the way since they are aware of using magical items on a large scale, who's to say they might not also wear a certain belt and gauntlets, eliminating the few weaknesses the stereotipical wizard may have.
I’ve always figured that the rarity of an item is more based on how hard it is to make, not on how powerful it is.
Just to point out from an in game perspective, DnD takes into account the size of the creature. One size larger doubles the amount that they can carry. That means the ox by being a large size means that it would have double the strength of a medium creature. But then the ox has beast of burden meaning they count as size huge. In relative terms the ox will have four times that of a medium creature with a strength of 18.
Even so I think the item that would have THE most effect on society is the Chest of Preserving. Chests can hold 300 pounds of stuff and CoP can keep food fresh indefinitely. That is one item the would be a prized possession. It would be passed down from generation to generation. A working CoP would be something that people would fight over, like say someone else wanted to steal it well the owner would really put up as much of a fight as they could.
Alchemy Jug is also another item that will change society. 4 (15.14 liters) gallons of beer every single day? 1 pint of oil will give you 6 hours of light in a hooded lantern and it cost 1 sp per. The jug give you two such so 12 hours of light. LMAO it is a little gross thinkin about eating just Mayonnaise but one day's worth from the jug would give out 47,840 calories. But then you can get 12 gallons of salt water. If you use the saltiness of sea water then that 42 ounces of salt and if you can recover the water then that is 1,494 ounces of water Or 11.67 gallons (44 liters)
There are many other uncommon (or even common) magical items that would have significant impact on society.
Common
Candle of the Deep-- Always have light when ever it is needed and Always have a source of fire. Starting a fire in wet conditions is pretty difficult but this changes that because it will always give off light and heat plus water does not extinguish it.
Glamorweave and Shiftweave-- Mostly serve the same purpose. Namely cutting cost by buying just one set of clothing.
Heward's Handy Spice Pouch-- Saffron is listed 15 gp per pound or 453.59 grams. The pouch dispenses spice in the measurement of a pinch. 5 pinches equal 1 gram which is the minimum amount that it recharges every day. That equals around 3(ish) copper a day not a lot of money but pretty lucrative for just pulling spice out of pouch and you still can do whatever else during the day.
Hat of Vermin and the spell Animal Messenger-- In 24 hours a flying messenger can cover 50 miles and a swimming or running can cover 25 miles. But the bat, frog, or rat from the hat is only active for one hour so they can cover a slightly over 2 miles (3.22 km) or 1 mile (1.6 km). It wouldn't work for a huge city like Waterdeep or New York City but It would work as a messaging system for a medium size college or a small village.
Uncommon
Tan Bag of Trick-- Ever beast you pull can be useful in one way or another. They can be either used as a mount or they can at least be a hunting companion.
Goggles of Night-- Night vision for bad human eyes may not be game changing but would be a great benefit. You could quite a lot of money paying for fuel for lighting. Well if you have business dealing at night.
Helm of Comprehending Languages-- If there is a fashion of wigs, hats, and crowns because of Headband of Intellect then there would be double that for this gem. No attunement and at a moments notice you know what every one is saying around you. You can read any language just as long as you can touch the page it is written on.
Circlet of Human Perfection-- Your are now hot, well at least hot for a human.
But one the biggest effect I think would be Sending Stones. They can only be used once per day and have a limited word count but don't underestimate the power of long distance communications. You can drop many words small words and the meaning will still be mostly understood plus the person you send to can respond. Since it is uncommon one rich person or a military leader could have several. But then if you contact a spell caster then they could also use spell slots for other types of communication.
I'm in love with the concept of a noble king with a Crown of Intellect, suiting up for battle with his Gauntlets of Ogre Strength
Crafting a uc magic items, looking at 250gp with 1 week of labor. Then you have the special materials, but if they are this useful there would be a market to farm said items ) amung many others, I imagine bing for a UC item (cr4 i recall) they would also be fairly obtainable.
yeah, maybe not entire armies, but a kingdom could for sure have a few units of elite solders, and an economy insentive to hunt monsters for the purpose of butchering and crafting such items. The best wizards, artificers and soldiers.
And since we are at it, lets also equip them with magic weapons and armor. As well as some scrolls and potions.
The most important factor in crafting any magic item is that you need to know how to make it, so if you don't have a recipe/schematic/formula you'll need a genuine article to reverse engineer, which may cost a lot more than 250gp for an uncommon magic item upfront, or you'd have to do Research and Development which would cost much much more. Also for a bit of perspective while 250gp isn't much to adventurers(Adventurers have no idea how money works) and is an acceptable expense for the nobility, it is often more than a commoner will earn in a year.
@@williamstokes4282 Just to keep things in perspective for the rich and powerful, the recommended buying price range for Uncommon magic items is 50-500 gp, and a warhorse costs 400 gp.
As for episode suggestions, would you consider exploring very weak magic items? The last game I ran was in 3.5 and I included low value magic items such as gripping dust, which was a consumable that for the duration of the effect, the player could reroll a 1 in combat or where grip on an item was important. I also gave my players a magic whetstone that gave one blade per day a keen edge (double the chance for a critical hit) on the first attack after sharpening.
It can be easy to justify such items as research by a mage who tried to make something more powerful, but fell short and got a mildly useful item. Or as this channel often explores, magic items that are mass produced using a minimal expenditure.
Regardless, these items can be used to teach your players to appreciate the +2 sword that required several sessions to get, rather than complain that they don't have a +5 holy avenger.
It is a breath of fresh air for somebody to address the subject of Disabilities in dnd without being preachy. Thank you
One magic item I thought of that would have to exist is a Wardrobe Of Holding. Nobels could have near infinite wardrobes with no hassle when it comes to storage. After all if the enchantments for a Bag Of Holding exist, what's stopping an Artificer from enchanting a Wardrobe the same way?
In some previous videos i have made long comments on how the video inspired me, in the latest videos i have not found such ideas, therefore haven't commented.
This doesn't mean i haven't been inspired however, each and every video does. Much like this one, which will be used and referenced as i proof myself with a bit of free hand writing towards a goal IRL i shall not be discussing.
These ideas and inspirations simply have been less tangible. but Tom, they are everpresent.
Can't forget that a creatures strength based lift, drag, and push and halved if they are small and quartered if tiny.
@@grumbolaya bizarrely, (and this is why I mention the rat calculation) , your carrying capacity is only halved when you're tiny. Small creatures have exactly the same carry/drag/lift as medium creatures, and tiny is half of medium. It's wild, but true.
I love your videos. I know most of these are meant for dnd rp. But this one is the first to not apply at all to pathfinder. The magical items you mention their equivalent in pathfinder is a major artifact.
@8:10
Nah, don't even worry about it. The children yearn for the mines.
This just reminds me that the item rarity level really need to be overhauled. It’s why I always tell my players that I have changed the rarity of items on a case by case basis
A single headband of intellect can be used by beast trainer to teach their beast of choice language abilities.
It may take some time, going one by one... But if you find a pack of talking wolves, there may be a druid with a cool headband nearby
On the topic of donating an amulet of health to a child, the wandering priest may well need to take said child into their care for the sake of the safety of the child. Such an item would be fantastically valuable. And could easily make the child and their family targets for those who desire such power for themselves.
Most importantly, how much for the cute little squid guy in the background.
The amulet of health could potentially allow sick people (who would otherwise die or be sick for a long time) to make full and speedy recoveries. Every medicine guild would want as many of these as they could get their hands on.
This is really a cool video. However, it is predicated upon the notion that people without class levels (or monsters and golems) can attune to magic items. I don't know that's the case. Attunement may be something only 'special' individuals can perform.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide consistently refers to “a creature” attuning a magic item, and specifically addresses monsters attuning magical items that would ordinarily be limited to particular classes (they can do it if they have any spells from the relevant class’s spell list from other sources). It talks about prerequisites like a class or spellcasting; it is pretty clear that any prerequisites for magic item attunement will be the ones listed in the item description. Official adventures have included numerous NPCs and monsters with magical items, and some, I am sure, required attunement. Those without class levels can definitely, DEFINITELY attune magic items.
@@animationlover219 hmm. Well then it works.
@@jamestitus472 🙂
Haha, literally have a character in my game now on a quest to find the Headband of Intellect and Pearl of Speech for his pet mole, Mimsy.
Definitely putting an awakened shrub with a headband of intelect in my next game
Even without the headband of intelect i believe the physically disable would be better understood and taken care of due to other sinple magic such as telepathy and even utility cantrips.
So all noble and kings will confiscate all these items for their own use… to strengthen their family and allies… small and children can still worl the mines they dont need strength for that
You missed a part when talking about the Headband of Intellect: Basic spells. Lesser Restoration ends blindness and deafness, meaning people will either already associate these conditions with disease as a result of LR's primary use being to end diseases, or the spell's existence will hamper people using Headbands of Intellect to notice that deafness is independent of intelligence.
4:38 Oxen are large creatures though, and so have a multiplier to their strength in some capacity
A ring of regeneration might serve a similar role, mind you being a rarer object, being passed around, probably to people in higher positions of power, to restore limbs lost in battle or accident when there isn't a 13th level spellcaster who knows regenerate around.
The interesting part in a world full of magic items is when people don't even know they have them.
Say an orc army comes through a region. After they have been defeated, someone looks at the losses and notices that one village is missing. Not destroyed, but simply not there any more, as if it had never existed. No dead, no ruins, nothing.
What if one of the villagers had a Ring of Wishes or a Genie Bottle with no knowledge what it was? And for the first time in centuries someone held the heirloom and made a wish? Where did it end up? What if the Player Characters were in that village when the wish was made?
Or with the Headband of Intellect, a family would always have one genius in each generation. Maybe never even knowing why. Though the wearer would probably figure it out once they removed it a few times, but would they share the knowledge? Their weakness, which could be stolen?
And so on.
I see it as far more likely that a rich benefactor with several of these items would instead of giving them to the needy, would instead have a contract with individuals to use the items in service of the benefactors. Consider in the movie Avatar (blue people, not benders), the protagonist was a paralyzed twin who was offered the use of the body designed for his brother, provided he joined the security team. That was a very narrow use case that enabled the plot, but I could see an entire adventuring team of the discards of society serving someone of uncertain morals in order to be able to walk or hold an intelligent conversation again.
If you do look up how anabolic steroids make muscle, one could argue that the same can be done with healing potions but better. Imagine how that could influence armies.
How about a video about attunement, Tom? I could never wrap my head around this practice, other than being a meta-tool against power creep. Is it like entering personal data into a new cell phone, before you can use it?
Decanter of endless water???
Once a wizard has a headband of intellect, he'll soon have gauntlets of ogre power and the equivalent for other attributes, Dexterity, Wisdom, etc.
I heard an Austrian painter 90 years ago trying to create a ubermench society as well xD
What about the magic tomes and how they benefit or push great libraries and academic endeavors and institutions for archaeology, natural “sciences” and so on? Having, collecting and preserving eternal attribute enhancing tomes can be a powerhouse for a city or kingdom! Specially if the secrets in their making are lost or hard to execute (since the tomes recover their magic every century)…
This could lead to building Great Libraries as a geopolitical necessity and help establish organized (State) organized mages and scholars much sooner than in our Earth references
Kinda makes you wonder why Raistlin never seemed to have heard of an Amulet of Health, doesn't it? 😉
As far as suggestions go, if you haven't already done something on them, I think that in the right (or wrong) hands (judges, diplomats, etc.), either a Medallion of Thoughts or Helm of Telepathy could have society-changing (or society-destroying) effects.
Suddenly I'm feeling very concerned over the fact that there are no items that set Wisdom, at all, and the ioun stone and magic book that buffs it are both in the very rare category... cause I'd argue Wisdom to be more valuable for rulers and guards (it does govern Insight, after all), not to mention the effects of alzheimer's and dementia that would blast both ability scores... also nothing to set dexterity to offset parkinsons or charisma for just general orneriness (jk)
Basing how rare magical items would be in other settings, based on how rare they are, in the game is a terrible idea, because their rarities are only based off of fair rune or however, you spell it which that world has head multiple big civilizations that are super advanced compared to the current timeline for them. They are only common because they mass-produce them back, then setting that super rare could actually be super easy to make it’s just that there’s not that many of them, the easiest comparison to make is a cloak of protection, compared to a ring of protection. There’s a lot more cloaks of protection then there are rings of protection, even though they have the same enchantment and that’s because they were mass produced because back when the setting was made, it was a different addition and, you only had a certain amount of rings that you could use and not being able to have a spell storing ring because you had a ring of protection on kind of sucks
Similar to shard plate from Sandersons Way of Kings.
Are there any other similiar items for other stats? Not just +1 or +2, just straight up, "have an 18" ? To turn a dumpstat into a top stat for one atunment slot? (amulet of health in the rare slot. 3 stats left).
Actually size does matter because of mass. Doesn’t matter how strong you are if you don’t have the mass to use it.
My only real issue with this is the idea that the nobility would give their stat boosting items to their servants when not needed. Maybe it would make moving shipments easier, but maybe it would make it easier to crush you with a lump of masonry if they decide to quit. What royal would willingly put themselves in a position where they might need to worry about their staff turning into super soldiers and coup-ing them. Advisors are already dangerous enough without giving them a headband that makes them objectively smarter than you. And its bad enough talking about humanoids. Monstrous abilities already make these creatures threats to the kingdom without the ability to think circles around your dumbest infantry, to say nothing of your court's wizard.
Prepping a powerful npc, who's just a commoner with some magic items
This is just another example of why It's probably better to make your world's magical innovations be spell based instead of item based.
As fun as it would be, the party could easily break things if they were just able to steal a bunch of Ogre Power Gauntlets by raiding a nearby mine full of child workers.
Saying shorter/ smaller people would be better soldiers with ogre gauntlets is SUCH metagamey interpretation of the effect.
And even THEN, it's still untrue. Being smaller does make you harder to hit (to an extent), but also makes your sidesteps shorter, your ducks less shallow (comparatively), and worst of all, you'd have LESS REACH due to shorter arms and legs (yes, even those count, especially for lunges).
And we didn't even get to the fact that even if both sides have the "same" strength to wield the same weapon, having shorter arms means you have lesser control over longer ones like spears or pikes, make bulkier weapons like an arbalest be very finicky to use due to literally having to lie it down for reloads, and also have shorter draw length, disallowing them to use larger, higher poundage bows.
So no, (thankfully) there is little reason for child soldiers in plate armor and ogre gauntlets.
As far as I recall, I never state that a smaller person will be a better soldier than their equivalent adult wearing plate. They will be better at fitting in small spaces for rescues or mining, but not a grand melee.
What I meant was that young people will likely be going to war anyway, assuming that history looks anything like our DND world. If that's the case then they will probably be better than a regular combatant with a boost to 19 strength, and plate, regardless of their reach. Yes, reach is significant, but not the only factor, especially when you're mounted and your enemy is not (and scions of noble houses would be much more likely to be mounted than the regular soldier).
Hope that clarifies my position.
@@Grungeon_Master I'm 70% sure that somewhere in the video (which is 27 minutes, so not gonna check it to be 100%) you said something amongst the lines of "if both combatants are strength 19, the smaller one is better", then amongst the reasons why I think I heard the ususal "harder to hit" trope, hence my initial comment.
But if that's not what you said/ meant, then okay.
You did say about an increase in plate armored child soldiers at the end of the video though, so it's a bit weird that you say this now (which WASN'T a thing in history, for the record, combatants were for most times 15+, and those under 18/20 were usually auxiliary troops like squires or shield bearers).
Magic is not free, all magic has a price, especially helpful magic. What priest would be willing to help someone that doesn’t follow the same god, and what self-respecting wizard would give away the power he has slaved away over books for, day after day for years on end, to the fucking normals who ridiculed him for doing so? It’s ridiculous that we would apply humanist standards to what would otherwise be a medieval setting without Christian principles.
My rule is that wizards need a certain magical element to be wizards in the first place.
Actually having a smaller size does affect carrying capacity
Didn't Rick and Morty make an episode about making pets smart. Also, I thought only a sapient creature could use magic items. (Also, also, I don't think animals can focus on anything that long.)
The muscle mice from demon slayer are now possible
Imagine a campaign where these are mass produced... with the Sauron clause that it subjects their will to the master ring. Imagine trying to convince people that it is bad to use these magic items because of some conspiracy theory seeming explanation.
I'm hearing that D&D 5e endorses Non-verbal child soldiers!(This is a joke, internet.) Considering your videos and reasoning, you can't maintain a medieval society with rapid communication, widespread technological/magical availability, agricultural surpluses, an open road to personal magic, and no monotheistic or centralized religion(which can also empower it's devotees) to enforce the status quo.
It's funny that your videos just continually point us towards a world that favors a rapidly progressing Renaissance, evolving towards an Imperium or maybe a league of city states and the precipice of radical changes.
Flesh it out enough and you can do Age of Exploration, Revolutions, or Early Industrial. At that point, you have many more options: you can do continent-wide or almost world war, or choose a calamity to occur and play post spell-pocalypse. Or you can do this as background for a points-of-light setting.
The thing you're forgetting as part of this, an 18str on a gnome or a goblin or a rat is not the same as an 18str on a human sized anything.
@@steeldrago73 on gnome or goblin, it is, actually. Carrying penalties only apply if you're a tiny creature, not small. (At least as far as I know)
@Grungeon_Master it's worth a double check but as I recall it's only 3/4 for small. I don't recall with certainty on the tiny; they may only be 1/6- it's a pretty steep curve though. Now If you had a powerful build on a small creature then yes the same. If I'm misremembering no worries then lol
Gaunlets of ogre-power are vastly overrated; a typical 1st-level fight will have STR 16 or even STR 18. So the advantage gained is rather small or even non-existent. The same is true for wizards and headbands of intellect. 3E had a better approach by giving a flat increase in attributes.
For an army, magic items are far too expensive. You could as well hire ten additional soldiers with full kit instead of buying that magic item.
You would NOT be as strong as an Ogre or Ox. It would be somewhat close, but size matters, and both are large compared to your medium.
A rat could carry 93lbs or drag 187.
Full plate doesn’t need great strength. A strength 10 average joe can wear full plate just fine.
The biggest (and most horrible) question that arises is... does this impact the actual genetic makeup of the people who come from offspring of the superhuman society? If so, that will make magic tool users targets for kidnapping and/or conscription.
I disagree about the staff part.
As a lord you are gonna want to keep such items out of the hands of employees for the most part.
Even if you have not slighted them, if they feel they can get away with even some of your wealth by threatening to squish your head like a cherry, you are done for.
once again 3rd edition is superior to 5th edition here because these items only give a +2 Enhancement bonus, so they don't break the world.
A draw back for headband of intellect: if you use int*10=IQ, many of the people with 190 IQ find it nearly impossible to interact with society at large.
So you might end up with people taking their headband off to just be able to interact with their loved ones without feeling like everyone else is going to slow.
That is an idea that is not backed up by the rules. There are people of genius intelligence who can interact perfectly fine with other people while others are more like Sheldon Cooper, which IMHO is a result of low WIS and/or low CHA.
no shame in proudly displaying having both the wealth and forethought to equip yourself with peak human intellect.
perhaps even a whole rituals develops around donning the headband.
with norms around when it is appropriate and innapropriate to wear.
also, with how dnd splits up int, wisdom and charisma, some mind find it rather difficult to hide thier sudden boon in processing power.
i am thinking it would be a bit similar in outward effect to the limitless pill, specifically how it is portrayed in the tv series.