Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 the_yakk Sep 20, 2010 15:20:23	I'm thinking of introducing "automatic item bonuses" on a per-slot basis. The primary "slots" on a character are: Weapon (x2), Neck, Armor The secondary "slots" on a character are: Head, Belt, Boots, Gloves, Ring (x2), Arms The primary slots tend to be "more powerful" for their value, because they give large bonuses to enemy DCs or your own d20 rolls in combat, and on top of that have properties. In addition, there is still a "math gap".  Barring a huge feat expenditure, monster accuracy vs non-AC defences is very high at epic level.  (1 to 30 gets +1/4/5 stat, +15 level, +6 enhance, +3-4 feat = +25-26/+28-29/+29-30, which falls behind 2-5 points total by epic). Many of the other slots end up being item taxed -- iron armbands of power, and the equivalent for archers, are nearly nessicary in order to keep up with expected damage output levels. So I'm going to try to fix this by adding "implicit bonuses" to various slots. Heroic Tier will get a +1 implicit item bonus, Paragon a +2, and Epic a +3 to the following: Boots: Reflex Belt: Fortitude Head: Will Gloves: Damage Arms: Saves with the arms included for symmetry.  (Arms are also the shield-slot) If an item already gives the same bonus (ie, an epic helm that gives a +3 item bonus to will), boost the higher item bonus by +1 at heroic/paragon, and +2 at epic. How broken is this plan?
#2 tequila_sunrise Sep 21, 2010 13:20:28	This is a bit confusing, so let me make sure I've got this right. You want to give everyone +1 to +3 item bonuses to NADs, damage and saves? Assuming I've got that right, I see a couple issues. First, smart players will still take NAD booster feats, which will boost their NADs to obscene levels. Second, saves aren't supposed to scale up with level -- I know there's an item that gives +1 saves, but the game doesn't assume that everyone has it. If all your players are taking it, I'd consider banning it before I'd consider effectively giving it away for free. And third, you're neglecting possibly the most important math hole in the game -- PC attacks, which lose 4 bonuses from 1st to 30th level. The damage boost will work just fine though.
#3 the_yakk Oct 03, 2010 20:42:34	Assuming level 1 as baseline, from level 1 to 30 your attacks and AC should scale at a rate of +1 per level (or +29 over 29 levels). For NADs, my target is an average of +1 per level. Heavy Armor AC: +15 (level)+6(enhancement)+6(Masterwork Armor)+1 (feat) = +28 -1 off target Light Armor AC: +15 (level)+6(enhancement)+2(Masterwork Armor)+1 (feat)+4-5 (stat) = +28 to +28, right on, or -1 below, target Attacks: +15 (level)+6(enhancement)+4-5 (stat)+3(expertise) = +28-+29 right on, or -1 below, target High-stat NAD: +15 (level)+6(enhancement)+4-5 (stat)+3 (feat) = +28-+29 right on, or -1 below, target [b]Low-stat NAD[b]: +15 (level)+6(enhancement)+1-+2 (stat)+3 (feat) = +25 -3.5 under target Treating stat-ups as +4.5 on your attack stat, +4 on your non-Attack stat, and +1.5 on your low stats, we get the following gaps: Heavy Armor: 1 point gap Light Armor: 1 point gap Attacks: 0.5 point gap NADs 0.5, 1.0 and 3.5 point gaps = 5 points in total, or 1.67 average gap. NADs, bad case: 0.5, 3.5 and 4.0 point gap = 8 points in total, or 2.67 average gap. NADs still have the largest gap. It is true that the untyped bonuses from "epic will, epic reflexes and epic fortitude" will have to be blocked. Characters who burn 3 feats on the +4 feat bonus to a NAD end up being more ahead of the game, but that is a large feat investment. --- A +3 item bonus to saves ends up turning the average number of turns you are under a save ends effect from 1.82 to 1.43.  It is nice, but not ridiculously brutal.  It was added to make sure that every slot ends up "equally" boosted.  Barring massive save boosts (which are rare and situational), it doesn't break the game. Similarly, the item bonus to damage from gloves reduces the hegemony of the iron armbands of power/staff of ruin, and makes gloves equally tempting to upgrade.