You seem to put a lot of value on the level of magic items, but you can make a low magic campaign in any ruleset. 3rd edition does not require +8 items.
You seem to put a lot of value on the level of magic items, but you can make a low magic campaign in any ruleset. 3rd edition does not require +8 items.
This is true, but what 5e does that previous editions did not do is implement what they have termed "bounded accuracy". What this does for balance is remove ever increasing saves, skill rolls, stats and attack/damage bonuses. In practice, the proficiency bonus starts at +2 and by level 20 it has only increased to +6. This proficiency bonus governs the class proficient saving throws (two per class except in a couple specific cases), attack bonus, skill rolls (for skills you select for proficiency) and some other specific instances. This also makes installing higher level magic items specifically a bad idea since things like monster AC also fall in to bounded accuracy (an adult Blue Dragon has an AC of 19 for instance, I don't think anything gets higher than mid-20's). Other editions of D&D have had ever increasing AB/THACO, ever improving AC, saves, DC's, etc. All of the attacks and defenses continue to increase which, as previously pointed out is not in itself a problem, since they tend to increase, or have the ability to increase somewhat in concert with each other. However, what it does introduce is a somewhat difficult to balance scenario where careful planning is needed to ensure that the defense improvements keep up with the attack/DC improvements and vice versa. This can make it difficult at higher levels to keep up the challenge, while not going overboard in to the realm of impossible. Bounded accuracy addresses this by keeping all of the number in the realm of a somewhat lower margin, making it easy to balance the various mechanics of spells, magic items, attacks and defenses. It also makes a 1st level character more closely matched to a 20th level character. Sure that level 20 is still going to wipe the floor with the level 1, but it is not nearly as insane as previous editions. It's more clear in looking at something like level 2 vs. level 5, for instance. The level 5 has a slightly higher proficiency bonus, an extra attack (for fighter type classes) and other benefits, but AC will be very similar, at least making the level 2 look a bit more competent in comparison. At least this is what I've found in the 5e campaign I am running. However, as I said previously, I haven't played PnP since 2e and that was 20 + years ago. I'm not saying 3.x (or any other edition) CAN'T be balanced...Especially in a PnP campaign it is up to the DM to ensure it is so, but I am saying it is easier to balance, especially in a computer game where it becomes somewhat of an exercise in mechanical number crunching. 5e, IMO thus far has done a good job of making 'optimized' characters less overwhelming in comparison to a more 'normal' build by a less experienced player or a player who is simply not interested in optimization. You can still make power-builds, but they generally are only focused on abilities that allow for 'nova' damage and can only occur a limited amount in a given period between rests. From what I've seen the stronger the nova, the fewer uses you get and the less effective the character is outside of the nova.
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