Do Strength and Intelligence Matter Less in D&D

#dungeonsanddragons #dnd #ttrpg #rpg #dungeonmaster #tabletopgaming #wotc #5e #criticalrole #dnd5e #magicitems #wizardsofthecoast #gamemaster #homebrew #dndhomebrew

[myronorisit]

I would argue that an item that replicates a barbarian's level 20 feature is pretty powerful in and of itself, if it can replicate that then it should stand to reason that it's not too far fetched to extend that to other stats

[willlabonte]

It is also of note that when your Constitution goes up, your health goes up retroactively. So if a level 10 character with a Constitution of 9 gets an amulet of health, it essentially gives them 50 hp.

[barnesb]

Strength is also carry capacity which can be pretty important and strength damage like axes.

[TrixyTrixter]

I agree, other stats, exept con which has the amulet of health. Should not get a "Set to 19 or 20+" But I think there could be items that gives a bost to those stats. like a +1 or +2 to dex, wis, cha

[zeridoz]

In earlier editions you could increase other ability scores by as much as up to +8

[hunterbrown]

They forgot the necklace of health for con. If you get Zariels sword and it deems you worthy then your charisma is set to 20. Clerics have been buffed so much in 5e that if you get the boon of insight and read the tome of exalted deeds then you can bump up your wisdom to 24 no problem before you get the tome of insight to increase it to 26 making you an absolute monster to try and spell save against.

[harrisonrobb]

In 3.5 there used to be The Belt of Giants Strength, Bracers of Dexterity, Amulet of Health, Periphat of Wisdom, Headband of Intellect and Cloak of Charisma.

5e stripped it down to just 2 because 5e is super simplistic.

[jakefairley]

I was in a campaign where the dm gave the bard an item that boosted his charisma, and it completely broke the game until the rest of the party could catch up

[Sean-niqy]

I think BG3 did this right with items that just give you permanent enhance ability for a particular stat (e.g. Cat's Grace for Dex) to buff these abilities.

[kingpatrick]

My dm made items for those specific skill. Like brass knuckles to increase intimidation.

[NicholeParker]

As someone who rolled up a bard with garbage stats, I’m dying to raise my charisma

[feenyxblue]

Strength also controls your inventory!

[estevanfelix]

I would love to play a spell caster who used to be a barbarian but wore one of the things that makes your intelligence better, and then he got addicted to being at a normal/above average intellect, and learned how to be a spell caster. But like if he ever gets into jail or gets his items taken, he just reverts to a dumb barbarian

[Hamisback]

More overlooked answer, WoTC just completely dropped the ball with magic items when going from 3e to 4e and forgot to add them back in 5e. If you look at 3e or 3.5/1e pathfinder the magic items a never ending list.

[failedhybrid]

it does make sense
inteligentce is just how smart you are, wisdom is how you apply that and that cant really be boosted without experiance
charisma is well a gift that usually come naturally or is learnt cant really artifactually boost that without again experience or just straight up bewitching the other people around you
and well dex is more muscle memory cant just boost that lol

[commentary]

They don’t have those stat items specifically because of how influential they are

[Odds_And_Ents]

My dm gave us an amulet that set your con to 19 it was a good health boost for the weakest party member

[Midasmannan]

Your natural ac without armor if there was a dex based item like belt of giants strength would be 19. Unarmored Defense would be scsry

[nyaboron]

I really hate these items in their design too. Giving a headband of intellect to a wizard or gauntlets of ogre power to a barbarian *should* be the best use for them but it's actually the opposite. The wizard likely already has 18ish int at least by the time you get this item so its effectively useless. It's better on someone who dumped int but doing that steps on the wizards toes when it comes to skill checks. These items shouldn't *replace* your ability score, but flat increase it, possibly over the max. That way changing an 8 int to a 12 is impressive but changing an 18 to a 22 on a wizard is flat out amazing.

[Draygarth]

Get some big beefy constitution items. Big HP and you just drink the drow poison as an intimidation tactic.🤣