I've read some criticism lately around the supposedly trite, formulaic +1 sword (and its numerous equivalents, obviously). Magic is wondrous, and bonus-granting stuff, although useful, squanders much of its potential. Now this is a reasonable critique, and I'm hard-pressed to disagree. Magic could always use a little wonder, and it's easy to get lazy when putting together your latest edition of (insert game-x here). But ever the devil's advocate, I've decided that maybe our friend, the +1 sword, needs a little love too.
Clearly, bonus-giving items are a form of advancement. Combat isn't everything; but it happens often enough that entire classes are devoted almost exclusively to battle. For these characters, adding +1 to their attack rolls is a huge payday. Or put another way, that +1 doohickey is only boring until it saves your life. And these items are understated enough to blend with the user's normal kit, which makes the sexier stuff stand out more...
That's right. Magic stands in contrast to the ordinary; and when everything's uniquely magical, nothing is. And the divider shouldn't be just normal vs. magical either. We need steady shades of gray between the so-called low stuff that nudges rolls and high magic capable of trapping souls in mirrors. Incidentally, the former largely falls to fighters, while the latter goes to wizards, for whom overtly magical displays are expected.
Now I get it. People aren't calling for the abolishment of +1 magic swords, only warning against over-reliance. How about a ring of protection that grants +1 vs. poison and sings a song in the presence of tainted food and drink? That's what they're after, and I'll happily agree. Let magic be magical. But I'll add that the largely invisible, bonus-granting stuff has an important place as the workhorses of the magical world, a necessary one; and perhaps we need this to preserve what makes magic - and the characters using it - truly special...
