Originally Posted by mrfuji3
Originally Posted by 1varangian
Originally Posted by mrfuji3
My second playthrough, I know that the Headband of Intellect exists, so I make a Rogue (Arcane Trickster) or Fighter (Eldritch Knight) and dump INT, allowing me to raise other ability scores that would never otherwise do.
That's precisely the problem imo.

Player 1 plays a Githyanki Eldritch Knight and puts points into 16 Strength and Intelligence, taking advantage of the matching racial stat bonuses.

Player 2 plays a Dwarf Eldritch Knight, dumps Intelligence to 8, has 17 Str and 17 Con, and gets to sprinkle the remaining points from the Int dump into wherever. Then, with Headband of Int, also surpasses the Gith in Intelligence and spellcasting.

Or they both end up wearing a Headband of Intellect and it's a tie in spite of the Gith having a natural 16 Int. Except the Dwarf has much higher stats elsewhere.

It's like you're actually being punished by making a "good" build and not building around one particular magic item. The only somewhat redeeming factor could be that there will be much better helmets or headbands, and NO Super Headband of 20 Intelligence. Still, if I would make a more offensive EK spellcaster, I would still prefer a Headband that would +2 the Gith's Int so it would matter that I made them smart to begin with.
But player 2 would never make such a build on their 1st run (unless they look up game details or are otherwise informed). This scenario is only relevant in 2nd or later playthroughs, where both players are aware of the Headband's existence. Given that, Player 1 is actually *not* making a good build anymore...unless they are waiting for headgear that is better than the Headband.

Plus, part of the fun of D&D for me is crafting different builds, and foreknowledge of items in BG3 allows for a larger parameter space of feasible/powerful builds. I'm not seeing the problem if you can craft superior builds on subsequent playthroughs by using the knowledge you got from previous playthroughs - that's part of the charm of replaying games.
I guess it comes down to whether you like item-centric, of character-centric builds then. I prefer items to boost a character build, but not be a build around thing. I don't like that a simple item like a Headband of Intellect can completely reverse the fact that High Elves or Githyanki should make good EK's. Or that intelligent characters in general should make the best hybrid Int spellcasters.

5e also tried to downplay the impact of magic items. Odd that they would simultaneously design a magic item that overrides ability scores rather than enhances them, but there it is. Personally, I like reducing the impact of magic items a lot. Nothing more silly than a very high level DnD 3.5 character losing all their magic items (prison breaks are fun) and suddenly being demolished by low level enemies with that 12 AC. Back to BG3, dumping Int as an Intelligence spellcaster seems like something that should never be rewarded so generously.