Originally Posted by
Aielyn
Why wouldn't they just be junk? Mostly because the negative traits would be uncommon, as you'd expect, at most, maybe a 1-in-10 chance of each trait being a negative one. This, combined with affinity, would mean that much of the time, you'd get items with sensible combinations of traits like, say (for a sword), fire resistance, does fire-type damage, slays giants, grants the ability to see invisible, and increases Perception (hot white sword "Burning Eye"). Or an amulet that, say, boosts Learning and Willpower, increases PP regeneration rate, and pulls the user towards N (symmetric amulet "Mastermind"). Or boots that reduce movement costs, increase Dexterity, and give resistance to paralysis (slick boots "Freeflow"). Or a whip that has vampiric effects, has +2 damage die and +3 damage per die, draws the user towards C, and corrupts with use (vicious whip of Dra'kul). You get my point, I assume.
What I'm saying is that if the system is well defined, it'll make interesting items that are somewhat useful far more often than it will make useless items that are bland.