TLDR: Charms could function as “Rule Breakers”
With any power system, we need to make sure that it has a specific purpose and brings something unique and interesting to the game. I think given how little we actually know about how the loot system in D4 is going to work, this is a very difficult discussion to have. We don’t understand the power systems that will be included. Predominantly, it seems we have one faction that wants D2’s system back and another which recognizes the flaw of using inventory space as character power slots is an inherently bad idea, and which opposes that, but generally has no issue with something called “charms” being added to the character sheet itself.
I’m in the second camp. Inventory bag space is limited so your time out in the game world collecting loot is limited. There’s an inherent balance there. Player power is strictly controlled based on what can go in the character sheet. Player time in the battlefield is controlled (in a soft sense) by inventory space. When you use inventory space as a power system, players feel obliged to give up their inventory space for power. In this system, filling your inventory with charms isn’t a choice. It’s a requirement to be competitive, and it disrupts the balance of both the character sheet and the bag space systems. Each part of the game’s design has it’s own purpose and they shouldn’t be mixed.
I have no issue with a thing called “charms,” or really any other name Blizzard may choose, but I think that if they’re going to add a power system, it needs to have a specific purpose and be intentionally balanced and restricted. I’m not interested in power gain for the sake of bigger numbers. Ultimately, Blizz will just increase the monsters’ numbers to account for it, and it effectively adds nothing of real value. All we get is bigger numbers and an increasingly complex equation for Blizzard to attempt to balance, and that’s not a good thing. If you’re going to add charms, they need to provide a meaningful choice and add to build diversity.
Given the caveat in paragraph 1 about the unknown nature of the D4 power systems, I think charms could be interesting as small effect “rule breakers.”
- Adding max elemental resistance
- Adding +1 to skills (individually or all skills, perhaps)
- Adding magic find (assuming the D3 system with no MF elsewhere in the power system)
The idea here is that there would be only a very small number of slots, but you could use them to break limitations on power systems, either offensive or defensive, in a very controlled way that lets you customize your character. Again, this can’t be an exhaustive list because we don’t know what the power systems in D4 will be, but the idea of a rule breaker is unique and compelling.
Implementation could take on about a dozen different forms, but I think a couple of them are reasonable:
- Having a set number (say 2-4) character sheet slots specifically dedicated to charms, like the rings and amulets which can be filled with charms. Balance is provided by limiting the number of charms, what effects could go in each slot, or by the effects available themselves. Perhaps you could render yourself immune to a single element, but at the cost of all other potential effects charms might have.
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Having a grid, such as the D3 talisman concept Clueso cited here:
https://imgur.com/BiJyRwQ. In this version, charms would have various power levels based on size and players would play a mini-Tetris game with their charms. They could have many small/weak charms, or a few large/strong charms, or some mix of the two, and similar to the 1st option, balance of the numbers might be such that you could render yourself immune to a single element, but at the cost of skill power boosts, no magic find, or whatever other benefit charms might provide.