Magic items, or lack there-of

It looks like we now have enough information to figure out how monsters get tougher in higher levels of play in our system. I've been working a lot on this, and boy-howdy is it a stinking hot mess. Anyway, first things first. Let's talk about magic items in 5E and how monster progression is affected by magic items.

It isn't. 5E does not take magical items players have accumulated into consideration when considering how much harder mosnters should be as PCs level up, unlike 4E. I think this is a good policy since magic items cannot be bought and are not guaranteed to be found. However, if/once the players actually do accumulate such magic arms and armor the game gets too easy in the higher levels. Due to this balance issue, I'd take the scarcity of magic items a step further for the purpose of our system: player characters can only attune to one true magic artifact. Yes, just one.

Balance reasons are of course the primary reason. But there are two more reason why players should be limited to one magic true magic item (probably arms/armor) in our system. (1) Magic items are like ninjas. Ninjas are more impressive when there's fewer of them.

The sheer rarity of magic items brings more flavor and increases the worth of true magic items that the PCs do find. And the true magic item the PCs choose to attune to become a signature magic item to that PC. Anybody remember the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon in the 80s? Each of the magic items the teenagers were given became iconic to each character. Think of like Drittz's Scimitars, Wonder Woman's lasso, Conan's Atlantean sword, Aragorn's sword Anduril, Thor's hammer and Captain America's shield. Even the One Ring carried by Frodo. Trying to giving these heroes more than one iconic piece of equipment would make the primary item less memorable.

Folks remember Gandalf's nameless staff more than his named magical sword (Glamdring) since it was used so in such an iconic scene with the Balrog. This in spite of the sword being used in killing the Demon. Narya, one of the Rings of Power owned by Gandalf, had huge power and plot significance but wasn't memorable either since it had zero dramatic scenes. Stick to the staff, Tolkein. Gandalf is uber enough as it is.

(2) Furthermore, I want a system where players are able to play non-humanoid characters which do not have opposable thumbs. Not having fingers and thumbs is bad enough, but getting weaker compared to their party members who are loading up on magic weapons, armors, cape, rings, amulet, circlets, and so on would push such character concepts out. A non-humanoid is much more limited in the number of equipment slots. So fewer true magic artifacts per player character helps balance them out a great deal.

For the purpose of true magic items, some true magic items would be considered as a set. For example: the true magic of a pair of daggers only activates when you use both. For attunement purposes this pair of daggers are considered a single true magic item. Right now I can only think of dual weapons which should be a set to allow Drizzt types or Galtar and the Golden Lance. Maybe a sword+shield combo? I'm sure GM's will think of something.

Of course, limited-use items such as scrolls or even a single-use Ring of Blasting would not count towards this attunement limit. Some more minor magical items may be excluded too, such as the Cloak of Elvenkind. Maybe. But items like the Ring of Protection, Boots of Speed or Belt of Giant Strength would be true magic items.

I'd recommend  to game masters that True magic artifacts are never randomly found: they should be part of a plot or quest, a revered artifact, reforged from the shards of a previous artifact (think Narsil to Anduril) or ripped from the cold dead fingers of a major villain who had been using the item to harass players all this time. Something like that. Think of how much drama was attached to Conan finding the Atlantean sword, and it isn't even magical! True magic items are rare and incredibly valuable, impress this upon the players!

I think it may not be out of place for players to request from their GMs for something specific for their character in the future which best fits their character concept and story. Think Anduril in this respect. I'd probably have the item's potency increase as the PC reaches new tiers of play. The artifact's true power is unlocked through consistent use and the worthiness/power of the owner. Or perhaps the true power is unlocked as you collect all the pieces of a set (each individual piece put together would be the equivalent of another player's single artifact?). Or simply a normal item which somehow became infused with powerful magic through the deeds of the PC or a blessing from divinity. Whatever it is, it's gotta be memorable.