I did once run a campaign with no magic items other than weapons and armor and a few minor rings, but I gave the PCs ECLs to balance it out. I might try curbing the stat boosters to a max of +2, for example.

Additionally, I have found something out vitally important by playing various campaigns of various economic well-being. Poor characters are not as affected in attack as in AC. Rich characters have untouchable AC, especially at higher levels, but that too tremendous a difference in attack. I find that higher AC battles are actually more enjoyable than damage-fests, as the outcome is easily determined for the damage-fests, but the luck of the roll matters more when AC rules supreme.

***NOTE
Cloak of Charisma does compete for Cloak of Resistance, but usually only for Paladins and Sorcerors. For Paladins, the Cha boost goes to saves anyway, so its only a real decision for a Sorc.

Also, Nat Armor, Wisdom, and Con all take the same spot, as do some other useful necklaces, such as Immunity to disease and poison items.
NOTE***

One solution I found to this ‘dilemma’ is to add random skill boosts to the items. It makes the characters think a little more, although they usually choose the stat-boosters anyway.

The net effect is to encourage them to hang on to ANY and ALL magical items–even the unusual ones–that they find. Of course, the paladin in the group is going to be more inclined to obey the legal requirements of turning things over to the guild (and pay taxes) and the like. The rest of the party–not so much.

The point is that I think randomly found magical items are a silly way to go, and I’ve decided that it’s a bad idea to place random stuff on monsters after a fight. In fact, I’m leaning further and further away from random encounters altogether, as it takes too much work.

However, if the characters don’t have the DM jerking them around on a short leash (sadly, this is more often the case than not), they can get a lot of mileage out of specialized items. If they find a pair of Apparati of Kwalish, instead of cursing their luck for not finding a statboost item, they can start exploring shipwrecks for sunken treasure (maybe a statboost item or two), search for treasure or plot-relevant items in sunken ruins, or find all kinds of adventure on their own there.

It’s funny; the comic “Knights of the Dinner Table” is a lampoon of roleplaying games, but I always genuinely admired the style of the DM character; he generally let the players do as they please, parlaying the consequences of their actions into adventure rather than simply slapping them down and shoving them down a linear path. An excellent example is one storyline where, after hunting down a monk to interrogate and rob him, they found a minor artifact with the power to repair ships, sails and rigging. The player who ended up with it planned to sell it, but with some nudging by the DM upon reaching a port town, he realized he could parlay the artifact into a profitable enterprise.

I think you have to almost consider stat/save items as different than “other” magic items. Gloves of Dex are just like a feat…pure statistical benefits that will almost ALWAYS be used in a session. Sure, they’re always taken, but players also don’t care about them. They’re just tools. Where as a crazy helmet that can breathe underwater is not merely a tool, but becomes something unique and special on its own.

On the other hand, a helm of underwater action is useful only when you need to go underwater – a rarer occasion in most campaigns.