Magic Items in Your Game - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Magic Items in Your Game

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
kipper_snifferdoo_02
Mar 03, 2004 7:56:24 I have a question. I tend to play DragonLance as a low magic world. Especially following the War of Souls when magic users have been draining magic items and not turningout nearly as many along with the Dwarves that have had their own problems to deal with since the Chaos War. We've played 14 sessions and my players have just now turned 4th level. Between the four of them they have:

Ranger: Long Sword +1 (Shatterstrike +4 on Sunder)

Mystic/Rogue: +1 merciful quarterstaff (cure light 1/day), Ring of lesser elemental protection

Sorc/Handler: Bracers +1

Wizard: wand of detect magic, wand of comprehend languages

Now I keep the encounters so they can continue to deal with them, but I'm very much against "Monty Hall" campaigns. However I feel as though I need to beef them up some. They deserve more because of their level. Is'nt there a table in the DMG that says what they should have? Do you follow it? Are any of you as stingy as I am or do you go the complete opposite direction and load them down with magic items? Thanks for any advice!
#2
Nived
Mar 03, 2004 8:13:23 *War of Souls spoilers contained within, read at your own risk, you have been warned.*

I kinda disagree on some points. Don't get me wrong I want to see Dragonlance stay a low magic setting... but I recall reading something on another thread somewhere, and I agree with the sentiment, that magic items would probably be more common on the Age Of Mortals!

Wait, just hear me out. I don't have Age of Mortals in front of me, but I'm pretty sure that spell leaching off magic items only drains them for a 24 hour period, that is if they don't have a limited number of charges of course (wands or scrolls). The reason why magic items were becoming less reliable near the end of the Pre War of Souls Age of Mortals is the same reason casters themselves got weaker, the dead were draining more magic faster, magic items never got a chance for the magic to naturally recharge after 24 hours. Thus they were less reliable. However, BECAUSE magic items could be leached off, by both the living and the dead the living sorcerers and wizards sought out as many magic items as they could. In the War of Souls it speaks of Wizards and Sorcerers grave robbing to get their goods.

As I see it, now that the Gods have returned and set the dead to rest, along with magic users getting their magic back so did perminant magical enchantments (say weapons). Since the mages in the early 5th age were on a magical item feeding frenzy more have been uncovered recently (last 20 years) than probably the last 200. Now that they have their magic back most mages will probably be willing to part with their stashes for a nominal fee. Thus more magic items going into the market and thus into curculation than before.

I can't remember whose theory I'm stealing... its too early. Anyway as always its up to the DM, but anyway that's how I see it.

EDIT
After reading my post over I realize I forgot to make the point I originally ment to get at. I don't find that +1 items ruin the flavor in any way, they are perfectly acceptable rewards for players, I wouldn't be too stingy with +1 weapons or armor. However, +2 enchantment bonuses (and I mean cumulative) should be hard to get, +3 pretty darn rare, anything above had better be a reward for a pretty high level party for a pretty hard quest.
#3
zombiegleemax
Mar 03, 2004 8:36:01 My plan was to make potions a little more common (in fact almost as common as they seem to be in forgotten realms). My reasoning for it is that with the the effects of Chaos on Krynn, and the strengthening of primal sorcery, some plants and herbs began "awakening" (to use a shadowrun term), and showing signs of magical properties. Herbalist, wizards, sorcerers, druids, and mystics, began to use and cultivate the special plant variants, and unfortunatly experimented with them (mnemonic enhancer pipeweed as a possible examble). This has made potions a bit more available, and herbalists in many towns now brew potions for sale, as well as medicinal potions, for their comunity use. while the potions were not as effective during the war of souls, and the draining of magic, they are once again more potent.

As for the future of this, most likely the rampant use of the plant variants will cause them to become endangered then extinct within a decade or slightly longer, thus as magic andd magic Items return to their previous state and numbers, this remedy will disappear.

I haven't seen how this plan will work out yet, as my campaign keeps getting delayed in starting, but if anyone else is doing similar, let me know how it is working for you.
#4
cam_banks
Mar 03, 2004 9:51:30
Originally posted by Kipper Snifferdoo
However I feel as though I need to beef them up some. They deserve more because of their level. Is'nt there a table in the DMG that says what they should have? Do you follow it? Are any of you as stingy as I am or do you go the complete opposite direction and load them down with magic items? Thanks for any advice!

There is a table in the DMG which describes how much wealth a PC should have by level, in order to maintain their effectiveness against challenges suited for their level. This wealth is in a gp amount, and represents about how much gp worth of items they should each have acquired over the course of the campaign to that point. It's only a guideline, really, but I've found that keeping fairly close to that amount is a good plan.

In my last campaign, every so often I would tell the players they could "shop" for more magic items and equipment during downtime. They could upgrade existing items or pick up new ones, so long as they didn't possess more than the gp limit for their level. This was an epic, high-stakes Birthright campaign where the PCs were all heroes out of legend, so I simply explained that their equipment was up to the task.

In my current game I'm just handing out items as the PCs find them. I'm being much more stingy, really, especially since they're all 5th level now and the best weapon any of them has is a +1 shock scimitar. On th eother hand, I plan on having their signature items improve over time, much as the Staff of Magius was said to do, and I'll pay attention to the gp/level guidelines when I do.

Cheers,
Cam
#5
zombiegleemax
Mar 03, 2004 10:14:34 I certainly wouldn't suggest the Neverwinter Nights model for magic goody rewards - you get the entire party spending all their time running around the docks, looking in barrels, crates, boxes... finding piles of steel belonging to no one, potions of heal, +3 shocking burst spiked chains...

In my FR campaign I ran a while back, I spent a lot of time very carefully working out how much the party should have, how many encounters would level them up, what would be realistic to have on the creatures, and so on and so on. Then, the players 'messed up', by not looting everything in sight. I then rethought my methods, played more than DMed in a variety of campaigns and came to the conclusion:

It really doesn't matter. As long as you're not throwing things with massive damage reduction versus magic, you don't even need magic weapons. If you keep it all rare enough, it makes the item creation feats look more appealing. If a wizard or cleric particularly likes making things, it is certainly in-character to create things, worthy of xp - I usually give them just about enough to cover the xp cost of creating the item. It's unfair to penalise the characters for doing stuff themselves. That said, they rarely get any downtime to make stuff in.

Hmm.

I just had a thought. Well done me.

*Toddles off to SBM...*

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kipper_snifferdoo_02 Mar 03, 2004 7:56:24	I have a question. I tend to play DragonLance as a low magic world. Especially following the War of Souls when magic users have been draining magic items and not turningout nearly as many along with the Dwarves that have had their own problems to deal with since the Chaos War. We've played 14 sessions and my players have just now turned 4th level. Between the four of them they have: Ranger: Long Sword +1 (Shatterstrike +4 on Sunder) Mystic/Rogue: +1 merciful quarterstaff (cure light 1/day), Ring of lesser elemental protection Sorc/Handler: Bracers +1 Wizard: wand of detect magic, wand of comprehend languages Now I keep the encounters so they can continue to deal with them, but I'm very much against "Monty Hall" campaigns. However I feel as though I need to beef them up some. They deserve more because of their level. Is'nt there a table in the DMG that says what they should have? Do you follow it? Are any of you as stingy as I am or do you go the complete opposite direction and load them down with magic items? Thanks for any advice!
#2 Nived Mar 03, 2004 8:13:23	War of Souls spoilers contained within, read at your own risk, you have been warned. I kinda disagree on some points. Don't get me wrong I want to see Dragonlance stay a low magic setting... but I recall reading something on another thread somewhere, and I agree with the sentiment, that magic items would probably be more common on the Age Of Mortals! Wait, just hear me out. I don't have Age of Mortals in front of me, but I'm pretty sure that spell leaching off magic items only drains them for a 24 hour period, that is if they don't have a limited number of charges of course (wands or scrolls). The reason why magic items were becoming less reliable near the end of the Pre War of Souls Age of Mortals is the same reason casters themselves got weaker, the dead were draining more magic faster, magic items never got a chance for the magic to naturally recharge after 24 hours. Thus they were less reliable. However, BECAUSE magic items could be leached off, by both the living and the dead the living sorcerers and wizards sought out as many magic items as they could. In the War of Souls it speaks of Wizards and Sorcerers grave robbing to get their goods. As I see it, now that the Gods have returned and set the dead to rest, along with magic users getting their magic back so did perminant magical enchantments (say weapons). Since the mages in the early 5th age were on a magical item feeding frenzy more have been uncovered recently (last 20 years) than probably the last 200. Now that they have their magic back most mages will probably be willing to part with their stashes for a nominal fee. Thus more magic items going into the market and thus into curculation than before. I can't remember whose theory I'm stealing... its too early. Anyway as always its up to the DM, but anyway that's how I see it. EDIT After reading my post over I realize I forgot to make the point I originally ment to get at. I don't find that +1 items ruin the flavor in any way, they are perfectly acceptable rewards for players, I wouldn't be too stingy with +1 weapons or armor. However, +2 enchantment bonuses (and I mean cumulative) should be hard to get, +3 pretty darn rare, anything above had better be a reward for a pretty high level party for a pretty hard quest.
#3 zombiegleemax Mar 03, 2004 8:36:01	My plan was to make potions a little more common (in fact almost as common as they seem to be in forgotten realms). My reasoning for it is that with the the effects of Chaos on Krynn, and the strengthening of primal sorcery, some plants and herbs began "awakening" (to use a shadowrun term), and showing signs of magical properties. Herbalist, wizards, sorcerers, druids, and mystics, began to use and cultivate the special plant variants, and unfortunatly experimented with them (mnemonic enhancer pipeweed as a possible examble). This has made potions a bit more available, and herbalists in many towns now brew potions for sale, as well as medicinal potions, for their comunity use. while the potions were not as effective during the war of souls, and the draining of magic, they are once again more potent. As for the future of this, most likely the rampant use of the plant variants will cause them to become endangered then extinct within a decade or slightly longer, thus as magic andd magic Items return to their previous state and numbers, this remedy will disappear. I haven't seen how this plan will work out yet, as my campaign keeps getting delayed in starting, but if anyone else is doing similar, let me know how it is working for you.
#4 cam_banks Mar 03, 2004 9:51:30	Originally posted by Kipper Snifferdoo However I feel as though I need to beef them up some. They deserve more because of their level. Is'nt there a table in the DMG that says what they should have? Do you follow it? Are any of you as stingy as I am or do you go the complete opposite direction and load them down with magic items? Thanks for any advice! There is a table in the DMG which describes how much wealth a PC should have by level, in order to maintain their effectiveness against challenges suited for their level. This wealth is in a gp amount, and represents about how much gp worth of items they should each have acquired over the course of the campaign to that point. It's only a guideline, really, but I've found that keeping fairly close to that amount is a good plan. In my last campaign, every so often I would tell the players they could "shop" for more magic items and equipment during downtime. They could upgrade existing items or pick up new ones, so long as they didn't possess more than the gp limit for their level. This was an epic, high-stakes Birthright campaign where the PCs were all heroes out of legend, so I simply explained that their equipment was up to the task. In my current game I'm just handing out items as the PCs find them. I'm being much more stingy, really, especially since they're all 5th level now and the best weapon any of them has is a +1 shock scimitar. On th eother hand, I plan on having their signature items improve over time, much as the Staff of Magius was said to do, and I'll pay attention to the gp/level guidelines when I do. Cheers, Cam
#5 zombiegleemax Mar 03, 2004 10:14:34	I certainly wouldn't suggest the Neverwinter Nights model for magic goody rewards - you get the entire party spending all their time running around the docks, looking in barrels, crates, boxes... finding piles of steel belonging to no one, potions of heal, +3 shocking burst spiked chains... In my FR campaign I ran a while back, I spent a lot of time very carefully working out how much the party should have, how many encounters would level them up, what would be realistic to have on the creatures, and so on and so on. Then, the players 'messed up', by not looting everything in sight. I then rethought my methods, played more than DMed in a variety of campaigns and came to the conclusion: It really doesn't matter. As long as you're not throwing things with massive damage reduction versus magic, you don't even need magic weapons. If you keep it all rare enough, it makes the item creation feats look more appealing. If a wizard or cleric particularly likes making things, it is certainly in-character to create things, worthy of xp - I usually give them just about enough to cover the xp cost of creating the item. It's unfair to penalise the characters for doing stuff themselves. That said, they rarely get any downtime to make stuff in. Hmm. I just had a thought. Well done me. Toddles off to SBM...