In general, in all campaigns its easier to compensate for earleir stinginess than earlier abundance (you can always give more, its a lot harder to take away).
If the PCs are outlanders they have (by my RL standards) a trove of gear by comparison to their counterparts by level. I wouldn't nerf them and take away what they might legitimately have earned elsewhere, but they shouldn't find tons of goodies around either. It ought to be a big deal to find the right weapon or item to get the job at hand done in a RL scenario. If the job can be done.
Worse PCs who have a lot of flashy magic might come to the attention of other (higher level) NPCs who figure its a lot safer to take the PCs gear than try to raid the armory of Castle Avernus or the local chapterhouse of the Kargat.
-Eric Gorman
Originally posted by Komodo
Aroo...I'm about to DM my first Ravenloft campaign, in order to strike the fear of me into the hearts of my players, as well as have some fun while teaching them to roleplay properly. Anyway, lacking the Ravenloft's DM guide, I have no idea how much magic to include in my campaign. And while I'm at that, how much wealth should I give the players? In case it matters, the players come into the world as 4th level outlanders. So, they'll have a few 1000 gp worth of equipment prior to arriving.
I seldom include any magic items in the RL campaign, they have to be grateful for what they receive. However, i when I do include items I always make them reflect how they are used. A cloak of invisibility and disguise requires the user to lie once a day, for example. Boot of expitious retreat only work when running away...
As for building 4th level characters from scratch, go for it, but only allow them 150gps worth of equipment. This will make them feel weak by comparison to other 4th level characters but will happily prepare them for a magic is very rare setting.
If its set in darkon give them less magic item than in a normal campaign setting but if its in mordent or any renaissance domain magical item should be avoided.
Potions, ring of protection+ and amulet of protection should not be that hard to come by because the vistani could sell them.
But a Vorpal sword +5 should never be found in ravenloft (even if your players are wandering in the burning peaks).
Magic item should be strong but not flashy they should also be dangerous.
ex: Long sword +1, +4 vs shapeshifter
Dagger +3(evil aligned magical weapon try to confuse the player and make him follow the dark path)
There was a lot of questions like this in the beginning, due to the fact that in 2E, there was only 1/2 the normal chance of finding magic items.
However, in 3E, there are things called challenge ratings. A monster's challenge rating is balanced against what a PC is supposed to have in magic items at that level. So it's safe to say that a monster with a CR of 10 probably has some form of Damage Reduction, because it's assumed that a 10th level PC will have at least a +1 weapon of some kind. Obviously, if the PC's don't have that +1 weapon, it'll probably be much harder (perhaps even impossible) to effectively damage the creature.
When you do not give the PC's the items they should have, then you make the monster encounters harder. Now, you can compensate manually for this in a number of different ways, but it's important to remember this adjustment, lest you slaughter your players.
I remember John Mangrum (one of the authors of the Ravenloft Campaign Setting) explaining this quite some time ago.
Originally posted by mephistopheless
But a Vorpal sword +5 should never be found in ravenloft (even if your players are wandering in the burning peaks).
I have to disagree, the horror check required after accidently beheading (critical botch) one of your comrades is a humdinger. And if you roll a fortitude save (DC 25) the head can still be conscious and blinking trying to ask "What happened?". And that leads to another check, madness...which is botched (rolls a 1) and leads to a permanent derrangement and the lead fighter always carrying a wooden dummy head (which looks like her now dead comrade) that can make independent intelligence checks and succeeds to the extent that it (the head) realises that it (the head) is a lump of wood with a hand where its neck should be and is talking due to fragment of a derranged mind torn apart by horror and guilt dissasociating itself from the main personality.
You *do* play a critical botch system dont you?
And before you say "Grimfondle, you could never plan that", all I can say is use a critical botch system and you dont have to plan it, you just have to wait.
After that they reburied the axe in the Dwarven Paladins grave and reported back to their employer (who ignored the talking wooden head as best he could) that they couldn't find the grave. He said "Perhaps that was for the best, I didnt really need the axe anyway", provoking another attempt on his life, this time by a derranged wooden head..........
Example: Covenant Sword
Level 1: Nothing special.
Level 3: Acts as silver for puposes of damage reduction.
Level 6: Acts as cold iron for puposes of damage reduction.
Level 9: Grants a +1 bonus against shapechangers.
Level 12: Acts as magic for purposes of damage reduction.
Level 15: Grants a +2 bonus against shapechangers (max).
Other covenant items may grant more powers at higher levels, and yet you don't need to worry about unbalancing a novice character who gets a hold of such items.
Originally posted by Manofevil
Don't most magical items attract curses in RavenLoft after awhile anyway?
Actually, no, though crafting magic items in Ravenloft (powerful ones especially) could be somewhat risky, depending on the spells involved.
Frankly, flashy magic items are more likely to attract the wrong kind of attention-- and I don't just mean thieves.
so rare magic items...
and cursed magic items...or ones with a twist...well where there is a will there is a way. Much of the time magic items are created w/o wizards or with wizards taking a short cut.