Oh man thank you guys. I've got all the old 3.5 ones. And I've always been wanting a green dragon. And now well lol. Now I need all of these to round out the whole set lol
The D&D thread
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Rime
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I, personally, cannot stand how 5e is supposed to be a relatively low(er) magic setting/system in terms of loot.
All of the best campaigns/modules I have been a part of tossed that out the window. The 3 Attunement rule sucks, but it is all of the 'balancing' the game needs. Let the magic items flow.
All of the best campaigns/modules I have been a part of tossed that out the window. The 3 Attunement rule sucks, but it is all of the 'balancing' the game needs. Let the magic items flow.
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j00t
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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I definitely think that base 5e definitely has an issue with item progression. A skilled DM can add meaningful magic items but going by the book it feels super lame as a player to roll super well on a treasure check and be rewarded with a regular healing potion. It's like, yes, I know this is a good item that can be the difference between a win and a tpk, but it's a super boring item.
On the other hand, pathfinder having lvl 1 characters fully decked in magic items feels crazy out of whack in the other direction.
I think 5e really shines when you have a DM that knows what they are doing and is willing to make their own tweeks
On the other hand, pathfinder having lvl 1 characters fully decked in magic items feels crazy out of whack in the other direction.
I think 5e really shines when you have a DM that knows what they are doing and is willing to make their own tweeks
Sevens
Log Wizard
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5e is supposed to be tweeked by the DM, lots of stuff is left very vague just for that reason. The downside is if you dont have a DM that is good with stuff like that the game can be very vanilla
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Nite1
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I’ve been running descent and one thing I did do in baldurs gate was give my Paladin a plus one weapon upon him making his oath. I got a little lucky though bc he decided to pledge to a god.
Without giving away to much there’s a very easy to get plus 2 weapon once you get to hell as well.
I didn’t really open the flood gates on magic items bc I wanted my party more tempted to make deals w devils to get ahold of things which led to a lot of fun “side quests” and we’re headed now to the end game and they’re all pretty decked out.
Without giving away to much there’s a very easy to get plus 2 weapon once you get to hell as well.
I didn’t really open the flood gates on magic items bc I wanted my party more tempted to make deals w devils to get ahold of things which led to a lot of fun “side quests” and we’re headed now to the end game and they’re all pretty decked out.
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Rime
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I had a 'by-the-book' DM for a run of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. Spoilers below...
At the end, depending how things go, the players can end up with a massive amount of gold around level 5. I am talking about 40-50,000 Gold. Which is ridiculous. What the FUCK are you supposed to do with that? Buy land? Medieval peasant simulator? Boy, I can buy a bunch of stuff for the tavern we inherited... and then what? The module just dumps them there. Your character is going to invest 50,000 Gold into a tavern, then leave it to go on other adventures? You cannot spend the gold on character improvements... you cannot even buy things like Masterwork equipment from 3/3.5. Let alone magical items. It just makes no sense as written.
j00t
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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depending on if the wizard knows what he's doing, they can get some pretty high AC.
my last campaign was curse of strahd from 1-8 (or so, can't remember) then we went up to 20 in the dm's own world based on the realms of terror. i played a cleric, and the the others were a paladin and a wizard. by like, lvl 12 or something, the wizard was running around with 34 AC or something crazy. i had a +2 shield and +3 platemail and had the lowest AC of the group, it was demoralizing lol.
my last campaign was curse of strahd from 1-8 (or so, can't remember) then we went up to 20 in the dm's own world based on the realms of terror. i played a cleric, and the the others were a paladin and a wizard. by like, lvl 12 or something, the wizard was running around with 34 AC or something crazy. i had a +2 shield and +3 platemail and had the lowest AC of the group, it was demoralizing lol.
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Grabbit Allworth
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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5E isn't the only system where gold has caused DM's a headache; it's been a 'problem' for a long time.
The DMsguild has a lot of files that offer fantastic material which solves many of the problems related to gold. For the life of me I can't remember the names of the files right now but I'll look through my massive pile of DMsguild pdfs to get the names.
Back to my point, there are options that allow upgrading weapons and armor through a progressively expensive system of runes and/or gems. It's actually quite elegant and well-balanced. Not only does it help 'solve' the gold problem, it also gives player agency over their equipment and allows them to slowly build the type of gearset that they desire. Before I read it, I was skeptical that it might be too video-gamey, but it's definitely not.
There are a lot of other options, but weapons and armor are the easiest to implement with immediate impact and likely near the top of interest for a lot of players. It also offers some potential roleplaying and quest hooks. I.e. 1. The more powerful the rune/gem inlay the more rare the artisan and players might seek out the only craftsman capable of that level of work who then might refuse to do the work until the players do something for him. The craftsman might even take a player under his wing and teach him/her the basics of the craft. 2. The materials are specific, but rare and require the players to obtain them, themselves. 3. The incantation/ritual/whatever is a lost art, but may exist in X.
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Grabbit Allworth
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If it was 5E, I'd like to see the way that 34 was calculated. It's extremely difficult, if not impossible to get an AC that high at any level without some wacky homebrew rules or a misinterpretation of the official rules.
In the bounded system of 5E, a 34 AC makes you impossible to hit for the VAST majority of mobs/npcs; especially at level 12. In fact, I think the HIGHEST AC a player can achieve (without situational and short-term buffs) is 35 and 35 includes several specific types of magic items.
j00t
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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i don't quite remember exactly how he did it, but it was definitely legitimate, and definitely irritating. all 4 of us (3 players and the DM) calculated it separately and came up with the same number. i can't remember how he did it, other than a couple certain items, robe of the archmagi, staff of power and the shield spell... he also had a 22 dex, i'm definitely missing something because that would only put him at a 28, i think... i'll ask him and post what i'm missing.
edit: during our curse of strahd campaign, he was playing a revenant, and so at the end, he completed his mission and faded away. because we wanted to keep going with our characters, the dm gave him some cash equal to about what we had collected and let him buy whatever for his new character. so he bought a robe of the archmagi and a staff of power. after we started playing the DM was like... yeah, i clearly didn't understand those items before i okay'd them... never again lol
edit: during our curse of strahd campaign, he was playing a revenant, and so at the end, he completed his mission and faded away. because we wanted to keep going with our characters, the dm gave him some cash equal to about what we had collected and let him buy whatever for his new character. so he bought a robe of the archmagi and a staff of power. after we started playing the DM was like... yeah, i clearly didn't understand those items before i okay'd them... never again lol
Grabbit Allworth
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Well, those are a few of the specific magic items necessary to make that happen so it's less difficult for me to believe it was accurate.
A lot of DMs don't quite understand how 5E is balanced. I dislike the inherent stinginess of 5E when it comes to magic items and other loot because it neuters a significant portion of the fun factor for players. Why are player's characters going to risk their lives delving a Long Lost Dungeon of Perpetual Evil for a couple Potions of Healing and a Scroll of Magic Missile? Maybe a generic shield +1 if they're lucky.
My approach to loot couldn't be more different, so I ignore the official guidelines. I don't run Monty Haul games, but I definitely reward players for their risk, creativity, and clever solutions to problems. However, breaking from the guidelines also requires a DM to have a strong fundamental grasp of the system and make adjustments to off-set the increased power level of the players.
In 5E, even a +1 sword is a significant increase in power. As an aside, I NEVER give my players generic + items. The magic item ALWAYS has a name, and often a history (though sometimes fairly basic). The +1 or whatever is simply the mechanics.
It's irrelevant to our conversation, but I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE it when DMs allow players to purchase magic items more powerful than basic healing potions or low-level scrolls. Most of the items are, in effect, priceless. It seriously irritates me that players waltz in to town and find their local Magic Wal-Mart and stock up. In my mind, if a player was able to find someone willing to part with something, the negotiations would be a hell of a lot more involved than -- "10,000 GP, good sir." and "Thank you, godspeed."
Especially for ridiculously rare and powerful items like Robe of the Archmagi and Staff of Power....but that's just me.
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j00t
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yeah, i'm with you. in that specific instance with the wizard, it was less "here's money to buy some items from this store" and more "you can have x amount of money worth of magic items that you have previously found in your adventuring career before joining this campaign. i think that's pretty standard when a new character is joining an ongoing campaign, otherwise they will come in super underpowered and will hobble the group.
but otherwise, i mostly agree with you. there are some extenuating circumstances where "shops" are okay... i don't remember if i posted it earlier in this thread or the baldur's gate thread, but my DM let us buy +2 power level items from... well, basically a shop... but it made sense for what it was. we ended up in the hells and had to run around looking for some artefacts for one one of the lords of the hells and a long the way, we solved an encounter in a very clever, and very backwards way and it meant we ended up with a very large sum of soul coins and some very specific ledgers that were useless to us, but very important to several different npc's. we "sold" the information to a broker of sorts and that allowed us to procure basically whatever items we wanted.
the DM said that he hadn't planned on us being able to use the soul coins for items, but because of how well we dealt with everything he was fine allowing us to buy stuff. he said he was planning on giving us some custom items in a session or two as a reward anyway, so it wasn't like he wasn't prepared for the power jump.
but otherwise, yes, going up to a random store and them having a giant selection of extremely rare items is silly
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Gold has always been funny to me. My crew killed and took over the holdings of a well off lord of water deep. Then impersonated him and kept rolling with it. Now I make them manage his holdings. But it nets them like 25 to 80k gold a month. Ya know what they do with it? Not a damn thing ever lol
Grabbit Allworth
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That's a monstrous sum of gold, even for a noble. An average of half a million gold a year is absolutely ridiculous. The monthly cash flow is enough to fund an entire army of 20,000 (or more) while still allowing the noble to live a bourgeois lifestyle.
Regardless, you have to give your players opportunities to spend their wealth. They might want to do something grandiose like open a martial training academy or fund the research of a mage guild, but maybe they aren't sure if you (the DM) are prepared for that kind of thing.
At the very least, encourage them to buy land and build a 'base of operations.' Maybe two, or three if they do a lot of traveling outside a specific region. Owning a 'base' provides another layer of play and makes the world feel more lived in.
*Edit* Szeth's comment also reminded me a question we often forget. Where is that immense wealth stored? If that wealth became known to almost anyone, they'd certainly be the target of numerous thieves.
*Edit 2* Purchasing a shipping fleet is another good gold sink, but if handled well they'd make even more money. I think you made a mistake in giving players access to that kind of wealth. However, there are a ton of ways to inconspicuously strip them of it. Having 1 or more (fully loaded vessels) get sunk during a storm (not uncommon at all) placing them in debt to suppliers would temporarily solve the problem.
What kind of 'business' did the noble engage in?
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j00t
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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matt colville put a book out, strongholds. it's pretty good. it's basically about your characters having a castle or whatever. if gives them something to spend money on (upgrades) as well as giving the players tangible benefits. my DM is using some modified rules for it, but for example, if we rest at our keep for a few days in a row, we each get a benefit depending on our class. when the fighter uses action surge, the first attack that hits is an automatic crit. he gets 1 use of that and then has to rest at the keep again for several days. if you upgrade the keep, he can use that twice. when our cleric uses channel divinity, all allies within 30 feet get like 2d8 healing or something.
there's also hirelings that you get depending on your class. they are stripped down npc's that get 2 or 3 abilities and comparable stats and gear to someone half their level (or something, i don't remember). point is, it gives the players something to do with their money
there's also hirelings that you get depending on your class. they are stripped down npc's that get 2 or 3 abilities and comparable stats and gear to someone half their level (or something, i don't remember). point is, it gives the players something to do with their money
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I give em opportunities to do anything. Andt hey usually are just like blah blah blah I want to go kill someone. Which is I always find hilarious. But the money is also split like 12 ways. My crew is a riot.
