The Problem of NPC Gear
Posted 1st November 2009 at 05:30 PM by pawsplay
NPC gear is a problem for me. It was ingrained into my mind as a young gamer that magical items were magical, hence, rare. AD&D agreed with me; once upon a time it was notable that most death knights carried a magical sword. This works fine in most cases. By awarding the occasional, valuable piece of equipment, each PC gets a turn to get something cool. The problem arises in high level games.
Suppose you wanted to create a troll champion, a steel-clad monster with an enormous maul. He is the sort of character that wades through a platoon of dwarves, flattening them left and right. If you follow the guidelines in 3e, 3.5, or Pathfinder, you will discover that at CR 15, he should have a magical weapon. However, you didn't really conceive of him as having a magical weapon, or even much magical gear. While in theory, as a mighty warrior, he should be entitled to a share of loot that would give him a few magic items, his main threat should be his sheer might. So a dilemma arises. Do I provide less gear, preserving the image of a brutal war-hulk, clad in simple but durable armor and carrying a steel sledge, knowing that his attack and defense numbers will sit a bit low, or do I give in and give him a magical weapon, armor, and maybe a ring? If he has less valuable gear, do I make up the difference in treasure? Or does the lower treasure make up for the slightly easier difficulty? In a magical world, does it make sense for such a beast's master to not provide it at least a magical trinket or two?
Suppose you wanted to create a troll champion, a steel-clad monster with an enormous maul. He is the sort of character that wades through a platoon of dwarves, flattening them left and right. If you follow the guidelines in 3e, 3.5, or Pathfinder, you will discover that at CR 15, he should have a magical weapon. However, you didn't really conceive of him as having a magical weapon, or even much magical gear. While in theory, as a mighty warrior, he should be entitled to a share of loot that would give him a few magic items, his main threat should be his sheer might. So a dilemma arises. Do I provide less gear, preserving the image of a brutal war-hulk, clad in simple but durable armor and carrying a steel sledge, knowing that his attack and defense numbers will sit a bit low, or do I give in and give him a magical weapon, armor, and maybe a ring? If he has less valuable gear, do I make up the difference in treasure? Or does the lower treasure make up for the slightly easier difficulty? In a magical world, does it make sense for such a beast's master to not provide it at least a magical trinket or two?
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Comments
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My thought: Does he have to play by the rules? Can't the trolls right arm have the same effect as a magical sword and his skin as tough as magical armor? Imagine a troll with an arm enchanted with an additional 2d6 of cold damage per hit. Or skin with a 50% chance that crits/sneak attacks do normal damage. If the group wants to, they can certainly have the troll's skin and claws made into magical armor, but it doesn't lose the mystique of having a magical troll.
As long as the CR is sound and the damage is equivilant to what he would do if it were a normal troll with magical arms and armor, what's the difference?Posted 2nd November 2009 at 01:14 AM by dmccoy1693
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I like playing by the rules. It seems that, at least in theory, I should be able to bump up his effectiveness and include him in the general treasure fund. Adding a magical arm or something would actually be antithetical to my original goal, which was to present the image of a troll who was basically muscle with a large, blunt weapon in hand, a champion of his race. Moving away from the usual gear package would treat him less like an NPC and more like a normal monster. In theory, I could redesign him as a troll with extra hit dice and the desired feats, extra feats, if desired. But I can't think of a specific reason why he couldn't just be rated, with class levels, as a normal monster with a CR of such and such abilities, although I am not sure if there are pitfalls in that procedure.Posted 2nd November 2009 at 05:25 AM by pawsplay -
For the style of game I prefer, I would leave the Troll without magical equipment, advance the Troll in HD to make him tougher and create one or two special Troll feats to expand upon what options the Troll can take - particularly with that nasty looking maul.
As for treasure, I'd leave the Troll with nothing more than what he would seem to have picked up or according to the circumstances of his existence. I'm not a fan of the magic item glut in 3e/4e. I would prefer a greater range of abilities and possible options for monsters rather than magical items to artificially prop them up.
I suppose the other possible option is to place a template on them but the idea of a "Thundertroll" or a "Troll Warhulk" is not my cup of tea either. A Troll is a Troll, and should not be so easily defined so as to have x abilities or have specifically known subtypes. Let there be a little mystery - all you know is that he's a big bugger of a Troll and what you find out is that he has a few tricks up the sleeve.Posted 3rd November 2009 at 01:12 AM by Herremann the Wise
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