Dealing with equipment dependency in D&D

[shilsen]

I’ve seen a number of threads on these boards ever since they began, complaining about the dependence on equipment in D&D, especially at higher levels. Though that isn’t something that has really bothered me personally, I was recently considering ways to alleviate the problem for those who see it as such. IME, the simplest way to deal with this problem without making major changes to the rules would be to provide characters (and presumably equipment-using enemies) with level-based special abilities which mimic the effects of some existing equipment, and proportionately lower the amount of wealth per level from the DMG standard.

For example, one could replace the Cloak of Resistance (a ubiquitous item) by providing PCs with a +1 resistance bonus every third level or so, until they have a +5 resistance bonus. And at every level that the PCs received the bonus, they would have appropriately less wealth (so, if the PCs had a +5 resistance bonus at 15th level, they would have 25,000 less gp). The same could be done with enchancements to stats (mimicking the Belt of Strength, Gloves of Dexterity, etc.), deflection bonuses to AC (Ring of Protection), natural armor bonuses (Amulet of Natural Armor), etc.

Since one demerit of such a system would be the relative lack of customizability, one could allow PCs to choose between a few different options at each level (or some levels). Another (out-of-game) disadvantage that I can see is that DMs would have to do a little more bookkeeping, but presumably that would be offset by the fact that in-game one would have less to keep track of with regard to equipment being used, destroyed, sold, traded, upgraded, etc.

I’ll probably try to put together such a system later, but I was curious whether anyone had done something similar. Also, would you personally be interested in using such a system? Are there any other advantages or disadvantages that come to mind? I can think of a couple besides the ones I listed, but I want to see what others come up with.

 

[Li Shenron]

I’ll probably try to put together such a system later, but I was curious whether anyone had done something similar. Also, would you personally be interested in using such a system?

Someone has done that and has called it "Vow of Poverty" You may probably want something in-between however, so that equipment is not completely reduced to mundane (unless your real intention here is to get rid of most of the magic equipment).

 

[RedCliff]

What you're describing sounds very similar to the heroic paths used in Midnight, which exist to solve just the issue you bring up. Every character chooses a path and gains a new power every character level, including first level.

Even with paths, characters won't be as powerful as they would be in campaigns where they can fill every magic slot, but the races are beefed up significantly as well, which gives another non-gear boost.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to convince enough people in my neck of the woods to give it a try, so I don't know how it plays, but it looks great.

 

[MerakSpielman]

It's possible to simply not give out as much treasure, but then the characters are less powerful. Their abilities are, however, proportionatly a greater part of their assets. This obviously throws the whole CR/XP equation out of whack, and you'd have to be very careful making encounters that you don't slaughter the PCs.

 

[Wombat]

What you're describing sounds very similar to the heroic paths used in Midnight, which exist to solve just the issue you bring up. Every character chooses a path and gains a new power every character level, including first level.

Even with paths, characters won't be as powerful as they would be in campaigns where they can fill every magic slot, but the races are beefed up significantly as well, which gives another non-gear boost.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to convince enough people in my neck of the woods to give it a try, so I don't know how it plays, but it looks great.

The unfortunate side affect of the heroic paths of Midnight is that they merely replace magical items with built in abilities, while also providing a chartable, predictable advancement, rather than a hodgepodge of mismatched items.

Actually, I felt it would have made for a better game if Midnight had not introduced the heroic paths at all -- that way the characters would have to rely on their innate powers and the rare magical items; this the heroic paths, all you've done is said, "Well, you don't get any items, but you get all the powers of the items, so the whole thing is a wash."

 

[Yair]

In my current campaign I just let the players pick up "supernatural abiltiies" instead of magic items, accounting their wealth according to the DMG recommendations. But that has a lot to do with campaign flavor, really.
If you want to do something similar, keep in mind that those items are supposed to cost double since they take no item space.

 

[sledged]

You could adjusting The characters' ECL (for the purpose of how much XP each challenge yeilds, not how much XP is required to get to the next level) based on how much magical equipment they have. I've been wanting to try this approach for a while.

 

[Krug]

You can look at Midnight, which gives player's 'paths' that will give them various enhancements or bonuses.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Shilsen, I like that idea...

I think the easiest way to get around the customizability factor is to give the PCs a quantity of 'virtual gold' they can spend... use it to buy innate powers that replicate items.

I figure this couldn't cover every eventuality - certain items are inappropriate for this sort of treatment - bag of holding - ewww!

One the upside, it would be very easy to balance with the wealth by level stuff and the item rules/slots would be very similar. Simply slide the proportion of gold to virtual gold to suit the level of innate powers desired?


One issue I can see with this is that the items are rather permenant. As it stands, they'd be hard for a GM to remove, which may or may not be a problem depending on the style of game.

A bad choice of power would tend to stick around, unless there's some mechanic for changing or removing a power.

Another is that it would give characters a very tailored selection of powers... the random aspect of 'normal' treasure is reduced. I've seen quite a few GMs that dislike the idea of totally free choice with items. Which I can understand.

 

[Li Shenron]

The unfortunate side affect of the heroic paths of Midnight is that they merely replace magical items with built in abilities, while also providing a chartable, predictable advancement, rather than a hodgepodge of mismatched items.

Why do you say "unfortunate"? Replacing a "hodgepodge of mismatched items" as you say doesn't sound a bad thing... Anyway, that's the aim of shilsen IIUC, to lessen the importance of magical items and strengthen the importance of characters ability.

Actually, I felt it would have made for a better game if Midnight had not introduced the heroic paths at all -- that way the characters would have to rely on their innate powers and the rare magical items; this the heroic paths, all you've done is said, "Well, you don't get any items, but you get all the powers of the items, so the whole thing is a wash."

In a way they ARE innate power, only that they get better and better in time, or otherwise are "discovered" by the PC during his life.

I think it's a cleverly simple idea: you don't change the power level of the PCs, therefore you don't need a serious effort to balance the existing adventures/encounters, you just change the flavor of the setting.