Do you hate wish-lists too?

[Kzach]

I hate wish-lists. It's SUCH an artificial mechanic that it bumps me out of my suspension of disbelief when playing or DM'ing. At the same time, I recognise the need for items to suit characters as it's a pretty darn integral part of the character's feel in play.

So I came up with a simple system to make me happy and the players happy. I was wondering what people thought of it.

Magical items are tuned to the people that wield them. When you defeat someone, or when someone gives you an item that is theirs to give, or if the item has been out of the hands of the owner for more than a week, the item's powers are untuned. After one day of owning an untuned item, the power of the item manifests to reflect the wielder's innermost desires. Therefore, if you pick up a 5th-level magical rapier with an uncommon designation you can, after one full day, manifest the power of your choice equivalent to any uncommon magical rapier of the same level. From that point on, it functions as that type of item until any of the above conditions are met and it becomes untuned once more.

 

[S'mon]

Yes, I hate wish lists. If PCs want an item, they can sometimes purchase it or commission it (usually paying a premium over list price), or they can quest for it. Streetwise skill gets used a lot IMCs, for locating items & craftsmen. I'd also allow History to find the last known location of an item.

I also tend to use Inherent bonuses. PCs need their bonuses, but when it comes down to it they don't need any particular item. They may be able to acquire an item by the methods above, but I don't feel obliged to provide them with any particular item.

 

[S'mon]

So I came up with a simple system to make me happy and the players happy. I was wondering what people thought of it.

It seems fine to me, for a high-magic game; I like how it leaves item acquisition with the DM, but item powers with the player. Because the powers really come from the wielder it has a slight superhero feel.

 

[TheNinjaD]

This is something that would have to be worked into your setting to make any sense at all. That said, as long as it was considered normal in the world, I think that this system is pretty cool, actually.

 

[FireLance]

No, I don't hate wish lists. Then again, I have a pretty non-traditional approach to treasure.

In about midway through 3e, I stopped giving out treasure in my adventures. Instead, I made use of the wealth by level system. Every time the players gained a level, their wealth reset to the default for their new level, and they could change out their equipment however they liked. They could narrate how they gained their gear (found in a treasure room, given as a reward or a gift, inherited, traded, bought, commissioned, self-enchanted) as they wished.

In 4e, I adopt a similar system: each time a character gains a level, he also gains a magic item of up to new level +1 and a small amount of gold (equal to one-fifth the value of a magic item of new level -1). Again, he can narrate how he gained the magic item however he wants.

Effectively, I was putting the responsibility for deciding what magic items their PCs got in the players' hands even before 4e started talking about wish lists.

 

[Kzach]

Effectively, I was putting the responsibility for deciding what magic items their PCs got in the players' hands even before 4e started talking about wish lists.

That would defeat the entire purpose of what I'm trying to do with this system. In fact, it's just the same as what I'm trying to move away from.

 

[Ferghis]

I hate dealing with treasure parcels AND wishlists. In a military-themed campaign I'm working up, PCs request items, and may or may not get it, depending on the level and rarity of the item. Social skills might help. At early paragon level, they will have to craft most magic items themselves. If they have a wishlist, they manage it on their own. Treasure comes in the form of valuables and ritual components. "Among the coin, suspended in a glass box, you find a shard from the crucifix of St. B'Gosh! It's worth 2000 residuum. Make whatever you want."

I'm in charge of keeping the story going, not outfitting the characters. I don't want them to submit lists to me, I don't want to have to keep them, I don't want to consult them. I've got enough on my plate.

 

[MortalPlague]

I'm of a similar mind as far as wish lists go. On one hand, I want to give my PCs treasure they can use. On the other hand, I hate bending the world so much that they just happen to find the exact piece of gear they require in the next treasure vault.

As a compromise, I've begun to hand out two types of magical gear. When they raid a treasure vault, I'll tell the players they find "Two level six arm slot items, a level five piece of armor, and a level two set of footwear." Then there will also be specific magic items, usually weapons, armor, or implements which are named and described in detail. Like Sorcelfane; A long, straight metal staff set with a twisting, ascending spiral of arcane runes, covering the staff from bottom to top. Sure, Sorcelfane is a +3 Staff of Ruin, but heroes can also discover it was wielded by the great mage Balthael against the Mithril Horde, and so on, so forth. To spice up the particular appeal of named gear, I'll sometimes give these items a special added bonus (like a skill check bonus, or an additional daily power).

 

[FireLance]

That would defeat the entire purpose of what I'm trying to do with this system. In fact, it's just the same as what I'm trying to move away from.

Personally, it looks to me to be just a matter of degree. Your system gives the players flexibility to select whatever magic item they want, given certain constraints such as level, form (belt, headgear, type of weapon, etc.) and rarity. My system keeps the level and rarity constraint, and is just more flexible on the form.

If you want to avoid the problem of the PCs constantly finding exactly what magic item they want, my system can avoid that by asking the players to narrate it differently. The PC actually found a different magic item, or monetary wealth instead of magic, and bartered, traded, bought, commissioned, or enchanted the magic item he wanted instead. Or the PC found no treasure, but was asked to choose a reward or a gift or was given a suitable one. These, to me, are all plausible in-game explanations for how a PC manages to get his hands on the exact magic item that he wants. I simply choose not to play out the acquisition of the magic item at the table and rule that it happens in the background, between adventures. That said, if a player wanted to narrate that his character was unbelievably lucky when it came to the magic item lottery, it doesn't really matter to me.

Fundamentally, wish lists boil down to the following for me:

Do you want to generate treasure randomly? Then wish lists are unnecessary. The RNG needs no wish lists.

Do you want to place treasure in your adventures without any input from your players? Then you don't need wish lists, either.

However, if you do want to formalize the process of asking your players what magic items they would like to see and have the opportunity to obtain in your campaign, then wish lists are one way to do that. If you want, you can even put in a disclaimer that putting an item on the wish list is simply a way to provide feedback to the DM and is not a guarantee that it will end up in the hands of the PC.

 

[Doombybbr]

i will not use wish lists instead the character can go to a magic shop to disenchant an item for say 50GP(or maybe 10% of the crafting materials value) then they get the enchanting materials back (with a value equal to that which you can find in the magic items value minus the plain weapon without enchantment) eg. a +1 bastard sword costs 30gp for the plain weapon and 360GP for the enchanting materials, the magic shop will remove the magic effect and give you 360GP worth of enchanting materials if you disenchant a +1 bastard sword (or weapon in general) then the character can use their so-much-GP-worth-of enchanting materials to make a magic weapon or Armour of their choice, but they have to decide that it is worth the 50 GP(or maybe 10% of the crafting materials value) or so.
I haven't tried it but it seems like a way to make it work.