Magic Item Wishlist: Yea or Nay?

[Kitesh]

Big fan of the wishlist, both as a player and as a DM. At least in my game, it makes it more fun for everyone (easier me to come up with loot when I have lists to pick from, and easier for my players to get what they want to personalize their characters). More fun = rule #1.

 

[Dausuul]

At first I was against the idea, I thought it takes a lot of the whimsy out of the system if you have even a reasonable chance of "finding" a magic item you were hoping for. But with the glut of magic items now available, far in excess of what was in prevoius editions, you practically have to if you want to get anything that is a good fit for your PC.

Then I was DM, and I found myself hoping for a wish list form my players. It became next to impossible to provide meaningful items for the PCs unless I was totaly versed on all the classes and builds and what they really wanted. Sure you can throw a decent set of armor, but even that is tough as there are a lot of armors out there tailored for certain builds. I came to find the wishlist very helpful.

As a 4E DM, I've never had this problem. I leaf through the Adventurer's Vault, pick some items that look cool and are more or less level-appropriate, and toss 'em on the table. If it doesn't sync up perfectly with somebody's build, so what? Nobody said it was my job to optimize the PCs. Sometimes the gear I toss out isn't usable by anybody, and that's okay too; they can sell it or stash it till they find a use for it.

 

[malraux]

I'm so lazy, my groups have moved to magic item gift cards.

 

[Roland55]

Over on the 4e board, someone mentioned how much they hated the magic item wishlist.

Now maybe it's just me, but I've been using magic item wish list for characters since 1st edition. Talk to the players, see what they want out of the system, find ways to incorporate it into the game. I'm not so smart that everything I think of should go into an adventure and hope that it's useful to the players.

Other people's opinions?

Although I don't promise anything, this is what I've always done.

Sometimes, I'll "up" the chance of such items to appear in random lists or even "salt" key treasure hordes with a desired item or two. After all, folks are supposed to be having fun.

I tend to hold onto such lists for a very long time.

ADD: I should say that I do not use them in grim, gritty adventures or campaigns. The emphasis on those sessions just doesn't seem right for "gifting."

 

[JoeGKushner]

Nay.

In general, my feeling is that if your PC really wants one specific item, you should do something to find it in-game. Announce that you're making inquiries about such an item, talking to sages and rumormongers, digging through musty tomes, whatever. Unless the item is one that I just flat-out don't allow (in which case I'll tell you up front), I'll give you some clues and opportunities to follow up, and if you do follow up you'll eventually find whatever it is you're after. Then you'll have the satisfaction of having earned your awesome item and I'll have some more adventure hooks.

Or, if you don't want to go through all that, get some money and ritual components together, buy the party wizard a copy of Enchant Item, and have her make it for you.

I guess I like the magic item wishlist because it allows me as the GM to determine when its going to get into the game. In your example, it sounds like the character knows more about what the magic item is as opposed to the player which, may sound funny, to me me reeks of meta-gaming.

I've never been fond on principle of players having their characters act on in game knowledge that they'd have no way of knowing.

Which is why I prefer a wishlist.

 

[Scribble]

I'm not much into power play, and magic shops and wish lists are much unheard of in games I've been part of, on any side of the screen. With one player though, he invested so much time and thought into his character build, that I knew that providing him what he wanted would give him more gratification than the unknown. There was a heavy toll attached to it though, and he roleplayed his ass off to get what he wanted. It was no Pun-pun or a cart-worth of nightsticks thing, it was as much part of the player as the backstory, more so maybe.

So if it's justified, I'm happy to oblige a wish. I try to avoid it as much as possible though, as I prefer even some wastefulness to hyper optimization. I feel that it narrows the sweet-spot a lot.

I think thats the thing... Sometimes as a player I've wanted a certain magic item not because of the bonus it granted but because it fit my theme well.

I don't think it's fair to always equate wish list with power gaming.

 

[Jacob Marley]

Nope.

I equip monsters with magic items that the monster would use. Though I do tend to give larger amounts of gold, gems, and other valuables as treasure or rewards than the book (Pathfinder) suggests. However, if the player is looking for something very specific (Holy Avenger, etc.) I will place that with an important NPC or in a heavily guarded treasure and give the PC the opportunity to quest for the item.

 

[Plaguedguy]

I sort-of use wish lists, or rather I take under consideration what classes and builds players are using. In older editions I was perhaps a little less open to this because magic items weren't so tightly tied to character development and filler rewards were more plentiful (Potions, Scrolls, etc).

 

[Dausuul]

I guess I like the magic item wishlist because it allows me as the GM to determine when its going to get into the game. In your example, it sounds like the character knows more about what the magic item is as opposed to the player which, may sound funny, to me me reeks of meta-gaming.

*blink*

Metagaming?

Where's the metagaming? I assume PCs have some knowledge of the game world, enough to have heard of such a thing as, say, a flame tongue sword. The PC thinks that would be an awesome weapon to have and sets out to find one. No metagame knowledge involved.

 

[JoeGKushner]

*blink*

Metagaming?

Where's the metagaming? I assume PCs have some knowledge of the game world, enough to have heard of such a thing as, say, a flame tongue sword. The PC thinks that would be an awesome weapon to have and sets out to find one. No metagame knowledge involved.

See, to me, that seems to be metagming. That might make another interesting thread though in terms of how much world/magic item/monster knowledge that the characters have as opposed to the players.

Because in my experience, even a character that's supposed to be a veteran who is being played by a newbie to the system isn't going to know about flaming tongue swords by default.