Tailoring treasure to the party

[Garmorn]

Tailoring Magic Items.

I tend to incourage item creation feats for reason. It allows the party to have items that match what they can use and/or want.

Why should I as a DM worry about giving the party the correct magic items for them. I want the magic items in they part gain fit the villians/monsters that I throw at them. It makes the world more beliveable and my villians more intresting I think.

Items that grow with the user is also intresting so I might start allowing that also.

 

[pontus]

Most of the treasure my players get comes from NPCs, who care little for what the party can use. They bring what they themselves can draw the most advantage from.

If the party has a fighter specialized in the falchion, and the party finds a bastard sword instead (bastard swords are almost as common as longswords) then that's just too bad. The fighter who specializes in longswords does so knowing that he'll have an easy time finding them.

 

[Petrosian]

As a rule, i do not tailor my treasure to the PCs. I tailor my treasure to the NPCs and the game world.

If they are adventuring in an area where the typical guard and soldier are armed with shortsword and spear, the most common weapons found as random loot will be shortsword and spear.

If they are fighting orcs and the orcs tribe uses greataxe and crossbow, then they will find as GEAR more greataxes and crossbows.

If they are fighting barbarian raider orcs who get their gear through theft more than anything else, they will find as gear arms and armor common to the other locals, say the sword and spear of the local guards above.

My players understand a simple thing... exotic means exotic... so they do understand that if they spend feats on exotic weapons like dwarven waraxes and bastard swords thats all well and good but these weapons, ahem , being exotic will be fewer and farther between than say a spear or a shortsword or an axe.

This doesn't mean they CANNOT find them, just they cannot find them commonly.

My monk player went through trials and ordeals **LITERALLY** to convince a LG order of heironean monks to sell him a MW kama, since he could not find MW kamas for sale in general weapons stores in the city. My dwarf player with focus and spec in dwarven waraxe finds that in this human city there are not enchanted dwarven waraxes for sale, but fortunately since he HAS a MW dwarven waraxe on his own he can commission enchantments...errr,,, enhancements.

When my party finds a magic item they cannot use, they sell it for typically half value and use that to buy something more useful to them. This does in fact result in weaker but more appropriate items, when they can find them.

All in all this means... the fighter who specializes in one weapon type with multiple feats finds himself more limited in what he can find useful. The fighter who instead spreads his feats around and uses whatever weapons fit best will be able to use more.

Remember the fighter class gets proficiencies in ALL martial weapons. If the Gm does not bend over backwards to tailor treasure, the players who instead see the class as getting "all the feats applied to one weapon" will actually realize that ALL MARTIAL WEAPONS is an advantage.

In the game i play in, my elven fighter is swinging a greataxe. Did he start with a greataxe, nope. But he found a +1 greataxe and now uses it with gusto. If he finds a +3 club, he might well switch to it.

 

[Isida KepTukari]

Well, I'm not a DM, but so far I haven't seen too much tailoring of treasure in the campaigns I've been in. When we found a treasure hoard with many magical weapons, were there any of the more exotic monk weapons for my monk character? Of course not. I had to settle for a staff. (Mind you, it turned out to be very useful, but you get the idea).

The character I have now uses a war fan as her primary melee weapon. I'm never going to find an enchanted war fan around, because that would be blatent favoritism on behalf of the DM. I'm going to have to take my share of the treasure and get one made. Our party wizard did not take any item creation feats, so I'm up a creek without a paddle.

Now if I could just convince my party to sit still long enough to get one made...

P.S. Just to clear something up, the DM isn't being a total R.B. This character also uses daggers, and we've found several magical versions of those.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

I usually don't. Makes using different weapons more special since noone uses them. PCs will find dozens of magic longswords, daggers and shortswords. I tailor a little bit, just to make sure the party can use at least 1/2 of the treasure they find. Make sure the wands are mostly on thier spell lists, etc. The rest they can sell to buy the stuff they need or use the money to make stuff. Plus this way I get to drive them nuts with choices; Keep the keen vorpal sunblade or sell it for a scyth I'm specialized it?

 

[hong]

I usually don't. Makes using different weapons more special since noone uses them. PCs will find dozens of magic longswords, daggers and shortswords. I tailor a little bit, just to make sure the party can use at least 1/2 of the treasure they find. Make sure the wands are mostly on thier spell lists, etc. The rest they can sell to buy the stuff they need or use the money to make stuff. Plus this way I get to drive them nuts with choices; Keep the keen vorpal sunblade or sell it for a scyth I'm specialized it?

I think this is what those "mysterious magic" guys keep bitching about....

 

[DoctorB]

I mostly tailor my magic to my NPCs and if that happens to match some of the characters, good. Every once in a while, if I see that a particular PC does not have as many useful items as the others, I will throw something in for them. If someone specializes in a very obscure weapon, they should not expect to find them laying about.
I think the rule of thumb should be:
Enough randomness to be believable
Enough useful stuff to be fun.

 

[DMaple]

Out of interest the Barbarian in the group I DM for is happy using a +2 Dwarven Battleaxe (guess where that was found) even though he has Weapon Focus Greataxe. He uses it two-handed because he prefers the additional damage he gets 2-handed so has never felt the urge to buy the exotic weapon feat for it.

He sold the +1 Bastard Sword he got at another time to better equip the party and get some cure potions since their cleric died recently.

 

[Simon Magalis]

I don't do it either, though I used to in 2nd Ed. I think that 3rd Ed has this built into the system, especially with the creation feats. PCs can pay for any weapon they can afford/imagine. I think that guaranteeing them an NPC with a magic version of whatever they use is not really fair and it is also too much like a video game (i.e. Diablo). What is the advantage in taking a Longsword over a Mercurial Longsword in the long run? Sure one costs more, but over an adventurer's career that price is negligible. However, the chance of finding a magical Mecurial Longsword is RARE indeed while the chances of finding a magic Longsword are pretty good.

 

[hong]

I don't do it either, though I used to in 2nd Ed. I think that 3rd Ed has this built into the system, especially with the creation feats. PCs can pay for any weapon they can afford/imagine. I think that guaranteeing them an NPC with a magic version of whatever they use is not really fair and it is also too much like a video game (i.e. Diablo). What is the advantage in taking a Longsword over a Mercurial Longsword in the long run? Sure one costs more, but over an adventurer's career that price is negligible. However, the chance of finding a magical Mecurial Longsword is RARE indeed while the chances of finding a magic Longsword are pretty good.

You do realise that if you allow free access to item creation feats or buying and selling items, then the whole point of finding rare vs common magic items becomes moot?