Treasure - how do you give it out?

[der_kluge]

In our game, the GM has us roll for treasure when we kill something that has a random treasure table. If the module has specific items, then we find those, but if we kill something from like a random monster chart, he has us roll the dice, and he generates the treasure randomly.

I'm just curious how others do it. I have to admit, this is kind of a new approach for me, even though it seems like it should be a fairly standard practice. In all the games I've ever ran, I always deliberately placed treasure.

How do you do it? Do you roll, just pick stuff off the top of your head, or do you place things beforehand?

 

[Arkhandus]

Generally, I determine treasure on my own, based on the average treasure valued noted in the DMG for any given CR or EL or whatever. I usually eyeball it, figuring out if there are any magic items I think the enemy ought to have (either because it makes sense for the enemy, or because the party hasn't gotten any magical treasure in a while), and if the enemy is an NPC, I just determine his/her gear beforehand and I roll up a small, random amount of coins, possibly adding a few assorted gems too.

For monsters and such, I typically roll on the appropriate treasure table and then adjust it based on the situation; I'll roll on the gems table a number of times, roll up the value of each gem, and roll to see what value of art pieces may be in the treasure. Then I make up the art pieces and miscellaneous items as appropriate; i.e. when the party slew a fiendish tiger that had been preying on nearby travelers, close to a busy merchant trade hub, the party found assorted trade goods, art pieces, and decorative items in the fiendish tiger's lair. Stuff that the tiger dragged off to pile up in its lair, trophies of its kills (fiendish critters have Int 3+ IIRC, so they can have some humanoid notions). The party found stuff like velvet curtains, small ivory statuettes, a few small containers of good dwarven rum, some small containers of various spices, some damaged armor, and so on and so forth.

I figure out treasure stuff either before the session, or sometime before the next session. It's pretty much stuff of my own choosing, but occasionally I just roll on the tables and run with it. I try to make the treasure have some sense to it though; if a critter doesn't seem like it'd have a certain kind of item around, or if it doesn't seem like it would keep any kind of junk around, then I won't leave any such junk around it.

 

[Crothian]

I place things and roll. THough I have been rolling more for my current camapign since I tended to pick certain items a little more often then others. Rolling gives a wider range of items and allows the PCs to be creative with them.

 

[kanake676]

I place treasure as well as let the players roll on the tables. Picking what I want the players to have helps me keep tabs on how wealthy they are and what items they have access to. It also allows for treasure that makes a bit more sense than some of the stuff the tables can give you with random roll and can save time on game night.

I let them roll on the tables quite often as well. It allows them to have more of a part in what they come out of the adventure with. I think the slight possibility that they might roll really well and end up with something really valuable/neat makes this method more interesting for the players as well. It gives the adventures less of a sense of me fixing everything to work out how I want it and more of a feeling of the control being in the players' hands.

 

[Henrix]

I do a bit of both, as well.
Often I have rolled/decided what treasures any random encounters have before the session, but sometimes I haven't prepared fully, and then I roll, secretly and sometimes fudging as I prefer to have some control of what items appear.

Just the other week this occasioned the shortest lasting magic item I have ever given out!
They had an encounter I hadn't prepared in advance, and I rolled a Portable Hole. Now, this would be the most valuable item the party had so far, but portable holes are fun so I let them have it.
They inspected it, laid it out on the ground, looked in....and then one of them jumped in, wearing a Hewards Handy Haversack! One portable hole and a HHH destroyed, and most of the party suddenly on the astral plane! All within a couple of minutes of them finding it!

 

[Navior]

I generally just decide myself what to give an encounter. Sometimes, I'll roll, but I'll then adjust the results if I don't like them.

I can't imagine ever letting the players roll after the fact. Likewise, I would never roll myself after the fact, either. The possibility of something coming up that the monster could have used in the battle is just too great. After all, if the bugbears had a +1 battleaxe in their treasure, why wouldn't one of them have used it instead of all using mundane weapons?

 

[IronWolf]

I tend to place things, though some of those items placed may be from a random roll I made ahead of time. By the time the PCs face the encounter I already know what the treasure would be for that encounter (if any).

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I like to roll randomly with the DMG Tables. I also like to include anything I think up on the spot (or have thought up previously) that I think will be interesting in game.

For example, I ruled that a magical backlash caused by the casting of an Epic Spell caused everything in a 10' wide, 30' deep area just below the character's feet to become invisible. My players ended up spending the better part of a game day figuring out how to dig up all that earth and rock and transport it home. Once home they started brainstorming ideas for invisible ballista shots, transparent stone walls, etc..

I also like to include 'mundane' magic items. That is, magical objects that aren't always treasure per se, but are instead of everyday, practical use. Such might include self-inking quills, everwarm plates for keeping food at a steady temperature and ready to serve, message stones mortared into a wall or made part of a statue that record pass phrases or messages spoken before them and repeat such audibly whenever anyone touches them, etc..

J. Grenemyer

 

[FireLance]

I don't bother with treasure. Whenever the PCs make a level, they lose their existing gear and choose new equipment equal in value to the standard wealth guidelines for characters of their level. This way, the players get to pick what they want and I there's one less factor that I need to think about as a DM.

 

[KB9JMQ]

I randomly roll and use tables in most instances.
I will place specific items to either move the game a certain way or to give a character a new item to try/work with.