What Do You Do With A Problem Item?

[airwalkrr]

Let's say you are the DM. Now let's say that the players in your campaign have just completed a long story arc. As a reward for completing that story arc, you rolled up some random loot. The players get the loot, find some cool and interesting magical items and dole them out, then proceed to the next adventure. Halfway through the next adventure, you discover that one of the items you gave out as random loot is creating a problem. It is making encounters far too easy. Perhaps it had an unexpected synergy with one of the player characters. Perhaps it was simply a really lucky roll on the random loot tables and you should have looked it over more carefully before including it. Now you are faced with a difficult situation. Clearly the item must be altered or removed from the campaign, but you risk the ire of your players for taking away their cool toy that lets them slaughter monsters with a sneeze. What do you do?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

[EDIT: Voted "Other."]

What's the problem item?

Is it something which is overpowered now, but which will be in-line later (e.g., "Oops, I handed out a +3 sword too early!") ? In that case, suck it up. It'll be fine later on.

Is it something which is overpowered now, and will always be overpowered (e.g., "Oops, I handed out a re-usable nuke?")? Talk to the players about it - not necessarily to get their opinions on how to handle it, but to explain the "damage" it's doing to the campaign.

 

[Greenfield]

Sounds like a plot hook to me.

Someone had heard of the legendary Bohemian Earspoon of Doom (tm) and wants it. Or the players discover that there's a story behind it that needs to be investigated. Or the Assassin's Guild covets such a powerful item. Or perhaps they've heard of it and fear it will be used against them. Maybe they need to drop it in a mountain to save the world or something. (I don't do that last one very often, BTW.)

Unless the item is really really broken, it's a self correcting problem. The party will level up, and their opposition will escalate in kind, until it's just a nifty item appropriate to the level and power of the game.

 

[AuraSeer]

I remove the item, with as plausible an in-game reason as possible. One time when it was a magic sword, they encountered an ogre fighter with Improved Sunder and a shatterspike. Another time they got a surprise meeting with a mid-level villain, who offered to betray his boss and give them a semi-important McGuffin in exchange for the offending item. (This was a good deal for both sides for reasons I am too lazy to explain.)

My players are mature enough to understand that a lot of the fun in this game comes from overcoming a challenge. If something in the game takes away the challenge, it also takes away the fun. As long as I still tell a good story they're willing to go along. They only tend to get grumpy if I do something lame, like having it suddenly vanish for no reason.

 

[Arkhandus]

I'd have the item lost or destroyed in-game, but replaced in the same encounter or shortly afterward with a piece of new treasure.

If it's a magic weapon, I'd just use one of the monsters or NPCs that happens to have the Improved Sunder feat and such, wielding their own magic weapon or a natural weapon perhaps (I recently used Hook Horrors in one game, though I didn't sunder anyone's weapons; I rolled craptacularly for most of the Hook Horrors' attacks and couldn't even get in one Rending Bite).

If it's some other magic item, I'd use a monster or NPC that has magic-item nullifying capabilities; perhaps a high-level wizard who prepared Mordenkainen's Disjunction (Mage's Disjunction in the SRD). Perhaps a Disenchanter from the Fiend Folio (though it works best at depleting/destroying magic weapons/armor/shields, it can also drain other items). Or maybe some NPC with a Rod of Cancellation, which, conveniently enough, burns itself out after nullifying one magic item.

Or it could be a magic trap that unleashes a Mordenkainen's Disjunction or the like. Or a Disintegrate trap that happens to zap the problem item instead of the PC carrying it. Or whatever fits your game.

Maybe some monsters or NPCs capture the group or sneak into their camp at night, and steal the problem item along with a few other things, then escape (or the PCs then manage to make their escape, perhaps with help from another NPC). By the time the PCs might manage to get their revenge on the enemy, the problem item is already missing or destroyed, and nobody knows what happened to it or where to find it; perhaps some other thief already made off with it, or a more-powerful NPC took it (whom the PCs have no hope of defeating, possibly no hope of even catching, in the case of an NPC mage perhaps).

 

[the Jester]

Other.

Adapt and learn to live with it.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I'd do this:

1. Depending on the item, have it stolen, destroyed, nerfed, banned or just live with it. I'd have to know what the item is to say which.

2. Talking to my players would almost certainly be a part of the solution.

3. Stop using the Diablo Random Crap tables.

 

[PoorHobo]

1. Have an OOC discussion stating your concerns, how its unbalancing the game, tell them you are replacing it with something else more suited to their level.

2. Suck it up and move on. Penalizing players or characters for your own oversight is petty.

If the problem is bad enough then it warrants option 1. If you don't think its serious enough for option 1 then option 2.

 

[SuperJebba]

I voted leave the item but find a way to nullify it. It's hard to say exactly what to do without knowing exactly what the item is, but find a way to take the item out of play. Powerful items become known and various people will come to claim it for themselves. Demons and devils may even come to take the item.

I think it is fine to try and take the item away from your players. It's not fun as a DM when they steamroll everything you throw at them. Just don't blatantly take it. Having a pit fiend show up and take it when the group is level 10 is not cool. Having a CR 13 monster show up and challenge them while still being beatable is okay. Or put monsters in play that aren't effected by it.

Another easy way to perhaps nullify the item would be to use more strategy and tactics. Include environmental factors that the players need to take into account. A well coordinated group of monsters using battle tactics and the terrain might be enough to take the item out of play. Or a pair of spiked chain users who focus on disarming and then tripping the player if it is a weapon that is the problem.

There are all sorts of things you can do to rebalance things. I know that it is a lot of work, but a player will feel much better about the item being taken that way than if you just say he can't have it anymore. Peace!

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I think it depends on the context.