D&D 5E The Gloves Are Off?

[Lanefan]

There's no need for me to waste my time coming up with a list for every possible piece of gear that I can think of and pricing it.

Well, yes there is; in that having unusual or situational items on the list serves to remind your players that such things exist in the setting and might want to be considered in certain circumstances. It also gives your players room to be creative with what they carry.

Especially since prices and availability vary depending on location, the merchant, etc.

Even so, such a list is still useful as a baseline and IMO is an essential aid to play. Yes, not everything is going to be available everywhere, nor always at the exact price listed; and you-as-DM can easily enough make that clear right at the start - but that's no excuse not to have the list in place.

 

[Voadam]

Even if this is true, the player's unstated assumptions aren't enough to justify a retcon in this situation.

We disagree.

I feel it is reasonable for the PC to speak up when the DM shows they have a different assumption.

Moreover, in this specific case it appears that the players assumptions - and not the GM's assumptions - by the rules are wrong.

I am not so sure. If we go from the 5e PH, the traveler's clothes are not defined beyond price and which backgrounds start with them.

I don't think this is a case of the PC asking for something that contradicts a description in the PH rules.

Sure, maybe those are bad rules. Maybe 5e needs a better equipment list and more granular descriptions of equipment. But that's rather beside the point. That's an after the session let's fix the rules sort of thing. Not a get out of consequences free card.

The consequence here hinges on whether the PC is wearing gloves or not. A previously undeclared detail the DM then decided by declaration.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Cold weather clothing from RotF: "This outfit consists of a heavy fur coat or cloak over layers of wool clothing, as well as a fur-lined hat or hood, goggles, and fur-lined leather boots and gloves. As long as cold weather clothing remains dry, its wearer automatically succeeds on saving throws against the effects of extreme cold."

You may be looking at the cold weather outfit from D&D 3e which doesn't contain gloves for reasons that will forever remain a mystery.

Someone upthread said it, so I assumed they knew.

Not that it matters, as contact poison tesseracts through gloves if the DM wants you dead hard enough.

 

[iserith]

Someone upthread said it, so I assumed they knew.

Not that it matters, as contact poison tesseracts through gloves if the DM wants you dead hard enough.

Nobody has confirmed it yet despite my inquiry, but it sounds to me like DDB fills in the blanks with stuff from D&D 3e. Which is not cool in my view, if they are doing that.

Yes, it's up to the DM to decide if the gloves help or not.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Nobody has confirmed it yet despite my inquiry, but it sounds to me like DDB fills in the blanks with stuff from D&D 3e.

Not as far as I know. I've got DDB open right now and Cold Weather Gear is a paywalled option from a book I don't have.

 

[Lanefan]

99% of possible equipment don't have specific entries in the 5e book. It's very, very clear that one set of clothing is not appropriate for all of those conditions. My players understand this and come up with stuff to buy that is not on the list all the time.

When someone comes up with something that's not on the list* I price it in the moment, make a note, then (if I remember!) I put that thing on to the list whenever I next edit it.

* - but that makes sense in the setting as something that would exist there.

And saying that, I might as well throw my own equipment list out there and ask you lot "What have I missed?". It's here:

Blue Book - Part 10 - Money and Gear

 

[Greg Benage]

Not as far as I know. I've got DDB open right now and Cold Weather Gear is a paywalled option from a book I don't have.

Player: But I'm wearing gloves!
DM: Um, yeah, I'm gonna need to see your subscribed content on that.

#onefuture

 

[Alzrius]

You may be looking at the cold weather outfit from D&D 3e which doesn't contain gloves for reasons that will forever remain a mystery.

Interestingly, in the 3.0 Arms and Equipment Guide (affiliate link), gloves are not only listed on Table 2-2: Clothing, but there are four different types: leather (5 sp), canvas (5 cp), mittens (8 sp), and silk (15 gp). None have descriptions.

 

[Reynard]

I don't disagree; I just think that the idea of "thou shalt not violate the player's agency" as a "commandment" is overstated (and uses a definition of "violates agency" that is at odds with how I and others understand it). In that regard, there are times and places where the idea of "the player controls (every aspect of) their character" is supposed to be infringed on by the DM. This includes areas where aspects of the character are undefined, and the PC wants to define them in a way that is favorable to them when an ambiguity arises (which, as you alluded to, is often when something has already happened...or in some cases, is in the process of happening).

Agency as in actions and choices, and then enjoying or suffering the consequences of those actions and choices. The granularity of how one makes choices or takes actions will vary from game to game, and degree to which consequences will re-establish the game state will also vary. An attack that has the effect of moving your PC 5ft isn't an infringement on their agency, it is the result of a mechanism in the game.

All that is to say: I don't think you have adequately explained or displayed how the GM must sometimes remove PLAYER agency that isn't just a result of game state consequences.

 

[Lanefan]

Cold weather clothing from RotF: "This outfit consists of a heavy fur coat or cloak over layers of wool clothing, as well as a fur-lined hat or hood, goggles, and fur-lined leather boots and gloves. As long as cold weather clothing remains dry, its wearer automatically succeeds on saving throws against the effects of extreme cold."

So only those characters who have adventured in RotF are allowed cold-weather clothing, it seems, as that's the only place it can be found.

Parka as veteran's token - that's a new one.