3e or me?

[bloodymage]

I finished running our session last night and my party of 6 2nd level PC's bested a hill giant and an ettin in seperate encounters. Now I'm new enough at 3e that I haven't given out any treasure consulting the MM and DMG. I've just given out what I thought was appropriate. Well, last night I used the DMG to roll up "standard" treasure (twice). The giant was poor, the ettin rich with a potion, a low level scroll with 3 arcane spells and a Wand of Monster Summoning II with 49 charges.

Is the wand excessive? I don't know that I've ever given magic beyond potions and scrolls to a 2nd level party. Is this the indication of a pattern in 3e? I don't like a lot of artillery in my game until high levels. It looks like I'm going to have to be stingy when I roll randomly. Is this true? In 1e random treasure accelerated at what I considered a sane pace, although there was the rare exceptional roll. The game is a lot more "item heavy" now, isn't it? Or is it just me?

 

[JeffB]

For me personally, I wouldn't give em the wand..this is where treasure tables and "normal" amounts of treasure bug me...why in the heck would a Ettin be walking around with a wand?

The (in ettin voice)"founds me a pretty stick,...me thinks me keeps it"..line of thinking just gets old after awhile....

Of course it's YOUR game, you do what you feel is best...

EDIT: And yes, 3E is definitely more item/magic heavy as written compared to previous versions.....I tone it down for my own game

 

[Crothian]

In my game, the wands wouldn't be that big a deal. Sure, it's a little powerful but it is limited in charges. I like items that have power, but limited uses. It allows the characters to havea tougher choice in using it.

 

[Saracen]

In my game, the wands wouldn't be that big a deal. Sure, it's a little powerful but it is limited in charges. I like items that have power, but limited uses. It allows the characters to havea tougher choice in using it.

Yeah, but when the wand has 49 charges there isn't much thinking about it. Put it in these terms: if you have $50 and you want a candy bar for a buck you don't think anything of spending that dollar. It's not until you get down to your last five or six dollars that the choice of whether or not to spend one becomes a bit tougher.

Because a wand only has 50 charges when it's created the magic item he gave them was recentlt made. I would have made it a much older wand with only a handful of charges left. Still incredibly useful to a low level party but it would have made them think before using it.

 

[Crothian]

Yeah, but when the wand has 49 charges there isn't much thinking about it. Put it in these terms: if you have $50 and you want a candy bar for a buck you don't think anything of spending that dollar. It's not until you get down to your last five or six dollars that the choice of whether or not to spend one becomes a bit tougher.

Because a wand only has 50 charges when it's created the magic item he gave them was recentlt made. I would have made it a much older wand with only a handful of charges left. Still incredibly useful to a low level party but it would have made them think before using it.

We don't think about things that way. My group is always looking ahead especially with charged items. They tend to horde potions nad spare scrolls to use when they have nothing else. THey perfer to use the renuible resources as much as possible.

 

[William Ronald]

Generally, for low level groups, I believe in having them find wands with relatively few charges. This helps keep things under control.

The question is how many monsters did the party summon in defeating the hill giant and the ettin?

 

[bloodymage]

Generally, for low level groups, I believe in having them find wands with relatively few charges. This helps keep things under control.

The question is how many monsters did the party summon in defeating the hill giant and the ettin?

Like I said, or at least implied, this was my first treasure rolled completely randomly according to the rules. It came up 49 charges and I only blinked once! I can handle inflation if I nip it in the bud. That's why I posted this query.

The giant was the first monster encountered (party dragged away 8000 sp!) and the ettin was second (he had 800 gp to boot). So, no use of the wand at all. In fact, they spent 2 days with Identify to figure out what they had.

 

[William Ronald]

What were the relative strength of the party versus the monsters? Usually, two such powerful monsters should mop the floor with the party. However, cunning and a little luck can help defeat a more powerful opponent.

(Usually, I would advise a low level group to run away from such an encounter. If this was not possible, I would try to keep as much distance as possible and used ranged attacks.)

 

[JRRNeiklot]

In my game, the pcs only get items after the npcs have used it against them! So next time, give the ettin a level of cleric with the magic domain. Then use the wand on them. If they win, THEN they can have it!

 

[Tortoise]

If you don't mind my asking ...

How did 6 second level characters best an Ettin and a Hill Giant?

Please describe each encounter.

I was running a game where there was almost a total party kill just with an Ettin and the characters were 4th and 5th level. Of course they tossed caution to the wind, but even so the Ettin dropped two characters in two rounds, both into the negatives. Good thing they both made their stabilization rolls.

It took some serious brain work and some risky actions for the party to come out of that situation intact. (I'm proud of them for pulling off that bit of survival heroics.)

I'm really curious how your lucky group didn't become paste. Big critters like that have reach and can use more than one attack, and due to their bab and other bonuses usually hit with at least one if not both attacks.

Note: I rolled the stats for the Ettin my group encountered and it ended up a bit stronger than average, but lacked in other stats.