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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 716765" data-attributes="member: 4937">I started playing D&D in 1980 and I never had a DM who insisted on 3d6 six times - love it, that's all you are getting.  4d6 and other variations have been standard pretty much since the start.  What's wrong with an NPC having the equivalent of a good 4d6 roll or a 32 point buy?  Are you saying that doesn't happen now?  And in any event, what does that have to do with the 'wealth tables' or the commonality of magic items?I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill.  I've never had any of the problems that you guys are complaining about, either as a player or a DM.  Ok, the villain has a +1 spetum.  No one uses a spetum.   Oh, well.  Hey, the villain has a +1 morningstar!  That's mine!  Bad taste in your mouth?  For what?  I defy a PC to consistantly differentiate between when I rolled for generic items and when I placed them.  I almost always consult random tables (even if I'm not slave to them) so that I will consider ideas I would not have considered otherwise.  My hand on the games wheel is more subtle than that, and my obviously 'created and placed' items generally serve a purpose in advancing the story as well as being 'treasure'.  To do otherwise is to be so heavy handed that the PC's notice when they are being railroaded, and everyone knows that is a bad thing.And ultimately, whether you have an IC 'magic shop' or off camera menu that your players can select from, it is the same thing only if you are handling it 'off camera' you are just saying 'I don't want to be bothered by that.'  And ultimately, however the PC's get the items you as the DM are responcible for giving them what they got.   If you run magic shops, you decide what is in them.  If you have treasure placed in dungeons, you decide what is there.  If you tell, 'anything from the DMG with these restrictions', then you have decided what is available.The wealth tables aren't even remotely a tool for giving PC's more control over themselves.   That is utterly silly.   If they were, they'd appear in the PH, not the DMG.  They are just a suggested guideline, no more or less.  They record a play testing standard for a DM who is unsure of his ability to maintain balance.  They are a tool for assisting the DM who isn't sure how much treasure to place or give out.  They have nothing at all to do with player freedom.Sting is mundane?  Everyone has an elven blade?  Sheesh.  Look, my point is that it is entirely different to say that magic is more readily available in 3rd edition, and magic needs to be more readily available so I'll allow PC's to buy almost anything they want between adventures.</blockquote>

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