Any of you suffering from Monty Haul Syndrome

[yipwyg42]

I am what some of you consider to be very lucky. I play usually 2 days a week and have for about 7 years.

It seems to me though the last 3 campaigns that I have played in with my group have devolved into the area of severe Monty Haul. Recently my friend started up a game where we are all 3rd level characters, this is two items that we got last night without any effort.

Cloak of Resistance +3, Cloak of Charisma +8 (this is not even listed in the dmg, the +6 is 36,000 itself). The armor that we got I believe would almost be 50'000+


Now yes we still are having fun, however we all believe that having to high of ability scores dramatically affects the game. The DM even had us when we rolled characters to limit our total bonuses to certain range to make sure that we are all relatively equal.

Because of all this I have decided to drastically change the game I am running, I will have a major decrease in the power level of magical item shops, basically they exist but very rarely will you find high level mages running or working them.

Any others have expeirencing the effect of A Monty Haul campaign.

 

[Treebore]

Its all part of finding your "comfort level". Part of the fun of the game is having those magic items to play with. Part of it is to just have fun with the characters. Then you just find what balance between all the elements gives the game that is desired.

I know my games are more high powered than most, but I am comfortable with it and my players have fun too. So it works for me. I went through a low magic phasde myself. It wasn't for me, but its all about what you want.

Nothing wrong with experimenting and finding out what works.

 

[yipwyg42]

True but when the DM decides that having one person with high stats in the party is affecting the game. You know one guy has super stats and the others has low to average stats, the guy with the high stats tends to dominate the game.

Then one of the first things he does is gives the 3rd level "Sorcerer" a +8 cloak of charisma making the sorcerers charisma a 26. Then hands out a 50-70k armor that skyrockets the fighter, who specializes in killing mages, ac from 17 to 28, gives him the equivalent of +3 to hit, a SR of around 17, plus 3-4 other major abilities, plus a +4 sword. I as a player think it is getting out of hand.

I think it would have been better to have the items scale with level, or a bunch of less expensive items instead of one big super powerful weapon. This is especially true since the magic item compendium is out, we could of each had a complete set of items, one for each slot.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Now yes we still are having fun, however we all believe that having to high of ability scores dramatically affects the game. The DM even had us when we rolled characters to limit our total bonuses to certain range to make sure that we are all relatively equal.

Sounds crazy, but if you're still having fun, crazy is perfectly fine.

Because of all this I have decided to drastically change the game I am running, I will have a major decrease in the power level of magical item shops, basically they exist but very rarely will you find high level mages running or working them.

Only natural that you try a different style for your own game. There's a lot of good advice out there on running lower-magic D&D. Learn what the Wealth-by-level tables are, how many encounters should award what gp (and what items), listen to what your players want (while still making them work for it), consult the advise, and runs with it. Sounds like it'll be a good change of pace.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I as a player think it is getting out of hand.

Wait...apparently, not everyone is having fun.

What, has your character not gotten one of those hefty major magic items yet? If it's an issue, I'd bring up the disparity to the DM, or just mention that it feels "too easy." That should be enough. And if it's not, or if he overreacts ("Oh! It's too easy! I'll make the next one 99% fatal!"), best you can do is show him how it's done in your own game.

 

[yipwyg42]

Wait...apparently, not everyone is having fun.

What, has your character not gotten one of those hefty major magic items yet? If it's an issue, I'd bring up the disparity to the DM, or just mention that it feels "too easy." That should be enough. And if it's not, or if he overreacts ("Oh! It's too easy! I'll make the next one 99% fatal!"), best you can do is show him how it's done in your own game.

No I got a couple of good items, Boots of dimension door, cloak of resistance +3 plus another item. So power level wise I am still equal to the other characters.

My main thing is the DMing saying one thing and doing another.

Only natural that you try a different style for your own game. There's a lot of good advice out there on running lower-magic D&D. Learn what the Wealth-by-level tables are, how many encounters should award what gp (and what items), listen to what your players want (while still making them work for it), consult the advise, and runs with it. Sounds like it'll be a good change of pace.

I do not necessarily want to run a low magic game, I am more in the mindset of running a standard magic game. Maybe players will end up with slightly above their levels gp equivalent, but no 3rd level characters wielding 12th+ level equipment.

 

[Nifft]

Suffering? Hell no! We're loving every minute of it.

Seriously: I give phat l00tz. But I also use Sunder, take stuff that PCs drop when Stunned (when this makes sense), take their loot when they're captured, etc. Easy come, easy go. They can enjoy good stuff, but they better not rely on keeping it forever.

Rust monsters exist in some places, and they're at the level where I can use Nightwalkers (one of whom just stole & destroyed a PC's favorite rapier last session... erp!). I've already thrown Bebeliths at them, but the PC who engaged wasn't the armor-wearing type, so nothing lost there.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Crothian]

I don't give out a lot of loot but the PCs have invested money and made quite a bit that way off of expeditions and opening three specialty stores. One PC took leadership so they have the personnel and resources to really make some money. They have more money then 12th level characters should but they worked to get it.

 

[I'm A Banana]

My main thing is the DMing saying one thing and doing another.

How so? The characters are all on par with each other (no character is dominating by having extremely better items or whatever than the other characters), just all massively better than most CR-equal challenges. Looks like he's doing what he set out to do (keep characters from hogging the spotlight by having massively better stats than another character), while keeping a sort of high-power feel that the group seems to be enjoying (if everyone's having fun).

 

[yipwyg42]

How so? The characters are all on par with each other (no character is dominating by having extremely better items or whatever than the other characters), just all massively better than most CR-equal challenges. Looks like he's doing what he set out to do (keep characters from hogging the spotlight by having massively better stats than another character), while keeping a sort of high-power feel that the group seems to be enjoying (if everyone's having fun)

When we made characters he wanted everyone to have stats roughly equal to each other.
All of us had stats bonuses equal to about +5 to +7. The reason behind this is that he wanted us moderately equal in power.

In the second session the Sorc has a 26 charisma that means his DC's are now start at 18 without even adding the spell level.

I guess what I am getting at, is a lot of people think 15-20th level D&D is like superheroes. Will with what we got we are now superheroes at 3rd level. There is nothing out there at our challenge rating that can affect us.

I guess I just think it would be better to have alot of minor magic items then a couple of big ones.

I mean sure it is fun at 3rd level to wield a +5 holy, fire bursting, undead bane, greater disrupting, keen, greatsword but that also gets old fast.