Altamont Ravenard
Explorer
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Equipping High Level Characters
- Thread starter cimbrog
- Start date
Altamont Ravenard
Explorer
That's NPC loot.Li Shenron said:
Edit: That's 8th level NPC loot.
Kalendraf
Explorer
I've tried multiple methods, each with varying degrees of success...
1) Let players choose their own items. While most DM's may fear their players going overboard and obtaining the maximum twinkage, I've actually found my groups keep things rather bland. +1, +2, +3 weapons, armor, etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary in general. Results for other groups may vary. Mature groups probably handle this best. Remember that as DM, you always have final say.
2) Create list (columns) of items of similar value and have players pick 1 from each column. I've only used this option a couple times, but it seems to work out ok. Takes a bit of work to set up the list and balance things ahead of time. Works best for higher level characters where you can add more variety to the list. Players seem to like this, but sometimes they over analyze the choices.
3) DM picks. Takes the most work, but can turn out good results. If you have the time, I recommend trying this for a couple characters. Once you get started, it goes pretty fast. Just beware of players 2nd guessing your item choices.
4) Combination player & dm picks. Allow the character to choose 1 item worth up to half their starting money. Then you assign them the rest of the items. Greedy players may pick 1 big item, but that reduces the money to work with for the DM picks so their other items will probably be rather poor. A smart player may choose a cheaper but interesting item allowing the DM more money to fill out their inventory.
Similar idea is to give the PC half the budget to spend, then after they come back, you spend the other half to finish off their equipment.
5) Rolling. Takes me forever to use this method, but I'm sure there are better tables and online versions that can speed it up. Can be useful when you're out of ideas.
As someone suggested above, have a basic list of prices in mind. +2 weapons at 8300+, +2 armors at 4150+, etc. Use the last few 100's of the money to pick up misc potions, scrolls, wands (with just a few charges) or even some custom skill boost items (100 x bonus squared), or give them a few spare coins or gems in their purse. After a bit, you'll probably find you can equip a character in just a few minutes, yet make them unique enough that players will appreciate it.
1) Let players choose their own items. While most DM's may fear their players going overboard and obtaining the maximum twinkage, I've actually found my groups keep things rather bland. +1, +2, +3 weapons, armor, etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary in general. Results for other groups may vary. Mature groups probably handle this best. Remember that as DM, you always have final say.
2) Create list (columns) of items of similar value and have players pick 1 from each column. I've only used this option a couple times, but it seems to work out ok. Takes a bit of work to set up the list and balance things ahead of time. Works best for higher level characters where you can add more variety to the list. Players seem to like this, but sometimes they over analyze the choices.
3) DM picks. Takes the most work, but can turn out good results. If you have the time, I recommend trying this for a couple characters. Once you get started, it goes pretty fast. Just beware of players 2nd guessing your item choices.
4) Combination player & dm picks. Allow the character to choose 1 item worth up to half their starting money. Then you assign them the rest of the items. Greedy players may pick 1 big item, but that reduces the money to work with for the DM picks so their other items will probably be rather poor. A smart player may choose a cheaper but interesting item allowing the DM more money to fill out their inventory.
Similar idea is to give the PC half the budget to spend, then after they come back, you spend the other half to finish off their equipment.
5) Rolling. Takes me forever to use this method, but I'm sure there are better tables and online versions that can speed it up. Can be useful when you're out of ideas.
As someone suggested above, have a basic list of prices in mind. +2 weapons at 8300+, +2 armors at 4150+, etc. Use the last few 100's of the money to pick up misc potions, scrolls, wands (with just a few charges) or even some custom skill boost items (100 x bonus squared), or give them a few spare coins or gems in their purse. After a bit, you'll probably find you can equip a character in just a few minutes, yet make them unique enough that players will appreciate it.
cimbrog
Explorer
Some good ideas here - I'll be in a cabin in Canada for the game so the spreadsheet won't help much. 
I'll have plenty of time before character generation, so Darklore's idea of rolling treasure tables for the PCs to choose from seems interesting. (I'm trying to avoid the players having to do any math).
How does this sound for a variant? Use my treasure tool program to generate 13 treasures per level of the PCs, extracting the magic items from each result. The players split of the items for each level's worth of treasure. While it certainly isn't guaranteed to be balanced, it would certainly be organic. I should probably come up with a "delete X% of the potions/scrools/wand charges" rule to represent items spent and allowing them to trade stuff in at a 50% cost.
I'll have plenty of time before character generation, so Darklore's idea of rolling treasure tables for the PCs to choose from seems interesting. (I'm trying to avoid the players having to do any math).
How does this sound for a variant? Use my treasure tool program to generate 13 treasures per level of the PCs, extracting the magic items from each result. The players split of the items for each level's worth of treasure. While it certainly isn't guaranteed to be balanced, it would certainly be organic. I should probably come up with a "delete X% of the potions/scrools/wand charges" rule to represent items spent and allowing them to trade stuff in at a 50% cost.
