Giving character magic items

[Lord Pendragon]

Re: Re: Giving character magic items

What kind of DM puts you up against an opponent that's obviously immune to all your attacks? Unless that encounter was meant to be a puzzle (find the magic weapon, find a way around the monster, realize you can push it off a cliff, whatever), it was an example of some really bad DMing.

Interestingly enough, I believe just the opposite. Playing in a campaign where every monster encountered is either exactly the right challenge for the party, or requires some sort of "trick" to defeat seems forced to me, and destroys the internal logic of the game (in my mind, YMMV). Sometimes the little guys stumble upon the Big Bad. That's when it's time to get the heck out of Dodge.

As an aside, I'm no fan of DR X/+N. I'd much rather have monsters vulnerable versus something than vulnerable versus really magical weapons. Not just magical weapons, or even very magical weapons, only really magical weapons.

I respect your view, though I don't have a problem with this myself. Some magic is stronger, some is weaker. It never bothered me that Excalibur can slice through the dragon's hide, while The Humble Sword of Bob doesn't have quite enough power to get the job done.

To return to the topic,

At 10th-level, you should have a few +2 weapons, and maybe a +3 or so. Even if you don't, as someone said, Greater Magic Weapon is the answer to your problems. If your cleric isn't strong enough to net you a +3 weapon, have the cleric purchase a scroll at a higher caster level, then save it and only use it during emergencies...such as when you're fighting something with strong damage reduction.

 

[Cedric]

Well,

Former Game Master of mine had to deal with a similar problem. He really didn't care for magic weapons stronger then a +1 or +2 for the most part...but his monsters of choice as we reached higher level sometimes had damage reduction greater then +2, ie. 30/+3.

To solve the problem he seeded the party, through the course of a few adventures, with "other then ideal" weapons that had the bonuses we needed.

For instance, my cleric had a +3 dagger. The warrior, who greatly favored two handed swords, found a +4 war hammer. They were weapons we could use in a pinch for the things we needed them for, but weren't our weapons of choice, so we rarely used them...unless we needed too.

Cedric of Boccob
Master of True Iron

 

[DoctorB]

This sounds like a communication problem between DM and players.

IMHO your group should have a talk about what level encounters should be. If the DM wants to run adventures with powerful monsters, then the party has to be prepared to retreat when they are overmatched. If the party insists on fighting everything they meet, then the DM has to lower the encounter level a little to give them a valid chance to win.

There is nothing wrong with talking as players and GM to make sure everyone gets what they want out of the gaming experience.

The fun's the thing!

 

[Dieter]

Well...

I have an unwritten rule in which your level dictates the magical enchantment. It (roughly) follows the idea of one advancement for every three levels past level 4.

Level 4 = +1
Level 7 = +2
Level 10 = +3
Level 13 = +4
Level 16 = +5


The likelyhood of finding magic weapons of greater magnitude increases for each level closer to the next. (i.e. a 6th level fighter would have a greater chance in finding a +2 enchantment than say, at 5th level). This also applies to weapons who have extra abilities besides (i.e. a +1 Longsword of Frost is considered a +2 using this system). It keeps down tendency and frequency of overpowered characters.

 

[jollyninja]

just as an example of the magical items your cleric7/wizard3 is capable of making, here is how well he could eqiup a rogue if he took the right feats and was willing to pay the experience price:

rapier +2, sure striking, flaming (or other extra di enchantment like holy ect). studed leather armor +2, silence, shadow. boots of striding and springing, cloak of resitsance +2.

of course if he is not willing to lose all that experience (probably wouldn't go up a level for a really long time just to equip this one character) your still screwed.

 

[Hadraniel]

I was really just wondering what kind of items most people would have around level 10. I know our DM has been very cruel the past 4 or 5 sessions. But besides damage reducing stuff we have been getting our butts kicked. Sometimes we could run away but when things are faster or you are stuck against a wall you cannot run.

That is only part of the problem. I wanted to know what are most people equiped with at this time. What does a fighter, rogue, cleric, and wizard usually have. I know there are a lot more classes but I just wanted to get a general idea.

 

[Henry]

I was really just wondering what kind of items most people would have around level 10.

If you want to know what a "standard" D&D party has at 10th level, assume 49,000 g.p. per character, assume no more than half can be spent on one magic item, and equip them using the g.p. market values listed in the DMG. This will give you a good idea of how WotC expects people to be equipped to face the challenges in their modules.

To see how much a lower-magic campaign would use, use about 2/3rds that figure, and do the same thing.

However, even a party with a Cleric7/Wiz3 can be much better equipped to handle creatures that your party currently seems to.

Greater Magic Weapon creates +2 weapons at that level, along with Bull Strength, Endurance, Aid, the Flame of Faith, Brambles and Spike spells from Defenders of the Faith, and magic vestments. Wizard spells include invisibility, glitterdust, mirror image, shield, mage armor, etc. Most of these have durations rated in 10's of minutes to hours.


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Maybe I should start an organization all my own - the Union for the Revamping of Underutilized Characters by Help in Achieving Initiatives:

URUC-HAI.