Giving Out Magic Items

[Mengu]

As DM, the job to pick items gives me some headaches. I'm never sure if I should give more, or less treasure, or if I'm being fair to each player, or if there is something else that might have been better for a player. Not all my players are as savvy with finding the right equipment from all the resources out there, so I tend to pick their items for them, trying to look out for their best interests.

To cut down on my dilemmas a little bit, I hand out ritual scrolls that "turn +1 weapon or implement into +2" or the like. I gave iron armbands to all who could use them, when they were going level 6 to 7. When they were going 5 to 6, as a story reward I had an elven witch upgrade all their neck items from +1 to +2. So I do the occasional blanket treasure to save myself some time.

When I'm a player, I tend to worry about the balance of party treasure against the monsters we fight. When your party is ill equipped, it takes forever to kill monsters, you end up needing more healing, and can't get through as many encounters a day.

I really want to be able to build 2 things into my next game. A rule similar to Inherent Bonuses, regardless of enchantment, when you hit a certain level, the bonuses go up. If I didn't have to worry about upgrading enhancement bonuses my life would be easier. Currently Inherent Bonuses don't work very well with feats like dual implement caster, healer's implement, etc. Maybe for my current game, I'll have an adventure where they get some tool to bond with their items, so the items begin to just upgrade themselves, I don't know.

The other house rule I want is a +1 item bonus to damage rolls at level 3/8/13/18/23/28. If I could bake that into the CB, I'd be ecstatic. I'm a bit sick of trying to point people toward tools that give them item bonuses such as staff of ruin, radiant weapon, iron armbands etc. I mean why does the warlock have to spend a feat to get proficiency with staff just to get that item bonus. Why is the fighter denied a magic shield... With the inherent item bonus, I'd be able to introduce a few more interesting items.

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Thanks for the replies, guys! It really helped me think about how to handle the problem.

...But if I didn't feel like using wish lists, doing the above, or hand picking them? The only solution I would even consider is one from the houserules forum that actually maintains wealth parity and the power curve.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan...mpler-treasure-system-mostly-random-loot.html

Fantastic link, thanks! I think that's the solution I'll use, though I'm not 100% set on that yet.

 

[the Jester]

As a dm, I do not use wish lists. At all. Not one bit.

Instead, I throw out interesting items, sometimes ones that really suit a particular pc, sometimes ones that really don't suit anyone. I kill enough characters that there might be someone new in the party by the time they find any given loot anyway.

 

[blargney the second]

When a character levels up, he gets a magic item of the player's choice of up to (new level +1) and gold equal to one-fifth the value of a magic item of (new level -1).

Very nice! I like simple and functional solutions that cut down the number of choices everybody has to make.

How close does this keep them to the expected wealth?

 

[ourchair]

How close does this keep them to the expected wealth?

I'm inclined to think that if the party doesn't care enough to want to spend their money here and there and come up with an optimal combination of wondrous items and other sorts of this and that... "expected wealth" probably doesn't matter in terms of balance as magic item power level.

So long as no one is lacking behind in their skill checks and attack rolls, they should be happy.

 

[FireLance]

Very nice! I like simple and functional solutions that cut down the number of choices everybody has to make.

How close does this keep them to the expected wealth?

Once you get past the front loading of the "gear as new character of new level" system (which occurs around level 5 or so), my houseruled system gives the PC more resources on a cumulative basis. Of course, this is offset by less flexibility in terms of changing equipment around at each level up, and the PCs needing to fund expenses on consumables, rituals, and equipment losses (if any) out of this "lifetime supply" of resources instead of having the resource level "reset" to a standard at every level-up.

My houseruled system also tracks the standard treasure parcel system fairly closely (assuming a party of 5 PCs). There is a slight lag for most levels, because the treasure parcel system could put magic items of up to level +4 into the hands of the PCs, while the houseruled system caps out at level +1. However, on a cumulative basis, the houseruled system catches up at levels 29 and 30, i.e. the cumulative level of resources per PC is the same for both these systems at these two levels. On average, a PC under my houseruled system would be at about 92% of the cumulative level of resources compared to a PC under the standard treasure parcel system, with the lowest point at about 85% at around level 4. However, this is offset by the players having more control about the magic items that their characters receive and less work for the DM.

 

[blargney the second]

Thanks for the breakdown, FireLance! If our group becomes dissatisfied with our loot system, yours is the next one in the hopper!

 

[Wepwawet]

I use a system similar to the intrinsic bonuses, except all items upgrade automatically at their minimum level. So, I don't have to be giving that many items every level.

For example, players would find a "Frost Sword", no plus. The bonus is +1 until level 8, where it becomes +2 and all the other variables upgrade accordingly, then at level 13 it becomes +3, etc.
Fluffwise it's just a Frost Sword, mechanicwise, it's a level adequate weapon.

This means that I can give the players very few magic items, and I can pick them myself, because I won't be giving more than 2 items on a given level.

Sometimes they choose their own magic items, when appropriate (like at 1st level, with the "employer", getting ready to go adventuring).

 

[Mengu]

I use a system similar to the intrinsic bonuses, except all items upgrade automatically at their minimum level. So, I don't have to be giving that many items every level.

For example, players would find a "Frost Sword", no plus. The bonus is +1 until level 8, where it becomes +2 and all the other variables upgrade accordingly, then at level 13 it becomes +3, etc.
Fluffwise it's just a Frost Sword, mechanicwise, it's a level adequate weapon.

This means that I can give the players very few magic items, and I can pick them myself, because I won't be giving more than 2 items on a given level.

Couldn't agree more. When 4e was first getting advertised, I thought this actually was the way they were going to go, and was excited. When it came out, one of my few disappointments was that they hadn't ditched the +X on items. Building it into the leveling system would have been so much easier.

 

[Starfox]

I kill enough characters that there might be someone new in the party by the time they find any given loot anyway.

I think this might be the key, and also how the system is supposed to work; if all you make are new characters or pregens for one-off games, you avoid all the hassle of cumulative upgrades.