How do you feel when the DM rules that you lose all of your items?
- Thread starter Kashell
- Start date
reanjr
First Post
Kashell said:
I did that to my players recently. It just fit in the story line; the players didn't do anything stupid to lose their stuff and I didn't try to make them lose it. It was just natural. I repaid them with 2 diamonds worth 10,000 gp. It was a bit more than the worth of their equipment, but I figured the hassle of it all was worth it.
They proceeded to gamble one of the diamonds and came out with 130,000 gp. I hate my players.
drakhe
First Post
I don'tmind at all!
If there's a game/plot/any kind of reason for the DM to do it, I don't care one bit. And lats face it, there's enough circumstances where the loss would be logical. One rule I've adopted as a player: never depend entirely on items or magic. Items can be lost and magic can be blocked, countered or disrupted. Lets face it, the easiest way to thwart a magic user is deny him his spells (even by as simple a means as depriving him of sleep)... When I play a magic user, I allways put some of my eggs in the survival basket, not all of them in the magic power basket. Same goes for items (wether magical or not, weapons or other)
Actualy, this is a rule I've adopted for many a game, not just RPG!
If there's a game/plot/any kind of reason for the DM to do it, I don't care one bit. And lats face it, there's enough circumstances where the loss would be logical. One rule I've adopted as a player: never depend entirely on items or magic. Items can be lost and magic can be blocked, countered or disrupted. Lets face it, the easiest way to thwart a magic user is deny him his spells (even by as simple a means as depriving him of sleep)... When I play a magic user, I allways put some of my eggs in the survival basket, not all of them in the magic power basket. Same goes for items (wether magical or not, weapons or other)
Actualy, this is a rule I've adopted for many a game, not just RPG!
Deadguy
First Post
Generally, when worked well into the story, and if your fellow players show some consideration, then item loss is at worst an annoyance, at best an opportunity.
The exception is the poor Wizard, the only class to be dependent on an item for all his major class abilities. When I DM, I am careful to avoid attacking the Wizard's spell books unless he is truly cavalier and careless. For other characters, loss of items restricts their choices but doesn't eliminate them. For the bookless Wizard, he's essentially out of the game until he has a lot of time and money (and opportunity) to recreate his character.
The exception is the poor Wizard, the only class to be dependent on an item for all his major class abilities. When I DM, I am careful to avoid attacking the Wizard's spell books unless he is truly cavalier and careless. For other characters, loss of items restricts their choices but doesn't eliminate them. For the bookless Wizard, he's essentially out of the game until he has a lot of time and money (and opportunity) to recreate his character.
Last edited:
DungeonmasterCal
First Post
PC's spend so much of their careers hacking and looting NPC's for their stuff, it's only fair the tables get turned from time to time.
Wikid Klown
First Post
I guess it really depends. It could add a nice, unexpected twist, make things more interesting, could even show how resourceful some of the characters are when trying to scrounge around in the surroundings for something to defend themselves with. One of my characters actually tried to rob somebody of their gear when I did it, which ended with him unconscious in a prison cell, and his buddies sittin at the barred window, thinking of a way to get him out, but laughing all at the same time. I also recall a time when I started out an adventure (when I played as a character), we were 16th level, but we had NO gear. We woke up in some ruins, and I found/sharpened some rocks which held us until we got to a town (thank you magic stone spell). A paladin without a sword, a cleric with no memory of spells, and a swashbuckler with nothing but a good dex in their pajama's, waking up in some ruins can be fun, despite how it may sound.
Dagger75
Epic Commoner
I'm pretty guilty of this.
One game, the party was working for a mysterious lady who paid them well to do odd jobs. Each party member was asked to get small components for this lady. Nobody was able to play at the same time for a month so I ran small little adventures for groups of people. Well they finally met they all talked about what they did, describing what they got for the lady. Well the bard figured out it was an evil device and they shouldn't have done that. Well the Lady had already decided it was time to end the arrangement. She attack, knocked out the whole party with drow sleep poison and sold them into slavery. They had nothing. When they got free they each had a coat, 1 scimitar, some daggers and 5 gold pieces for a 1000 mile overland journey back home in the winter. It was fun. We still talk about it fondly.
Next in the Star Wars game I started, right after character creation, I took the smugglers ship, weapons and cargo and threw him in prision. He got it all back an hour later. Does that count.
Now its happened to me. Darn dragon took all our magic items for our lives. My ranger now has a pretty good reason to have favored enemy dragon now. I didn't mind. Then again, almost every character I make I try to think of things I would do if I had nothing.
One game, the party was working for a mysterious lady who paid them well to do odd jobs. Each party member was asked to get small components for this lady. Nobody was able to play at the same time for a month so I ran small little adventures for groups of people. Well they finally met they all talked about what they did, describing what they got for the lady. Well the bard figured out it was an evil device and they shouldn't have done that. Well the Lady had already decided it was time to end the arrangement. She attack, knocked out the whole party with drow sleep poison and sold them into slavery. They had nothing. When they got free they each had a coat, 1 scimitar, some daggers and 5 gold pieces for a 1000 mile overland journey back home in the winter. It was fun. We still talk about it fondly.
Next in the Star Wars game I started, right after character creation, I took the smugglers ship, weapons and cargo and threw him in prision. He got it all back an hour later. Does that count.
Now its happened to me. Darn dragon took all our magic items for our lives. My ranger now has a pretty good reason to have favored enemy dragon now. I didn't mind. Then again, almost every character I make I try to think of things I would do if I had nothing.
Nifft
Penguin Herder
Recently, a Monk decided to go off scouting on his own. He got in a bit over his head, and was captured. Later, when a Distraction(tm) occurred, he activated his elemental symbiont (the only "item" that he retained), burned through his bonds, and slew a Yuan-Ti Half-Blood PsiWar, three Pureblood Rangers, and a Wyvern by himself.
His stuff was long gone, but the Yuan-Ti equipment served him fairly well until he was able to make it "home".
He's never complained about the loss. Sometimes, it's really good to be a Monk.
-- N
His stuff was long gone, but the Yuan-Ti equipment served him fairly well until he was able to make it "home".
He's never complained about the loss. Sometimes, it's really good to be a Monk.
-- N
Patman21967
First Post
OK, here is what's happening in the new campaign I start on Sunday.
Players have made up 8th level characters. We have a Human Ranger, Human Mystic Theurge, Human Radiant Servant of Pelor, and Half-Red Dragon Fighter.
Week 1: the ruler of their kingdom incurs a curse, and they all die fighting. 100 years later, they are ressurected as part of a prophecy, to break the curse. The people who ressurect them only have 1 peice of their former gear: The Rangers longsword, the Fighters armor, the Theurges spellbook, and the RSoP's holy symbol.
What do you think....would y'all be angry...they will get better stuff down the road, but items have to be found, because the curse barred magic for the last 100 years, and the land is overrun with undead. The living only survive in small encampments, kinda like in Stargate SG-1. So crafting has disappeared, and there are no shops to buy stuff. The only way the mage can learn new spells, is to find ancient tomes and scrolls. He has to teach magic to those NPC's willing to learn...
Sound cool?
Players have made up 8th level characters. We have a Human Ranger, Human Mystic Theurge, Human Radiant Servant of Pelor, and Half-Red Dragon Fighter.
Week 1: the ruler of their kingdom incurs a curse, and they all die fighting. 100 years later, they are ressurected as part of a prophecy, to break the curse. The people who ressurect them only have 1 peice of their former gear: The Rangers longsword, the Fighters armor, the Theurges spellbook, and the RSoP's holy symbol.
What do you think....would y'all be angry...they will get better stuff down the road, but items have to be found, because the curse barred magic for the last 100 years, and the land is overrun with undead. The living only survive in small encampments, kinda like in Stargate SG-1. So crafting has disappeared, and there are no shops to buy stuff. The only way the mage can learn new spells, is to find ancient tomes and scrolls. He has to teach magic to those NPC's willing to learn...
Sound cool?
Kashell said:
BAD! (I went to a lot of trouble to get what little stuff I have!)
Kashell said:
It depends upon how and why it was lost... If I was attacking a rust monster, and it hit, then no. If I fell in an acid trap, then I'd hope not ALL of it was lost! If it was, then I'd want replacements, sure. Even if a GM was going to replace my old stuff with things he felt were newer & better, I doubt that I would feel the same way about it, even if it made me "more powerful". With the exception of my bow, none of my weapons are "normal", and I would be unlikely to ever replace them (and they were too hard to get in the first place)! I'd feel like I was starting over at first level, again! All that would definitely sour me on the game...
Kashell said:
Unfairly, how? What do you mean? An acid trap is "unfair", and so is life... An acid trap with no saves, that "eats" all your items is unfair, and also against the spirit of the rules (failed saves are supposed to damage ONE magic item). If I felt the GM was being unfair, I'd let him know, but I'd also ask if this was important to the adventure, for some reason that I couldn't see. If the GM didn't seem to care, or gave me the "We'll talk about it after the game" routine, I'd tell him I was quitting/sitting out this session, and we'd talk after the game.
If he had reasons, I'd wait to see what they were, and play along. Then I'd decide how "unfair" I thought things were, and whether or not to quit. The GM deserves some respect, but so do the players and their PCs.
Similar Threads
