How to enforce low magic item count

[mirzabah]

Make them +1 vs. good aligned creatures, or useable only by evil aligned creatures, or come up with some similar restriction so that the weapons are only useful to mooks?

 

[Furn_Darkside]

So how can I balance my campaign so that I can challange the PCs without handing out endless generic items (not just weapons and armour).

Here are some things I have done in different campeigns-

1) Magic Items are forever tied to their creator- once the creator dies, the items lose their magic.

2) There are no generic permanent magic items- every item has a story/quirk/whatever.

3) Magic makes items fragile- armor and weapons are rarely enchanted, and have a short duration of use when they are.

4) Any item can be magical, similar to what you suggest, using either OA's idea for samurai's swords or the personal magic item article in Dragon.

FD

 

[kengar]

Charge Sword A MW sword with a gem in the handle thats casts 3 charges of Magic weapon. It cost about the same but would be disposable.

I did this in a campaign setting where one of the major foes were goblinoids. Their shamans created items called "Goblin Gems" that the goblin captains carried. Special "socketed" weapons & shields (shamelessly ripped off from "Diablo II", I know) could hold the gem. The gem (worth about 100gp) had limited charges (usu. 2-3), could not be removed until spent (where the gem crumbled to worthless dust), but gave a power to the MW "socketed" item. i.e. Rubies = Flaming Wpn, Sapphire = Frost, etc. In shields they had effects like +2 Armor, Endure Elements, Fortitude, etc.

The players were quite surprised when the flaming longsword they took from a goblin (4th level warrior captain) suddenly stopped working after only 2 rounds and the gem cracked into a million pieces. Especially when they hadn't bothered to Detect Magic on the 100gp diamond (shock) that the goblin had in his belt pouch before selling it to a gem merchant!

 

[candidus_cogitens]

Special purpose INTELLIGENT items!

A special purpose could be something to the effect that it exists solely to serve its creator ... or, only to destroy humans.

Also, as has been mentioned, give the items an alignment, which limits who can use it.

And ... you can have an item with "drawbacks" or "requirements" as discussed in the DMG in the Intelligent Item section.

 

[Grundle]

The problem you will face in 3e is that the characters effectiveness is tied to having a certain value of magic items. You certainly can limit the number of items but if you reduce the power level you will need to componsate.

This is a very good point to keep in mind. Also, certain (non-spellcasting) classes suffer disproportionately from a reduced magic item availability and this get worse and worse the higher level your players are. Pay attention not only to the balance of power between the PCs and the challenges presented to them, but also to the balance of power between the party members. Nothing can ruin a game like a player who feels a gelding in a pasture full of stallions.

Another point to consider is the symbiotic relationship between character wealth and challenge rating. The entire structure of the game is grounded in an assumed PC-wealth-to-CR ratio. If you modify this by reducing magic items (ie wealth and power), you may be making your job as a DM much harder.

 

[kenjib]

For example, how much of a penalty should I give to the CR of a NPC for taking away its assumed level of magic items? i.e. a 5th level fighter with appropriate magic items is equivalent to an Xth level fighter with just potions and stuff.

If the player's likewise have very few items, then I don't think there will be much of an issue, as it will compensate for magic-poor NPCs. It sounds like you feel the need to give your NPCs access to magic items above and beyond what your PCs can access. I could be misunderstanding, but instead of creating new mechanics for magic items that seem geared specifically toward frustrating the players so that they can't use any of the magic items they find, why not just keep the magic level low for opponents as well as PCs? Just make everyone magic-poor across the board.

 

[NPC]

I think it's cool that you're running a low-magic campaign. My next campaign will be low-magic. But I also think that it's unfair if you limit the PC's access to magic but then all the NPC enemies that they encounter have magic.

Having to create weird optional rules just so that the PC's can't use their fallen enemies magic weapons and items is a bit cheesey, IMO.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great creative ideas here, but I think after the 10th encounter with magic tatoo wearing enemies I'd be a little frustrated as a PC.

Of course the BBEG's are going to have some items, but for standard encounters I would suggest using higher level NPC's with no magic items on them. For example, add a few levels of commoner or warrior to your enemies.

Or add more enemies to encounters. Or give them items with very few charges left, like wands with 10 charges, single use/day items, etc.

But if you need some plusses to BAB and damage, I'd suggest bumping statistics or adding class levels, not creating mystic magical bonuses that disappear when they die.

 

[barsoomcore]

As such, I don't want the bad guys to end up giving the players and endless supply of generic +1 weapons or whatever, becuase I don't want there to be any 'generic' weapons.

That's simple enough: Don't give your bad guys magic items. At all. Simple.

How much of a penalty should I give to the CR of a NPC for taking away its assumed level of magic items? i.e. a 5th level fighter with appropriate magic items is equivalent to an Xth level fighter with just potions and stuff.

Now that is a question with no easy answer. I run a campaign with virtually no magic items at all -- 8th-level party, they have a magic scabbard (grants Quick Draw feat), two magic daggers (+2, grant flurry of blows), and uh, that's it. They used to have an Amulet of Proof Against Detection and a skull that could turn undead and cast Cure Serious Wounds, but those are now in the hands of a retired character so they don't have them anymore.

It's a challenge finding the right level of foes, but it's not insurmountable. Most major bad guys are a few levels above them, most mooks are a few levels below. I just eyeball it and so far it's (over a year now) been going pretty well.

Then of course you end up making up XP numbers but again, not that big a deal.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

There was an article in Dragon about "leveling" magic items that gradually improve as the characters went up levels. I think the bonuses increased when you spent XP on the item, with some limits.

Can anyone remember what issue this was?

 

[Benben]

NPCs have less money.

Remember that NPCs have a lot less money, and the high level ones will need to *pay* for their mercenaries. They need to pay for the upkeep of their stronghold, and whatnot.

Remove the possibility of magic items by reducing NPC character wealth with mundane purchases.

Masterwork items are also an excellent way to reduce item costs.

Wands of Greater Magic Weapon, can also explain why it seems like the bad guys have so many magic items.