How will the designers (or the players) deal with magic item influx due to PC death?

[RigaMortus2]

Not sure if is going to be addressed, or if it even needs to be addressed (in which case, we're all on our own) but have the WotC designers put any thought to when a PC dies and the player comes in with a new character, what happens with the magic items that PC had?

As it stands now, it's like free wealth for the party. PC dies, party can distribute their magic items, new player comes in at appropriate level with new appropriate magic items for their level.

I know you could always do the metagamey thing and bury the character with his weapons. You could vow to return them to his family, but these suggestions get kind of played out.

Perhaps 4E should have a rule, a suggestion, an option, that when the new character comes into play, the player can choose to come in w/o magic items and can either equip the dead PCs items or sell them for items appropriate for their new character. Another option is, the magic items are "attuned" to the character and no one else can use them once they die. Of course, this bites off of the MMO idea, where one you equip a magic item, it can no longer be traded. But with so many MMO similarities already, why stop now? But seriously, this could be a good idea, and give an in-game reason. In order to "power" the magic item, the player has to attune the magic item, then it will only work for them (this would not work with consumable items like potions and scrolls).

Anyway, this is something I think every group struggles with, or at least, it comes up in every group. Character dies, new character gets introduced, party gets a net gain of magic items and money from dead character.

Thoughts?

 

[Jack99]

Anyway, this is something I think every group struggles with, or at least, it comes up in every group. Character dies, new character gets introduced, party gets a net gain of magic items and money from dead character.

Thoughts?

We have been doing the "bury the person with his stuff" (minus potions) kind of thing, since the eighties, and it has worked fine for us. I don't see why we need such a rule, but any advice is of course fine.

 

[KarinsDad]

This is the same problem as NPC enemies either have magic items or they do not. They either have significant other wealth, or they do not.

If they do, PCs get wealthy. If they do not, PCs have to gain items and wealth via alternative means (quests, etc.).


One approach is to rarely hand out non-charged items and often hand out charged items (assuming 4E has charged items).

Handing out potions, scrolls, and low charge wands results in PCs eventually using up the magic items they find. So in the question you pose, it wouldn't matter too much if a dead PC had multiple charged items because those items would eventually get used up.


But, this is a historic problem that DND has never properly resolved. The best solution, IMO, is to either send those items away (bury them, or send them to dead PC's family) as you mentioned, OR make them party items that the party can then sell and the entire party gains instead of just the new PC. Course, this could result in purposeful PC tactics to allow another PC to die, but it all depends on how "greedy" your players might be (or how greedy a given PC is roleplayed to be).

But if they are party items, at least the wealth is spread over several PCs instead of just the new guy.


One other possibility is to have items become attuned to PCs. That way, it might be months before a different PC could attune himself to a dead PC's items. The difficulty with this approach is that it also prevents PCs from sharing items and it delays the PCs from gaining a new item from a newly dead NPC for months (one could assume that if the former owner died a long time ago, attuning could be quick).

Or, maybe it takes a ritual to attune to items which could at least delay things somewhat.

 

[RigaMortus2]

We have been doing the "bury the person with his stuff" (minus potions) kind of thing, since the eighties, and it has worked fine for us. I don't see why we need such a rule, but any advice is of course fine.

Other than the fact that it is foolhardy to do. It's like Sundering weapons. It's a great tactic, but you are effectively destroying your own loot.

For an in-game reason, what you say makes sense. It is good roleplaying. But the thrify thing to do would be keep his items and reuse/resell them.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

I think that 4E has this problem pretty much sown up. There are no longer a bunch of different items that can all add to the same thing. PCs can only use one set of armor, one cloak/necklace, and one weapon (that's the "+ item" breakdown, iirc). So if a PC has five weapons, great, but they really only use one. Other items really seem to give more per encounter/per day options which is probably not too unbalancing given everybody's favourite topic: the economy of actions. [/me winks]

Selling these items is fine, since controlling the impact of PC wealth is pretty easy to do. (Though in d20 modern, the Wealth feat is worth every feat slot!)

 

[RigaMortus2]

Or, maybe it takes a ritual to attune to items which could at least delay things somewhat.

That is an interesting idea too. Could be party of Identifing the magic item too.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Eh. You've got a +2 sword. Bob as a +2 axe. Bob dies. You now have a +2 sword and a +2 axe, but you can't use 'em both at the same time. You've got a backup weapon, but you're not more powerful.

I don't really see the issue here. In a world without magic stores (where you can't sell your and Bob's +2 weapons to buy a +3 upgrade) Bob's death doesn't really effect things too much (unless he had much better stuff that you dodid).

Another thought is that with the new death & dying rules, a PC death in a non-TPK situation is a pretty rare event. So this situation may not arise too often.

What I personally plan on doing though is building the +'s into character level advancement and not handing out any +x weapons. That way you've got your flamesword and Bob's Dragonbane iceaxe isn't better, just different.

 

[DeathMutant]

One other possibility is to have items become attuned to PCs. That way, it might be months before a different PC could attune himself to a dead PC's items. The difficulty with this approach is that it also prevents PCs from sharing items and it delays the PCs from gaining a new item from a newly dead NPC for months (one could assume that if the former owner died a long time ago, attuning could be quick).

Or, maybe it takes a ritual to attune to items which could at least delay things somewhat.

This sounds similar to how it was done in Earthdawn. Most magic items are effectively mundane until you perform a ritual to bind yourself (or "weave threads" in ED parlance) to it. The more you know (and I mean really know as in its True Name and history) about the item the more powerful threads you could weave to it which, in turn, would unlock more power or abilities from the item.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Eh. You've got a +2 sword. Bob as a +2 axe. Bob dies. You now have a +2 sword and a +2 axe, but you can't use 'em both at the same time. You've got a backup weapon, but you're not more powerful.

I don't really see the issue here. In a world without magic stores (where you can't sell your and Bob's +2 weapons to buy a +3 upgrade) Bob's death doesn't really effect things too much (unless he had much better stuff that you dodid).

This is assuming the world doesn't have magic item shops. Do we know what the default is going to be? Is there no place to purchase magic scrolls or potions? Can you not go to the local temple and donate money for their priest to bless you? Or go to the mage guild and pay for a mage to teleport you somewhere? Assuming these things will exist, why won't shops that carry magic items? We really don't know the default yet.

But even still... You don't need a magic store to sell a magic item. I am sure a place that sells mundane weapons would offer money for a magic weapon. Also, there is bartering as well. Trade a magic sword for a magic ring or cloak or shield or armor.

 

[Cadfan]

The "you can only use so much magic at once" solution doesn't really solve things, because now the PCs have a big pile of valuables. Its like getting several encounters worth of free treasure. This changes the nature of your problem, but not whether you have a problem.

I have no solution of my own, unfortunately.