If you were king, how would equip your kids?

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Scenario
You are the king of a prosperous kingdom and like most kings, engage in wars with your neighbors from time to time. Some of your children wish to become knights of renown (or maybe wizards, clerics, &c.). Naturally you encourage their career choice but you want to ensure that your heirs do not die premature deaths. Since you are the king of a prosperous kingdom, you can “purchase” any magic item (but not artefacts or relics — you keep those for yourself) in the 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide.

What do you give them?

Personally, I would give them each Full Plate armour of Fortification +5, Large Shield of Spell Resistance (19) +5, Longsword +5 Vorpal, Heavy Mace of Speed +5, Composite Longbow of Speed +5, Ring of Spell Turning, Ring of Regeneration, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Winged Boots, Brooch of Shielding, Major Cloak of Displacement, Horseshoes of a Zephyr, Necklace of Adaptation, and Scabbard of Keen Edge.

P.S. For extra credit, do you have any kings or emperors in your campaign who actually do this? If not, why not? And what about the barons, earls, and dukes? They are quite wealthy themselves (and in some cases moreso than the sovereign).

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I'd don't think the King of Emperor would be able to go that far.

Keep in mind that a big chunk of the revenue raised by the kingdom has to be spent back on the kingdom: construction & repair projects, payment of employees, cost of living, etc. All of the items you're talking about will be in the tens of thousands of gold pieces or higher cost-wise. That's a lot of cash, even just for 1 heir.

Also, keep in mind that the gold piece really isn't the common coin of the citizens--they're more likely to wheel & deal in silver & copper daily rather than gold or platinum. Taxes will probably be in silver or copper, so even a large kingdom may not generate as much revenue as you think it might. It'd be cheaper to hire & maintain a host of bodyguards to protect the heir(s) than it would be to purchase such potent magics.

Honestly, I could see these heirs starting off with a decent choice of masterwork gear & minor magic items (enough to make low-level PCs envious), but not the high-powered items you've listed in your post.

 

[Sejs]

Good tutors and a sense of personal responsibility.

Masterwork arms and armor.

The rest they can take care of on their own. Magic items are expensive and that money could be far better spent on the needs of the people (or the military, in times of war) then on making my kids Das Uberkinder.

 

[Celebrim]

First of all, there is not one king or emporer in my home brew so well equiped as that.

Second of all, those high end items aren't available to purchase even to kings. Assuming someone could be found to make that sort of thing, the King would pretty much have to go hat in hand to the maker and beg a boon of them - one that they would pretty much be loath to give unless the king offered something more than money in return. High level wizards and artifacers generally have better things to do with their time than wait on kings, and a lord which gained a reputation as one who was hard on wizards would soon find himself without much magical aid at all.

Thirdly, it would be a foolish lord who so tempted villains by loading down his heir with all that valuable loot. Assuming his heir to be as you say children beginning thier career, a youth of low level loaded down with gear like that might represent the richest pickings in the multiverse. Step right up, kill the 3rd level fighter and walk away with 1 million g.p. of irreplacable and rare magical items. Be the envy of every blackgaurd on the planet with your shiny new vorpal sword +5 acquired at very low low cost and risk! Why bother risking your neck making a try at the seasoned 20th level paladin, when you can buy all the items on your wish list discount!

Fourthly, what a young lord really needs more than anything else is an escape button - something you've neglected to provide him with.

Fifthly, it would be a very foolish lord who threatened his own rule by burdening the populace with taxes in order to obtain such an ostentacious personal treasure - and one which could so easily be lost, stolen, or destroyed at that.

Sixthly, I'm not so sure that the wealth with which an heir could spend on his personal kit would be that much greater than a starting PC. For one thing, the starting PC's have a good deal of personal wealth to begin with - much more than an average peasant could ever amass at one time so its a good bet they are some minor lords third son, the child of some lower upperclass merchant, or otherwise have lucked into what ammounts to a considerable treasure to begin thier career with. For another, a noble's heir could not liquify all his assets and then convert them to a portable kit. Whatever he was wearing would represent only a fraction of his total assets. So I'd guess that an heir's kit might be 10 or even 100 times what a starting PC might possess (depending on the importance of position), but not nearly so extravagent as you suggest.

Seventhly, I'm not sure I ever give this much thought. Important princes and princesses just don't go wandering around my world waiting to get killed by someone.

 

[Greybar]

Hmm. By UK's rules, a feat would match an additional level's worth of gear... anyway.

If I was going to run a game with such heirs I think things might be simpler that the bigtime gear - I need that gear to give to my general/champion/self to lead the country.

* a trusted old adventurer to accompany them
* an object that does "Word of Recall"
* a deathward-type brooch
* ask my diviner to check in on them once a week or so
and
* diamonds set aside for the inevitable resurrection.

These things might then (unfortunately) cause my heirs to adopt of style of adventuring not unlike a video-game, where they are confident of the "get out of jail" for themselves. As a result, each time they come back (via word of recall or ressurrection) I'd need to have them spend time (perhaps a year and a day) at the royal estates studying both general topics (how to lead in the future) and specific (so you got turned to stone - how about you spend a month learning about basilisks and magical beasts for next time).

 

[Phlebas]

A lot would depend on how many heirs you have I suppose......

IMC I give noble heirs enough so that they're better equipped than their peers (+ 3 levels or so?), plus a few bodyguards (again a few levels higher, and well equipped). The rest seems superfluous

Comment 1 - if you're equipped like that you're not going to get any XP from a bunch of orcs or brigands, so you're going to stay low level 'cos nothings a challenge.

Comment 2 - If the king did give his heir that, It would make them a major target for every enemy king, thief, brigand, or unscrupolous adventuring party. What would you rather face, ancient red dragon or 1st level aristocrat with tons of loot?

Comment 3 - Raise Dead isn't that difficult to get cast if you're king, or resurrection if you need it, and its a lot cheaper.

Comment 4 - The worse threat would be kidnap & ransom, if you have anything it should be designed to get you home asap - one shot teleportation device seems appropriate.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Naturally you encourage their career choice but you want to ensure that your heirs do not die premature deaths.

What do you give them?

The first son, gets the traditional and ancient royal shield guardian as a bodyguard and quarters in the main temple of Pelor in the land, to be educated as an heir should and protected there (under it's protective Forbiddance and Hallow spells) until he comes of age.

The other, non-critical heirs, get say, masterwork full plate (perhaps mithral), an excellent mount (probably a winged horse, or something more exotic if he wants to show how good he is at riding), a few other magical doodads worth say, 5,000 gp on average (ring of featherfall, for example).
All of this most likely as birth presents from the king's brothers/relatives or important courtiers, important priests/spellcasters or people like that. Also, several masterwork weapons, nice jewelry and clothing...but this is the important stuff.


Definitely the king would not give him superfluous items like two well-enchanted melee weapons.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Overall, it depends on the wealth of the kingdom.

I would give them defensive equipment as was available or in the budget to purchase, and since the milieu is such that Raise Dead and Ressurection possible, I would have that type of magic prepared in advance just in case (for my heirs as well as myself and spouse). Perhaps contingent auto-recall magics would also be provided.

I would not give them major offensive magical items. This would make it more likely for them to get rid of me when I wasn't on my guard.

I would not give them anything that would make them targets for thieves. Say, anything with +4 or higher on it. (In low-magic campaigns, perhaps +2 or higher on it.)

Say:

+3 Ring of Protection
+3 Bracers of Armor
+3 Cloak of Natural Armor or +3 armor of some sort
+2 weapon

Brooch of Defense
Necklace of Adaptation.


In a massive nation with huge amounts of money, it might be different. Such an heir might get better equipment, but not by much IMO.

The chances that an heir would proceed about alone would be close to zero. A ruler cannot permit unwanted influences to reign over an heir, it might turn their mind toward usurpation. They would be accompanied by a large retinue, including servants, perhaps 20-30+ guards, a few champions, spies/agents on overwatch in the background, and possibly other active resources, as well. The chances that they would die would be small, and corrective measures would be close at hand.

If the heir joined a military organization in the nation, they would be in the middle of its protective resources. Its agents plus the kings agents would also be in the background at all times in order to help prevent kidnappings or assassination. But then, those things would be in place even if the heir remained in the royal/imperial palace.

 

[brehobit]

This came up in a game I played.

The ruler (a dwarven duke of human lands) gave his adopted children:
A potion of CLW
A potion of purify food and water (not RAW, but reasonable)

and would replace them on request. They would get those around their 7th birthday. He often asked something of them when he replaced them (eating dinner with him to a small quest, to promising to bring their spouses and children by).

In addition he made masterwork weapons and armor for each as appropriate and got them a heck of a deal on a warhorse if desired (his duchy had one of the best warhorse trainers within 200 miles...) These were given when they left or hit 18.

Mark

 

[McDungeon]

Assuming it was feasible...

Contigent item teleport, click heels together three times.
Ring of freedom.
Spellblade, dimensional anchor.

For kicks, I'd add "There's no place like home" for an activation phrase.