If you were king, how would equip your kids?

[frankthedm]

Hat of disguise. Nobody sees who you are without potent magic.

+2 fullplate is pretty cheap all and all. Magic WEAPONS are very pricy, armor, not so much.

One shot item of "teleport to specific 'safe' locaction".

Magic weapons are for those heirs who i want to be in combat. I want my kids to LIVE, not fight. +2 Fullplate and +2 tower shield cost only 1500 more than a +2 greatsword. The Greatsword would just encourage them more to fight and not use the item of teleport.

I send the Flaming greatsword to the cousin I would not mind seeing die in battle.

 

[Agamon]

Possibly an heirloom magical weapon or armor (not something the king uses himself as personal protection or royal badge, but something extra that's sitting in the royal vault for such an occasion). Other than that, everything would likely be MW or +1 at very best, and that's just if the children are working exclusively as knights of the realm, not wandering off to to some random dungeon to kill things and take their stuff.

 

[Celebrim]

As a DM, I'd probably have the following available to a lordling or prince of a powerful nation.

1) An item of counterspells/spell resistance/spell turning or other similar protection from gross magical effects.
2) An item which summoned a planar ally of some sort to perform for a limited time as a body guard or servant, with the power and alignment of the ally suitable to the household of prince (for example, a hound archon, a bralanis, a djinn or some such for a moderately powerful good aligned kingdom). Ideally, the servant would have a long relationship with the household and would be disposed or bound to obey only lawful heirs. Ideally, the item would trigger as a free action if the heir's hit points reached zero or less.
3) If possible, a necklace of adaptation or if not then a ring of feather falling, water breathing, energy resistance or other protection from common hazards.
4) An item which confered protection from evil (or other alignment as appropriate to the household). This is probably the single most important item in the kit, and the first one which even a minor lord would try to obtain.
5) If possible, an item which confered non-detection.
6) Buffs to constitution, charisma and wisdom.
7) An item which conferred some sort of rapid movement ability, ideally a greater teleport to a safe zone of a stronghold but even expeditious retreat a couple times per day is better than nothing. Boots of teleport wouldn't be bad, so long as you could trust the heir not to abuse them.
8) A potion of cure serious wounds or similar emergency curative.

Buffs to AC or combat ability would be of a low priority. Protection of that sort can be more effectively conferred by making sure that prince is never near anyone that wishes him ill, and besides which it should be basically assumed that any would be assassin would be able to over come whatever AC we could reasonably provide and would be disposed to attack when the prince was sleeping or otherwise little able to defend himself anyway. Things which provide immunity or near immunity, things which make planning an attack on the prince more difficult, things which protect the prince's mind from subversion, things which add hitpoints or which aid escape - now those things are valued.

Ideally the items would be made to appear to be of only low or moderate value and would be both relatively unobtrusive - belts, hose, boots, signet rings, hankerchiefs, garters, clasps, whatever - and subtly marked as being the property of the household (making them difficult to fence). The idea is to distract would be theives or kidnappers with the more valuable loooking, bejewelled, but other mundane and ordinary items.

There would probably also be a 'war kit' of some sort for when the prince had to go to war, but generally the most powerful items would be bestowed on a champion of some sort unless the prince developed the capacity to act as his own best champion - which I would imagine would be rare (maybe once every 10 generations or so, the heir would prove to be an especially reknowned combatant).

 

[Andor]

The emporor in the original post sounds like the answer to my question of 'Where do Dragons get their loot?'

The promising adventurer heir gets the teleport home item. Full MW kit, probaably a few thousand worth of magic items. And a high level 'cohort' with the Devoted Defender PrC.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

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.

Arguably, they could get exp for a level of Aristocrat class.

 

[Nifft]

IMC, the young princess got:

1/ An alternate identity (she traded places with the daughter of a duchess);
2/ A loyal bodyguard; and
3/ The "master" ring to her bodyguard's "companion" ring.

The companion ring has caster level 15.
- At will shield other on the wearer of the master ring;
- Cure serious wounds 3/day;
- Break enchantment 1/day;
- Sending 1/day; and
- Stoneskin 1/day.

The master ring has caster level 20.
- Can invoke shield other from the wearer of the companion ring to its wearer at will;
- Cure critical wounds 3/day;
- Freedom of movement 1/day;
- Dimension door 1/day; and
- Sending 3/day.

She also got a folding boat. Apparently the king had a sense of humor.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Slife]

Lots of craft contingencied spells. One to teleport him home if he drops to 25% or less health (fine tune based on what is considered to be acceptable risk), another to revivify[i/] if he dies, one to dispel dimensional anchors, and a secondary teleport home activated by a secret series of eyeblinks (in case of paralysis/grappling). Add a planeshift (or, at higher levels, the secondary function of gate) in case of extraplanar mishaps.

As for gear... a spellblade of dimensional anchor, and a ring of invoke magic for antimagic fields. Complete the ensemble with some generic defensive items. Keep some slots open for whatever the prince ought to be doing. A cloak of charisma or breastplate of command are both options.

 

[S'mon]

The suggested array wouldn't be affordable IMC - better to spend the money on a few thousand good soldiery! But +1 to +3 gear is common, with an emphasis on defensive stuff like cloaks of resistance.

 

[smootrk]

My thought are that such a ruler would not equip the youths any better than all masterwork items (of heirloom status as well). The funding would go to well equipped and highly esteemed tutors (of high level).

The tutors would be with the youths at all times, but allow them to fight their own fights, learn from their own mistakes, and otherwise earn their own xp's. If somehow, the youths bite off more than they can chew, then the tutors can step in at the appropriate moment and save their butts.

A ruler with these kinds of resources would also have 'wise' resources which would tell the wisdom of allowing the youths to learn what it takes to succeed. If you take many historical figures into account, you will note that they often left the 'safety' of home to experience life - but I would bet that behind the scenes (and unwritten into the history books) there were minders around to keep them from going off the deep end.

 

[argo]

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.

Thats in excess of 978,000 GP in gear.

A 20th level PC ought to have about 760,000 equipment.

I think that even if I were the selfish tyrant of the evil empire I could find better ways to spend that kind of cash than to dump it all on the shoulders of a single low level individual, no mater who they were.

Good gear to give to your young lordlings might include:
-Periapt of Health (little pricey but the sort of thing a loving parent would give)
-Circlet of Persuasion (cheap and usefull for a socalite)
-Bracelet of Friends - keyed to bodyguards (the most expensive item I'll recomend)
-Cape of the Mountebank (a literial "get out of jail free" card)
-Bead of Force (just one of these makes a good one-shot "hold out" against low-to-mid level opponents, blast the mooks and trap the leader while the lordling flees)
-Ring of Feather Fall (for clumsy heirs)
-Ring of Mind Shielding (again, expensive for low levels but invaluable when needed)

All of that stuff would be very expensive to gift to a single young aristocrat, but maybe one or two items per heir would work.

In addition they will problably have a compliment of cheap potions: protection against evil, delay poision, cure light wounds, aid and so forth.

Top it all off with a full MW kit and your 1st-3rd level debutaunte should be prety well set. The rest of the money goes to pay for the bodyguards and tutors that will look out for your offspring and help train them to become higher-level offspring. Save the heirloom +3 flaming longsword for when they hit 6th level and are ready to take their place as grand general of the expeditionay legion or whatever.

Later.