loot rules

[Flipguarder]

I am thoroughly confused about loot rules in 4.0. Im a first time dm, and have just sort of been throwing a few items here and there. At this point I KNOW im way behind on stuff i should give them (makes kinda sense due to storyline) but now i have to draw a line. Can someone explain to me what a lvl 5 party of 5 people should have total?

or better yet, explain to me how the loot rules work? Ive read the section over and over again and i just get a headache thinking about it.

thanks

 

[ForbidenMaster]

It depends on how they got to level 5. If you are going to be creating a party of 5th level characters from scratch they each get a level 6 item, a level 5 item, and a level 4 item, and gold equal to the cost of a level 4 item.

If the party had started at 1st level and adventured until they were 5th level then they should have gotten the treasure listed in the treausre parcels section of the DMG for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at each of their respective levels.

 

[Syrsuro]

They should have around one item per level.

The levels of these items ought to be between 2nd and 8th.

If you followed the parcel system strictly the entire group would have had (upon reaching 5th, not including whatever they earned at 5th level):

One 2nd level item
Two 3rd level items
Three 4th level items
Four 5th level items
Three 6th level items
Two 7th level items
One 8th level item

In addition to this, the entire party would have earned 4795 gp or just under 1000 gold each (which they might have used to buy one or two other items) - minus whatever they have spent on healing potions and the like.

But as long as they all have armor and weapons/implements in the right neighborhood (level third or above) I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Carl

 

[Gruns]

To kind of simplify things a little, the idea is that you plan your campaign in chunks of one level at a time. It takes about 10 encounters to advance a level, with the right mix of encounters. For example, three encounters equal to the party level, three at party level +1, one at party level -1, and the “boss fight”, which is about party level + 3. Add a major quest XP reward and that should be enough to advance the party a level.
Now, look at those encounters and add a magic item of the party level+4, one of the party level +3, party level +2, and party level +1. Place these magic items anywhere you see fit along those 9 or 10 encounters. (Don’t forget the other mundane treasure).
For example, to plan for your current party of level 5, they should receive a level 6, 7, 8 and 9 item on their way to level 6. Just to clarify, this is for the entire party, not each player.
Hopefully that helped, but re-reading it, I think I’d confuse myself if I didn’t already know what I was trying to say!
Later
Gruns

 

[CapnZapp]

This is how to crack those tables, Flipguarder!

(Keep page 126 of the DMG open while reading this)

During your groups first level adventures, your heroes are supposed to get everything listed under the "Party Level 1" table. This table lists ten treasure "parcels" but that's only a different name for "helpings" or "portions". You certainly don't have to hand out treasure exactly ten times during this level (level 1) - you could save up all ten parcels for when they complete the adventure and give it all out then, if you like.

Okay, so what do they get then. Two things, magic items and money.

Money's easy. That's the gold, art objects and what have you. The table splits it up over six or seven "parcels" but it does also add up the total for your convenience. The "Total monetary treasure" in the table's header, upper right, essentially says "During first level, hand out 720 gold". That's in total, not per character. And it assumes five PCs.

Magic items then. You won't see specific suggestions (like +1 Flaming Longswords), only generic listings such as "Magic item, level 2". This means you the DM (or the adventure designer) needs to select an item appropriate (or not so appropriate) for the group. This could be a sword, an amulet, a holy symbol or anything really. Just as long as it is of the listed level.

Unlike previous editions, 4E doesn't use random generation, as that's only likely to yield stuff your PCs can't use and will be forced to sell. With sale prices being only one fifth of the market price, this won't be nearly as attractive as keeping the item. Assuming someone in the party can use it. In other words, which items and whether they're usable or not is a decision that's entirely up to you as the DM. Not random tables.

Okay, back to the table. Remember we're level 1 here.

If we total the table we get the following:
One level 5 item
One level 4 item
One level 3 item
One level 2 item
...and gold and stuff worth 720 gp.

This is the answer to "what am I supposed to award a team throughout level 1".

Then, the party becomes level 2. And we repeat the same procedure again: decide where and when the party finds treasure, and decide exactly what the four items will be.

You will note that all these tables follow a specific pattern. You get four items (of your level+4, level+3, level+2, and level+1) plus gold equal to the market price of two items of your level.

Let's take level 4 as an example. You get one item of levels 8, 7, 6, and 5, as well as 1680 gp's worth of gold, potions and other stuff. 1680 is exactly double the market price of any fourth level item (840 gp). Check out the table on page 223 of the PHB to confirm this for yourself!

So, again, what should a lvl 5 party of 5 people have in total?

Assuming they started out at first level, and levelled up normally, and they just reached their new level, they should have:

Everything from the "Party Level 1" table (again, page 126 of the DMG) plus everything from the "Party Level 2" table plus everything from the "Party Level 3" table plus everything from the "Party Level 4" table.

Which, if we add it up, I'm sure we reach the summary listed above by Syrsuro.

 

[Paul Strack]

Here is a simpler breakdown.

For each level that they advance, each character should receive the equivalent of a (Level + 1) item. For example, as they advance up to level 4, each character should roughly get a level 5 item.

A 5th character should have the equivalent of 4 magic items, levels 3, 4, 5 and 6. The cash equivalent would be 2400 gp, ignoring money spent on transient effects like ritual costs and living expenses.

That's what you get if the average out the treasure in the parcel tables, and is also consistent with the Starting at Higher Level rules on DMG 143. I prefer this measure, because it works for all party sizes (not just parties of 5).

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

While that may work as a "rule of thumb" for starting parties/characters, it does NOT accurately represent the treasure a party should have accumilated so far.

For example, in a party beginning 5th level, the highest level item per character would not be 6/6/6/6/6 as you suggest, but 8/7/7/6/6, for an average highest item level much closer to 7 than to 6.

So, I suppose your method is a "quick and dirty" way of handling things, but I would suggest that the longer methods described above are a better means of determining where the party should be treasure-wise. That said, if one does not wish to take the time and/or effort of retroactively applying the treasure tables, your method seems a reasonably fair way of doing so.

Dr. Ruminahui - shrink with a spear