Magic Item Wish List????

[Plissken]

So in the Scales of War - Rivenroar AP, for the treasure parcels the adventure recommends the DM have characters make a magic item wish list. At first, I was like what? Now, I'm still like, what?

It doesn't make sense to me and it wouldn't be really fair to the players. One player might get a 5th level item that they wanted while another player might get a lower level item. I don't understand this concept of a wish list.

How have you been choosing treasure to distribute? Randomly? I was thinking of rolling the die.

 

[Tuft]

DMG p. 125:

A great way to make sure you give players magic
items they’ll be excited about is to ask them for wish
lists. At the start of each level, have each player
write down a list of three to five items that they are
intrigued by that are no more than four levels above
their own level. You can choose treasure from those
lists (making sure to place an item from a different
character’s list each time), crossing the items off as the
characters find them.

4E magic items are specialized enough, that you really need to do this in order to get a fair item distribution, unless you reintroduce an 3.5E buy/sell item economy.

 

[Starfox]

Actually, with this DM-based item distribution, I find adding items to adventures to be a pretty big part of my prep time. I might just ask my players to each select a level +2 item each level instead.

 

[Tuft]

It's hard enough as a player to write the darn wish list and keep it updated...

 

[cmbarona]

I'd imagine so, and it's even harder to browse such items as a DM without any guidance. We currently don't use them, and my DM recently gave us a suit of Black Iron Plate Armor... NO ONE IN OUR GAME WEARS PLATE!!!

 

[Ryujin]

I'd imagine so, and it's even harder to browse such items as a DM without any guidance. We currently don't use them, and my DM recently gave us a suit of Black Iron Plate Armor... NO ONE IN OUR GAME WEARS PLATE!!!

That's the sort of thing that the "wish list" is supposed to avoid. One way around it is to ask your DM if you can find someone to cast a Transfer Enchantment ritual for you, to move the power into a suit of heavy armour that someone in your party DOES use. The basic cost of someone casting that ritual is 25gp. Otherwise you'll likely be selling it for dirt.

 

[Tuft]

You are supposed to follow a certain, very narrow, power curve in 4E. This power curve is designed to keep things as close as possible to a status quo, while giving an illusion of progress. Not giving your players the appropriate amount of level-appropriate loot, makes them fall behind on the curve, and disturbs that status quo.

However, to properly give them the things that fits the power curve, you have to give them things they can use. That means it has to be approprate to their roles, their classes, their races, the feats they've picked, and what loot they've already acquired. Meanwhile, the effects of 4E items are, as I wrote above, very narrow. In 3.5E things like rings of protection, amulets of +Con, etc were usable by all. 4E things are more like "usable by a one-legged dragonborn paladin that uses a greatclub" (Ok, not quite, but almost... )

Thus the necessity for the wish list.

 

[DanmarLOK]

I don't strictly follow the wish lists. I keep a running track of the characters current possessions on my blog (so I can research at work ). From that list I spot where they're deficient in items "*Hmmm the warlord still doesn't have any armour*" I then semi-randomly generate a new list of treasure drops after each session based on what they have and what they need. They don't know exactly what they're going to get or when but they do know that they'll get something they can use specific to their classes and play styles and that they'll be roughly equal in 'phat lewt' at the end of every 4 levels or so. At a 'between' level Example: 2 or 3 for levels 1 to 4 one character may have 3 magic items while another one only has 1 magic item but the person with 3 magic items is now on the backburner and the next loot drops will be aimed at the one with the 1 magic item to catch them up.

I also try to drop the items where they make sense. Magic armour would be worn by one of elites in an encounter, a staff of storms wielded by an orc shaman etc, bracers of fire used by an orc raider who hurls flaming axes now. That kind of thing. Rather than the ubiquitous goblin cave with all the great loot stuck in a chest next to the goblin king (solo)'s throne.

 

[Alabast]

If you pay attention to your PC's builds, you shouldn't need a wishlist. It's pretty easy to figure out the type of magic items they will want/need by observing their class, feat selection, etc.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

As a DM I have had a hard time getting my players to make up a wish list. Some of that comes from them not having all of the books and some of it comes from them not wanting to "waste" time out of game to contribute to the game.

As a player, I absolutely send my DM a wish list. About every 2 levels I'll update it with a dozen or so items of level +1 to level +4 (following the expected treasure distribution) and hope I get something cool.

In the current game I switched characters at 4th level and we have just now hit 6th level, so I haven't seen a whole lot out of my wish list, but I expect it to work out over time.

I don't think any of the other players in the game (same ones from my games) do wish lists for the DM.

Yes, ask your players to do a wish list. If they do wish lists then hook them up. It keeps the characters "on track" for appropriate magic by level and makes the games run smoother and easier to prepare.