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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 5312936" data-attributes="member: 3424">I get that not everyone likes the idea of wish lists, but it sometimes seems to me that some posters are working off a negative caricature of what wish lists are supposed to be. For example:1. A wish list means that the character knows about the magic item and is actively searching for it. As S'mon said earlier, wish lists are a purely metagame concept. The player tells the DM what magic items he would like his character to find. The character adventures normally, and (if the DM so decides) the magic item shows up as part of the treasure won from an enemy, or as a reward given by a patron or an allied NPC. He does not go shopping. Alternatively, the DM might require the character to undertake a special adventure to locate the magic item or to obtain the components required to create it, but this is not an essential aspect of wish lists.2. The character will get every magic item on his player's wish list. While a DM might choose to do so (and he would probably make the player very happy if he does), he is also completely within his rights to include only some, or even none, of the items on his players' wish lists in his adventures. Wish lists simply provide the DM with information about what his players want. They do not negate the DM's authority over his game.3. The DM cannot give magic items that are not on his players' wish lists. This is, in a way, the mirror image of the previous point. Wish lists do not prevent a DM from giving out quirky and interesting magic items, or surprising his players with magic items that are not on their wish lists.At the end of the day, wish lists are a tool for the DM to find out at least one aspect of what the players want out of his game. You may know your players and their characters well enough that you do not need to use them. You may have other, possibly better, ways to accomplish what they do. Like all tools, they can be misused, often to the detriment of the game. However, when used properly, they can make it easier for a DM to manage at least one of his responsibilities.</blockquote>

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