My party gives away magical items

[Crothian]

Does any other DM have a group that does this? They've kept a few things for themselves, but about 80% of what they find, they give away. And they don't find that much. For instance last session the group found a Ring of Protection +5. They are 13th level, only one other ring of protection had ever been found by them and it was +2. Their ACs aren't that great, but without a second thought that gave the ring +5 away.

Giving away ityems has helped them with contacts and making friends. It's just that I've never seen a group give away items they can use so readily.

 

[Mac Callum]

That's the strangest thing I've ever heard.

Man, they must have quite a devoted network of allies by now...

But to answer your question, No. I have had a group give a potion in a time of need, but nothing like a Ring of Protection +5

 

[WayneLigon]

Many of the groups I've been in will do that, but perhaps not to the extent yours did unless there was some really pressing need for it. For cohorts, good friends, hirelings and people in need they'll usually provide a number of things to them, including magic items. Usually they'll make sure that everyone in the group has at least some kind of magical weapon.

 

[Crothian]

Well, everyone in the group has a magical item. Nothing very powerful, I think a +2 keen for one and the other has a +1 holy lawful sword. I only have two PCs, but even when I had more they still did this. They found a hugely powerful artifact. It was a +6 club with many, many abilities. They used it with much success for a session, then gave it away to Druids as it was a druid artifact.

 

[Zappo]

My players don't do it, but I do sometimes when I play. I'm not particularly generous, but I consider it as a reasonable trade. A good contact or a powerful friend can be worth much more than a stat bonus.

Also, if I play certain types of good characters I sometimes give away something expecting nothing in return (edit: I guess this is the same case as your druid occasion, though I would probably still have tried asking the druids for permission to keep using it). Good roleplaying is its own reward (but a +6 artifact club when all I have is a +2 keen sword is a freakin' good reward as well!). Not +5 rings when I have AC problems of my own, though, that's just weird. Unless it's a proposal to the king's daughter, I guess. Hey, I never thought about this... in a magic-rich world such as, say, FR, if a count wishes to marry a duchess, offering her a mundane gold ring with a mere huge diamond on it would be practically an insult.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Not to the extent that your group is doing. We generally keep the best items we find, then sell or give away the weaker ones. For instance, when we rescued a couple low-level fighters in RttToEE, we outfitted them with captured armor and weapons before sending them on their way. But giving away the only ring of protection +5 in the party???? Whoa...

 

[jessemock]

Does any other DM have a group that does this? They've kept a few things for themselves, but about 80% of what they find, they give away. And they don't find that much. For instance last session the group found a Ring of Protection +5. They are 13th level, only one other ring of protection had ever been found by them and it was +2. Their ACs aren't that great, but without a second thought that gave the ring +5 away.

Giving away ityems has helped them with contacts and making friends. It's just that I've never seen a group give away items they can use so readily.

We'll often destroy our own treasure in fits of nihilistic rage.

Does that count?

 

[Altalazar]

That's very interesting. I imagine they've got some VERY devoted allies now. I've never heard of that - I've seen magic items given away plenty of times, but never the best items players had and never such a large proportion when magic is scarce.

 

[Arnwyn]

Does any other DM have a group that does this?

Nope. Such a concept would be completely alien to my players.

 

[Crothian]

They have some good allies, but they rarely take advantage of that. It's not like they are giving the items away for an unnamed favor to be named later. They give away the item, and rarely go back to request aid or assistance.

Last fall they spoke to an Oracle. He advised them he could help if they retrieved a lost artifact for his faith. 6 months of real time, 5 years of game time later they get the artifact. They figured out the info they asked the Oracle for on thier own, so they just went back and gave the Oracle the item and asked nothing of him.

The artifact is the Chalice of Light. It can turn normal water into healing water. It has the poower of true resurrection. With the proper ceremony performed on the proper day of the year, it will summon a Solar to aid you. The Chalice was on an Island that was controled by a Dragon. The Dragon destroyed the boat and killed all the crew. The party used the chalice to summon the Solar to kill the Dragon, then used the Chalice to ressurect as many crew as they could recover. They then waiting on the island until they could summon the Solar again so they could get off the island. At that point they hired a boat from were the solar took them to return the Chalice to the Oracle.