Nifty minor items for my players...

[Terraism]

I'm starting a campaign for a group of sub-first level characters this coming monday, from a small town (84 residents, including children.) The with two exceptions, the highest level characters are 3rd level in various NPC classes (the exceptions are a 9th level half-elemental bard & a 5th level human wizard.) The PC's are - mostly - sixteen years, and the game is going to start during a midsummer festival, at the start of which they each recieved a "coming of age" present.

The problem, as you've probably guessed, is that I'm not entirely certain what I'd like to give them each as a present. The things that come to mind violate the GP limit for characters of this level, but at the same time, I want it to be something they'll hang on to for a long time. Any help would be appreciated.

The characters are as follows:

• Mikel Prestar: A human paladin, Mikel is the serious member of the group, though he still shows his age from time to time, especially when around Tusani & the genasi. More often than not, Mikel is trying to convince the aforementioned pair not to pursue some course of action - though, given how rarely he convinces them to do so, he is more often caught participating.
  
• Tusani Neay: A halfling tiefling, Tusani is a consumate scoundrel, and everybody's friend. The general instigator of the group, she has a talent for getting into trouble and poking her nose (or tail) where it doesn't belong. Usually extremely bouncy, being alone with nature is about the only thing that calms her down.
  
• Korenk Grimrock: A half-hobgob ranger, Korenk lives outside the town with his father, usually preferring to spend time on his own, hunting and wandering. Still, he fell into the group years ago, another victim of Tusani's charisma, and usually tags along on whatever they might be doing today. Korenk loves archery, and is a skilled shot, especially for his age.
  
• Otheym Culnane: Almost as vivacious as Tusani, this air genasi psionic warrior flits from idea to idea like a frog on a hot rock. Friendly and outgoing, he is Mikel's only equal at swordplay in the group, and the two of them have bonded after weeks of practice with sticks and other makeshift weapons. (His mother is the 9th level bard.)
  
• (Name Unknown): A human psion from the town's richest family, this young lad is a snotty fellow who is accepted into the group grudgingly at best, if only because they are roughly the same age (and heis a half-brother to the genasi, who adamantly insists the lout can be reformed.) His father is a consumate jeweler, and his mother a greedy snob - like mother, like son.
  
• Taog Goodard: A young human wizard, Taog is shy and quiet, prefering his serene books to the wild outdoors - but, growing up with the other five, that was seldom an option, as they all viewed their solemn duty as getting Taog to "liven up." He gets along well with Mikel, who is the only other in the group at all interested in books.

It's a bit more complicated than that, but there's the gist. If anyone has some ideas for me, I'd be most grateful. As of now, I've been inclined to give masterwork items to the lot of them, but that's an *awful* lot of money.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

The paladin is pretty easy, give him a gold or silver holy symbol of his god.

The wizard could recieve an old book containing a rare spell.

With some of them i'd go the masterwork weapon route. Korenk would put some master work arrows to good use. plus they're dispossable, he save them for real emergancies and unless you give out a ton of them they run out sooner or later. Far less unbalancing then say a mighty bow.

psioinic characters might get a 0th lvl tatoo, or a valueable crystal sutible to be made into a capacitor at higher levels.

For Tusani you could give her some kind of minor animal cohort. Let it know a couple tricks and keep it onm pare with the familiars list, encourge her to take hanlde animal so she can teach it more tricks.

The rich kid is imo most likely to have a non dispossable masterwork weapon, or some valauble peice of jewelery gifted to him by his father.

 

[Terraism]

Bump-ba-da-dump-ump-bump.

[Subtle enough?]

 

[Gregor]

Maybe a phylactery of faith for the paladin?

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I think they should each get a tube of pimple cream.


Just curious, are you enforcing negative modifiers to ability scores based on their age?

I have a hard time accepting that this comminity would have the resources to commit to expensive coming of age gear and/or WEAPONS for sixteen year olds - with the possible exception of the rich Psion's family. When I was amost sixteen, I couldn't join the football team cuz we couldn't afford cleats.

If you want to boost your party, maybe you could award them something non-material like heritage feats or heroic path abilites ala Midnight.

 

[Wolf72]

a suit of heavy armor for the Pally/psi-warrior? ... splintmail?

 

[Terraism]

Just curious, are you enforcing negative modifiers to ability scores based on their age?

I'm not, because at sixteen years, they're all fairly close to adulthood. I'd thought about it, and if any of them had chosen to be fourteen or younger, they would have had some negatives applied.

I have a hard time accepting that this comminity would have the resources to commit to expensive coming of age gear and/or WEAPONS for sixteen year olds - with the possible exception of the rich Psion's family. When I was amost sixteen, I couldn't join the football team cuz we couldn't afford cleats.

True enough - and they're not being outfitted with weapons, especially. The town explicitly does *not* want them getting into combat, nor will they be allowed to adventure - barring, of course, "unforseen circumstances." Thus, none of them are starting with any form of armor or weapon other than what they might get as a coming of age gift. Which brings me to asking for ideas. There is a 3rd level dwarven expert, who's got a total of +13 to blacksmithing checks, and +10 to both weapon- and armor- smithing checks, so creating standard items - especially fairly minor ones - isn't necessarily an incredibly onnerous task.

If you want to boost your party, maybe you could award them something non-material like heritage feats or heroic path abilites ala Midnight.

I hadn't thought of that, but, though I like the Midnight path abilities, I wanted them to have something tangible their characters could hold and think "home." A fighter's ancestral sword, for example. (Though not in this case, since nobility isn't really an issue.)

 

[AeroDm]

Along the same vein of Midnight you could give them charms. Basically one shot magical items that grant minor bonuses and have a non-traditional form. For the paladin it could be a holy symbol that one time grants a +2 bonus to turn undead attempts or even stabalizes them at -9 if they are about to bleed to death. Stuff that will be very useful and flavorful but not overpowering.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

...
True enough - and they're not being outfitted with weapons, especially. The town explicitly does *not* want them getting into combat, nor will they be allowed to adventure - barring, of course, "unforseen circumstances." Thus, none of them are starting with any form of armor or weapon other than what they might get as a coming of age gift. ... QUOTE]

If they don't want them fighting, why would they be gifted with weapons? I'm having trouble reconciling this in my effort to make reccomendations for you. Have them "borrow" some weapons if they need a sword until they strike out on their own.

Weapons would be acceptable if justified for hunting or a special festival event/contest: Bows, daggers, axe ( axe throw ), Masterwork Staff might be OK too if there is a tradition of a staff fighting competition at the festival each year.

Perhaps they could also get a small gift presented on the behalf of the entire community, instead of from each persons family. My suggestion would be to have them each get luck medallions, which are very minor magic items that essentially function as a way to introduce "action points":

Each luck medallion would have 1-6 charges ( only the DM knows ). Maximum of once/day, a PC could use a charge to re-roll a bum result... Perhaps this must be declared before the first role if you want to limit this

 

[Terraism]

If they don't want them fighting, why would they be gifted with weapons? I'm having trouble reconciling this in my effort to make reccomendations for you. Have them "borrow" some weapons if they need a sword until they strike out on their own.

Weapons would be acceptable if justified for hunting or a special festival event/contest: Bows, daggers, axe ( axe throw ), Masterwork Staff might be OK too if there is a tradition of a staff fighting competition at the festival each year.

That's about the limit of what I would've considered acceptable for weapons - the ranger, for instance, hunts. Any of the boys might be given a fine knife (dagger) for coming of age, 'cause, I mean, every boy needs a knife. The wizard might have some addition to his spellbook, or even some very minor enchantment placed on it by his mentor. Point being, I certainly wasn't considering having them gifted with suits of armour or longswords.