Yep but I have always liked the Simon Green Blue Moon dragon's horde, Butterflies. Think you can find buyers for everything.
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Overlooked Dragon Hoards
- Thread starter Bullgrit
- Start date
Yep but I have always liked the Simon Green Blue Moon dragon's horde, Butterflies. Think you can find buyers for everything.
RainOfSteel
Explorer
Now even D&D goes green with dungeon recycling.
RainOfSteel
Explorer
It's a form of pixelization. Instead of having to click on one specific pixel to move forward in an adventure, you must specifically look over every millimeter of every speck you pick up in order to determine if it is special.
Right off the bat, this is bad DMing.
How could you "only see the runes" if you looked it over specifically? What, were they in super tiny script only seen with a magnifying glass or if you unwrapped the grip? What if you didn't have the lens or didn't specifically state you were unwrapping the hilt? If the runes were plainly visible, are runes found on non-magic swords and therefore wouldn't be considered unusual? If they weren't unusual, why would runes be the key that indicated to you that it was a magic item?
Who would drop a powerful magic item into the game so obliquely, with so little chance of detection outside of boringly relentless pixelization-quality searches?
Your DM's whole logic to you about this situation makes no sense whatsoever.
The fact that the DM chose to tell all the other players and they were having a laugh at your expense shows that they don't give a <blank> about your participation or fun in the game.
The whole situation sounds like a contrivance to show you the finger.
I wouldn't return.
Orius
Unrepentant DM Supremacist
Maybe it's a reflection of edition differences.
In the old days, gp = XP. In fact loot was the biggest source of XP. PCs whack a dragon, they whip out the bags of holding and portable holes and fill 'em up.
XP for treasure started getting de-empasized in 2e and was eliminated in 3e. So all your XP comes from killing things, taking thier stuff is optional.
Or maybe the players expect a very linear sort of gameplay. They expect you to point out the treasure instead of taking the time to look for it themselves. Not like in the old days when every dungeon would get a good Greyhawking and the adventurers would go out their way to strip everything of value. Particularly the case if the DM was a tight-fisted rat bastard who'd wake up in cold sweats after having a nightmare about the party finding a bent copper piece.
Or maybe the kind of DM that expects all of his players to assume trash mooks are carrying magic gear and inspect every square nanometer of the loot for a cryptic clue that will tip the player off to an obscure hint of the object's true eldritch nature.
In any case, I find it quite amusing when players don't bother to look for hidden treasue and miss out on caches of money or sweet maigc items.
I think players today are getting soft and don't need dragon hoards. No, what they need are dragon hordes.
In the old days, gp = XP. In fact loot was the biggest source of XP. PCs whack a dragon, they whip out the bags of holding and portable holes and fill 'em up.
XP for treasure started getting de-empasized in 2e and was eliminated in 3e. So all your XP comes from killing things, taking thier stuff is optional.
Or maybe the players expect a very linear sort of gameplay. They expect you to point out the treasure instead of taking the time to look for it themselves. Not like in the old days when every dungeon would get a good Greyhawking and the adventurers would go out their way to strip everything of value. Particularly the case if the DM was a tight-fisted rat bastard who'd wake up in cold sweats after having a nightmare about the party finding a bent copper piece.
Or maybe the kind of DM that expects all of his players to assume trash mooks are carrying magic gear and inspect every square nanometer of the loot for a cryptic clue that will tip the player off to an obscure hint of the object's true eldritch nature.In any case, I find it quite amusing when players don't bother to look for hidden treasue and miss out on caches of money or sweet maigc items.
I think players today are getting soft and don't need dragon hoards. No, what they need are dragon hordes.
malcolypse
First Post
I've seen the exact opposite happen.
During the epic battle with a dragon throughout it's lair, the party had seen the remains of past heroes who had come to battle the dragon and failed.
When the party finally defeated the dragon, the nearest fallen hero turned out to be the party wizard's father, who had gone off adventuring years earlier and never returned. The wizard was horrified, and cursed the dragon for it's evils as he cradled the remains of his father.
Solemnly leading the party out of the lair, the wizard describes how his character is weeping silently while carrying the corpse for a proper hero's funeral back in town.
The DM, not wanting us to leave our swag, described a small path to one side where we could see glittering reflections from our torches, probably expecting that someone in the party would grab it and catch up with the funeral procession.
Then the wizard announced that he was running into the side room and filling his pockets with treasure.
Everyone in the party was horrified. We were all feeling for the guy, whose player had been doing an amazing job of roleplaying his mourning right up to that point.
Everyone on this forum is surely aware of at least one "which hand are you using for that?" situation, so when our DM asked the player that very question and he replied with a resounding "BOTH!," the DM began describing to the rest of us how the wizard had spun on his heel, dropped the body of his darling heroic father at our feet and began filling his pockets.
We assumed it was some sort of curse and knocked him out and got out of there post haste, leaving the treasure (it wasn't going anywhere on its own, we could and did come back) and taking our comrades father with us.
The DM didn't want us to roleplay ourselves out of our treasure, but one of our party members got us to leave it (temporarily) behind.
While the wizard was recovering (the player was very angry at the DM for taking over his character at such a dramatic moment and forcing him to do something that he'd never have done, otherwise, and so was protesting by arriving pointedly late to the next game session), we went and emptied the lair of everything of value.
When our wizard arrived, we had already figured out everyone's split of the take and his was just barely enough for the Kewl Staff of Pimpdom or whatever that he wanted. Someone pointed out to him that he had enough cash to get his father resurrected, but he didn't want to because then he couldn't get his magic item. Our party cleric suggested that our adventuring agreement stated that if one of us should die, then the price of their resurrection would be taken from the haul before it is split. If we could get a unanimous party vote, we could extend that to the valiant father of our wizard.
Cries of "huzzah" and such were raised and a vote was taken.
There was one nay vote. You'll never guess who and why.
Not sure if that was really on topic, but it does show that sometimes a party will decide to walk away from treasure, and it's not always a bad thing. Just get the party lost in the swamp or chasing a fleeing baddie into the roofless building and they'll find it. Or just make it up to them in a later hoard.
Just don't make them choose between roleplaying or treasure. Unless you think it would be funny.
During the epic battle with a dragon throughout it's lair, the party had seen the remains of past heroes who had come to battle the dragon and failed.
When the party finally defeated the dragon, the nearest fallen hero turned out to be the party wizard's father, who had gone off adventuring years earlier and never returned. The wizard was horrified, and cursed the dragon for it's evils as he cradled the remains of his father.
Solemnly leading the party out of the lair, the wizard describes how his character is weeping silently while carrying the corpse for a proper hero's funeral back in town.
The DM, not wanting us to leave our swag, described a small path to one side where we could see glittering reflections from our torches, probably expecting that someone in the party would grab it and catch up with the funeral procession.
Then the wizard announced that he was running into the side room and filling his pockets with treasure.
Everyone in the party was horrified. We were all feeling for the guy, whose player had been doing an amazing job of roleplaying his mourning right up to that point.
Everyone on this forum is surely aware of at least one "which hand are you using for that?" situation, so when our DM asked the player that very question and he replied with a resounding "BOTH!," the DM began describing to the rest of us how the wizard had spun on his heel, dropped the body of his darling heroic father at our feet and began filling his pockets.
We assumed it was some sort of curse and knocked him out and got out of there post haste, leaving the treasure (it wasn't going anywhere on its own, we could and did come back) and taking our comrades father with us.
The DM didn't want us to roleplay ourselves out of our treasure, but one of our party members got us to leave it (temporarily) behind.
While the wizard was recovering (the player was very angry at the DM for taking over his character at such a dramatic moment and forcing him to do something that he'd never have done, otherwise, and so was protesting by arriving pointedly late to the next game session), we went and emptied the lair of everything of value.
When our wizard arrived, we had already figured out everyone's split of the take and his was just barely enough for the Kewl Staff of Pimpdom or whatever that he wanted. Someone pointed out to him that he had enough cash to get his father resurrected, but he didn't want to because then he couldn't get his magic item. Our party cleric suggested that our adventuring agreement stated that if one of us should die, then the price of their resurrection would be taken from the haul before it is split. If we could get a unanimous party vote, we could extend that to the valiant father of our wizard.
Cries of "huzzah" and such were raised and a vote was taken.
There was one nay vote. You'll never guess who and why.
Not sure if that was really on topic, but it does show that sometimes a party will decide to walk away from treasure, and it's not always a bad thing. Just get the party lost in the swamp or chasing a fleeing baddie into the roofless building and they'll find it. Or just make it up to them in a later hoard.
Just don't make them choose between roleplaying or treasure. Unless you think it would be funny.
Summer-Knight925
First Post
the BEST one I know of what a MASSIVE dragon's hoard easily with millions in gold
it was an illusion, the real treasure was in a chest hidden under the illusionary hoard
the players got mad and never searched, a chest of holding had ALL the treasure they saw infront of them.
it was an illusion, the real treasure was in a chest hidden under the illusionary hoard
the players got mad and never searched, a chest of holding had ALL the treasure they saw infront of them.
Yup, this happened twice in my 3e campaign. Both times it was "Weapons of Legacy" that they didn't recognize for what they were.
Using Identify on a WoL only reveals that it is a +1 item of its kind. It requires a successful History check to tell what it really is. However, usually, their unusual appearance is a dead giveaway.
The first had been wielded by a Vrock bard and was a custom creation based on an improved version of a Balor whip. I described it as being crafted from five differently coloured strands ending in five separate tips (four of them were actually made from cold iron, silver, demonic and angelic skin allowing it to overcome most types of DR).
One of the pcs was actually a Lasher (a prestige class focusing on fighting with whips) and carried the whip around for several sessions without thinking to investigate it further before finally selling it along with other loot.
When I later asked the player about it, he told me he had looked through all books and decided that there simply wasn't any kind of whip worth finding :-/
The second was Exordius which I had turned into a warhammer and modified a bit. It was suspended by two chains over an altar of duergars and had been the favorite weapon of one of their champions, an infamous death knight.
Whenever someone with a good alignment came close to the hammer, silvery tendrils of spirit matter would slowly start curling towards her. Apparently, this made the paladin player so nervous he decided not to approach it. Several other pcs with non-good alignments approached and handled it, but to them it didn't react, so they left it alone.
RainOfSteel
Explorer
Finding the dragon's lair: good.
Engaging the dragon: better.
Living through the fight: great.
Recovering the body of your long lost dead father after the battle: priceless.
Mindlessly dropping the body to greedily grub for gold: hilarious.
Once he said he 'looked through the all the books', he no longer deserved the whip.
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