Treasure placing is driving me nuts!

[Obergnom]

A lot of interesting stuff so far. Never considered Weapons of Legacy, though. I do not own that book, but I have Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, which has 2 legacy items in it. I do not like the way they are handled.

Some additional infos about the way I prefere to DM might help: I do not equip my NPCs any further than: He has got a Greatsword, a Full Plate and a couple of javelins. (+1 or +2 if the PCs loot them, but not figured into their stats.)
My NPCs do not have or need a complicated treasure list, because I started using basic stat cards to figure out their stats some time ago. I do that to lighten the load upon me. And my players did not even notice so far... I guess that works well.
For monsters I do quite the same. While I mine the MMs for interesting ability ideas, I simply use my basic stats plus a bunch of abilities once play begins.
Yesterday, for example, the characters faces a Frost Giant Shaman, a Frost Giant Mammuth Rider, 2 Winter Wolves and a Mammuth. The CRs I aimed for were: Shaman CR9, Rider CR7, Winter Wolves CR4, Mammuth CR8.
To prep the encounter I took my CR 4,7 and 8 Cards, a +2 CR Spell-Like Ability Template, wrote down the AC, Damage and Movement of all Monsters and added a Trample Ability to the Mammuth, a Cold Breath to the Wolves and an Aura Ability to the Rider.
Worked really well. Prep time was roughly 10 Minutes for the whole encounter. But I had no idea which items the Warrior and the Shaman carried. Figuring that out would have taken me longer than writing up the stats for the whole group. (I use the MIC and a Treasure generator, but once I use those, I get a bunch of items, which I have to look up. Which costs more time. It's might take less time once I am really familiar with all those items... but I do not know if I want to wait that long)

Well, I had some more Ideas (and based upon some of the great answers in this threat)

Maybe I should stick to the "big six" items. While my players love the variety provided by the MIC, it sort of gets into my way, because it forces me to look up items and have my monsters use them.
If I would just go with Talismans, Rings, Amulets, Bracers, Boots, Cloaks ... whatever giving Bonuses to Abilities, Nat Armor, Armor, Saves etc. Treasure Placement would be simpler, and not interfere with my method of generating NPC Stats. (No one cares if the +5 Sword was not really figured into the Black Knights stats, he was an able opponend and the huge amount of damage he was dishing out surly made the players think he used it)
And I could (finally) pin a Treasure vs. CR Table into my DM Screen. Maybe even add some basic items into that list, like this: CR8 - 3400gp or +2 Armor, +2 Ability, +2 Saves

My only concern would be, it might kill the exitement of finding treasure for my players. Some of them really love the MIC stuff, but only if they find it. Last session, I let everyone have a item more or less of his choice of level 12 or lower... did not work very well, they had not idea what to choose. If I just hand treasure out, they are more enthusiastic.

 

[Jhaelen]

Never considered Weapons of Legacy, though. I do not own that book, but I have Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, which has 2 legacy items in it. I do not like the way they are handled.

Well, I guess, noone does Weapons of Legacy are extremely cool if you ignore the suggested mechanics. IMC, performing a ritual to unlock a legacy costs money and xp. Nothing else.

Accumulating penalties for getting an auto-scaling magic item is a horrible idea.

The supplement itself, though, is great. The stories behind the sample weapons of legacy are very inspiring. Some of the weapons are a bit underpowered, but that is easily fixed by adding some additional powers at 'dead levels'.

IMC, there are currently three in use by players, one has been overlooked and two may soon fall into their hands. My players love them because they don't have to buy/improve magic items all the time. I love them because they provide nice adventure hooks and improve roleplay. Win-win all the way.

 

[delericho]

Here's a solution:

1) Have the heroes make contact with 'Geoffrey', a benevolent trader dealing in obscure luxuries.

2) Have the party raid or plunder (or whatever) the lair of a powerful nobleman/wizard/cultist who owns a whole load of obviously expensive but obscure and difficult to appraise and/or shift artwork, books, or whatever.

3) Have 'Geoffrey' agree to find buyers for the goods, but it will take time and be unreliable. He'll get back to them.

Then, as and when you need to get money to the PCs, 'Geoffrey' contacts them to say he's sold item X for Y amount of money. It will be arriving shortly. But, do they want the payment in cash, or would they prefer he procure particular items for them?

There you go: the PCs get a huge but not immediately useful windfall, they gain access to whatever magic items and equipment you want to put in the game, you never have to worry about placing treasure again, and the in-game logic all works.