D&D 5E (Updated with links) Need advice with giving unique items to PC's without seeming contrived

[ddebock]

Some background:

• Fifth Edition
• I have three regular PC's, Ranger, Paladin and Cleric, all currently level 2.
• Playing through Lost Mines of Phandelver
• Adding a fourth PC for one session

We're having a session in two weeks and for that session we're being joined by a friend visiting from out of the country. Hes going to be playing a Warfoged Barbarian who's soul was captured by a Red Wizard of Thay and forced into the Warforged body.

I've created some unique items to give to the regular PC's as part of this session and wanted to figure out a way to have the Warforge have possession of them to be able to give to them. My thought was that the Warforge was placed in stasis in a cave of treasure to guard the cave by the wizard. The wizard has long since been killed and now the Warforge has been freed from his stasis due to the Sundering.

My problem is it seems contrived to just have the three items in the cave and nothing else, but these guys are level 2, so I don't want to make them OP with a big treasure room. Does anyone have any ideas or advice for getting these items into their hands in such a way that it doesn't seem contrived or fake.

Nothing above is written in stone, at this point I can change anything to help fit the Warforge in, or change that character altogether if need be.

These items are specific for each of them, longbow for the Ranger, gauntlets for the cleric, armor of some kind for the paladin. I would post up images of the items, but I need a few posts before I'm allowed to post links.

Warforged Character Sheet
http://i.imgur.com/kOocyEE.jpg

Lost Bow of Montolio
http://i.imgur.com/UAbDLgj.jpg

Deidre's Gauntlets
http://i.imgur.com/5GDh6dP.png

I used two different posts from reddit to make the sheets:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/3raro5/one_of_my_old_players_is_coming_to_play_this/ - credit to u/Daedalus128

And

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2x8u77/5e_tried_to_recreate_the_monster_manuals_style/ - credit to u/Smyris

I also used the two free programs suggested, Gimp and Notepad++. I have never used a photoshop program before, took some fiddling around but I managed. If you need any help feel free to message me.

 

[FuelDrop]

Maybe the warforged was released from stasis by intruders rather than the sundering, and these three items were all he could grab before being forced to flee by whoever or whatever woke him up? If he was supposed to be a guardian, then an intruder might trigger the stasis field disabling.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Does anyone have any ideas or advice for getting these items into their hands in such a way that it doesn't seem contrived or fake.

The longbow, gauntlets, and armor could be hanging in display in either a private collection (the wizard's) or a museum (in which case it belongs to the State, which has interesting and scary intrigue possibilities) as part of an incomplete set of a suit of armor and weaponry once belonging to a hero of the realm. The ranger, cleric, and paladin encounter the warforged, who is guarding said suit of armor and weaponry, and--having knowledge of either the wizard or the State's intrigue--convince the warforged that the other pieces of the suit of armor and the missing weaponry must be reunited in order to make complete the suit's original magic. Perhaps the wizard or the State knows where the other pieces are and has purposely scattered them in order to keep revolution at bay?

Just thinking out loud here. Totally a probably extraneous aside, but MAN, that's a lot of magic loot to give out at 2nd level.



TLDR: Make the items a quest.

 

[ddebock]

Maybe the warforged was released from stasis by intruders rather than the sundering, and these three items were all he could grab before being forced to flee by whoever or whatever woke him up? If he was supposed to be a guardian, then an intruder might trigger the stasis field disabling.

That might work, maybe the intruders carried off a bunch of the treasure and had to bolt when the construct came at them, maybe I can have the PC's negotiate with the construct before he'll let them take anything.

 

[ddebock]

The longbow, gauntlets, and armor could be hanging in display in either a private collection (the wizard's) or a museum (in which case it belongs to the State, which has interesting and scary intrigue possibilities) as part of an incomplete set of a suit of armor and weaponry once belonging to a hero of the realm. The ranger, cleric, and paladin encounter the warforged, who is guarding said suit of armor and weaponry, and--having knowledge of either the wizard or the State's intrigue--convince the warforged that the other pieces of the suit of armor and the missing weaponry must be reunited in order to make complete the suit's original magic. Perhaps the wizard or the State knows where the other pieces are and has purposely scattered them in order to keep revolution at bay?

Just thinking out loud here. Totally a probably extraneous aside, but MAN, that's a lot of magic loot to give out at 2nd level.



TLDR: Make the items a quest.

Interesting approach, would create some interesting role playing up front, could create some future issues for the PC's down the road.

if I get enough posts I'll add some links of the items, they aren't just +1 magic items, they are more utility items, I wanted to have something to give them that would be fun and include my visiting friend.

 

[dmnqwk]

Well, your best bet is to come up with a single hero who could've worn all 3, a champion bodyguard of the wizard who was slain in battle and the wizard never got a chance to replace them, hence a full set of gear is lying around including the magical items, all preserved in a chest.

Your best bet is not to give Magical Armour at level 2 to PCs, but to look into something else the Paladin could benefit from for the same bonuses (maybe a pair of boots, or a ring with defensive benefits) The reason is at level 2 the paladin still has full plate to look forward to for a major AC boost, so while the others could enjoy their stuff for a while he'd be trading his in as soon as he can afford 1500gp for the +2 AC bonus of Plate over Chain.

 

[Galendril]

Is there any reason why these 2nd level characters need to have magic items?

 

[ddebock]

Is there any reason why these 2nd level characters need to have magic items?

For fun mostly, I tried to make the items mostly for utility. I'm also trying to build the items into their backstory to promote some RPing. I am trying to be careful not to make the items too powerful, I don't want to break the game this early. I did add the links to the images, if you have feedback on the items I'll take that as well.

 

[ddebock]

Well, your best bet is to come up with a single hero who could've worn all 3, a champion bodyguard of the wizard who was slain in battle and the wizard never got a chance to replace them, hence a full set of gear is lying around including the magical items, all preserved in a chest.

Your best bet is not to give Magical Armour at level 2 to PCs, but to look into something else the Paladin could benefit from for the same bonuses (maybe a pair of boots, or a ring with defensive benefits) The reason is at level 2 the paladin still has full plate to look forward to for a major AC boost, so while the others could enjoy their stuff for a while he'd be trading his in as soon as he can afford 1500gp for the +2 AC bonus of Plate over Chain.

I was thinking the same thing, probably won't go with armour for the reason you state above, don't want to blow up his AC and then never be able to hit him. I'm working on his item right now, working on the properties first, thinking of the property similar to the razor armor in 4th edition, but put it in a ring or amulet.