D&D 5E Valuable Stuff

[KarinsDad]

Has anyone else dropped valuable stuff from their game?

I used to hand out a gold bracelet (50 GP), or a tapestry with knights (75 GP), or carved bones (125 GP), or pendants, or ..., or ..., or ... a lot.

I wanted the treasure found to be interesting and somewhat unique.

However recently, I've found that it is way too difficult to keep track of the dozens and dozens which eventually becomes hundreds of unique items in the campaign. Character sheets tend to be transitory and stuff like this sometimes gets lost, and it seems to be a lot of work and most of the time, my players could care less about the individuality of such items.

So in the session the other day, I told the players that I wasn't going to do the bookkeeping for all of this valuable stuff anymore. Instead, I'll describe it (since some players do want to keep certain unique items once in a blue moon) and if someone wants to keep it, fine. If not, I auto-convert it to GP and just add it to the GP total with the assumption that it will be sold in town eventually (and is currently in the bag or holding, or in someone's backpack, or whatever) and not worry about it. It does take away some roleplaying/haggling with merchants, but meh.


Has anyone else done this?

 

[n00b f00]

I've done stuff like that in the past. I'll describe the treasure, but unless it's something I thought about for a bit, it's just a description what I'm writing down as X amount of gold. If my players are really into that treasure, they can write it down, and tell me later. "I put up the painting in my living room!" And I okay, "Oh yeah." But I don't bother keeping that stuff written down much anymore. Too much effort.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I like the idea of valuable objects, but I find it difficult, since the alternative is pure gold. A jeweled comb is very nice and all, but it gets silly when every item the party finds is worth multiple pounds of gold. How much of a market can there really be for that stuff?

 

[aramis erak]

I tend to do unique stuff on cards - and hand the cards out.

Then again, I've had some groups who wanted to know what each gem was, and others who are happier with abstract "treasure points" like those in The One Ring RPG.

 

[Roadkill101]

For some reason I'm stingy with treasure, especially coinage (in the tens and low hundreds), but I do hand out some Valuable Stuff. My prepped notes include a simple description of Valuable Stuff with the items value noted in parenthesis something like "iron bracelet with semi-precious stones (3 gp)." The items value represents what the party will get for it after haggling (none of my players are into rp-ing that aspect of the game, making my role as DM a bit easier). I'm a bit old school in that in my game 1 s.p. = 1 xp (I use a Silver Standard for my campaign). So my players will end up selling any Valuable Stuff to gain the XP benefit (or trade it in lieu of coinage, like for Inn accommodations). Elaborate descriptions of Valuable Stuff clues my players that the item is special in nature and not intended for sale, I'm stingy with the magic items also.

 

[SkidAce]

An elven defender just received 400gp in silver, mithril, and blue marsh pearls (treasured by elves for sentimental reasons).

He seemed to enjoy that better than "here's 400gp."

 

[iserith]

I give out treasure like this, but it's on the players to keep track of it. Once I've established they've gotten their mitts on it, I'm done dealing with it.

Sometimes I think players overlook the value of these little objects d'art. That gold bracelet makes for an excellent gift for the prince or princess who helps the character influence the king. The tapestry with knights on it has historical value and when given to a sage grants success (and then some) on the Research downtime activity. The carved bones make the charlatan's disguise as a necromancer really work - advantage on that Disguise Kit check. And so on. All of these can translate into nice benefits, depending on what's happening.

So perhaps a good suggestion for players is to figure out a way to use these things to give them an advantage in some way outside of straight wealth.

 

[wedgeski]

I like handing out random art items and jewelry as well as raw GP, and always try and come up with some off-the-cuff detail. A ring with a missing gem or part of the band cut out, a beautiful painting with someone's face painted over, a silk scarf with heraldry no-one has seen for a thousand years. The benefits are pretty clear, and as I see it, the worst that can happen is the players become *too* interested in the history of the piece (that's a high quality problem, though).

In terms of book-keeping, I'm lucky in that I have players who don't mind maintaining notes on that kind of thing, and I have a standing rule that the piece is worth such-and-such GP but more to the right buyer. If they want to put in the legwork, they'll be rewarded, and entire scenarios can arise from the ideas that get thrown around the table in these interludes. Alternatively, they can just cross the thing off and add the advertised value to their stash.

The key to making this work may have been the day we removed appraising from our game, which we found was just too much donkey work to be worth the hassle. Now I just tell the players the "ticket" value, they can record whatever details they're interested in, and it's not my problem until they decide to track down a heraldic scholar, after all.

 

[steeldragons]

Yes i do this kind of descriptive vaulable "stuff". No I wouldn't dream of dropping it. It lends to authenticity and immersion and that's always a good thing.

I am a little confused as to why it became an effort/issue for you/from the DM side. Other than deciding (or not even, and just rolling on some random tables), I don't need to keep track of the description or details, unless it is something that I know has some purpose or I might want to use later in which case Ill make a note as to who took what.

But most of the time, once it's doled out, it's the player's problem/option. If they want to take stuff and cash it all in at the next town, or just note their character sheet as "random stuff: 300gp", that's up to them. If they want to take only art works (as a certain elvin thief PC, I recall) or are only interested in things with sapphires or pearls in it...and transferring practically any/all treasure into sapphires and pearls (as a certain blue-dressed mage PC liked to do), that is totally fine, too. It's up to the players (no real work for me/the DM) and can happen...in fact gives them a reason/forces them...to interact with the game world to do that. And, those types of players are more than willing to read back to me whatever the description of the stuff was...I don't have to keep notes on that stuff.

So, no, I won't be dropping that.

<roll>2,000gp <roll> Art items <roll> tapestries <personal touch/top of the head> a set of <4 PCs?> FOUR tapestries depicting an ancient battle between two armies for everybody!

 

[Bupp]

I've done stuff like that in the past. I'll describe the treasure, but unless it's something I thought about for a bit, it's just a description what I'm writing down as X amount of gold. If my players are really into that treasure, they can write it down, and tell me later. "I put up the painting in my living room!" And I okay, "Oh yeah." But I don't bother keeping that stuff written down much anymore. Too much effort.

That's pretty much how it works at my table. I hand out interesting things, but unless a player says "I'm going to want that", it's value just gets added to the gp total on their loot list.

As for your bookkeeping, are you keeping track of it? Or just handing it out and not telling the value until they get it appraised? I used to do that, and I agree, it's more trouble than it's worth. I figure they are in the business of being murderhobo lootmongers, they know what stuff is worth.

As for bookkeeping, my three players each have a role at the table. One keeps track of loot found on a master list. At the end of each adventure they split it amongst themselves, and even keep a share in the "group loot" to cover expenses during an adventure. The second is the lorekeeper. She takes notes and copies of maps and handouts and keeps track of rumors and leads. The last helps with the battlemat. I use a whiteboard flat on the table that I sketch out encounters on. He erases it, clears off minis of dead foes, and also reminds me to advance the escalation die (house rule from 13th Age).