I'm having to double most monsters hit points for them to provide a challenge, so I calculated their average damage per round (using the Targets in Area of Effect table in the DM's Guide to assume average damage for spells).
If they have all their spell slots and abilities, in the 1st round: 183 DAMAGE!!! IF THE FIGHTER ROLLS A CRIT (and with 4 attacks, it happens fairly often): 190!!! If the wizard rolls good (she usually does), 200!!!!!. Minus 26 damage in the round after that (fighter's out of Action Surge). 3rd round onwards, they are dealing same damage as a normal fight.
In a normal fight (assuming the fighter has no action surge): 95- 85 dmg. +26 dmg If the fighter has Action Surge. This is assuming the wizard is using 1st-2nd level spells (her favs are shatter and burning hands). If she has a fireball, +72 dmg.
Defensive-wise, they're fine, it's just the offense that worries me. Is this because they are playing very offense-focused characters, or because I have given them too many or too powerful magic items? So I'll list their ability scores, their AC and hit points, attacks, magic items, etc, and hope someone can give an estimate.
Magic items: +2 greatsword, Bracers of Fortitude (increases CON to 19), Mithral splint armor. Used standard array for character creation.
2nd: Enna Moonblossom, high elf wizard evoker 5.
STR 10, DEX 17, CON 16, INT 19, WIS 13, CHA 10. (Used a alternate method of rolling for abilities: roll 4d6, drop lowest. Any rolls lower than 8 can be treated as an 8, and any rolls higher than 15 must be treated as a 15).
AC 16 (mage armor), hit points 37 (used average per level).
Magic items: Headband of Intellect, Ring of Magic Missiles (same as wand but doesn't roll charges, just has 4/day), Ring of Fireball (same as wand but doesn't roll charges, just has 3/day. May change this to 2/day, I've got a in-game way of doing so), Netherese Ring (casts mage armor 3/day, identify 2/day, no components required).
3rd: Shimmer Silverhand, high elf rogue thief 5 (Alustriel's her mom)
STR 10, DEX 18, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 10 (used point buy for character creation).
AC 16 (studded leather), hit points 37 (she rolled instead of using average per level).
You’ve given them more permanent and constant magic items than I would have given them at 5th level. I would have given each of them one item like a +1 sword or suit of armor, one item with limited charges, and a couple of potions at 5th level.
I would solve the situation by treating them as higher level for purposes of the CR of the opponents that you use against them. Start with CR 7 and see if that’s over powering, still not a challenge, or just right and keep adjusting from there.
Yep, you've given them too many magic items. They should start getting +1s around level 5, and they should only be getting +2s at level 11 or so.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
If your intended idea is to make the less overpowered that could become a slight problem depending on there character and some of their equipement, however I can offer you some ideas so when you create a dungeon they can't blast there way through everyone.
The wizards main abilitys come from it's intelligance and it's spellbook. An idea to deal with this is to create a libary in a dungeon that your wizard comes across he finds a book that looks important and starts to read. After reading it in what feels like a hour or so (you can change this) you notice that your party is standing in front of you close to (again death, unconsciousness your call). You look down at the book and realise that it's nothing but random words and most of it's ineligible.
This book only works on people with a certain intellagence rating and makes the wizard forget anything else but reading the book. You could place it on a some kind of object and once taken off it makes the room flood with water making the wizard nigh useless. Now once I DM no one uses wizard because of this, and It would be incredibly usefull to make your wizard "Less of a problem". After reading it you can always give them access to a new spell but honestly if you don't it makes it more a better trap.
For the fighter it depends on how he plays normally however there are a couple of tricks to get him. Mimics are often fun against them seeing as it gives him a disadvantage once he opens them because of it's abilitys. Another idea is the use of Lemures against him if he doesn't have holy water/ wepons as that makes them killable but not permanently.
Finally the Rouge, most normal traps can normally be deactivated with theif's tools or can be easily escaped with their ridiculous amount of dexterity. Normally most of the time I would try and get the rouge to fight on his own from the reasons of his party is dead to they were captured to even they got lost. This isn't always possible however so here is one more trap idea. You create a door that is being kept closed by either a lock or something that CAN be disabled by the theif's tools. Once they chose to disable it, a spring loaded battering ram flies at them pushing them into spikes and destroying the room even if it doesn't hit them. The room would be destroyed and this can either split up the party by killing them if they are low or making them duck into diffrent rooms to avoid the crushing rocks falling from above.
I hope this is helpful, though not in the way you wanted it to be.
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Greed is my lever, Fear my servent and Death my only friend.
Yes, they're dramatically overgeared, but frankly, what you're mostly demonstrating is why fresh D&D characters can beat something like 150-200% of a deadly encounter, their items are actually only responsible for an extra 9 damage per round. Not sure how you computed 180 damage, though, I get 52 for the fighter (4 attacks for 13), 56 for the wizard (8d6 to 2 targets), 19 for the rogue (1d6+5+3d6), total 127.
What you've done is give them items that boost their stats, as well as Rare\Very Rare items at level 5. For comparison, my current group just hit level 6 and we have nothing but Uncommon Items, and only one +1 weapon in the group. I also notice all characters have nothing less than 10 in a stat, AC no lower than 16, and solid HP totals. That is atypical that the entire group is built that way.
Yes, they're dramatically overgeared, but frankly, what you're mostly demonstrating is why fresh D&D characters can beat something like 150-200% of a deadly encounter, their items are actually only responsible for an extra 9 damage per round. Not sure how you computed 180 damage, though, I get 52 for the fighter (4 attacks for 13), 56 for the wizard (8d6 to 2 targets), 19 for the rogue (1d6+5+3d6), total 127.
You’ve given them more permanent and constant magic items than I would have given them at 5th level. I would have given each of them one item like a +1 sword or suit of armor, one item with limited charges, and a couple of potions at 5th level.
I would solve the situation by treating them as higher level for purposes of the CR of the opponents that you use against them. Start with CR 7 and see if that’s over powering, still not a challenge, or just right and keep adjusting from there.
That's a great idea! I don't want to take away their magic items (they will kill me if I do), so treating them as 2 levels higher and adjusting from there seems a good start.
Yep, you've given them too many magic items. They should start getting +1s around level 5, and they should only be getting +2s at level 11 or so.
I was going by Xanathar's Guide to Everything's magic items by level tables, and it said they should get 1 Rare magic item at levels 5-10. I now realize that this may be slightly inaccurate...
Yep, you've given them too many magic items. They should start getting +1s around level 5, and they should only be getting +2s at level 11 or so.
I was going by Xanathar's Guide to Everything's magic items by level tables, and it said they should get 1 Rare magic item at levels 5-10. I now realize that this may be slightly inaccurate...
No, the problem is that the table in XGTE is for the entire party, not each PC, and 'minor items' are temporary. The party, as a whole, is expected to have 6 permanent magic items, of which one is rare and five are uncommon.
Welcome to the effect of running a Monty Haul campaign. Others have stated what the problem is.
Now, the solution, well, you are now going to see it is not easy. Because as soon as you bump up that CR, as would be expected, there will come a time when you either Surprise the party or the Initiative gods have your monster(s) go first. Then you will watch these chars, which are effectively glass cannons, pop.
A Young Black Dragon has 127 HP, and your group can trash that in one round. It is a CR 7, which your guys can obviously have the DPR to handle. But that Dragon does 49 damage with its Acid Breath. It is totally conceivable that Dragon goes first, the Wizard and Rogue fail the Dex save, and they are toast before they even have their first turn.
You are going to have to gain experience, and fast, on what your party can and cannot handle. Either pump the HP off the charts for lower end monsters, or have your group fight a lot of high HP super low monsters. Either way, your job is a lot tougher.
Yep, you've given them too many magic items. They should start getting +1s around level 5, and they should only be getting +2s at level 11 or so.
I was going by Xanathar's Guide to Everything's magic items by level tables, and it said they should get 1 Rare magic item at levels 5-10. I now realize that this may be slightly inaccurate...
No, the problem is that the table in XGTE is for the entire party, not each PC, and 'minor items' are temporary. The party, as a whole, is expected to have 6 permanent magic items, of which one is rare and five are uncommon.
Welcome to the effect of running a Monty Haul campaign. Others have stated what the problem is.
Now, the solution, well, you are now going to see it is not easy. Because as soon as you bump up that CR, as would be expected, there will come a time when you either Surprise the party or the Initiative gods have your monster(s) go first. Then you will watch these chars, which are effectively glass cannons, pop.
A Young Black Dragon has 127 HP, and your group can trash that in one round. It is a CR 7, which your guys can obviously have the DPR to handle. But that Dragon does 49 damage with its Acid Breath. It is totally conceivable that Dragon goes first, the Wizard and Rogue fail the Dex save, and they are toast before they even have their first turn.
You are going to have to gain experience, and fast, on what your party can and cannot handle. Either pump the HP off the charts for lower end monsters, or have your group fight a lot of high HP super low monsters. Either way, your job is a lot tougher.
Yes, I did realize that higher CR monsters would pulp them with good initiative, so I'm just gonna find an in-game way to get rid of a lot of their magic items.
Multiple encounters considered "hard" per long rest.
This. While the items are indeed very OP, they’re likely not what’s causing the problem. The minimum fights you should be running per long rest, if you want a fair challenge, is 3, and that’s only if they’re all Deadly. If you’re letting them long rest after every fight, of course they will be offensively OP because they can blow everything in their kit on one fight and get it all back for the next one. 5e is not designed for that style of play. But force them to manage resources, deal with attrition, and space out their abilities, and you’ve got a much better game on your hands!
Multiple encounters considered "hard" per long rest.
This. While the items are indeed very OP, they’re likely not what’s causing the problem. The minimum fights you should be running per long rest, if you want a fair challenge, is 3, and that’s only if they’re all Deadly. If you’re letting them long rest after every fight, of course they will be offensively OP because they can blow everything in their kit on one fight and get it all back for the next one. 5e is not designed for that style of play. But force them to manage resources, deal with attrition, and space out their abilities, and you’ve got a much better game on your hands!
Don't worry, they have at least 8 hard/deadly encounters per rest. As I pointed out in the OP, even when on 1st and 2nd level spells and without the fighter's special abilities, they could still knock out 85-95 dmg per round. So I've decided to find an in-game way to get rid of their magic items (if I suddenly stop posting, you'll know it's cause they killed me... LOL).
Multiple encounters considered "hard" per long rest.
This. While the items are indeed very OP, they’re likely not what’s causing the problem. The minimum fights you should be running per long rest, if you want a fair challenge, is 3, and that’s only if they’re all Deadly. If you’re letting them long rest after every fight, of course they will be offensively OP because they can blow everything in their kit on one fight and get it all back for the next one. 5e is not designed for that style of play. But force them to manage resources, deal with attrition, and space out their abilities, and you’ve got a much better game on your hands!
Don't worry, they have at least 8 hard/deadly encounters per rest. As I pointed out in the OP, even when on 1st and 2nd level spells and without the fighter's special abilities, they could still knock out 85-95 dmg per round. So I've decided to find an in-game way to get rid of their magic items (if I suddenly stop posting, you'll know it's cause they killed me... LOL).
Before unilaterally revoking their magic items, it’d be a good idea to explain out-of-character why you’re doing so. Let them know that you made a mistake and it’s causing issues with running the game; that way they’ll (hopefully) be understanding and won’t kill you ;)
Multiple encounters considered "hard" per long rest.
This. While the items are indeed very OP, they’re likely not what’s causing the problem. The minimum fights you should be running per long rest, if you want a fair challenge, is 3, and that’s only if they’re all Deadly. If you’re letting them long rest after every fight, of course they will be offensively OP because they can blow everything in their kit on one fight and get it all back for the next one. 5e is not designed for that style of play. But force them to manage resources, deal with attrition, and space out their abilities, and you’ve got a much better game on your hands!
Don't worry, they have at least 8 hard/deadly encounters per rest. As I pointed out in the OP, even when on 1st and 2nd level spells and without the fighter's special abilities, they could still knock out 85-95 dmg per round. So I've decided to find an in-game way to get rid of their magic items (if I suddenly stop posting, you'll know it's cause they killed me... LOL).
Before unilaterally revoking their magic items, it’d be a good idea to explain out-of-character why you’re doing so. Let them know that you made a mistake and it’s causing issues with running the game; that way they’ll (hopefully) be understanding and won’t kill you ;)
I was going to. They still might kill me, though ;)
You might try working this into your plot as well. Definitely talk to them out-of-character first. Then, if they are willing to cooperate, give them a reason to sacrifice the items in game. Maybe a powerful ritual is needed to save the world or at least the immediate region and the items will go to fuel that. Also, don't be afraid to shower the character with praise for their noble actions. Let them earn a reputation as heroes, hear awed whispers as they pass through town, even be granted an audience with the local ruler and given medals in front of an adoring crowd. The main thing is to let your players feel as if they are a part of both the discussion and the way events play out in game. You will have far less anger and resentment than if you just drain or steal what are likely some of their most treasured possessions.
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I'm having to double most monsters hit points for them to provide a challenge, so I calculated their average damage per round (using the Targets in Area of Effect table in the DM's Guide to assume average damage for spells).
If they have all their spell slots and abilities, in the 1st round: 183 DAMAGE!!! IF THE FIGHTER ROLLS A CRIT (and with 4 attacks, it happens fairly often): 190!!! If the wizard rolls good (she usually does), 200!!!!!. Minus 26 damage in the round after that (fighter's out of Action Surge). 3rd round onwards, they are dealing same damage as a normal fight.
In a normal fight (assuming the fighter has no action surge): 95- 85 dmg. +26 dmg If the fighter has Action Surge. This is assuming the wizard is using 1st-2nd level spells (her favs are shatter and burning hands). If she has a fireball, +72 dmg.
Defensive-wise, they're fine, it's just the offense that worries me. Is this because they are playing very offense-focused characters, or because I have given them too many or too powerful magic items? So I'll list their ability scores, their AC and hit points, attacks, magic items, etc, and hope someone can give an estimate.
1st: Delg Strakeln, mountain dwarf fighter champion 5 (Great Weapon Fighting Style).
STR 18, DEX 12, CON 19, INT 8, WIS 13, CHA 10.
AC 17 (Mithral splint), hit points 60 (used average per level).
Primary attack: +2 Greatsword, +9 to hit, 2d6 + 6 dmg.
Magic items: +2 greatsword, Bracers of Fortitude (increases CON to 19), Mithral splint armor. Used standard array for character creation.
2nd: Enna Moonblossom, high elf wizard evoker 5.
STR 10, DEX 17, CON 16, INT 19, WIS 13, CHA 10. (Used a alternate method of rolling for abilities: roll 4d6, drop lowest. Any rolls lower than 8 can be treated as an 8, and any rolls higher than 15 must be treated as a 15).
AC 16 (mage armor), hit points 37 (used average per level).
Spell Save DC 16, +8 to hit w/ spell attacks.
Spells: 1st level: burning hands, magic missile, thunderwave, mage armor, expeditious retreat, detect magic, chromatic orb, ray of sickness, cure wounds, bless, shield, grease, command. 2nd level: hold person, scorching ray, web, shatter, mirror image, misty step, darkness. 3rd level: lightning bolt, haste, fireball, dispel magic, revivify, fly, counterspell, animate dead.
Normal prepared spells: burning hands, chromatic orb, shield, scorching ray, shatter, darkness, lightning bolt, fireball, revivify.
Magic items: Headband of Intellect, Ring of Magic Missiles (same as wand but doesn't roll charges, just has 4/day), Ring of Fireball (same as wand but doesn't roll charges, just has 3/day. May change this to 2/day, I've got a in-game way of doing so), Netherese Ring (casts mage armor 3/day, identify 2/day, no components required).
3rd: Shimmer Silverhand, high elf rogue thief 5 (Alustriel's her mom)
STR 10, DEX 18, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 10 (used point buy for character creation).
AC 16 (studded leather), hit points 37 (she rolled instead of using average per level).
Primary Attack: +1 shortbow/shortsword, +8 to hit, 1d6 + 5 dmg.
Magic items: +1 shortbow, +1 shortsword, Boots of Striding and Springing, Quiver of Unending arrows (does what is says on the can).
Hopefully, someone can give me an answer.
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You’ve given them more permanent and constant magic items than I would have given them at 5th level. I would have given each of them one item like a +1 sword or suit of armor, one item with limited charges, and a couple of potions at 5th level.
I would solve the situation by treating them as higher level for purposes of the CR of the opponents that you use against them. Start with CR 7 and see if that’s over powering, still not a challenge, or just right and keep adjusting from there.
Professional computer geek
Yep, you've given them too many magic items. They should start getting +1s around level 5, and they should only be getting +2s at level 11 or so.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
If your intended idea is to make the less overpowered that could become a slight problem depending on there character and some of their equipement, however I can offer you some ideas so when you create a dungeon they can't blast there way through everyone.
The wizards main abilitys come from it's intelligance and it's spellbook. An idea to deal with this is to create a libary in a dungeon that your wizard comes across he finds a book that looks important and starts to read. After reading it in what feels like a hour or so (you can change this) you notice that your party is standing in front of you close to (again death, unconsciousness your call). You look down at the book and realise that it's nothing but random words and most of it's ineligible.
This book only works on people with a certain intellagence rating and makes the wizard forget anything else but reading the book. You could place it on a some kind of object and once taken off it makes the room flood with water making the wizard nigh useless. Now once I DM no one uses wizard because of this, and It would be incredibly usefull to make your wizard "Less of a problem". After reading it you can always give them access to a new spell but honestly if you don't it makes it more a better trap.
For the fighter it depends on how he plays normally however there are a couple of tricks to get him. Mimics are often fun against them seeing as it gives him a disadvantage once he opens them because of it's abilitys. Another idea is the use of Lemures against him if he doesn't have holy water/ wepons as that makes them killable but not permanently.
Finally the Rouge, most normal traps can normally be deactivated with theif's tools or can be easily escaped with their ridiculous amount of dexterity. Normally most of the time I would try and get the rouge to fight on his own from the reasons of his party is dead to they were captured to even they got lost. This isn't always possible however so here is one more trap idea. You create a door that is being kept closed by either a lock or something that CAN be disabled by the theif's tools. Once they chose to disable it, a spring loaded battering ram flies at them pushing them into spikes and destroying the room even if it doesn't hit them. The room would be destroyed and this can either split up the party by killing them if they are low or making them duck into diffrent rooms to avoid the crushing rocks falling from above.
I hope this is helpful, though not in the way you wanted it to be.
Greed is my lever, Fear my servent and Death my only friend.
Join the Grammer Cult.
Yes, they're dramatically overgeared, but frankly, what you're mostly demonstrating is why fresh D&D characters can beat something like 150-200% of a deadly encounter, their items are actually only responsible for an extra 9 damage per round. Not sure how you computed 180 damage, though, I get 52 for the fighter (4 attacks for 13), 56 for the wizard (8d6 to 2 targets), 19 for the rogue (1d6+5+3d6), total 127.
My response?
Multiple encounters considered "hard" per long rest.
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What you've done is give them items that boost their stats, as well as Rare\Very Rare items at level 5. For comparison, my current group just hit level 6 and we have nothing but Uncommon Items, and only one +1 weapon in the group. I also notice all characters have nothing less than 10 in a stat, AC no lower than 16, and solid HP totals. That is atypical that the entire group is built that way.
I assumed the fireball would hit 4 targets.
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Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
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That's a great idea! I don't want to take away their magic items (they will kill me if I do), so treating them as 2 levels higher and adjusting from there seems a good start.
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Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
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I was going by Xanathar's Guide to Everything's magic items by level tables, and it said they should get 1 Rare magic item at levels 5-10. I now realize that this may be slightly inaccurate...
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Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
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No, the problem is that the table in XGTE is for the entire party, not each PC, and 'minor items' are temporary. The party, as a whole, is expected to have 6 permanent magic items, of which one is rare and five are uncommon.
Welcome to the effect of running a Monty Haul campaign. Others have stated what the problem is.
Now, the solution, well, you are now going to see it is not easy. Because as soon as you bump up that CR, as would be expected, there will come a time when you either Surprise the party or the Initiative gods have your monster(s) go first. Then you will watch these chars, which are effectively glass cannons, pop.
A Young Black Dragon has 127 HP, and your group can trash that in one round. It is a CR 7, which your guys can obviously have the DPR to handle. But that Dragon does 49 damage with its Acid Breath. It is totally conceivable that Dragon goes first, the Wizard and Rogue fail the Dex save, and they are toast before they even have their first turn.
You are going to have to gain experience, and fast, on what your party can and cannot handle. Either pump the HP off the charts for lower end monsters, or have your group fight a lot of high HP super low monsters. Either way, your job is a lot tougher.
Aaaaah, now I get it. Ooops ;)
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Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
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So, how does this sound for my PCs magic items:
Wizard: +1 wand (adds +1 to spell attacks and save DCs, pretty much a +1 weapon for wizards), Netherese ring (mage armor 3/day, identify 1/day).
Fighter: +1 greatsword, Mithral splint.
Rogue: +1 shortbow.
That sound good?
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Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
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Yes, I did realize that higher CR monsters would pulp them with good initiative, so I'm just gonna find an in-game way to get rid of a lot of their magic items.
I'm the Valar (leader and creator) of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Anything Tolkien Cult!
Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
If you want some casual roleplay/adventures in Middle Earth, check out The Wild's Edge Tavern, a LotR/Middle Earth tavern!
JOIN TIAMAT'S CONGA LINE!
Extended Sig
This. While the items are indeed very OP, they’re likely not what’s causing the problem. The minimum fights you should be running per long rest, if you want a fair challenge, is 3, and that’s only if they’re all Deadly. If you’re letting them long rest after every fight, of course they will be offensively OP because they can blow everything in their kit on one fight and get it all back for the next one. 5e is not designed for that style of play. But force them to manage resources, deal with attrition, and space out their abilities, and you’ve got a much better game on your hands!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Don't worry, they have at least 8 hard/deadly encounters per rest. As I pointed out in the OP, even when on 1st and 2nd level spells and without the fighter's special abilities, they could still knock out 85-95 dmg per round. So I've decided to find an in-game way to get rid of their magic items (if I suddenly stop posting, you'll know it's cause they killed me... LOL).
I'm the Valar (leader and creator) of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Anything Tolkien Cult!
Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
If you want some casual roleplay/adventures in Middle Earth, check out The Wild's Edge Tavern, a LotR/Middle Earth tavern!
JOIN TIAMAT'S CONGA LINE!
Extended Sig
Before unilaterally revoking their magic items, it’d be a good idea to explain out-of-character why you’re doing so. Let them know that you made a mistake and it’s causing issues with running the game; that way they’ll (hopefully) be understanding and won’t kill you ;)
I was going to. They still might kill me, though ;)
I'm the Valar (leader and creator) of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Anything Tolkien Cult!
Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
If you want some casual roleplay/adventures in Middle Earth, check out The Wild's Edge Tavern, a LotR/Middle Earth tavern!
JOIN TIAMAT'S CONGA LINE!
Extended Sig
You might try working this into your plot as well. Definitely talk to them out-of-character first. Then, if they are willing to cooperate, give them a reason to sacrifice the items in game. Maybe a powerful ritual is needed to save the world or at least the immediate region and the items will go to fuel that. Also, don't be afraid to shower the character with praise for their noble actions. Let them earn a reputation as heroes, hear awed whispers as they pass through town, even be granted an audience with the local ruler and given medals in front of an adoring crowd.
The main thing is to let your players feel as if they are a part of both the discussion and the way events play out in game. You will have far less anger and resentment than if you just drain or steal what are likely some of their most treasured possessions.