Hey all! I just got into d&d and started my own custom campaign maybe a month ago, we're about 5 sessions in and I have a feeling my PC's are a little disappointed in the monster drops as it's mostly been gold in the past. In the most recent session I took inspiration from skyrim (or maybe black desert online not sure it just came to me) and started dropping these nameless gems from every mob the party defeated in one specific area of the campaign. They collected a bunch of these from defeating a boss and right before they figured out what the gems did the session ended.
(EDIT) I should add that this isn't a drop they will get a lot, and as of right now they won't be getting any more of these for a while, I'm looking for rewards that won't break the balancing of the game but still be cool enough that my PC'sdon't throw them away in the backpack and forget about them.
I want these gems to be useful but not too overpowered seeing that they've collected about 30 of them of the same greenish color (I want each color to represent a elemental property or something else but for right now that's what it is) and I came up with a system that incorporates the rng of a 1d20 to determine the "quality" of each gem. Description that explains this is as follows:
If the roll produces a 14 or less the gem can be used to create a fine dust that dissolves easily in distilled water to create the "ink of the forest" these can be used for potions of healing, or in the creation of scrolls.
If the roll lands on 15, 16, or 17 the rock can once again be grinded down into dust and used to create a oil that can be applied to weapons or used to make a potion. The traits of the oil can vary from things like poison, paralysis, life drain, to potions like water walk, locate creature, or polymorph.
If the roll is 18 or 19 the stone can be cut by a jeweler and fitted into a weapon (or wand) for additional damage types/spells.
If the roll is a nat20 the gem can be melted down and infused with metal for an amulet or ring granting the wearer bonus stats/actions.
I've yet to come up with many of the higher roll's damage types/spells or bonus stats/actions but my current dilemma is seeing that they have 30ish of these gems I dont want them to have a ton of healing potions or scrolls, while at the same time I can't think of anything else to make this into that would excite the PC's.
You can have them forged into armor/ shield / belt and the more gems the greater the power.
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This Mug immediately shared with me a transcendental tale of an Infinite Mug that anchors the Universe and keeps it from folding in on itself. I filed this report under "illogical nonsense" and asked why its sign is in Times New Roman font, when it is basic knowledge that Arial Black is a far superior font. I wondered: How did this mug even get past the assembly line with its theistic beliefs and poor font choices?
quote from Romantically Apocalyptic byVitaly S Alexius
So, you replaced a currency with more or less another currency... just saying.
Lol I guess I did, I didn't want to get too much into the details of the campaign, but they were basically in a jungle that was a playground for an evil mage who created a huge tree boss thing with a large gem in the center (which they shattered) as a test to see what power the gems would create. I don't intend on every single encounter resulting in these kinds of drops, it was more intended to be something they'd get when defeating an enemy the mage created.
You can have them forged into armor/ shield / belt and the more gems the greater the power.
I guess I should have mentioned in the original post that this isn't a drop they'll be getting super often, the mage that created the gems (and the bosses) is a storyline they will rarely encounter in the campaign, they will only get these drops when they are in an area the mage is 'testing' in which won't be accessible again for a while.
I want the party to feel like these gems are extremely rare and have cool rewards depending on what they roll while at the same time not giving the group a huge powerspike and then again if they encounter another one of the mage's creations. I could tweak it so later on in the campaign when they get more of these gems they get more power but I'm weary of making this kind of drop too powerful if someone were to roll high enough.
Make a plot device which requires an amount of these gems to activate it. So an alter with 40 slots around it for these gems. If they collect 40 of them, they can activate it.
In fact, that mechanic could go for anything created by this mage. You found a belt of Giant Strength, but wait - there's a set of 10 small holes the same size as the gems. Spend gems to activate the magical items and make them work. Magic items made by the mage don't work without the gems, and the gems are consumed to make them work.
Alternatively, they can be crushed to add a charge to magic items which use charges.
As a new DM, I’d recommend not homebrewing. It’s very easy to make something that is far more powerful than it seems, and end up breaking the math and action economy that underlies the game. Instead, I’d do what others are suggesting and use them as components for an existing item. Something like, to make a +1 sword, you usually need thing x, y and z, but you can substitute these gems for those things. Then, when they craft it, deduct a +1 sword from the loot they would normally get.
The other thing to remember is that 5 sessions in, they’re still going to be pretty low level, 3 or maybe 4. There really shouldn’t be much great treasure yet, and certainly not anything terribly exciting. If you start giving them good stuff at low levels, there’s nowhere to go to give them cooler stuff at higher levels.
Spell Gem (OotA) you can cast a spell into it for later use (probably one that can fit only 1st or 2nd level spells)
I like the idea of of making potions from them. Potion of Healing is always useful.
Fitted into a weapon / wand is good too. I would only add like 1d4 damage though (assuming you are pretty low level), there is an existing item Imbued Wood Focus (ERftLW) that gives +1 damage when casting a spell whose damage matches its element.
Bonus stats may be a little too powerful.
Since they have so many of these, rather than do dice rolls for each one, why not just have it cost extra? Assuming a party of 5 (so each player has 6 "points" worth of gems) and they are 5th level or less.
If the gems come from a wizard that create monsters, how about high quality gems being used to create monsters too? Use them to summon a reskinned low CR monster that lasts 1d6 rounds and have that deplete the gem's power, then go ham with the description. Like, summon a gremlin or a twig blight made of multicolored flowers with some poison spore effect or some animated item. The important thing is to make them as chaotic and fun as possible either by making them crazy or with interesting personality or with random effects. It would make each encounter memorable and help reinforce the fact that the wizard's experiment could be dangerous if this is what pieces of the gems do.
Edit: you might want to make the monsters fight each other if more than one is summoned to prevent abuse. Or choose a low level spell and have the summoned monster perform only that or have it as an effect/action. It would be like a spell scroll that chooses the spell at random from a list and performs it for 1d6 rounds or until destroyed.
As a new DM, I’d recommend not homebrewing. It’s very easy to make something that is far more powerful than it seems, and end up breaking the math and action economy that underlies the game. Instead, I’d do what others are suggesting and use them as components for an existing item. Something like, to make a +1 sword, you usually need thing x, y and z, but you can substitute these gems for those things. Then, when they craft it, deduct a +1 sword from the loot they would normally get.
The other thing to remember is that 5 sessions in, they’re still going to be pretty low level, 3 or maybe 4. There really shouldn’t be much great treasure yet, and certainly not anything terribly exciting. If you start giving them good stuff at low levels, there’s nowhere to go to give them cooler stuff at higher levels.
I agree, that I shouldn't be homebrewing as much as I am. I've found that to avoid making something too "powerful" I'll create items the PC's can only use out-of-combat that tie into the story somehow or only have a certain number of non-rechargeable uses if it can be used inside combat which can be hard to determine.
One of the challenges I've had as a first time DM running a campaign completely from scratch is drops and the gems seemed to be something that could buy me time to focus on making a better loot system. Instead, it seems my imagination took these gems a bit overboard and I'll probably change the way they work entirely but pocket the idea behind them for another day.
I'd consider turning them into 1-use items to destroy (takes an action) in order to get a 1d4 bonus to their next (within one hour) check on a random skill. They'll need to find a manual to explain how to identify them (identifying basically means rolling 1d20, where each result corresponds with one of the 18 skills; 1 means it's a dud, the magic has faded; 20 means they can pick the skill they want).
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I'd consider turning them into 1-use items to destroy (takes an action) in order to get a 1d4 bonus to their next (within one hour) check on a random skill.
This was one of my original ideas for it, but since they have so many of them I was thinking i'll make that a higher roll outcome.
If this were a video game, you'd probably have some kind of monster hunter guild that accepts these gems in exchange for items.
I'll give them the option to do this as well I like the idea of them being able to roll for something that could be garbage or allowing them to play it safe and turn some in for a guaranteed reward.
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Hey all! I just got into d&d and started my own custom campaign maybe a month ago, we're about 5 sessions in and I have a feeling my PC's are a little disappointed in the monster drops as it's mostly been gold in the past. In the most recent session I took inspiration from skyrim (or maybe black desert online not sure it just came to me) and started dropping these nameless gems from every mob the party defeated in one specific area of the campaign. They collected a bunch of these from defeating a boss and right before they figured out what the gems did the session ended.
(EDIT) I should add that this isn't a drop they will get a lot, and as of right now they won't be getting any more of these for a while, I'm looking for rewards that won't break the balancing of the game but still be cool enough that my PC's don't throw them away in the backpack and forget about them.
I want these gems to be useful but not too overpowered seeing that they've collected about 30 of them of the same greenish color (I want each color to represent a elemental property or something else but for right now that's what it is) and I came up with a system that incorporates the rng of a 1d20 to determine the "quality" of each gem. Description that explains this is as follows:
If the roll produces a 14 or less the gem can be used to create a fine dust that dissolves easily in distilled water to create the "ink of the forest" these can be used for potions of healing, or in the creation of scrolls.
If the roll lands on 15, 16, or 17 the rock can once again be grinded down into dust and used to create a oil that can be applied to weapons or used to make a potion. The traits of the oil can vary from things like poison, paralysis, life drain, to potions like water walk, locate creature, or polymorph.
If the roll is 18 or 19 the stone can be cut by a jeweler and fitted into a weapon (or wand) for additional damage types/spells.
If the roll is a nat20 the gem can be melted down and infused with metal for an amulet or ring granting the wearer bonus stats/actions.
I've yet to come up with many of the higher roll's damage types/spells or bonus stats/actions but my current dilemma is seeing that they have 30ish of these gems I dont want them to have a ton of healing potions or scrolls, while at the same time I can't think of anything else to make this into that would excite the PC's.
You can have them forged into armor/ shield / belt and the more gems the greater the power.
This Mug immediately shared with me a transcendental tale of an Infinite Mug that anchors the Universe and keeps it from folding in on itself. I filed this report under "illogical nonsense" and asked why its sign is in Times New Roman font, when it is basic knowledge that Arial Black is a far superior font. I wondered: How did this mug even get past the assembly line with its theistic beliefs and poor font choices?
quote from Romantically Apocalyptic by Vitaly S Alexius
So, you replaced a currency with more or less another currency... just saying.
Lol I guess I did, I didn't want to get too much into the details of the campaign, but they were basically in a jungle that was a playground for an evil mage who created a huge tree boss thing with a large gem in the center (which they shattered) as a test to see what power the gems would create. I don't intend on every single encounter resulting in these kinds of drops, it was more intended to be something they'd get when defeating an enemy the mage created.
I guess I should have mentioned in the original post that this isn't a drop they'll be getting super often, the mage that created the gems (and the bosses) is a storyline they will rarely encounter in the campaign, they will only get these drops when they are in an area the mage is 'testing' in which won't be accessible again for a while.
I want the party to feel like these gems are extremely rare and have cool rewards depending on what they roll while at the same time not giving the group a huge powerspike and then again if they encounter another one of the mage's creations. I could tweak it so later on in the campaign when they get more of these gems they get more power but I'm weary of making this kind of drop too powerful if someone were to roll high enough.
Make a plot device which requires an amount of these gems to activate it. So an alter with 40 slots around it for these gems. If they collect 40 of them, they can activate it.
In fact, that mechanic could go for anything created by this mage. You found a belt of Giant Strength, but wait - there's a set of 10 small holes the same size as the gems. Spend gems to activate the magical items and make them work. Magic items made by the mage don't work without the gems, and the gems are consumed to make them work.
Alternatively, they can be crushed to add a charge to magic items which use charges.
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As a new DM, I’d recommend not homebrewing. It’s very easy to make something that is far more powerful than it seems, and end up breaking the math and action economy that underlies the game.
Instead, I’d do what others are suggesting and use them as components for an existing item. Something like, to make a +1 sword, you usually need thing x, y and z, but you can substitute these gems for those things.
Then, when they craft it, deduct a +1 sword from the loot they would normally get.
The other thing to remember is that 5 sessions in, they’re still going to be pretty low level, 3 or maybe 4. There really shouldn’t be much great treasure yet, and certainly not anything terribly exciting. If you start giving them good stuff at low levels, there’s nowhere to go to give them cooler stuff at higher levels.
There are some existing Gem based items that could fit into your table as well:
I like the idea of of making potions from them. Potion of Healing is always useful.
Fitted into a weapon / wand is good too. I would only add like 1d4 damage though (assuming you are pretty low level), there is an existing item Imbued Wood Focus (ERftLW) that gives +1 damage when casting a spell whose damage matches its element.
Bonus stats may be a little too powerful.
Since they have so many of these, rather than do dice rolls for each one, why not just have it cost extra?
Assuming a party of 5 (so each player has 6 "points" worth of gems) and they are 5th level or less.
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If the gems come from a wizard that create monsters, how about high quality gems being used to create monsters too? Use them to summon a reskinned low CR monster that lasts 1d6 rounds and have that deplete the gem's power, then go ham with the description. Like, summon a gremlin or a twig blight made of multicolored flowers with some poison spore effect or some animated item. The important thing is to make them as chaotic and fun as possible either by making them crazy or with interesting personality or with random effects. It would make each encounter memorable and help reinforce the fact that the wizard's experiment could be dangerous if this is what pieces of the gems do.
Edit: you might want to make the monsters fight each other if more than one is summoned to prevent abuse. Or choose a low level spell and have the summoned monster perform only that or have it as an effect/action. It would be like a spell scroll that chooses the spell at random from a list and performs it for 1d6 rounds or until destroyed.
I agree, that I shouldn't be homebrewing as much as I am. I've found that to avoid making something too "powerful" I'll create items the PC's can only use out-of-combat that tie into the story somehow or only have a certain number of non-rechargeable uses if it can be used inside combat which can be hard to determine.
One of the challenges I've had as a first time DM running a campaign completely from scratch is drops and the gems seemed to be something that could buy me time to focus on making a better loot system. Instead, it seems my imagination took these gems a bit overboard and I'll probably change the way they work entirely but pocket the idea behind them for another day.
I'd consider turning them into 1-use items to destroy (takes an action) in order to get a 1d4 bonus to their next (within one hour) check on a random skill. They'll need to find a manual to explain how to identify them (identifying basically means rolling 1d20, where each result corresponds with one of the 18 skills; 1 means it's a dud, the magic has faded; 20 means they can pick the skill they want).
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
If this were a video game, you'd probably have some kind of monster hunter guild that accepts these gems in exchange for items. So something like:
20 gems = [region] amulet/ring
10 gems = [region] wand or weapon
3 gems = [region] oil
1 gem = [region] dust
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(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Ooooo I really like that idea! Thanks for the suggestion :D
This was one of my original ideas for it, but since they have so many of them I was thinking i'll make that a higher roll outcome.
I'll give them the option to do this as well I like the idea of them being able to roll for something that could be garbage or allowing them to play it safe and turn some in for a guaranteed reward.