I want to experiment with allowing players to get creative and use illuster networks to find magic items they want. However, I run a 'low to medium' availability of magic items in my campaign I don't want to overpower/overload the characters with magical items and I've been thinking about how to do this.
What I did is use a magic item shop creator online, to create a long list of items (~50), which I sorted on Rarity and Price. I then determined how hard it would be to find an item like that - varying from DC 12 - 30 (e.g.: a regular Health Potion = 10, Nine Lives Stealer Long sword = 30).
I also added per Rarity category (common, uncommon, rare, very rare - didn't have any legendary) a dice roll mechanism to determine which and how many items the NPC would have available.
Now the mechanisme for the players is that they need to find a contact first, they are familiar with this concept. The most easy way is bribing a maid or a tavern owners in the more shady businesses. When they get a contact I roll a D20 and add their player level. The rolled level determines the level of items this NPC could arrange from the long list.
They then need to persuade or deceive the thief into letting them buy from him, this is done by beating the NPC's DC I just rolled.
Once they've done that, the NPC will demand a 'comission' which goes up if the DC is higher (from a 100gp till a 1000gp) - up front. The NPC leaves and is available for contact after 4 hours. I then roll to determine which items of the DC category he has found and offer these to the players (normal prices). Once they've choosen an item and paid up front the NPC will start acquiring the item, what normally also takes 4 hours. If it is a high magic item (>rare excl. consumables) I roll on the magic item purchase complications table - if it sounds like something that could happen this is applied.
I think it sounds interesting, but it does seem like a lot of bookkeeping to put on yourself.
If we're involving guilds, maybe you could ahve some kind of rules for borrowing magic items as well? Maybe if they're put on a specific job they might be given useful magic items for that task, but are expected to return them at the end.
I don’t know why you want to insert a bunch of randomness and rolls into the process. Don’t let the dice be the boss; you’re the boss.
A player who “knows a guy who knows a guy” puts it out there that they’re looking to get their hands on a +2 rapier. You decide if there’s one available and the price. And that price might be in gold, or it might be a favor, or it might just be a location where they can find one, if they’re willing to do the dirty work of getting it.
I like the idea of the underground guilds providing the PCs with their magical items. I also like the idea of the cost being gold and trade in favor (cause I would use both... you do this and we'll let you have that for a paltry 500 gold). You get free quest lines for the PCs to pursue and a way to get treasure to them. I don't like all the extra book keeping or letting the dice determine what they are getting. I mean, use it to seed some sample items in a shop for some ideas, sure... but I wouldn't use it for all of them, unless you are seeding items in shops all over the world at once and then figuring out where the PCs have to go to get it... then maybe the listings would be worth it...
Thanks for the feedback. I read from your response that it might sound more complicated than it really is, it's preparing a list that I've done in 5 minutes and rolling 3 times to guide a bit of roleplayin. Although what I do like is your feedback on the randomness, if I was a player I would like the opportunity to look for specific items, as Xanathar also states. So I will change that part, take out the randomness, but will keep the part of the mechanics, DC and add the possibility to reduce the costs by performing tasks or favors for the thieves guild - I like the idea but am hesitant to distract them too much from the main storyline which is already a challenge to progress through (SKT).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I want to experiment with allowing players to get creative and use illuster networks to find magic items they want. However, I run a 'low to medium' availability of magic items in my campaign I don't want to overpower/overload the characters with magical items and I've been thinking about how to do this.
What I did is use a magic item shop creator online, to create a long list of items (~50), which I sorted on Rarity and Price. I then determined how hard it would be to find an item like that - varying from DC 12 - 30 (e.g.: a regular Health Potion = 10, Nine Lives Stealer Long sword = 30).
I also added per Rarity category (common, uncommon, rare, very rare - didn't have any legendary) a dice roll mechanism to determine which and how many items the NPC would have available.
Now the mechanisme for the players is that they need to find a contact first, they are familiar with this concept. The most easy way is bribing a maid or a tavern owners in the more shady businesses. When they get a contact I roll a D20 and add their player level. The rolled level determines the level of items this NPC could arrange from the long list.
They then need to persuade or deceive the thief into letting them buy from him, this is done by beating the NPC's DC I just rolled.
Once they've done that, the NPC will demand a 'comission' which goes up if the DC is higher (from a 100gp till a 1000gp) - up front. The NPC leaves and is available for contact after 4 hours. I then roll to determine which items of the DC category he has found and offer these to the players (normal prices). Once they've choosen an item and paid up front the NPC will start acquiring the item, what normally also takes 4 hours. If it is a high magic item (>rare excl. consumables) I roll on the magic item purchase complications table - if it sounds like something that could happen this is applied.
What do you think? Good mechanism? Too harsh?
I think it sounds interesting, but it does seem like a lot of bookkeeping to put on yourself.
If we're involving guilds, maybe you could ahve some kind of rules for borrowing magic items as well? Maybe if they're put on a specific job they might be given useful magic items for that task, but are expected to return them at the end.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I don’t know why you want to insert a bunch of randomness and rolls into the process. Don’t let the dice be the boss; you’re the boss.
A player who “knows a guy who knows a guy” puts it out there that they’re looking to get their hands on a +2 rapier. You decide if there’s one available and the price. And that price might be in gold, or it might be a favor, or it might just be a location where they can find one, if they’re willing to do the dirty work of getting it.
I like the idea of the underground guilds providing the PCs with their magical items. I also like the idea of the cost being gold and trade in favor (cause I would use both... you do this and we'll let you have that for a paltry 500 gold). You get free quest lines for the PCs to pursue and a way to get treasure to them. I don't like all the extra book keeping or letting the dice determine what they are getting. I mean, use it to seed some sample items in a shop for some ideas, sure... but I wouldn't use it for all of them, unless you are seeding items in shops all over the world at once and then figuring out where the PCs have to go to get it... then maybe the listings would be worth it...
I prefer to have a list of what each shop has. For me, a typical Thieves Guild list would look like this:
Smallish Black Market provider:
I prefer if the Thieves’ Guild has whatever happened to fall off the back of wagon that week. 😉
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Thanks for the feedback. I read from your response that it might sound more complicated than it really is, it's preparing a list that I've done in 5 minutes and rolling 3 times to guide a bit of roleplayin. Although what I do like is your feedback on the randomness, if I was a player I would like the opportunity to look for specific items, as Xanathar also states. So I will change that part, take out the randomness, but will keep the part of the mechanics, DC and add the possibility to reduce the costs by performing tasks or favors for the thieves guild - I like the idea but am hesitant to distract them too much from the main storyline which is already a challenge to progress through (SKT).