Ultimate Equipment Preview: Oh, For a Muse of Fire!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The massive burning blade of the fire giant whipped through the air in a horizontal stroke, just inches above Merisiel’s head. She deftly lunged to the side to avoid the deadly strike, but singed one of her long graceful ears in the process.

“Your assistance would be greatly appreciated,” she shouted at Valeros, who was busy fending off a pack of flaming hounds across the room. Her lunge transformed into a roll past the giant’s right knee, the blade of her dagger finding purchase in a seam of his ensorcelled armor. Roaring with pain, the giant pulled back and raised his sword overhead.

Avoiding the flaming maws of the hell hounds, Valeros brought his blade down on the head of one of the snapping beasts, dousing its fires for good before turning to take on a pair of the hounds coming up from behind. “I’m beginning to think the diadem of the giant lord might not be worth this price!”

Valeros might be unsure, but you are definitely going to want to get your hands on all the valuable items packed in the pages of Ultimate Equipment, due out in just 3 weeks. This preview includes more treasure from this mighty tome—specifically, the loot from a CR 11 encounter with a fire giant and a pack of hell hounds.

Fire Giants are humanoids that can possess a number of different treasure types, but for this encounter we are going to be focusing on Type E: Armor and Weapons with a splash of Type B: Coins and Gems. With 10,500 gp worth of loot to give out, we are sure to have some great items.

Treasure Type E: Armor and Weapons
8,000 gp Reward (total value 8,000 gp)
+1 defiant full plate (humanoid [elf]), +1 greatsword

Treasure Type B: Coins and Gems
2,500 gp Reward (total value 2,450 gp)
600 gp, opal (worth 450 gp), unworked topaz gemstone (worth 300 gp), diadem set with a single flawless black pearl (worth 1,100 gp)

Looks like Merisiel is going to have a difficult time hurting that fire giant. One of the great things about this system is the ability to customize the treasure to suit the needs of the encounter. Even if you feel like rolling randomly on the many tables throughout the book, you can still pick and choose specific pieces to enhance your encounters. This week, I made sure that the most valuable gemstone was actually a piece of jewelry (the rules for creating and pricing jewelry can be found in the preview spread from last week looking at art objects); that way it would fit the story I was trying to tell.

Well, that wraps up this week. Next week, our brave heroes will be going for some big treasure, while trying to plunder the lair of an ancient white dragon!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer