Hi there, I'm relatively new to PnP games in general, and particularly Pathfinder. I am having a hard time understanding the item generation tables in chapter 15 of the player's guide.
I've searched the forums and haven't found what I am looking for. Could someone help explain what the numbers mean in the item generation tables?
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Hey! Welcome to the awesome world of Pathfinder.
Which numbers do you mean? The numbers under the Result column?
Example;
1-15
65
75-100
Those numbers?
If thats the case, they are the results of a d100 roll (also known as a percentile roll)
You basically roll the d10 and the d10 that has double numbers (00, 10, 20, etc)
add the two together and you've got your result! =]
If this wasn't what you were talking about, please elaborate which numbers you mean.
OK, for example: table 15-2 in the core book has 3 columns of numbers to the left title minor, medium, and major. One page before that table, referring to the purchase of magic items, it says to figure out how many items a place has for sale, use table 15-2 to determine the type of item, and then refer to a different table for each individual item.
So, how do you use all that info to determine which magic items a place has, and is it the same method for determining the loot you might find after a battle?
Anyone?
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A settlement should have a certain number of minor, medium, and major magic items, depending on where it is. So for example, if the PCs are in a Village, you would roll 2d4 to determine how many minor items are available for sale throughout the entire Village, and 1d4 to determine how many medium items are available.
Example
minor items
medium items
So in this case, the Village has 7 minor items and 3 medium items available for sale. Now we need to determine what type of items they are.
We roll 1d100 7 times for the minor items, and 4 times for medium items.
Example
ignoring the total, we just need the individual numbers.
again ignoring the total.
Looking at the Generating Random Magic Items table, we first look at the Minor column to get the following:
Potion (Roll 1d100 for each potion and look in the minor column under potions to see what level of potion it is.)
Wondrous Item (Roll 1d100 in the minor wondrous item column)
Wand (Roll 1d100 for the wand and look in the minor column under wands to see what level of spell is stored in the wand.)
Potion
Scroll (Roll 1d100 for each scroll and look in the minor column under scrolls to see what level of scroll it is.)
Scroll
Scroll
Then we look at the medium column to get the following:
Wondrous Item (Roll 1d100 in the medium wondrous item column)
Armor or Shield (Roll 1d100 in the medium magic armor column)
Scroll (Roll 1d100 for each scroll and look in the medium column under scrolls to see what level of scroll it is.)
Scroll
Any other questions?
OK, for example: table 15-2 in the core book has 3 columns of numbers to the left title minor, medium, and major. One page before that table, referring to the purchase of magic items, it says to figure out how many items a place has for sale, use table 15-2 to determine the type of item, and then refer to a different table for each individual item.
So, how do you use all that info to determine which magic items a place has, and is it the same method for determining the loot you might find after a battle?
First, understand that you aren't compelled to use these numbers for anything. If you want to randomly determine items for sale you'd use this method.
You first decide that this place you are in is a village. So it will have 2d4 minor and 1d4 medium items for sale.
Then for each item you determine it has, you roll on Random Magic Item Generation table. (I am looking at the PRD online, it doesn't have table numbers.) Let's say you roll 40 on the minor table, so it's a potion. Then you roll again consulting the proper column of the potion table.
Everything I mentioned except the potion table, which is hyperlinked, is on this page.
You may get better results putting questions like this in the Advice section or Rules Questions, and not general discussion. I don't have the tables in front of me right now, so I'm going off memory.
Those tables are for randomly generating both what is for sale and loot. I highly recomend you don't go blindly with what gets generated though, and read what it does first, especially for loot. Otherwise you may end up with something like a staff of healing in a 4th lvl party.
So first you determin if you want a major, medium, or minor magic item. The levels are determined by the base cost.
Next, roll a percentile die on the random item generation chart to determin which type of magic item it is. You will notice that more expensive items take up a greater range on the major items and things like potions have a higher probability on minor items.
After you determine the type, go to the appropriate section and roll annother d% on that chart. For weapons and armor, if you roll a special ability you also roll on the additional chart. There is not a chart to determine what spells are on any given potion or scroll, so you will have to decide that yourself. I personally like flipping to a random page and grabbing the first appropriate spell you see. I believe the Game Mastery Guide has those charts.
OK, for example: table 15-2 in the core book has 3 columns of numbers to the left title minor, medium, and major. One page before that table, referring to the purchase of magic items, it says to figure out how many items a place has for sale, use table 15-2 to determine the type of item, and then refer to a different table for each individual item.
So, how do you use all that info to determine which magic items a place has, and is it the same method for determining the loot you might find after a battle?
I'll show you an example. In this example community -- let's call it "Rosevale", and make it a small town -- there is a base value for magic items (1,000 gp). There is a 75% chance that any given magic item (worth 1,000 gp or less) can be found in Rosevale. On top of this, we'll roll 3d4 minor items and 1d6 medium items (see Table 15-1).
So, we've determined that Rosevale has 3 minor and 3 medium magic items in addition to having a base 75% chance of any magic item worth 1,000 gp or less available in this community.
Alright, we'll now go to Table 15-2 to determine minor items.
We have 2 potions and a scroll for minor items.
For the 3 medium items:
We have 1 wand, 1 scroll and 1 1 wondrous item for medium items.
Checking the appropriate Tables (15-12, 15-15, 15-17 and 15-19), we'll roll . . .
. . . determining that Rosevale has 2 2nd-level potions (300-400 gp), 1 1st-level scroll (25-50 gp), 1 3rd-level wand (11,250-15,750 gp), 1 4th-level scroll (700-1,000 gp), and 1 Necklace of Adaptation (9,000 gp). However, we re-roll the potions and the 1st-level scroll, since these gp values fall below Rosevale's base value.
Re-rolling:
We get a minor wondrous item instead of the 1st potion (: Bag of Holding Type I (2,500 gp).
. . . et cetera.
EDIT: Super-ninja'd by faster typers ;)
OK, I think I've got it now. Thanks for the help, everyone.
Just to add a different voice...
It's worth noting that if you go down this path, it works quite well, but it's tedious:
First, it's a bunch of rolling to figure out what items are in the village/town/city/etc. But then you have to decide where. Maybe there is only one guy who sells magic items, in which case it's easier. But what about a big city that has 8 or 10 merchants that carry this kind of stuff - now you have to split it up. More work.
Second, it can be really strange if none of your random rolls generate any potions, but your town has a little old alchemist who brews potions for sale to the town. When your PCs go visit this shop, it will have no merchandise.
Third, the really tedious part. You have to save these lists somewhere and modify them. So you've finally decided what items each of the 4 merchants has in stock. Your PCs visit them all but find nothing they want to buy. Then they run off to a dungeon. They come back a couple weeks later. One player remembers that Walter's Wizardly Wands has a wand he wanted to buy. Another player remembers that Sam's Super Smithy has a magic sword he wanted. But do you remember exactly what that wand was or how many charges it had? Do you remember what that sword was? Was it a longsword? You better have that list.
Fourth, the really really tedious part. You have to change that list. If your world is so realistic that you track the individual inventories of different merchants, then your players probably expect a sense of realism. Those merchants should probably sell some of their stuff, once in a while, to NPCs. They should make or purchase new stuff from time to time. Which means, when the PCs get back from a long dungeon romp, and one of them heads off to get that sword at Sam's Super Smithy, he might find out that Sam sold the sword but now he has a suit of magic banded mail for sale in its place.
(note, there are no tables for how often an item is sold or how often new items become available)
That's an awful lot of tracking everything.
For me, I tell the players to decide what they want and ask me for it. I make a quick decision about how powerful that item is, and how rare it is (a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds and a potion of Spider Climb might be the same level, but they are not likely to be equally in demand). Once I have that decision, I compare that to the economy of the town we're in, then I tell the player to make a "luck" roll. Percentile. The higher the better. If it's a good econmy and a common item, it's very nearly always available, so even rolling a 10 might suffice. If it's a rare and powerful item in a small remote village, it might take a roll of 00 to find such an item.
This way, I don't need lists, or tedious die rolling. It's quick and dirty but it lets us get right on with playing.
It's also worth noting that the tables (from 3.5) that determine what specific kind of item you get (say... a battleaxe or a shield or whatever) are not in the CRB.
The official method says the GM should just pick the item types arbitrarily, but that always seemed weird to me. Rather, I'll direct yu to the complete loot tables in the new GameMastery Guide.
Do remember that random generation is just a tool for when the GM can't or won't make specific decisions about loot. Using the tables exclusively to generate every piece of treasure is not advised by me.