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My group's wizard managed to find a magic staff at a second hand magic shop. The dealer was very shady. Anyway, So far the staff's been holding up, do you think it would be an a$#*!!! move to start rolling to see if it starts to break/malfunction/cause spells to blow up in the wizard's face.
He's had it for a few months now, I've been thinking of doing a whole "used car" scenerio.
They've run into shady sales-men several times already, and he didn't check the staff over carefully upon buying it.
Well... What if it's actually... You know... Intelligent?
It's been shutting up so far because it wanted to see how the wizard could handle things, but after a while it realized (or came to believe anyway) that the wizard is completely incompetent and needs some "guidance".
Maybe it keeps comparing the wizard to his "previous master" and starts going on and on and on.
The staff should, of course, work perfectly well aside from the fact that it keeps on talking.
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Break/blow up = dick move.
Acting weirdly/unexpectedly = cool roleplaying opportunity.
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In my opinion, it depends a lot on your game and what happened.
Buying from a "shady" merchant doesn't necessarily mean inferior goods. I think to be fair your player(s) need to have some understanding from you (or past experience in your game) that magic items they buy from "shady" sources can be cursed, broken, inferior or somehow "different". So, I feel it's a bit situational and whether it's a a&&@#+* move on the GM's part is largely a matter of player expectations. You hit a player out of the blue with crippling what is probably an item of importance to the player and they'll probably resent it, and I wouldn't blame them.
Another factor I'd look at is what he or she paid. Shady to me largely relates to provender (where'd the merchant get the item). But if the character got the item cheap (e.g. paying 10K gold for an item that normally costs 20K gold), then they've got to wonder why someone, even a shady dealler, is willing to let the item go so cheap. Also, if they got it cheap, they feel less cheated. If they paid full price, they'll feel worse. But again, this comes back to player expectations.
On the other hand, this is a "roleplaying" game. So, by default I don't think it would be out of line to introduce roleplaying elements attached to a purchase from a "shady" source, such as the real owner of the staff (or his/her agents) coming onto the scene. This can range from simply filing a police report and the character being in danger of arrest in certain towns/cities/kingdoms, to sending someone to collect the item (thief, or worse yet, a lawyer with a court order), or simply the characters finding that they really, really need someone's help/info/skills or really, really need someone to give them a key itme or clue, and that someone turns out to the be person who's staff was stolen. Maybe the real owner will let the character keep the item ("maybe we can settle this... I've got this task I need doing you see). Other than the real owner, other possible roleplaying elements might be the staff's associated reputation ("yikes! that guy is carring Tim the Child Eater's staff") or importance ("you bear the staff of Unguld Stormweaver, the King's long lost son... he might have some questions for you").
If you decide to go the route of tampering with the item itself, I wouldn't cripple the item. Instead add a quirk, or a plot device (the aforementioned Intelligent item... maybe it has a guest that needs doing). You might also consider making any changes both bad and good, both so the player doesn't feel you're simply gimping them and for roleplaying fun. "When you use the staff (or a certain spell from the staff) it lines you in faerie fire (as if cast by you from the staff), but you find that you have +1 to penetrate SR using spells from the staff."
But in the end, asking others whether it's a a&&@#+* move on your part is pointless because you'll get opinions on both sides (yes and no) and will do what you want anyway. So I really do think it depends on you and your players, and your players' expectations, because in large part the game is intended to be fun, and so it's really more important to ask the question whether your players will think it's a a&&@#+* move on your part.
The money is to me far less interesting because as DM you can always recompense them for the loss. A good solid RP hook in the form of an item purchased from a shady person can always be made up with cash in other forms later to balance out the WBL regardless of how much or little the guy paid for it.
That being said- the easiest quirk by far is for the original owner to come back looking for it.
".. You didn't steal it. really? A staff of power for TEN THOUSAND GOLD and you didn't THINK it might be STOLEN!? Give it BACK you THIEF!"
If its priced "too good to be true" then the PC's should be far less surprised when this sort of thing happens.
Of course, maybe he doesn't want it back. "Ok you have my staff, you are working for me now. and here's a list you can get started with."
Or maybe its an intelligent staff owned by the BBEG who planted the shady dealer to get into the PC's hands. once he's reliant on it, it turns against him (preferably later on, in battle(s) against the BBEG or even in minor ways such as having telepathy at range to communicate with Big Bad's familiar and inform him of what the PC's have been upto..)
As for blowing up, having weird quirks.. thats really up to you and your group. Some would find that absolutely hilariously awesome and others would find it terminally "anti" and shouldn't be done. Thats just somethign you have to gauge based on the players, you, and how the campaigns normally run.
I would say generally- the more amusing and non-interfering the "quirk" the more fun and less annoying I'd find it to be.
-S
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I might add that the store was called "Honest John's Discount Adventurer's Eporium, Quality second hand gear, at low prices."
And they got ripped off, payed way more than the staff should have been worth.
They've already had trouble with a two-copper trull (the half-orc's pride nearly rotted off from that little encounter)
Had to deal with a artifical leg dealer who tried to rip them off, and used his postition as a guardsman's nephew to avoid having the half-orc beat his face in WITH the shoddy peg leg the man was trying to sell.
Ran into a girdle of oppsite gender that the wizard used.
And found an intellegent bow, that's got a major attitude problem and will constantly sass and talk back to its user.
Break/blow up = dick move.
Acting weirdly/unexpectedly = cool roleplaying opportunity.
+1
Agreed.
You shouldn't suddenly mess with the players for your own amusement, but creating a good roleplaying encounter can be fun for everyone.
Blowing up the staff just shows your players not to trust you.
Like Weaton says...Don't be a D*ck.