I'm running AoW, and it is the first "out of the box" adventure I've run since the red-box D&D basic edition, so I'm looking for some advice on distributing magic items.
One of my players is going for the Hulking Hurler PrC, and wants to throw stuff as a lower-level character, but javelins, spears, and throwing hammers just don't fit the color. I'd like to help the guy out a bit. I'm thinking of a shield with the "ranged" ability in Expanded Psionics.
Why does this matter? Well, this item doesn't show up in treasure hoards in AoW. Should I swap out a similar magic item from another hoard in the game, or introduce an NPC enemy who uses the shield/weapon?
The last questions don't actually matter as much as this one: Am I catering to my players too much if I provide them with magic items tailored for their characters?
I'd probably work the item in if it was a home-brew campaign. But maybe that's because I'm a sucker for my player's happiness.
Advice?
Are you a sucker? Maybe - I don't know you that well to decide. :D
I try to tailor encounters to players so they can get treasure that's useful; for example, I have two small PCs (both halflings), so I arranged for them to get ambushed by kobolds, and one kobold just happened to have a rapier (what one uses) and a dagger (what the other uses).
Your case is kinda odd, though. He very well might be a one-of-a-kind type of character. That makes it difficult to place treasure for him - nobody else is likely to have his fighting style.
I would try to find unique ways to allow his current shield to "level up" with him. The Book of Exalted Deeds has a decent feat for this, called Ancestral Relic. If he qualifies, that could solve your problem. Otherwise, I'd recommend using the feat as a basis for building some sort of ritual for your game to allow his weapon to increase in power without needing a spellcaster to use Craft Arms and Armor.
You should make it fair - have him pay the gold, and have him need to expend his life energy (XP) during the ceremony. But it should end up being something cool the player remembers.
If he's going to get supersized and then become a hulking hurler, why not have him learn how to throw the Orcish shot put?
Where is the shot put, and does it cost an exotic weapon feat?
You're not a sucker for wanting to have your players happy. But happiness may not always come in the guise of a free lunch (or free ranged shield - mmmmm... free range chicken).
I'd suggest that you do NOT just give him the magic item. Playing a character with a unique style and strategy is part of the game - but there are consequences for choosing such a unique style.
Allow him to have an item created in the Free City at his expense. That way, it fits his style, and he can actually design it himself.
Later on, when the party gets to the giant city perhaps THEN it would be appropriate to have some hulking hurler type magical items.
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Whenever I run an adventure/campaign, I try to tailor the treasure to the party make-up, especially magic items. A magic item is only cool if someone wants it. Whats the sense of giving a Holy Avenger to a party without a Paladin? or a Dwarven Thrower to,...well you get the point. Weapons I try to make useful to the party, minor magic items(scrolls, wands, potions and wonderous items), I leave to chance (except when rewarding a caster, mostly), but Armor and Weapons and Important stuff I like to distribute myself. Most campaigns I run leave the players with a limited ability to buy items of higher magical ability. At most a shop may have a +2 weapon for sale, or the equivilent value in other items. Do what you feel will make getting a magic item seem special. If I can buy anything in the books whenever I like, why would a +1 Returning javilin be anything special?
as always IMO
FH
I agree with you, FH but it just seems too convienient that the only warrior for 9,000 miles who uses a left handed glaive guisarme happens to find a +2 shock left handed glaive guisarme.
Swords, axes, and armor are things that generally any and all warriors use hence they are more common. If there's a chance that the particular dungeon would have the unique item then by all means put it in there. But the more unique a weapon a player is looking for the harder it should be to find.
But as always, Rule 1... DM's world.
I agree with Timault - if your player is going to pick an odd weapon, it's difficult to justify finding a fancy magic one in every other dungeon.
Which is why earlier I suggested finding other means to allow the PC to improve his own weapon. Ancestral Relic from Book of Exalted Deeds is one option (and while it's in the BoED, it's not an Exalted feat). Something akin to the stuff in Weapons of Legacy works, too - allow the PC some sort of bonding ritual with the odd weapon, and then every so often he can undergo some bizarre, flavorful ceremony to upgrade his weapon.
And, of course, there's always the "commission somebody who has Craft Magic Arms and Armor to upgrade it" path. ;)
So, how does this sound: My PLAYER knows his character is going to become a Hulking Hurler, but his CHARACTER does not yet know this. What kind of thing would inspire someone to say "I want to become big and throw stuff?"
How about a nefarious NPC villian who advances in power slightly ahead of the party? A Warforged who is permanently enlarged, and throws a Ranged Deep Crystal Shield? Someone who always gets away at the last minute, and someone who shows up to harass the party at the worst possible time?
Is this too convenient? Right now, my player doesn't know he wants a ranged shield. He doesn't know he wants any kind of cool throwing weapon. I'm trying to give him the opportunity to color his character in a way that he will appreciate.
I suppose the right thing to do, if I designed an encounter as stated above, would be to have some chance that the character would not get the shield. For instance, if "X" happens, then the shield is destroyed or lost. That way, my player is exposed to a creative idea (and this might plant the idea for him creating the shield himself), but I'm not giving things away.
What do you all think?
So, how does this sound: My PLAYER knows his character is going to become a Hulking Hurler, but his CHARACTER does not yet know this. What kind of thing would inspire someone to say "I want to become big and throw stuff?"
Not knowing your campaign exactly, here's a rough idea:
The character grew up in a keep that was subject to raiding by (insert local bad guys here). As an apprentice fighter, he used to help man the gatehouse and dropped rocks and other defensive seige weaponry on (local bad guys) or perhaps he aided a catapult crew in some fashion. He might become a Hulking Hurler out of an interest in this sort of weaponry.
Just an idea.
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I agree with you, FH but it just seems too convienient that the only warrior for 9,000 miles who uses a left handed glaive guisarme happens to find a +2 shock left handed glaive guisarme.
Swords, axes, and armor are things that generally any and all warriors use hence they are more common. If there's a chance that the particular dungeon would have the unique item then by all means put it in there. But the more unique a weapon a player is looking for the harder it should be to find.
But as always, Rule 1... DM's world.
Glaives come in left-handed varieties? Anyway, I usually do some sort of upgradable weapons in my own campaigns. I was using magic gems back in the early 80's to give weapons different enchantments. I need to upgrade my system to 3.5 for my upcoming campaign but what I meant was the more generic stuff. Like a longsword or a club or a breastplate, not a Cold-iron,mercurial greatsword of whupping-arse just because the fighter has a coldiron greatsword of heiney-kicking that needs an upgrade. I absolutely agree that exotic weapons should be a bit of a rarity, but not every weapon weilded by every character is an exotic weapon. Common sense needs to be applied to each situation individually, I was only offering a suggestion on how to handle the finding/buying of magic weapons. I find it more unlikely that a shop in town will have a +2 shock left-handed glaive guisarme sitting around waiting to be bought or can have one made on command, quickly. I use the magic gem enhancements to add an easier method of upgrading an already magic weapon and the gem encrusted weapon becomes more of an item of pride to a PC.
Dammit, now I need to go work on my old system to work out the kinks for 3.5.;)as always IMO
FH
More info on the character in question.
He is a Warforged Fighter in an Eberron-flavored Age of Worms campaign. He was found, disabled, in one of Luzane Parrin's mines, with few memories. He shortly found out that he remembered how to fight.
He plans to become a Warforged Juggernaut first. The party mage will cast a permanent Enlarge Person on him to satisfy the Hulking Hurler requirement for a large character, and then he'll start levelling in that. For color, the party artificer (the one who found him) now infuses him with Enlarge Person, and he is getting "addicted" to it.
I'd like some options for ranged weapons that don't cost feats for him. I think he'd have more fun with his character if he could get a unique magic weapon.
Thanks for all your input. I'll check back here for more.
I wasn’t aware that having someone cast Enlarge Person on a subject would qualify the person for the Hulking Hurler prestige class. What happens the first time this character gets hit by any Dispel Magic effect and he gets stripped of his Enlarge Person spell?
He plans to become a Warforged Juggernaut first. The party mage will cast a permanent Enlarge Person on him to satisfy the Hulking Hurler requirement for a large character, and then he'll start levelling in that. For color, the party artificer (the one who found him) now infuses him with Enlarge Person, and he is getting "addicted" to it.
You do realize that enlarge person doesn't work on warforged, right? They're constructs, not humanoids.
If you've house-ruled otherwise, that's fine, of course.
Generally speaking I'd leave the treasure alone - if players want something like a magic spiked chain of super dooper tripping bonus +5 they can buy it themselves - nicely drains them of all that excess gold they have been carting around and gives them something to save their pennies for. Plus the player in question might actually appreciate the magic item he goes out and commissions with his hard earned treasure more then the one that falls from the sky - especially if he just thinks the DM made it fall from the sky particularly for him and if he was not around there is no chance this item would be in this horde.
A warforged is a living construct, not just a construct. I see nothing in the description of the warforged that states that enlarge person does not apply to it. So, I think allowing Enlarge Person on a warforged is not a house rule. Any other thoughts on this?
Also, I've never found anything in the PrC requirements that state that a pre-req cannot be magically gained. So, I don't think the rules prevent a permanent enlarge person from becoming a hulking hurler. If such a character became medium or smaller, by any means, then yes, I would rule that they lost all class features. I'm not sure if this is handled elsewhere, but I would allow them to keep hit dice, skills, and feats, and continue to treat them as the same level. I would prevent them from using class abilities.
Back on topic, thanks for the feedback. I most certainly will not drop a magic item custom tailored for a character in a treasure hoarde. Any treasure that I "design" for a character will be firmly in the hands of their enemies ;)
A warforged is a living construct, not just a construct. I see nothing in the description of the warforged that states that enlarge person does not apply to it.
You're looking in the wrong place. Look at the spell description:
Target: One humanoid creature
Warforged are not humanoids. They are constructs. Yes, they have the (living construct) subtype, but that doesn't matter, because they are the wrong type to be affected by the spell.
If the spell's Target entry read: "One living creature", it would affect a warforged (despite the fact that they are constructs, which are ordinarily excluded from the definition of "living creature"). But it doesn't. As written, enlarge person doesn't work on any type of creature except humanoids. It doesn't work on animals (not even apes or other humanoid-shaped ones), it doesn't work on undead (not even those that used to be humanoids), it doesn't work on monstrous humanoids (because they are a separate type all by themselves, and not a subtype of humanoid)...and it doesn't work on constructs, whether they're living or not.
Unless, of course, you house-rule otherwise.
Vege is correct.
Hmmm... Very interesting. Since I've already kind of made the agreement with my player that he can do this, I'd feel like a bit of a chump going back on it now.
Of course, there is another option--the party could go on a mission to Xen'Drik to uncover the mythical infusion "Enlarge Construct." Or, perhaps the party wizard could research such a spell.
If I were to allow the creation of such a spell, would it break the game (for that matter, does allowing "Enlarge Person" to be used on a warforged break the game?) If such a spell existed, would it be the same level as Enlarge Person, or would it be a higher level?
If I were to allow the creation of such a spell, would it break the game (for that matter, does allowing "Enlarge Person" to be used on a warforged break the game?) If such a spell existed, would it be the same level as Enlarge Person, or would it be a higher level?
No, allowing enlarge person to be used on warforged doesn't break the game. What it does do, however, is muddy up an otherwise clear rules issue. Enlarge person works on "X" type (and only "X" type) of creature...but also on warforged. Does that mean if we have a spell that works only on aberrations, it also works on warforged? If not, why not? It did when the creature type in question was "humanoid"!
And what do you do with a spell like searing light, which does 1d8 damage per two caster levels to humanoids, but only 1d6 damage per two caster levels to constructs? Do warforged gain the benefit of being constructs in this case, or are they considered to be humanoids for purposes of this spell as well?
It would be far better (IMO) to create the enlarge construct (or better yet, enlarge warforged) spell/infusion you propose than to simply allow enlarge person to affect warforged. For the sake of balance, I'd recommend setting its level one higher than enlarge person. There should, after all, be some tradeoff in exchange for warforged being immune to charm person, hold person, etc.
Orc Shot Puts are also statted up in my adventure "Throne of Iuz," which appeared in Dungeon 118. That's a lot cheaper to buy than the Arms & Equipment Guide.
Also, I'm all for tailoring treasure piles to my players' needs.
I even have a house rule to help small characters:
MAGIC WEAPONS, ARMOR AND WONDROUS ITEMS: At a cost of 200 EXP plus 100 per size change, magic weapons, magic armor, and wondrous items resize to their wielder's base size. Damage and ranges are effected by this change.