One of the bits I often toss to the side when planning out a series of adventures or even a campaign is loot. With the vast array of possible loot available in 4e and the picky tastes of my players, I often just hand-wave it, either by using Asmor’s random loot generator or by just tossing a lot of cash at the PCs to let the players buy what they want. In the rare circumstances where I plan out for particular loot items, I’m often disappointed to find that that excellent +4 flaming glaive isn’t as desired by our glave wielding fighter as the +3 bloodclaw glaive he already has.
Today we’re going to look at a trick for handling loot in a more desired method that gives players some freedom to choose what they want but doesn’t completely remove the appeal of the random drop.
Magic Gems
One way to give more freedom to players without wrecking the immersion of the game by stating “Just pick out a level 8 or lower item of your choice” is to add a new type of loot in the form of a magic gem. These gems, entitled “Fey-gem”, “Shadowgem”, “Primordial Gem”, or “Astral Gem” will have a set type and a set level. These gems can be traded in, crushed, and used to enchant powerful magic items of a certain level. For example, a 9th level Fey-Emerald can be used to create a 9th level or lower set of armor. A 18th level Primordial Diamond can be used to enchant a 18th level or lower weapon or implement.
For my own game, I designed the following gem types:
Emerald = Armor
Diamond = Weapon or Implement
Sapphire = Neck
Ruby = Arms, Hands, Feet, Head
This lets me limit the TYPE of item I am giving out in a treasure parsal without reducing the PC’s ability to pick the item they want.
Use Sparingly
It could become very easy to depend on such a system. It is simple and easy, players will like it because they get what they want and you’ll like it because its easy. Using it all the time, however, is simply lazy. Sometimes the item most memorable to a player is the one they weren’t expecting. Assume that this gem system frees you up to spend time on some really unique items to reward to your players, legacy items perhaps, that define them as a character. You should also not omit the value of random loot as well. Sometimes neither you nor the players will know how much fun an item can be until it randomly shows up.
For these reasons, I recommend using all three systems. Use a gem-based loot system for the bulk of the items that drop. Sprinkle in some random loot to make life a bit more exciting. Finally, spend time on the really amazing items that will wow your players and maybe even help define their characters.
Absolutely brilliant! Love this idea – it really will resolve some of the tendency of having to deal with a “wish list”.
I like this, but wonder how it’d be valued in the economy. I would think that an 18th level gem would be rather valuable…and how to give the PC an incentive not to just sell the gem in order to say, buy a higher level item.
That said, for Eberron making these dragonshards seems to me to be a no brainer.
Wonderful idea, and will be implemented in my campaign immediately.
Cool! I could also see some really cool story applications for these gems. Like, how are they created? Allows for some nifty story usage such as maybe the invocation of the “aura” of a now-deceased warrior, which is able to craft these things by being focused into one spot. Or, in a darker twist, maybe it’s human souls trapped in the stone that fuel the gem…
@Dean: There’s always the laws of supply and demand. How many merchants will be able to make use of or sell such a gem? In the cities, sure, maybe there’s a market for it, but in the wild countryside? A peasant certainly won’t have much use for an Astral Emerald…he doesn’t really need a +2 Shovel of Victory…
Alternatively, such gems could maybe be bonded to the member of the party who receives them, unable to be broken by anyone but them. That instantly makes them nothing more than pretty, rare glass to anyone else. Not exactly very valuable any more, except to make a magic item.
I think this is an excellent idea, greatly freed up my time to design some big legacy items for my players while still having some control over the overall balance of the treasure coming out.
I pictured them as gems specially crafted by Moradin and Ioun as a bounty for true heroes. To anyone else who encounters the gem, it’s just a regular gem and the true nature of the gem is only revealed when a hero (PC) comes to possess it. I think that tidily explains why you would ever find one (why the monsters you killed didn’t just make themselves a tasty weapon to beat you with), why you can’t sell them and allows me to use one set of loot cards that scale in value as they are found.
I also included Onyx gems as very rare finds that allow you to disenchant existing items and turn them into something else. Basically a rare opportunity to sell old items at 100% value.
If anyone is interested in the loot cards they can be found at:
http://rapidshare.com/files/324445226/Loot_Cards.rar
Thx for the great idea!
I forgot to mention, in the card sets the values are:
Flawless Gems: Level +2
Superior Gems: Level +1
No Adjective: = Level
Flawed Gems: Level -1