This is related to Who Gets the Magic Item You Found?
Who is actually going to use it?
Another option for handing out magic items is simply, who will actually use it? This approach hands off items - especially charged or consumable items, although not always - to the person most likely to actually use it. Yes, the high-DX Thief might actually be the best person to give a grenade-type potion to, but if the Thief isn't ever going to be ready to throw it, it's not a great choice. The wizard might be the most likely to use a wand, even if giving it to another PC means you have multiple sources of magical attack. The cleric might benefit the most from an undead-turning item, but if the cleric will generally end up healing and not turning, giving it to someone else might be a better solution. Somethings this isn't template or character based, but player based - some players are more likely to hold on to items until they really need it, others to use it whever it seems like a good choice. Conversely, you might keep certain items away from certain PCs or players because they're unlikely to use it well - the guy who insists on using his new-fangled Wand of Fireballs every fight, or who tosses back rare potions just to get to use them up. This approach chooses actually basic utility over maximal utility, either chosen to avoid waste or avoid lack of use.
Finders, Keepers
Even in a cooperative game, sometimes the person who gets it is the person who finds it. Or the group that finds in. In a rotating cast of PCs game, a delve might leave out the dwarf fighter because that player is busy on game day, only to find dwarf-sized magic armor . . . and sell it, trade it, or give it to some dwarf NPC because the PC wasn't around to earn it. You may have to have some part in the finding to have any part of the keeping.
Any I missed, in this post or the previous one?
As far as I can see, just one (and it's the one I most often see in play):
ReplyDeleteNo One/Purchase Item Out Of Your Share Of The Loot
"No One" means just that, all loot is sold, everyone just commissions/buys equipment off the rack.
In the later system all loot is calculated as though it were to be sold, everyone is told what their share size is, and then if someone wants a piece of kit that is being sold, they can "buy it" using their share (plus any pocket moneys if necessary) from the group's loot total. This way everyone still gets an equal share, but if someone really wants a piece of kit, they can exercise the option* to get it.
Only time I've ever seen two PCs want the same piece of kit, we auctioned it to them, with the starting price being it's loot value. The winner of the auction ended up buying for double it's loot value, which was still less than it's commissioned price, and everyone else got a bump in their loot share for that adventure.
This method requires a bit of 'meta-coordination' from the Players... or just one very diligent bursar, who probably also acts as the party's Face/Merchant/Agent, who is doing this job IC as well as OC. (Yes, frequently that ends up being me or my buddy when we play, one of us always ends up playing the PC who is super concerned about the party equipment, loot, etc, makes investments int eh company's name, etc... and tries very much to organize "the Party" like a mercenary or Privateer org.)
* Which can get complicated or simple, it all depends on who the party is organized (formally or informally, loosely or tightly, etc), if there is "money owed" to one person or another, tenure/hierarchy within the org, etc. I've played 'ye olde murderhoboery' as well as 'highly detailed mercenary/privateer charter' games with this "loot disbursement' system and both are fun, just in different ways.
Interesting. I've never encountered that, as far as I can remember. One issue I'd see if I used that in my games is that I don't toss around a huge number of magic items, but I do hand out unique, especially powerful items. The Razor, Gram, Shieldslayer, Sigurd's Sword, and Agar's Wand to just name a few weapons. No one would be able to afford those out of their share, so I'm not sure how that would play out. Owe cash until the putative price is paid out? And how do you price unique items that don't come with a game system calculable price? "How much we'd get at the market" is just tossing the cost issue back to the GM, honestly, and if I didn't put a price on it I'd get grumpy if I had to do that later.
Delete