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Overshee
2009-12-23, 01:54 AM
Howdy all, long time OotS reader, first time poster on these forums :)

Anyways, our group is gonna be playing DnD 3.5 soonish and we are playing around with an alternate way to get our magic items. Rather than have the GM assign us stuff, we thought a point buy system or something along those lines might work better in getting us the items we want.

I was thinking a mix of totally random (using an online loot generator) drops from monsters and such. These items get distributed among the party randomly (probably in the form of cards for swapping amoung players).

These items can then be traded in at a reduced value for handpicked items.



I'd be interested in what you guys think of my idea, how to make it work better, and any other similar systems you've used or seen.

Thanks,
Overshee

Sstoopidtallkid
2009-12-23, 01:55 AM
MIC has a system of item levels that you may want to look at. It's better than counting coppers.

Overshee
2009-12-23, 01:56 AM
MIC has a system of item levels that you may want to look at. It's better than counting coppers.

Maybe this is a stupid or JFGI question, but what/who is MIC?

Kosjsjach
2009-12-23, 01:58 AM
MIC has a system of item levels that you may want to look at. It's better than counting coppers.

I'll second this. It's quick, easy, and efficient. If you start at 6th level, each character gets their choice of 2 "6th-level" items, and 2 of each subsequent level.

EDIT: MIC stands for Magic Item Compendium. A sweet book indeed.

Overshee
2009-12-23, 01:34 PM
I'll second this. It's quick, easy, and efficient. If you start at 6th level, each character gets their choice of 2 "6th-level" items, and 2 of each subsequent level.

EDIT: MIC stands for Magic Item Compendium. A sweet book indeed.

This isn't just for starting characters, we were looking for a way to use it throughout the game. I guess the standard "sell for 50%" would work, then we could use this money to buy new items.

One thing I don't understand is item upgrades. How do they work?

Thrice Dead Cat
2009-12-23, 02:19 PM
This isn't just for starting characters, we were looking for a way to use it throughout the game. I guess the standard "sell for 50%" would work, then we could use this money to buy new items.

One thing I don't understand is item upgrades. How do they work?

So, I have a Headband of Intelligence +2, which normally runs for 4k GP. I want a +4 version instead, which costs 16k. Just take the difference and you're done. Thus, in this case, to upgrade it, it would cost 12k. Things are a little different if, say you added another property to the headband, but then it's just the new function at 1.5x normal cost.

Tavar
2009-12-23, 02:22 PM
Actually, with the Magic Item Compenduim, you can have 2 different properties on an item without incurring that cost: the designers justify it because there are so many required items that otherwise you really don't end up using the odder ones.

Overshee
2009-12-23, 02:31 PM
On a more personal note, my psychic warrior wants to eventually get a Keen Deep Crystal Falchion with Mindfeeder (Once per day, a mindfeeder weapon grants its wielder temporary power points equal to the total lethal damage dealt by a successful critical hit.).

This would give me a 1/4 chance every attack roll (my group doesn't use threat, just crits) to give me a lot of extra powerpoints for a battle, which I could spend on powers or damage with my deep crystal weapon.

Assuming we start with the standard 9K gold for 5th level, I could easily get the Keen Deep Crystal Falchion for 3075gp. How much would adding mindfeeder, a +3 bonus, cost me? 18,000?

Tavar
2009-12-23, 02:36 PM
First off, before you add special qualities a weapon must be +1. Also, to figure price, you add the enhancement bonus+ the effective enhancement bonuses for each special quality. This is the total Effective enhancement bonus for the weapon, which is what you use to determine the cost. In your case, it's 1+1+3=5, so it's the same cost as a +5 weapon.

Overshee
2009-12-23, 02:38 PM
First off, before you add special qualities a weapon must be +1. Also, to figure price, you add the enhancement bonus+ the effective enhancement bonuses for each special quality. This is the total Effective enhancement bonus for the weapon, which is what you use to determine the cost. In your case, it's 1+1+3=5, so it's the same cost as a +5 weapon.

Masterwork adds +1, so could I just do that or is it specifically magic?

Tavar
2009-12-23, 02:41 PM
Masterwork does not equal a +1 bonus(it gives a +1 bonus only on attack rolls). After all, all magical weapons must be Masterwork. The +1 bonus is an entirely different thing: a masterwork sword is not the same as a +1 sword, though both are masterwork.

Overshee
2009-12-23, 02:44 PM
Masterwork does not equal a +1 bonus(it gives a +1 bonus only on attack rolls). After all, all magical weapons must be Masterwork. The +1 bonus is an entirely different thing: a masterwork sword is not the same as a +1 sword, though both are masterwork.

OK so 9,075 for the base, then a 18,000 upgrade to get mindfeeder.

Would it be better to get a greatsword because even though the threat range is smaller it does more damage when I'm large?

Tavar
2009-12-23, 02:48 PM
Nononono......
The cost is the enhancement bonus of the weapon, in this case a +5, so it's 50,000 gp to buy one, or 42,000 gp to upgrade a +2 equivalent weapon to it.

Overshee
2009-12-23, 03:08 PM
Nononono......
The cost is the enhancement bonus of the weapon, in this case a +5, so it's 50,000 gp to buy one, or 42,000 gp to upgrade a +2 equivalent weapon to it.

Aah. So that's out of the window :-P

Any more affordable ideas of what I could get?

Tavar
2009-12-23, 03:20 PM
Well, I'd just not get anything beyond a simple +1 bonus. Then, when you get high enough, get the wounding property. It's +2, but it deals 1 con damage per hit. That means every 2 hits deals and additional -1hp per HD, reduces their Fort save, and if you get Con down to 0 they die.

ericgrau
2009-12-23, 03:26 PM
Excel magic item generator, all items in the SRD, in case you want players to pick from a limited list:
http://ericgrau.fileave.com/magic_item_shop.zip

Point costs for +X bonus items only, where 1 point = 1,000 gp:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134805