Zaq
2013-04-05, 02:59 PM
[Disclaimer: I'm not currently even in a 3.5 game, and I have no plans to GM one ever again, since I'm bad at it and don't have the energy. This is strictly theoretical.]
So, items are a huge part of a character in 3.5. Like it or hate it, it's true. But recently, I've been tickled by the idea of loot tables. Used as-is with no regard for the campaign, they can feel clunky, almost barbaric (they are, after all, a throwback to earlier days), but let's say for the sake of argument that you want to use them for some reason.
Starting from the premise that the idea of PC wishlists is to be entirely disregarded and the players will get nothing but randomly rolled loot (though I'll mention that the tables used for this theoretical generation should be as broad as possible; we don't want to cut out non-DMG items, after all), what inherent tricks should be given to the PCs to ensure that they can still face appropriate challenges?
(Let's say that the party contains no crafters, and that magic mart access is highly restricted (no, even if you can magic your way to Sigil, that defeats the point of the enterprise). Hell, let's even say that the party contains no Wizards or Archivists, so the concept of buying new spells just isn't an issue. (Other full casters, fine, but I'm just trying to make things easy.) Let's say that the party is on board with this idea, and while they're free to use their resources to meet challenges, they're not looking to directly obviate this whole idea by all playing Sorcerers or whatever.)
First off, we have to do something with the raw numbers of the system. Ability scores could be handled with something akin to the VoP suite of bonuses (without using VoP itself, of course). We could say that everyone has the ability to cast an extraordinary GMW-style effect once or twice per day, based on their character level. I'm not sure how to handle AC, since so much of that comes from little bonuses scrounged up here and there rather than from one overarching source. Also, just to be nice to fightin'-man types, we'll say that everyone has the Warblade's ability to shuffle around weapon feats as needed, and we'll say that any character who primarily relies on hitting things can adapt to use whatever weapons they find with minimal difficulty with proficiency. We're trying to have people using weird items, not mandate that EWP take up the bulk of everyone's feat list.
But numbers are the easy part. We just figure out roughly what numbers we want the PCs to be sporting, then we throw in random inherent cookies until the numbers match what we expect. That's easy. Unfortunately, PCs need more than numbers to succeed in 3.5. They need movement, especially flight. They need weird sensory modes. They need resistances and immunities. How do we make sure that our randomly-equipped party isn't cut to ribbons by the first flying enemy they see? What's a fair way to hand out the miscellaneous benefits that everyone knows you eventually need without just giving everyone spells?
So, to recap, we have a party who's expecting to get plenty of loot, but they're not expecting to choose any of it, including through crafting or purchasing. We want to be able to send them against the same challenges you'd send a typical party up against. If you were in this situation, what would you do to give the PCs a fighting chance? What boons do we have to give out to make sure this isn't doomed from the start, and how would you handle it?
So, items are a huge part of a character in 3.5. Like it or hate it, it's true. But recently, I've been tickled by the idea of loot tables. Used as-is with no regard for the campaign, they can feel clunky, almost barbaric (they are, after all, a throwback to earlier days), but let's say for the sake of argument that you want to use them for some reason.
Starting from the premise that the idea of PC wishlists is to be entirely disregarded and the players will get nothing but randomly rolled loot (though I'll mention that the tables used for this theoretical generation should be as broad as possible; we don't want to cut out non-DMG items, after all), what inherent tricks should be given to the PCs to ensure that they can still face appropriate challenges?
(Let's say that the party contains no crafters, and that magic mart access is highly restricted (no, even if you can magic your way to Sigil, that defeats the point of the enterprise). Hell, let's even say that the party contains no Wizards or Archivists, so the concept of buying new spells just isn't an issue. (Other full casters, fine, but I'm just trying to make things easy.) Let's say that the party is on board with this idea, and while they're free to use their resources to meet challenges, they're not looking to directly obviate this whole idea by all playing Sorcerers or whatever.)
First off, we have to do something with the raw numbers of the system. Ability scores could be handled with something akin to the VoP suite of bonuses (without using VoP itself, of course). We could say that everyone has the ability to cast an extraordinary GMW-style effect once or twice per day, based on their character level. I'm not sure how to handle AC, since so much of that comes from little bonuses scrounged up here and there rather than from one overarching source. Also, just to be nice to fightin'-man types, we'll say that everyone has the Warblade's ability to shuffle around weapon feats as needed, and we'll say that any character who primarily relies on hitting things can adapt to use whatever weapons they find with minimal difficulty with proficiency. We're trying to have people using weird items, not mandate that EWP take up the bulk of everyone's feat list.
But numbers are the easy part. We just figure out roughly what numbers we want the PCs to be sporting, then we throw in random inherent cookies until the numbers match what we expect. That's easy. Unfortunately, PCs need more than numbers to succeed in 3.5. They need movement, especially flight. They need weird sensory modes. They need resistances and immunities. How do we make sure that our randomly-equipped party isn't cut to ribbons by the first flying enemy they see? What's a fair way to hand out the miscellaneous benefits that everyone knows you eventually need without just giving everyone spells?
So, to recap, we have a party who's expecting to get plenty of loot, but they're not expecting to choose any of it, including through crafting or purchasing. We want to be able to send them against the same challenges you'd send a typical party up against. If you were in this situation, what would you do to give the PCs a fighting chance? What boons do we have to give out to make sure this isn't doomed from the start, and how would you handle it?