explaining item creation to newbies

[tim01300]

So I am DM in a group with one other experienced player and 3 players who are first timers. They are starting to get their hands on some real gold but don't understand how the cost of making weapons and armor works or what abilities they can put on these items.

Sadly these players aren't really interested in reading the DM book or I'd just let them borrow it. I could try and explain it to them but we only play for 3 and a half hours every two weeks so I try to keep the game going as much as possible. So basically I am looking for some sort of print out or EZ flow chart that they can take home, is organized and will show them the cost increase of building items and what they can do. In like 2 or 3 pages. Anyone know of anything like this? :smallsmile: The DMs handbook pages 215-226 condensed.

Or any other ideas or input from your games that may help is always welcome.

[unseenmage]

The biggest problem I see here is that the Magic Item Creation Rules are more of a guide than a set of rules.

Even if you do work your way through them and gain an understanding of how they interact with each other, you still have to learn how they interact with the rest of the game.

Custom items especially have to be closely monitored (meaning you need to know what is and what is not appropriate power by level) to keep them from negating challenges. There is a lot of room for interpretation and a lot of easy easy mistakes to be made if you don't know what you're doing. (And mind you, I do not know what I'm doing like half the time when I use them.)

Many items have to be compared to existing items from sometimes esoteric sourcebooks in order to adjudicate their "correct" Market Prices. And even then many many printed items don't follow the rules for crafting for a plethora of reasons.


Your best bet, if learning these rules isn't an option, is to Google item creation programs and hope someone has programmed for an item type you're interested in.

And maybe these links could help you too. Just be warned there are few things that can wreck a campaign like that awesome item a DM and player worked really hard on that wound up being too powerful and had to be put down.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Player_Guide_to_Crafting_%283.5e_Optimized_Charact er_Build%29

http://1d8.blogspot.com/2011/02/d-35-magic-item-price-calculator.html

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20041221a

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236163

Sorry if that read like a lecture (I'm re-learning a lot of this myself right now), hope something in it helps.

[Rhynn]

There are no hard and fast rules, there are only guidelines for the DM. Find out what they want to make, figure out then tell them how much it'd cost.

[Kudaku]

If they're brand spanking new players then the full range of magical items and enhancements available is a fairly daunting list... Do they have to customize the items themselves? Personally I'd make a list of 4-5 items useful items in the right price range per player and let them choose for themselves. For instance a fighter with roughly 2000 GP could choose between:

+1 Mithral Heavy Steel Shield
Bladed Belt
+1 Weapon (whatever he prefers to use)
Amulet of Natural Armor +1
Custom Boots of the Cat & Daredevil Softpaws
Efficient Quiver

[tricktroller]

I have been working on an excel document that is actually a crafting calculator. As a dm I would highly regulate custom magic items but I have it built into the system as well. In some of my groups we don't even allow custom magic items.

link (http://www.mediafire.com/view/2lw8rwaj1acw3hv/Crafting_Calculator.xlsx)