I think my players are ignoring loot...

[Honest Tiefling]

I think I have a unique problem, in that I have given my players loot...Most of which they have ignored. I am trying to give them magical items, but no one tries to identify it. Perhaps I need to make things more descriptive, or clear that even before detect magic comes around, it is indeed magic?

At this rate, it might start affecting CR.

Also, would it be mean that if these players haul this stuff around to town and try to sell it without identifying it, someone offers them an insanely cheap price for the gear they didn't realize was magical?

[Buufreak]

Might sound mean, but they gotta learn somehow. Describe it as somewhat glistening, or something along the stereotypical magical looking lines, and if they still don't go with it, let them learn by negative example. When they figure out they are getting ripped off the first time, it WON'T happen again.

[Drachasor]

Imho, just let them have infinite cantrips/orisons (though you might need to limit the healing orison). That's perfectly balanced and should solve the problem.

[Hangwind]

Have their enemies pick up the loot and use it against them.:smallamused:

[Roog]

Have you tried talking with them about it?

[Saintsqc]

A fair trader (who knows a bit about magic stuff) could tell them they are selling their items for too low.

Ennemies could activate their magic items in front of the players. So your players know there is magic items in the loot.

If your players need magic stuff and they doesnt get it by looting, just give them directly. The lord who just hire them to kill the ogres in the wood could also give them magic ring to help them in their mission.

[Red Fel]

You have several options, to varying degrees of cruelty.

One option is enforce WBL more stringently. Even if the players don't keep track of what they've looted, you should. This means you have a general idea of their wealth. If they're not identifying and distributing gear, average it out between them. Then, as soon as they hit their threshold, stop. Just stop. No magic items, no coins, no potions, no anything. If that doesn't bother them, it doesn't bother them; if it does, point out that they've exceeded their WBL, and should probably consolidate their loot better.

Another option is to enforce encumbrance rules. If they're not using it, and they're not selling it, then they're carrying it. And that means they're carrying more and more... and they'll start taking penalties.

A third choice is to have items get stolen. This is a nice, clean choice; it gives the players an adventure hook while snatching up any unused items. Players get seriously mad at NPCs who threaten their precious loot, even if they weren't using it; this is a great way to introduce a villain you want your players to hate.

The above options all fall under "use it or lose it" type rules. If instead you want to encourage your players to think more carefully when they loot, you have a much simpler option - cursed items. Cursed items are cursed whether they're identified or not. And it's so easy to do.

That sword they looted? It's a +0 Sword of Cursed Bubkes. It's crap. But whenever you draw your weapon, you have a 50% chance to draw the sword instead. That wand they picked up but never identified? It's a Cursed Wand of Really Fricking Heavy. Once placed into a container it counts as 50% of your total encumbrance, on its own. When the players realize that their items are messing with them, they'll be a lot more careful with them.

Now, all of the above suggestions - malicious though they are - assume one very simple premise: that your players give a hoot. If you have a party of Tier 1 casters, that's not necessarily a guarantee - apart from a few metamagic enhancers, Wilding Clasps, holy symbols and material components, they may or may not care about all of the cool magical crap you dump on them.

It's also possible - you haven't told us - that your players are new at this. Many players have gotten into the habit of every evening, when setting down for camp, going over the day's loot with Detect Magic, identifying any cool items or setting them aside to be identified later. Maybe your players aren't accustomed to this yet. Suggest it.

All levity aside, your best choice - as always - is to talk to your players. Explain to them that they have a lot of stuff, and that some of it might be magical, and might be useful, hint hint, and maybe they should identify it.

If they don't, they don't. Then it's up to you how evil you want to be.

But yeah. If they sell a +5 Flaming Burst Sword of Godslaying to the local merchant for a pittance because they were too daft to check it for a 30% chance of non-suppressible glowing? Their loss.

[shylocke]

I think I have a unique problem, in that I have given my players loot...Most of which they have ignored. I am trying to give them magical items, but no one tries to identify it. Perhaps I need to make things more descriptive, or clear that even before detect magic comes around, it is indeed magic?

At this rate, it might start affecting CR.

Also, would it be mean that if these players haul this stuff around to town and try to sell it without identifying it, someone offers them an insanely cheap price for the gear they didn't realize was magical?

That's what our DM did. We had 2 of the largest bags of holding filled with random magic stuff that we never identified.

[Sith_Happens]

Fully 30% of magic weapons shed light equivalent to a light spell (bright light in a 20-foot radius, shadowy light in a 40-foot radius). These glowing weapons are quite obviously magical. Such a weapon can’t be concealed when drawn, nor can its light be shut off. Some of the specific weapons detailed below always or never glow, as defined in their descriptions.

Not a rule that I've ever actually seen used, but you might want to start.

[Fouredged Sword]

Right out of the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm)



Special Qualities
Roll d%. If the item is a melee weapon, a 01-30 result indicates that the item sheds light, 31-45 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to the weapon’s function, and 46-100 indicates no special qualities.

If the item is a ranged weapon, a 01-15 result indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to the weapon’s function, and 16-100 indicates no special qualities.

Also, have a friendly caster send them on a quest, and reward them with a scroll of Arcane Sight and a CL11 scroll of Permanency. That will let one character tell magic items on sight.

[Invader]

Is this the first case ever of a group not spamming detect magic on every single thing in sight lol?

[Sir Chuckles]

I always pre-roll the random loot, so that "The one in the back is using a nicer looking stick" happens.

Or, if you want to be mildly mean, have a merchant buy it, and then have them overhear an excited conversation of a merchant's wife/son/patron just hit the adventurer jackpot.

[nedz]

Also, would it be mean that if these players haul this stuff around to town and try to sell it without identifying it, someone offers them an insanely cheap price for the gear they didn't realize was magical?

If this were to happen you could have some NPC salesman try to sell them it back for it's actual market value.

This is an IC problem which you should solve IC.

[kpumphre]

If they don't roll appraise then have the person offer them a few silver or a gold perhaps. Rip them off. It's their choice. Now it is different if they know it's magical but aren't spending the money to identify it. If that's the issue well to bad my level 9 character started with random loot and i had to pay to have magic items appraised i had very little cash and the wizard we met was charging high prices

[Maginomicon]

Light Generation
Fully 30% of magic weapons shed light equivalent to a light spell (bright light in a 20-foot radius, shadowy light in a 40-foot radius). These glowing weapons are quite obviously magical. Such a weapon can’t be concealed when drawn, nor can its light be shut off. Some of the specific weapons detailed below always or never glow, as defined in their descriptions.




Self-Identifying Magic Items
Many powerful magic items, particularly minor artifacts, reveal their powers to anyone who holds them. When someone holds a self-identifying item and concentrates, she learns one of the item’s powers each minute until the item has revealed all its powers. The item always reveals powers in the order they are listed in the item’s description. A successful Spellcraft or bardic knowledge check (DC 20) reveals all the powers at once.

Any magic item other than a potion or scroll can be created as a self-identifying item. At the time of creation, the caster must decide if the item is self-identifying or not. This capability does not affect the price or creation time of an item, but once the item is finished, the decision is binding.

To determine if a randomly generated magic item is self-identifying, roll d%. An 01–40 result indicates that an item is self-identifying, and a 41–100 result indicates that it is not.

Thus, any time you feel it would make sense for the creator of a magic item to craft it such that it's self-identifying, do so. You could house-rule that anyone can make a DC 5 Spellcraft check or Knowledge (Arcana) check to "remember" that self-identifying magic items are a thing that people do sometimes and how to figure it out.

[Zweisteine]

"Guys, when I give you loot, you should take a look at it! In D&D, all characters get magic items, and it isn't always by buying them!"

Aside from that, there are quite a few things you could say.
When they touch the item, they feel it humming with energy.
When they touch the item, runes on it (which may not have been visible beforehand) glow and/or move.
Lots of other stuff I don't want to write down.

Some items you just describe as magic, of course, such as wands and potions. You don't say, "you find two swords, a sack, 17 gp, three gems, a two one-foot-long straight sticks, a suit of armor, and a bottle of green liquid." You say, "you find two magic* swords, a bag of holding, 16 gp, 8 sp, 17 cp, a pink quartz, a citrine, an amethyst, two wands, a mithral chain shirt, and a green potion."
*Or substitue with anything that indicates magic, like "glowing."
...you say this when your players say "I loot the body."
Remember, in between sections of description, look at the players expectantly, giving them a chance to ask about the things you described.


As you pick up the swords of your fallen foe, you feel a rush of power, and the swords almost seem to vibrate in your hands, as though excited to fight.Now you give them a moment to react to that.


Turning to his belt, you see that the corrupt ranger wore two sheathes for the his swords, as well as another, narrower sheath, which contains two wooden batons, each about a foot long, and marked with mysterious runes. When touched, these seem to pulse with energy, much like the swords.Another spot for them to ask questions.


With the belt out of the way, you can remove the ranger's finely-crafted mithral chain shirt. Underneath, he wore a sturdy, many-pocketed vest. As you sift through its pockets, a few coins fall out, and you find more inside, but your attention is drawn to a bottle holding a green liquid that splashes around its glass flask even when set still.Give them another chance to ask questions or try to find information. It's a potion of fly, but they won't realize that until "as you take a sip, you feel light on your feet, and feel the urge to leap towards the sky." And if they ask, the coins are a combination of gp, sp, and cp worth a total of 17gp.


Turning the body over, you find that the back of the vest has only one pocket, which contains a rolled-up piece of cloth. Holding it by the two exposed corners, you let it unfold, revealing it to be a cloth sack, but one that is unusually heavy for its size, weighing over 10 pounds.Here's their chance to reach inside. If they don't, skip to the last section.


As you reach into the bag, your hand meets a solid object. Pulling it from the bag, you see that it is a bedroll, an object obviously to large to have fit in the bag.They'll probably say something like "I knew it was a bag of holding!" at this point.


Inside the bag, you find mostly mundane equipment—nothing of particular value—and a few coins, but a few gems shine out. Literally. You find a many-faceted deep purple gem about as far across as your thumbnail, a similarly-sized orange gem, and a crystalline pink rock.Those would be an amethyst, a citrine, and an uncut rose quartz, respectively. If the players ask what the gems are worth, roll appraise checks for them, but be sure to tell them that you are doing so, and, if any of them have a large enough appraise bonus, they should take 10 and auto-succeed (the values are 100 gp, 50 gp, and 30 or 40 gp, respectively (values on uncut stones are not given)). If your players ask about the mundane items, just pick a few at random, including field rations, a waterskin or three, a 10-foot pole, and some silk rope.

Now, you give a summery of what they found (stop at the larger break after "bag" if they didn't figure out that it was a bag of holding).

And to make sure you got everything, here's a list: A magic longsword, a magic shortsword, a mithral chain shirt, two wands, a potion, coins worth 17 gp total, and a bag stop of holding. In the bag, you found three different gemstones, a bunch of mundane equipment worth 50 gp, as well as 50 more gp in various coins.Adjust this line as necessary depending on what they did or didn't discover. For example, if they appraised the gems, list the values as well.


But don't go into that much detail every time, or someone (you or the players) will end up very, very frustrated.

EDIT:
In some cases, as with gems, there is the matter of honest/dishonest shopkeepers. Make some of them honest, some dishonest, some experienced, some new. The experienced, dishonest shopekeepers are the most likely to rip you off. The inexperienced, dishonest ones will try, but are likely to show signs that something is wrong (like showing joy/incredulity when the players make an offer that favors the shopkeeper, and trying (ineffectively) to convince them afterwards that the price the players gave was just right). The new, honest shopkeepers are the most likely to just say "you've appraised that badly, it's worth way more, and I can't afford it/it's worth this much." The experienced, honest shopkeepers are most likely to just buy it at the correct price, or maybe just a little below. The way the shopkeepers view the adventurers will affect the outcome as well (do they look like naive barely-adults just loosed on the world, or grim, battle-hardened warriors?).
Don't forget, though, that most shopkeepers won't recognize a magic item, unless it shows clear signs (like the ones I mentioned above).

If you want to be nice, have a friendly wizard be in town, who notices the guys selling magic items at a fraction of their true prices and tells them what they're doing wrong. Or the adventurers might have a friendly artificer (or, better yet, a lawful artificers' guild) who buys and sells magic items from them at the normal price, and will identify magic items for under the normal cost.

[veti]

If your players need magic stuff and they doesnt get it by looting, just give them directly. The lord who just hire them to kill the ogres in the wood could also give them magic ring to help them in their mission.

This idea has great potential. Imagine: the party hauls loot to town, sells it (at mundane prices), maybe notices the trader snickering a bit once the deal is done. A day or so later, they get a summons from some bigwig who wants them to do a job, and coincidentally has this huge pool of gear he's picked up for a song from some mugs, and they're welcome to take one item each from it.

Repeat until they finally twig that there's something familiar about this pile of items.

[Honest Tiefling]

Imho, just let them have infinite cantrips/orisons (though you might need to limit the healing orison). That's perfectly balanced and should solve the problem.
I should have mentioned it was Pathfinder, where detect magic is literally infinite use and I am pretty sure 2 characters have detect magic (at least 1 does for sure) and they didn't check ANYTHING. Not even their new mummified hand which ended up in the pile of loot in the Handy Haversack.


Have you tried talking with them about it?
I tried to hint it to them in an unsubtle way. I really don't think it would aid the story (or fun) if I told them what to roll on objects another PC is holding that they didn't even glance at.


Is this the first case ever of a group not spamming detect magic on every single thing in sight lol?
Yes. :smallfrown:

I think I'll try to give them another hint by describing items more, and if that doesn't work I'll just see when or if they finally figure out they've been holding onto a bunch of magical items. It might be mean, but it is likely a merchant would either rip them off or just not actually recognize what it is at first and offer a lower price.

Zweisteine, I like how you described things, so I'll try to steal them use them.

[Barstro]

What exactly is the issue?

1) The players aren't identifying anything and you want them to.
2) The players are risking losing fights because they cannot use the weapons they won't identify?

If it's #2, just tell them what the items are.
If ti's #1, have them meet some sort of peddler in the castle/dungeon/cave where they are or merchant in town that really likes a particular item (doesn't matter what). As soon as they sell it, the buyer can point out that it was a very powerful item, easily identifiable by the writing, and then disappear. Make it a ring of +5 armor, so what if it's over-powered for the level, they were never going to get it in the first place; it exists only for this lesson. Maybe then they'll take the time to learn what the items are.

[Curmudgeon]

Don't worry about it now. Your job as DM is satisfied if you provide access to sufficient treasure (Table 3–3: Treasure Values per Encounter, page 51 of Dungeon Master's Guide). If they don't do anything with that, that's their choice. Just keep going forward.

If they end up dead because they were under-geared for CR-appropriate encounters, then you talk to them about how they could have done better. They can choose to make better use of treasure the next time around (or not). You're their DM, not their nanny.

[Roog]

I tried to hint it to them in an unsubtle way. I really don't think it would aid the story (or fun) if I told them what to roll on objects another PC is holding that they didn't even glance at.

No, not talking about specific items. Why not mention the general issue that you brought up in the OP to them, and ask why they are not working to identify items?

[Barstro]

It might be mean, but it is likely a merchant would either rip them off or just not actually recognize what it is at first and offer a lower price.

If they want to sell a ring with an emerald in it for 500 gp and the merchant suddenly summons a Djinni with it, that's their loss. I'd even have the merchant order the Djinni to identify the rest of the party's items for them so it doesn't happen again any time soon.

[Zweisteine]

I should have mentioned it was Pathfinder, where detect magic is literally infinite use and I am pretty sure 2 characters have detect magic (at least 1 does for sure) and they didn't check ANYTHING. Not even their new mummified hand which ended up in the pile of loot in the Handy Haversack.
If that's the case, you are fully entitled to tell them that if they do not find the magic items in their loot, it is entirely their fault, amd that detect magic detects magic items. You are also entitled to shout at them in frustrations the next time they don't do it (preferably shouts that tell them why you're shouting).

And if they don't look for magic items after that, throw the most ruthless, cunning, black-hearted, intelligent, dishonest (but most certainly NOT evil) merchants at them, who will suck them dry of magic items, even (or especially) ones the DID identify. Te merchant can't be evil, because then the players will feel more justified killing him. I'd make him lawful neutral, and very high-level.

[Madwand99]

If the players are newbies who don't realize that loot can be valuable and magical, then you should ask for a DC 10 Knowledge: Arcana check. Any PC can make this, even if they don't have ranks. To those who make the check, tell them: "You know that some items, particularly masterwork ones, can be magical and thus very valuable, to your party or other merchants. A simple detect magic spell will identify these items, and Spellcraft will determine their properties. Some of the items in your recently-aquired loot appear to deserve a more thorough inspection."

If they're veterans, it's their problem, not yours. Let 'em suffer.

It can be frustrating as a DM watching players suffer because they aren't using their basic senses. I've had Paladin players just never use Detect Evil, as (suspicous!) evil NPC spies continued to involve themselves with the party. I'd just smile inwardly and move on. I finally had to remind them when the Cleric player finally thought of memorizing a Detect Evil spell. The paladin was his cohort.

[Mootsmcboots]

While walking through town, just have some guy slink out of an alley and say to one of them "Hey that ___, for a few gold pieces, I can reveal it's innate magical properties" PC: WHAaaaa? Magic properties?