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Dr TPK
2014-12-25, 05:01 AM
What things do you overlook or have overlooked by an accident or in purpose?

In my campaign, the PCs had huge amount of magical items in their horse-drawn wagon, and they left the wagon unguarded in many, many places. I didn't let anyone loot the wagon because I didn't want them to spend time trying to find a secure place for the treasure, because I thought it would be boring and complicated, especially when considering my players. And besides, I found the wagon worth thousands of gold pieces pretty amusing.

Frenth Alunril
2014-12-25, 10:04 AM
I used to overlook things like character descriptions jerky gibberish at the table. No more, folks get dropped for having "dark pasts" or brooding characters if they don't rp opening up and sharing. I also don't allow insane BS anymore like a 3'5" dwarf with 3'spikes on his shield.

I used to hand out intelligent weapons, but no one would listen to them, and they would use them at dumb times. I happened to roll up an art item which was a jeweled mask that looked like an eagle mask and had the personality and drive of a hardcore paladin. It gave them a bonus to diplomacy, so naturally, they would wear it in shops bartering, trying to swindle people.

I'd also pretty much allow anything until I learned how it was killing my game. I'm really starting to think magic is something wizards need to unlock and either learn from others, or research, not simply "I now have access to all level x spells, which ones do I want?" But it is hard to get players to agree to systems that are in the book.

I've also overlooked the weight of coin. I've had endless arguments over ridiculous decree from different books. In 3.5 a coin was way too heavy in the book, but one of my players whose goal was to break the game insisted the party wasn't able to carry the loot. Overlooking that became a problem as I constantly had a player who couldn't suspend his disbelief.

Then again, I was once playing, and lost my disbelief when the dm let a monk stun a skeleton.

We all overlook different things, I guess.

oxybe
2014-12-25, 10:26 AM
-Encumbrance (don't go overboard, like carrying a marble pillar on your back, and I won't hassle you)
-minutia of tracked arrows/food/etc... (unless you're in desert with no resources at all, I always assume PCs buy enough/make/find ammunition and food)
-Alignment (I generally don't play character where alignment mechanically matters so I tell the GM, you keep track of my alignment and if it comes up you decide what it is)
-XP (You level up after 1 or 2 adventures, depending on the length/difficulty. particularly long ones might have a level in the middle)
-copper/silver coins. Once the party moves onto a larger amount gold/platinum standard for their transactions, the number "other" coinage they have on hand is generally "as much as you need"
-Rolled stats: You'll use point buy or the "default array" i've created using said point buy. HP is half your HD+1, add your con mod.

this is just stuff at the top of my head that I either discard right away or eventually in games i run.

goto124
2014-12-25, 11:09 AM
-minutia of tracked arrows/food/etc... (unless you're in desert with no resources at all, I always assume PCs buy enough/make/find ammunition and food)

2nd half of #904 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0904.html) :smallbiggrin:

jaydubs
2014-12-25, 11:46 AM
-Encumbrance (don't go overboard, like carrying a marble pillar on your back, and I won't hassle you)
-minutia of tracked arrows/food/etc... (unless you're in desert with no resources at all, I always assume PCs buy enough/make/find ammunition and food)
-Alignment (I generally don't play character where alignment mechanically matters so I tell the GM, you keep track of my alignment and if it comes up you decide what it is)
-XP (You level up after 1 or 2 adventures, depending on the length/difficulty. particularly long ones might have a level in the middle)
-copper/silver coins. Once the party moves onto a larger amount gold/platinum standard for their transactions, the number "other" coinage they have on hand is generally "as much as you need"
-Rolled stats: You'll use point buy or the "default array" i've created using said point buy. HP is half your HD+1, add your con mod.

this is just stuff at the top of my head that I either discard right away or eventually in games i run.

I have much the same list actually, and it's served me well.

I actually stopped giving out copper after a player got so frustrated by doing math for meaningless pennies that he threw the copper they found into a river rather than adjusting his character sheet.

oxybe
2014-12-25, 12:38 PM
the only use I have for copper after a while is as a target for continual flame type spells. coins' flat faces and thin widths make them good at staying put and as most coins are rarely perfect circles, they don't roll much if you drop them down wells and such to help estimate distances.

That and to serve as a "pick pocketable" pocket. Keep a belt pouch and whatnot on your side full of copper and silver to draw pickpockets away from the bag of holding you've got hung around your neck and stuffed down your shirt.

When you're using platinum as your base currency, a few coppers and silvers are a negligible loss, all things considered.

Jay R
2014-12-26, 09:41 PM
The introduction to my current 2E game gave the players explicit instructions on how to get me to overlook certain things.


I urge the party as a whole to have sewing, leatherwork, and blacksmithing, just to repair clothes and armor. Otherwise, I’ll have to track any damage done. Similarly, if you don’t have a fletcher, I will count arrows.

I just check that they have the right skills at the beginning, and I can ignore all that bookkeeping.

And encumbrance gets ignored once they have a Bag of Holding. Its primary uses are:
1. Initial buy at first level, and
2. A single great haul that they have to make decisions about. I once had a party of 3rd levels who slew a blue dragon deep in the wilderness. They had to leave most of the gold behind. (They tried to travel at fully encumbered for awhile, and they had some servants to use as bearers. But after the night two servants ran off with a bunch of gold, they wisely dropped a bunch of it.)

Solaris
2014-12-28, 12:16 PM
I generally have my players ignore encumbrance (really, only the weapon, armor, and any other big stuff get counted, if anything) because it's easy to drop a backpack and I don't really care that much about the fiddly details.

I also have 'em ignore rations, with the caveat that they need to have some foodstuffs on them just in case they can't replenish easily. If anybody asks, whatever monster they just killed is tonight's dinner.
This got awkward in the city adventure against the wererats... and later against the ghouls...

bulbaquil
2014-12-28, 12:50 PM
Encumbrance: Generally ignored except for particularly heavy items.
Coinage: Money does not count toward encumbrance (see above), and copper/silver/gold/platinum do not need to be tracked separately (i.e., you don't have "12 pp, 172 gp, 58 sp, and 24 cp", you have "298.04 gp").
XP: Relieves many headaches and helps to curb murderhobo tendencies--no matter how many random villagers you kill, you're not getting one iota closer to the next level.
Minor consumables: Food, water, and mundane ammunition need not be tracked unless there's a good reason you wouldn't be able to readily replenish them.
The laws of thermodynamics: Where does the fire from a fireball spell come from? Nowhere: the energy literally did not exist anywhere in the universe in any form prior to the spellcasting. Where do things go that enter a sphere of annihilation? Nowhere: their mass is literally removed from the universe.

Honest Tiefling
2014-12-30, 09:37 PM
Spell components in 3.5 DnD. I just cannot take things seriously when someone in a robe is flinging around bat poop and bits of wire.