How can I help balance this game?

[sirreality]

Hey all, long time player and lurker, first time poster, yada yada. I've just started playing in a first-time GM's campaign, and it's quickly gone off the rails. I'll take you through what's happened, and see if you have any advice.

The first warning bells went off when he had us roll stats, believe it or not: we rolled 5d6, reroll 1s or 2s, drop the lowest, 7 times. So not only did each stat get 4 dice, guaranteed to each be 3 or greater, but we got a total of 7 stats, and were able to drop the lowest. I didn't get a single stat below 18. At the time, I figured we were just gonna be badass heroes, so no biggie.

Next, when I was picking my race, my DM informs me that if I picked Warforged for my Artificer (already a strong choice), he'd let me be made out of ANY wood and ANY metal, and personally suggested the auto-healing ones. Having not yet played, I figured they'd be easy enough to just match up with natural healing when sleeping, and would take some maintenance out of playing a construct character, sure.

During out first dungeon, designed for level 3 characters, I was trap-searching like crazy. Despite this, I managed to fail a trap search and a reflex save (rolled <6 each time), and fall down an 80ft pit. Bam, 8d6 damage to my 1d6+4 (so 10 at Lvl 1) character, instantly sending me into far negatives. A quick DM fiat later when he realizes he just flat-out killed me puts me at -9 and the party repels down to rescue me.

We face the boss of the dungeon, a gelatinous cube which was actually quite a fun encounter. However, contained inside was the sword of a fallen holy warrior. A sentient +1 longsword with multiple at-will abilities, plus cure moderate wounds, and monthly true resurrection on owner. He proudly states it's worth over 200k GP.

Finally, when we open the nearby chest, there's some smatterings of potions, masterwork sword, etc. There's also 189 platinum. He states this is fair since its from the random generator. Only thing is, his game world sets platinum (due to wartime scarcity) at 1000 GP, 100x the value of 10 GP the random generator though it was giving us 1st level characters, taking on a 3rd level dungeon. We all get oodles of gold, and he says we can buy anything with a value of 4k or less gold in town.

Now, my upgrade-happy warforged artificer is quite happy to get tons of upgrades and a shiny new custom crossbow. However, I feel as a player that this campaign is quickly going off the rails, and I'm a bit worried for it's longevity. I've discussed this with the DM, and he counters that platinum is worth that much for good story reasons, and that place was not plundered for a long time. He says he wanted to see what we'd do with that much, and that the local lord may be interested in us. I still don't know how much these things will actually bring us back in line, or merely shove more quests, xp, and hoards of gold at us, but he's asked me to trust him

What would you do in this situation? I'm a 2nd level character with a net worth of ~45k, now mostly invested in protective items. Do I grin and bear it? Have my character run far, far, away? How would you handle it as a player, or as a DM? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[eggynack]

I'm inclined to think that, while this could be problematic, it doesn't necessarily have to be. Balance is relative, after all, and as long as the encounters are balanced against characters with your power, meaning characters probably a couple of levels higher than your own, then things could wind up fine. The trap is actually the most concerning aspect of this setup, as it indicates that the DM may not have a perfect idea of what would be balanced against your party, but that can potentially correct itself over time. Point is, even if all else fails, your party would be perfectly balanced facing off against a party that is completely identical to it (albeit as a hard encounter), and challenges can be modulated from that baseline to be more or less difficult. There is therefore no party that cannot be challenged, even one as powerful as your own. Not that that should be the DM's approach to every encounter, but it definitely informs the way you should consider balance.

[Red Fel]

What would you do in this situation? I'm a 2nd level character with a net worth of ~45k, now mostly invested in protective items. Do I grin and bear it? Have my character run far, far, away? How would you handle it as a player, or as a DM? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Do you have any actual complaints? That would be my first, and biggest question.

He's clearly new. You said it, but his actions show it. He's giving you randomly generated treasure. He's throwing traps at you and then backpedaling when he realizes how lethal they are. He's giving you extremely powerful options and a powerful intelligent item. He's clearly inexperienced, but he's also clearly trying to give you guys a good time.

Is it hand-holding? Yup. Coddling? Sure. A wacky opportunity to be grossly, disgustingly overpowered? You bet your sweet bippy.

But is that a bad thing?

Now, if your answer is yes, then it's something to talk to the DM about. Sit him down and offer to help him temper his generosity somewhat. Advise him on concepts like WBL, on how to appropriately balance encounters, traps, and loot. It's clear that he wants the players to have a good time; if you show him how to run a more balanced game, he'll achieve that goal.

If, on the other hand, being grossly overpowered doesn't bother you, then let it ride! This is your golden ticket to do whatever the Hells you want! Don't be a jerk about it, but if you have an overly permissive DM, have a ball!

You say you're concerned that the campaign is "quickly going off the rails," and you worry for its longevity. Is it because you're not having a good time? Or are you just anxious for the other shoe to fall?

[sirreality]

eggynack, thanks for the response. I like the way that you're thinking about it, and think I'll pitch it to the DM. Making sure we have ample threat (tailored to our HP), but can't steamroll our opponents (tailored to our strength/wealth). I don't have a good idea one way or the other whether our DM will be able to benchmark good threats that are also engaging, but his willingness to retcon the auto-death was somewhat reassuring - that, at least, got his attention as not being appropriate.

Would you take any precautions, as a relatively nouveaux riche low-level adventurer, to safeguard yourself beyond the obvious?

EDIT: Red fel, so far I am having fun, and he's run good encounters. I just am concerned about that other shoe dropping, and this just being the first sign of it. We've already made a tacit agreement not to cheese any infinite loops, or abuse RAW for clearly unintended purposes, but he actually told us, "As long as it isn't Pun-Pun, go for it!" I guess it just remains to be seen if he can pull the story elements together in a way that challenges us without being lots of steamrolling or save-or-die.

[eggynack]

There is one thing that should be noted, however. The DM's first argument is that the platinum being so expensive fits the game. That's fine. The DM's second argument is that the result was taken from a random treasure generator. That's also fine. However, these two arguments really aren't fine taken together. Either the DM should keep the treasure generator and ditch the expensive platinum thing, or he can personally generate treasure that actually fits the scarcity driven world he's created, or, best of both worlds, he can take results from the generator and modify them such that they make sense. The treasure generator is giving results that are balanced under the assumption of normal money, so the only fair thing is to make the treasure handed out have the value it's supposed to have. What the DM is doing right now is not at all his intent, because he's handing out the supposedly scarce metal just as much as it would be handed out in a world where the metal is plentiful. So, y'know, maybe tell him that. Or not, if you're fine with things being ludicrous, but do note that this disconnect is a big source of ridiculousness.

[sirreality]

this disconnect is a big source of ridiculousness.

Completely agreed, and have mentioned it to him explicitly. He's taking the stance that whether or not it was a mistake, he wants to see what we do with that much value, it will have story implications (but doesn't prevent us from spending it), and we're just gonna, well, roll with it. I will be heartily encouraging him to go over his balance assumptions for future treasure values, as well as be okay with taking things back if he thinks it's affecting the game.

[TheOneHawk]

The biggest question is, are you having fun? If you're not having fun, there's a problem. Otherwise, go **** some **** up. Is it unrealistic? Sure, but how many elves and dwarves have you seen in reality. The GM is certainly over generous, but that's far from the worst problem I've seen.

[Kelb_Panthera]

If everyone's having fun then don't worry about it too much. New DM's make these sorts of mistakes but the good ones learn from them.

I try to encourage new DM's to run the system as is, particularly the DMG's world building suggestions, until they've got the hang of things enough to start experimenting. In particular I discourage tripping into the pitfalls of low-magic (read: low-wealth and magic items are difficult to find) games and getting too attached to a predetermined story the DM wants to tell.

In this particular case, it might help to point out that wealth = power in this game and that he just gave you a whole mess of power, far beyond your level. If you and your party make good use of it then things the system has labeled as level appropriate will be cake-walks.