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kkortekaas
2007-07-12, 06:15 PM
Greetings,
As a DM I always struggle to define to my players what they seize from their fallen enemies. I'm curious to know how other DMs describe the difference between mundane, masterworked and magical items...

For example, if the party collected a club, a masterwork club, and a club +1 (that has no outward magical identifier) I would make the designated loot collector roll an appraise check to determine the difference. A successfull check would determine that two of the clubs are of masterwork quality, and this would typically be followed by a detect magic to determine if the masterworked items were magical.

What other ways can I do this, as I find myself more and more just telling my PC's that they've collected a club, a masterwork club and a club +1

Thanks in advance, and hopefully I've defined my problem enough that I can get some useful feedback.

Kkortekaas.

Swooper
2007-07-12, 06:21 PM
You could just sneak in an adjective that describes masterwork items as superior.

"The guard-captain was carrying a well-made battleaxe." "The knight wears ornate full-plate." That sorta thing.

Matthew
2007-07-12, 06:23 PM
I usually have short descriptions prepared beforehand for mundane, masterwork and magical items. I try to keep away from describing things in terms of game mechanics, but the message is still there.

Diggorian
2007-07-12, 06:28 PM
A club is a "a club".

MW club is "an impressively balanced club with a carved grip"

Magic is like MW club, but glows in Detect Magic. :smallbiggrin:

I once pushed a Duergar off a cliff that was wearing Legacy armor cause he pissed me off and good loot is so rare we forget to check for it. :smallredface:

KBF
2007-07-12, 06:32 PM
I don't DM, but if I did...

I would describe a masterwork club as "a club of great craft". What would be a proper analogy... I guess it's kinda like seeing a dull pencil that works alright, and a sharp pencil. Easy to tell.

As for magical, wait for the detect magic. If they don't have access to detect magic... I guess they're screwed.

Oh well.

de-trick
2007-07-12, 06:35 PM
i ussally say if mw or magical this nice looking club, or fancy club, or nice looking club

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-07-12, 06:44 PM
I usually describe masterwork weapon as 'masterwork' and magic ones the same way until they cast detect magic, but groups I'm in, or DM for usually cast detect magic everytime they see ANYthing that MIGHT be magic.

Tellah
2007-07-12, 06:47 PM
If you don't have anyone with particular skill in identifying items, you might want to just have the item crafters in your game world label things for easy reference. Establish an understandable pattern that makes sense in character.

"You find a brightly polished longsword. The pommel is inscribed with the words, 'second-level dweomer, frost-infused.'" (+2 longsword of frost)

Of course, doing so will discourage players from ever investing any ranks in Appraise or spending time, spell slots and gold on identify.

As a middle-ground approach, you might devise a merchant organization that specializes in appraising, indentifying and accurately pricing magical items. These merchants might also be able to direct the PCs to interested buyers, or may even serve as a "fence" for the adventurers of your world to easily sell off unwanted magical gear.

kkortekaas
2007-07-12, 06:58 PM
It's just that describing Masterworked items and magical ones as well, masterwork and magical takes some of the mystery out of it, I'd love for my players to accidently sell that Longsword +2, because not only would I get a chuckle out of it, but they'd be kicking themselves afterwards for not being carefull.

Kurald Galain
2007-07-12, 07:04 PM
I'd love for my players to accidently sell that Longsword +2, because not only would I get a chuckle out of it, but they'd be kicking themselves afterwards for not being carefull.

Or, conversely, kept a +0 longsword that was magically enchanted to float in water, or something similarly useless, because it glows under Detect Magic.

(oh yeah, Nystul's Magical Aura, anyone? I had a player who used to NMA his items before selling them...)

JellyPooga
2007-07-12, 07:24 PM
With descriptions, it all depends on how much RP your group does.

If you're into simple dungeon delve, hack'n'slash games, then Mundane, Masterwork and Magical is good enough.

If you play more RP intensive games, then a little more detail is required. Taking the Clubs as an example.

Mundane: "You find a club hanging on a rack. It looks as if it could have literally just been ripped from a tree, for all you know. You pick it up and give it a swing; crude, but effective"

Masterwork: "Hanging from a rack is a length of dark wood, regularly tapered with a custom-built handle. Clearly this is a weapon of war. You pick it up and give it a swing; the balance is perfect and you feel you could really do some damage with this thing"

Magical: "As you enter the room, a faint glow emanates from one wall. As you approach, illuminated by the glow is a weapon rack, upon which stands several weapons. However, one stands out from all the others; almost black, bound with steel strips and the source of the glow, the club that hangs before you is a work of art as much as it is a weapon of war. You pick it up; it's as light as a feather. You give it a swing; it's balance is perfect. [sometime later, when it's used in a fight] You swing for the Orcs head, but he ducks. To your surprise, just as you think you're going to miss, the club you're wielding veers towards the orc of its own volition, you barely feel you're the one in control here."

As Magical enhancement increases, more flavour text can be added: Mystic Runes can be inscribed on it, flame patterns, mithral/adamantine studs, gemstones embedded, spikes...the possibilities are endless. Just let your imagination run wild with magic weapons...after all, no matter how improbable, it's magic, so as long as it looks cool, it's fair game.

kjones
2007-07-12, 07:40 PM
Since magical weapons are simply masterworks that have been enchanted, there's no crunch reason that they would look any different. It's perfectly reasonable to say that in your world, magical weapons look "magical" somehow. Runes, glowing, a surge of mystical energy when wielded, these are all good ways to indicate that a weapon is magical rather than merely masterwork, without revealing specific powers.

Ultimately, it's a decision you have to make about your world and how you want it to feel. For example, your players find a +1 longsword of frost. Do you describe it as:

A. A longsword with an electric blue blade and blue flames swirling from point to pommel whenever unsheathed,
B. A longsword with a dull blue-grey tint when lit from a certain angle,
C. A well-made longsword?

None of these are "wrong", but C might be more appropriate for a gritty, "realistic" game, while A would work better if you see your players as stylized anime heroes. B is good if you want to give clever players a clue as a reward for being observant, hinting at the weapon's function without giving too much away.

There are further distinctions to make: how does a +1 weapon look different than a +2 weapon? How about +5? What's the visible difference between a frost weapon and an icy burst weapon? All flavor choices, potentially with some crunchy consequences.

Such are the labors of being DM. Enjoy!

JellyPooga
2007-07-12, 07:49 PM
There is one RAW reason that magical weapons look different to mundane ones and that's that "fully 30% of all magical weapon emit light as the spell". Not a direct quote (unless I got lucky), but it is the gist of it...right there in the DMG.


None of these are "wrong", but C might be more appropriate for a gritty, "realistic" game

I'd have said that in a more 'realistic' game that Magical weapons would look more out of the ordinary than in a 'magic heavy' game. Reason being is that in a more 'realistic' game, magic is going to be rarer, therefore more ritual/superstition will be involved, thus to perform/make magic there wil be more extraneous affectations...i.e. magic weapons will be highly decorative, magic spells will take longer to cast/have more ostentatious 'components' (words, hand getures, etc.). On the other hand, in a 'magic heavy' game, where magic is part of the norm, a simple flick of the wrist and a short phrase said off-hand is all that is required to cast a spell because that's all that's actually needed..through practise and research all the extraneous stuff (skulls, dribbly candles, runes, etc) has been filtered out because it's unneccesary. Thus magic weapons look more ordinary...just my opinion though...

Jimp
2007-07-13, 01:12 PM
How I explain magical weapons is that in whatever setting (I usually use homebrewed), when mages started enchanting weapons they made a system for determining how strong a magically enchant weapon is. It's called the Magical Enchantment System (MES). That way I can just say it's +1 or +2 :smallbiggrin: