A little DM help?

[gallagher]

So I am planning on starting a new campaign tomorrow, and I want the characters to start by being chained up in a slave ship. There is no problem with that becaus they are going to be sold into a gladiator arena. The problem is their starting equipment... Where on the ship would I hold their items if they break free, and if they don't how would they get their things when they get sold

[Duke of URL]

If they're slaves, they don't have any real equipment. Assuming their old stuff was confiscated, it'll likely be stowed under lock and key somewhere. Otherwise, they'll have to scrounge -- either make use of their gladiatorial equipment, or loot useful items from the guards and slavers they punch out.

A big pile of "here's yer stuff!" is kind of unrealistic in this scenario -- better to give them equipment equal to reasonable WBL as "treasure", and not necessarily all at once, either.

[valadil]

They don't get stuff. A slave ship is not a modern prison. You don't get your property back when your sentence is up. If the players are lucky, the crew will have kept their gear for personal use. More than likely though, the gear was sold long ago.

[WarKitty]

The ship is delivering items for the gladiator slaves to battle with as well as the slaves. They don't get "their items" per se, but they can find appropriate armor and weapons for their level.

[Bonk Fever]

This situation would really suck for a wizard, no spellbook, bow, quarterstaff of random crits, and probably starting at a low level.

If they somehow manage to break free and kill the whole crew with their bare hands in the middle of the night, I'd have them scrounge whatever they could from the ship, but not give them a huge pile of stuff. You could possibly even give them weapons that some of them arn't proficient with, such as a barbarian being forced to fight with a cutlass or something. Better than your bare hands right? If there is a spellcaster you might want to give him/her a scroll or two or something.

How does it work for Wizards if, say, you already know the spell "Magic Missle" but do you need explicably a "spell book" or can you just get some sort of random, textless book and write in your spells as much as you can and call it a "spell book?"

But then again, a lot of people will tell me that Wizards shouldn't be allowed anyway if the party has any melee fighters for some reason... the tier system is confusing to me.

[Cogidubnus]

This situation would really suck for a wizard, no spellbook, bow, quarterstaff of random crits, and probably starting at a low level.

But then again, a lot of people will tell me that Wizards shouldn't be allowed anyway if the party has a fighter for some reason... the tier system is confusing to me.

Let's not discuss this. It ends badly.

But yes. They don't have stuff. If you want it on ship, the captain has it, probably locked up with his dresses.

[Hawriel]

They are slaves on a slave galley. Not as orsmen but cargo. They have no starting equipment. Non at all. Nothing in a chest with their names on it. nada, zip, zero. Exept what ever rags they are wearing and their bindings.

However if they do excape what ever they find or take away from sailors is theirs.

[FuryOfMetal]

My players are actually about to enter a slave arena in exactly something like this. I was gonna start walking into the arena to the roar of the crowd and then win rights to a ship and become pirates of the seas!

But starting them on the ship and bringing them in gives them the oppurtunity to escape with the guards gear and steal a ship for themselves and be on the run for ages (fun I'm sure, also paves the way for a minor BBEG later on) OR fight in the arena and win the ship legitimately.

Either way I'll be watching this thread

[Gavinfoxx]

The galley has been hired to transport a spellbook of a DIFFERENT, dead Wizard (or Archivist, or whatever), with notes on translating his cipher from a researcher, to be sent to ANOTHER Wizard (Or Archivist or whatever) in the city they are going to!

[Starbuck_II]

Actually, it is a urban legend that Wizard must start with spellbook in a game (if it was stolen). You don't need a spellbook to cast spells: you need one to prepare/renew new spells.

If he never needs to change/renew his spell list (and he can't as a slave): He is left with his old spells till he rereads book.

So as long as he rarely casts spells: he'll still have his original set he had a creation.

So the wizard likely has spells, but they would be not 1/day, but 1/free since each could not be recovered unless he finds a spellbook.

OotS did a comic where V was without his spellbook for a limited time till he could find it/read it (as a lizard).

[Gavinfoxx]

Also, make sure the Wizard realizes that if he currently has, PREPARED AND KNOWN, spells that are not in the spellbook, he can scribe them from memory, in that captured Blessed Book (really, make it a captured Blessed Book. You're being enough of a **** to him...) IF they are actually filling up his slots, by expending those slots as part of the scribing process... that will give him some incentive to NOT use his last very uncommon, known spells that he has prepared...

Also make it that if he has spent feats on specific spells, like he has an Arcane Thesis on some obscure Orb spell, than he can totally scribe that from memory, flat out!

[Thajocoth]

There happens to be identical equipment to what the players have that's in a box to be sold to the arena. Yes, this includes any sort of spellbook or anything... As magic can be very flashy and fun to watch.

[WarKitty]

How high-level are your players? Maybe place a few mages among the sailors with spellbooks the wizard can decipher.

[mucat]

What do you mean by "their" equipment? They don't have any.

If you already told them to equip themselves with the usual WBL guidelines, that was a mistake. Now they might think that stuff is theirs, and they have a right to get it back.

If th players are decent sorts, though, they won't mind not getting the stuff back. Their freedom, when they win it, is worth more than than anything they lost. Over time, you can let them build back to full WBL.

Ordinarily, a lack of equipment hits melee types harder than spellcasters, and this is often used as a reason for never making the players poor, since it amplifies the difference between tiers. If you have wizards or archivists, though, this is a great chance to make them appreciate every spell. Let them scavenge a scroll or two early in the campaign, and start a new spellbook. They might be filling all their slots with first-level spells for a while, and improvising ways to make these spells count. If they actually find a complete spellbook, even from a minor wizard, it's a treasure. Eventually, let them rebuild a normal array of spells, but by then they'll really appreciate it.

[gallagher]

i was thinking that maybe they could have literally just been captured off the seas from another ship, and their previous boat in tow, while they and the other few survivors are chained in the galley. there were massive losses on both sides, so there is chance to escape, and all their stuff would be considered loot to the other guys

[WeLoveFireballs]

Spell Mastery is a good feat for this situation. Also complete arcane has rules for spells tatooed on your body.

[WarKitty]

i was thinking that maybe they could have literally just been captured off the seas from another ship, and their previous boat in tow, while they and the other few survivors are chained in the galley. there were massive losses on both sides, so there is chance to escape, and all their stuff would be considered loot to the other guys

That would work nicely. Captain's quarters maybe?