Last minute advice

[Stryyke]

Next Saturday is session 0 for my new campaign, and there are just a few niggles I want to make sure are ironed out.

Being a very low magic campaign at the beginning, the biggest issue has been PC motivation. Namely loot. What I've come up with is that for the entire first chapter, the players will be struggling just to get a complete armor set. They'll start with nothing but a weapon of their choice, in a very small town where the only smith has never made armor. They'll start with only a few silver, and the nearest place to procure actual armor is weeks away. The enemies they will be fighting will have large armor only, so the medium size PCs cannot just put it on. I figure loot-wise, that should keep them busy for a few months.

The feat system will be the primary means of advancement. For the first chapter, the PCs should be able to learn new feats every 2-3 fights, or 1-2 sessions. I've balanced the feats to be more appropriate to the system, so that should give them a fairly steady feel of progression.

Later in the campaign, magic becomes much more acceptable, and so at that point I can give out magic items a little more traditionally. The part I'm a bit unsure about is the in-between time. There will be several months between when they have a complete set of gear, and I can start introducing magic items. My thought is that they could spend their funds on hiring lackeys and equipping them for 2 or 3 months of weekly games before they start having problems with the loot.

That will be an ongoing expense, but it should fade into the background as the campaign starts sending the group out on specific missions. It will be slightly too early at this point to introduce more than one magical item, so what kind of loot would PCs at this level be interested enough to chase after, other than magical items? If they already have a small army, I'm unsure what kind of loot would interest them. Maybe epic weapons that give them an edge in small group battles is all I can really come up with. But I'd like a few different types of items. I can't have them search for the 5 epic swords from thousands of years ago. That would get boring in the middle of the second quest.

Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks

[Vitruviansquid]

It would really help if you mentioned the specific system you were using and then, if possible, put this thread in the appropriate sub-forum for that system because magic items have different value in different games.

[Mr Beer]

You can bridge the gap with self-limiting magic items i.e. potions, scrolls, wands with a few charges etc. Or exotic but non-magical items such as masterwork swords, alchemical fire, silvered arrows etc.

[Stryyke]

I'm not entirely sure that's relevant. It's a hombrew, so I just need some general advice.

[Hopeless]

I was wondering how low magic?

No Spellcasters?

As in neither Arcane nor Divine so no healing potions?

I'd consider goes armed with temporary magic so they're activated once and when the durations expires they'd need to be recharged and your players don't have access to anyone able to do that initially!

So why are their equipment so incompatible?

Are you running an all small sized species versus Large sized foes like Ogres or is there another reason for this discrepancy?

[Freed]

I can't think of any large monsters that level 1s with no armor can fight easily, man. Maybe just weirdly anatomic armor?

[John Longarrow]

I'm not entirely sure that's relevant. It's a hombrew, so I just need some general advice.

The relevance is telling other board members what type(s) of resources we can bring to the table. Suggesting a mithral chain shirt isn't relevant if there is no mithral in your game. Likewise recommending they go after a stash of AR-10's doesn't make sense if your not running a game that includes them.

More info about the setting will get better responses.

Otherwise just tell them there's a sick cyberdeck hidden away in the ogres lair! :D

[Stealth Marmot]

Likewise recommending they go after a stash of AR-10's doesn't make sense if your not running a game that includes them.

I will say that your average dragon won't be expecting that from the players.

"You see a dragon."
"I CAST SECOND AMENDMENT! BANG BANG BANG!"

[Noje]

I will say that your average dragon won't be expecting that from the players.

"You see a dragon."
"I CAST SECOND AMENDMENT! BANG BANG BANG!"

Dammit, now I want a gun-themed spell-caster class, with a treasure trove of puns about guns.

[John Longarrow]

I will say that your average dragon won't be expecting that from the players.

"You see a dragon."
"I CAST SECOND AMENDMENT! BANG BANG BANG!"

Naa... Introduce it to Ma Deuce. Much more fun!