Magic Items Help GM's!

[JLXC]

OK I got the book (Finally!)

 

Now onto the questions...

 

1. Do you price Magic Items and if so how do you do it?

 

2. Do you give out magic items as treasure and then tailor all of them so that the players would want it? Or do you let them sell some and buy other things?

 

3. Is every magic item a "Unique" thing like from a book, so that there is very little magic items around but each is special? If so how do you deal with the eventuality that a single PC will have many of these ultraunique items and therefore it flies in the face of the whole concept?

 

4. What do you do do for potions and scrolls? Do you allow them to be made or sold? Do your players have a bunch of these things?

 

5. What do you do to prevent players from becoming over envious of other players who recieve magic items earlier? Or do you just make sure that after every major haul there is enough for everyone to get something? If so, how do you keep it from becoming too obvious you designed "X" item for X player and Y item for Y player, etc.

 

Thanks guys, I understand how the D&D systems worked for this (ACK! I know I said D&D) but I really want to get a better feel for Fantasy Hero when it comes to magic items and PCs Thanks!

[SleepyDrug]

Re: Magic Items Help GM's!

 

Originally posted by JLXC

OK I got the book (Finally!)

 

Now onto the questions...

 

1. Do you price Magic Items and if so how do you do it?

 

Nope. Magic items tend to be rare and are very valuable. At best...they are bartered with no set price; and that only for the consummables such as potions.

 

2. Do you give out magic items as treasure and then tailor all of them so that the players would want it? Or do you let them sell some and buy other things?

 

I try to tailor more to the villains and let the players sort it out. Some items they barter to wizards or priests for favors

 

3. Is every magic item a "Unique" thing like from a book, so that there is very little magic items around but each is special? If so how do you deal with the eventuality that a single PC will have many of these ultraunique items and therefore it flies in the face of the whole concept?

 

I consider each item unique; but few very powerful items.

 

4. What do you do do for potions and scrolls? Do you allow them to be made or sold? Do your players have a bunch of these things?

 

They are occassionally found...potions more than scrolls

 

5. What do you do to prevent players from becoming over envious of other players who recieve magic items earlier? Or do you just make sure that after every major haul there is enough for everyone to get something? If so, how do you keep it from becoming too obvious you designed "X" item for X player and Y item for Y player, etc.

 

Make items tailored to the villain rather than the player

 

Thanks guys, I understand how the D&D systems worked for this (ACK! I know I said D&D) but I really want to get a better feel for Fantasy Hero when it comes to magic items and PCs Thanks!

[Outsider]

Re: Magic Items Help GM's!

 

1. Do you price Magic Items and if so how do you do it?

 

Some items have a regular money value, and some dont. Generally, if the item is a common one (usually expendable) it will have a "market value", and if it is an uncommon one (permanent high order magic) it will go for whatever someone is willing to pay at the time it goes up for sale. Anyone who is willing to buy it "on spec" for resale later will pay only a fraction of what it is probably worth, of course. The actual money number associated with the item depends on factors such as how much of a skill the maker needs to attempt the making, how long it takes to make it, how much the ingredients/components run, and how bad the side effect is if the maker fails his skill check.

 

Example 1)

If I decide that a journeyman alchemist's time is worth 50 sp/hour, that he can make one healing potion per hour's work, that said potion requires a vial and a pint of human blood (1 sp vial, and hire a donor, 5 sp) and there is no side effect on a failure, the base cost of the potion will be 56 sp. if these potions are selling like hotcakes, and he cant keep them in stock, he will up the price.

 

Example 2)

If the jouneyman alchemist decides instead to make a potion of exploding. As GM, I don't want these to be nearly as easy to come by as healing potions, so I rule that they take him 5 hours to make (250 sp), require some odd imported ingredients (25 sp), a specially made flask (5 sp), and that the penalty for failing his skill roll is that the explosion takes place in his lab. Nominally, the price will be 280 sp, but, given the rather harsh penalty for failure (possible maiming/death) he decides to charge quadruple, or 1120 sp per potion.

 

Example 3)

A master enchanter decides to make a magic sword. Being a -master- enchanter, his nominal rate is 100 sp/hour. And since I dont want magic swords being too common, I rule that it will take him 3 months to construct the sword. (13 weeks*50 hours/week* 100 sp/hour = 65,000 sp. Plus materials.)

 

 

 

 

 

2. Do you give out magic items as treasure and then tailor all of them so that the players would want it? Or do you let them sell some and buy other things?

 

Usually items just happen. The players may or may not want them, and I rarely tailor any item specifically for a particular character. They can always sell, but buying anything really decent is more difficult.

 

 

 

 

3. Is every magic item a "Unique" thing like from a book, so that there is very little magic items around but each is special? If so how do you deal with the eventuality that a single PC will have many of these ultraunique items and therefore it flies in the face of the whole concept?

 

No. Some items are unique, but most arent. Usually, the more powerful an item, the more likely it is to be unique, or at least very rare. I also try to come up with a backstory for most items that arent utterly (magically) mundane.

 

 

 

 

 

4. What do you do do for potions and scrolls? Do you allow them to be made or sold? Do your players have a bunch of these things?

 

Yes. I usually have the alchemist/scriber buy the power that is to be used as usable by others at range with a trigger (drink the potion, read the scroll, whatever) then add a significant casting time and/or component cost to keep too many of the items from being around. I handwave how far the eventual user can be from the original caster, though, making it more or less like an independent power, though the maker only pays points for the spell, not for every trigger he makes. The real trick is to seriously limit mow many triggers the maker can set up per time unit. For potions I also quite enjoy making them "tradeoff" items, where the user gets a benefit, but also suffers a guaranteed side effect.

 

 

 

 

 

5. What do you do to prevent players from becoming over envious of other players who recieve magic items earlier? Or do you just make sure that after every major haul there is enough for everyone to get something? If so, how do you keep it from becoming too obvious you designed "X" item for X player and Y item for Y player, etc.

 

I dont. if the players cant regulate their own teasure division, I usually see that as their problem. I dont tend to hand out just one item, either, though.

 

 

 

 

[TAROT]

Re: Magic Items Help GM's!

 

Originally posted by JLXC

1. Do you price Magic Items and if so how do you do it?

No.

 

2. Do you give out magic items as treasure and then tailor all of them so that the players would want it? Or do you let them sell some and buy other things?

Some of them the players will want. Some of them they will wish to hide or destroy to keep them out of others' hands. There is no open market for magic items, maybe the occasional apothecary or theft to order.

 

3. Is every magic item a "Unique" thing like from a book, so that there is very little magic items around but each is special? If so how do you deal with the eventuality that a single PC will have many of these ultraunique items and therefore it flies in the face of the whole concept?

They are all essentially unique. Make the few (permanent) items that they have grow. Most of the villains will have items that the heroes should not want to use.

 

4. What do you do do for potions and scrolls? Do you allow them to be made or sold? Do your players have a bunch of these things?

They can be made. They can be bought. They can be sold. They can also be damaged or destroyed. If the players want to run a business, that's fine, however, the king might come along and give them the honour of appointing them as court magician.

 

5. What do you do to prevent players from becoming over envious of other players who recieve magic items earlier? Or do you just make sure that after every major haul there is enough for everyone to get something? If so, how do you keep it from becoming too obvious you designed "X" item for X player and Y item for Y player, etc.

If a player wants an item, they can buy it at the start. Magic items cost XP to keep (but sometimes come with a few offsetting Disadvantages). Some players want goodies, others would rather rely on skill. If magic is readily detectable, some sneaky types would rather not be lit up like a runway.

 

I ask the players if there is anything that they might like to find. I don't care if it is obvious that an item is intended for a particular character. I do try to surprise them with the details.

 

Chris

[badger3k]

Re: Magic Items Help GM's!

 

Originally posted by JLXC

OK I got the book (Finally!)

 

Now onto the questions...

 

1. Do you price Magic Items and if so how do you do it?

 

I do, and go with the 1000 gp x Real Points of the items, except for potions, which is 100 x RP (or is it 500?) Potions are non-recoverable and one-shot items, thus cost less.

 

2. Do you give out magic items as treasure and then tailor all of them so that the players would want it? Or do you let them sell some and buy other things?

 

I give it out, try to tailor it for a general use (I learned long ago not to tailor it to one character, unless I was going to give it to that character directly). I try to give things that would help them in some way (except for the cursed items, natch). There aren't magic stores (yet - I'm toying around with making the game less serious/similar to the KODT strips in themes - more humor and odd stuff). Players now might be able to find someone to see to/buy from, but its limited. I use the pricing given as a guide - the more points/higher price, the harder it will be to get.

 

3. Is every magic item a "Unique" thing like from a book, so that there is very little magic items around but each is special? If so how do you deal with the eventuality that a single PC will have many of these ultraunique items and therefore it flies in the face of the whole concept?

 

You'd be amazed how many unique items are functionally similar. Two swords that add +1 OCV and 1 DC can stat the same, but they have different appearance, history, etc. Again, I am toying with the idea of using more magic, but I doubt I'll do the "Magic Item Catalog - teleport orders accepted". There will always be potions and scrolls, which are usually similar, but since each mage usually makes their own items, they are pretty individual (ie, one may have a wand of fireballs, another a ring that does the same thing, etc - playing with the sfx can disguise many things too).

 

4. What do you do do for potions and scrolls? Do you allow them to be made or sold? Do your players have a bunch of these things?

 

Already said, but yeah. Potions are more common, since it doesn't take much to make them, and alchemists are responsible for many. Actually, my players only started out with 2 potions of healing from the FHG, and found a few more. Since these are both one-use items in my game, they will pobably end up with more of these just because more are made in the world.

 

5. What do you do to prevent players from becoming over envious of other players who recieve magic items earlier? Or do you just make sure that after every major haul there is enough for everyone to get something? If so, how do you keep it from becoming too obvious you designed "X" item for X player and Y item for Y player, etc.

 

I try to give something for everyone throughout the adventure, but the players divide it however they want (usually with a "anybody want it? OK, then dice for it" if two or more are interested). So far, there's been no hard feelings, maybe in part because I haven't given anything out that major (my worst was the intelligent psionic sword in D&D, but it's alignment made it good for one player only).

 

Thanks guys, I understand how the D&D systems worked for this (ACK! I know I said D&D) but I really want to get a better feel for Fantasy Hero when it comes to magic items and PCs Thanks! [/b]

 

Despite some peoples feelings, most of us have no problem with saying D&D. There's a bunch of hero conversions of D&D out here, too. I started a thread on magic shops and availability of items in D&D, and it had some interesting ideas for such things. Found the link - I think you can read without having to be registered.

 

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167577

 

Of course, everything I put in applied to all my games, not just one particular system.