A DM looking for Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

A DM looking for Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Setzer
01-02-04, 11:49 PM Ok,I've come to a little problem of morals.I'm basically gonna go with taking votes more or less here, I'm only 17, I've DMed for three years though,due to a complicated situation.My friends and I get pretty serious when we play, I do try to keep them in character,we follow most rules(I just completely ignore attacks of opportunity though,due to some events of campaigns past) and I will allow anything from Wizards of the Coast,as long as my players can provide me with a copy of the rules if I don't have them,for prestige classes and what not.I've always loved playing with magic items,and they abound in my campaigns...but I'm at a bit of an impass...I had a character that ended up with A sword of Kas, and Gauntlets of Hextor.Plus he's a Barbarian....well....I kinda want to take them away form him,or at least keep them out of his hands until much higher levels,did I mention this lucky roller is only lvl. 7? Is it wrong of me to focus on trying to remove them from him?Oh, on one other note,I like to talk,so this message may have been a bit much,but I can't be breif,just not in me.....could explain why my adventures take four or five sessions.Any advice at all about anything about DMing is welcome,my players always walk away happy,and people love the stories I come up with, but I'm overjudging,so I still consider myself kind of a newbie DM.A DM of 19 years was pleased with my style but...agh,rambling again...ok,well,thanks guys,in advance,for any help.
BRJN
01-03-04, 12:05 AM Somebody else (who just happens to be on a Divine Quest) shows up and challenges him to a wrestling match - or something other than lethal combat - for possession of the Gauntlets.

For humor's sake, the challenge could be a feast. The last party still able to eat, wins. Note that most people get full after about a half hour. A prepared feaster will go on short rations for a week beforehand and will chew each bite 20 times slowly before swollowing. A prepared feaster will also encourage the other fellow to drink himself under the table. A REALLY prepared feaster will bring along a dwarven champion (who has prepared for the feasting) to take his place.

Another way to get him rid of the sword would be for him to roll a '1' in combat and - if you use critical hit / critical miss rules - say, "You lose your grip on the sword and throw it across the room." If the PCs do not successfully hold the field of battle, the other side will be in possession of the sword.
Avalongod
01-03-04, 12:31 AM First off...how did he get that stuff if you didn't want him to have it. I would avoid "random treasure" for this very reason. HAve that stuff rolled up ahead of time so you can edit stuff that might be ridiculous. Although at times you won't know how ridiculous some things are until you see them applied.

Having the character "kidnapped" and his stuff taken for good would be one way....although he would then lose everything. There are some magic items that will drain magic from other items (I forget to what degree the Rod of Cancellation and Wand of Negation are each good for this, you will have to look that up in the DMG). An NPC could have one of these and use it on his stuff.

You may (if you have a good relationship with the player) want to take him aside and explain your thoughts on this in advance. You will want to avoid a situation in which you are obviously removing the items from him, unless you have his "consent" for this in advance. Some players will be okay with this for game balance, others not. On the other hand if you ask him for "consent" and he says no, then you spring something on him to have them removed, it will be even more obvious what you are doing. Hard to gauge what the best path might be.
Avalongod
01-03-04, 12:31 AM First off...how did he get that stuff if you didn't want him to have it. I would avoid "random treasure" for this very reason. HAve that stuff rolled up ahead of time so you can edit stuff that might be ridiculous. Although at times you won't know how ridiculous some things are until you see them applied.

Having the character "kidnapped" and his stuff taken for good would be one way....although he would then lose everything. There are some magic items that will drain magic from other items (I forget to what degree the Rod of Cancellation and Wand of Negation are each good for this, you will have to look that up in the DMG). An NPC could have one of these and use it on his stuff.

You may (if you have a good relationship with the player) want to take him aside and explain your thoughts on this in advance. You will want to avoid a situation in which you are obviously removing the items from him, unless you have his "consent" for this in advance. Some players will be okay with this for game balance, others not. On the other hand if you ask him for "consent" and he says no, then you spring something on him to have them removed, it will be even more obvious what you are doing. Hard to gauge what the best path might be.
Setzer
01-03-04, 12:38 AM Ok,well,Avalongod brings up a valid point,he got the gauntlets before I stopped doing totally random treasure,the sword he got because I had someone try to kill the party with it...and through some amazing,and unnatural luck,managed to prevent the attempt,and when splitting up the treasure,the barbarian wanted it,and being the only powerhouse in the group,went uncontended.
Avalongod
01-03-04, 01:05 AM Live and learn, I suppose. :D

That's a tricky thing too, never give your NPC villains nice weapons you don't want your PCs to have. Alternatively you could enhance the items with something to make them undesirable to PCs...like giving the item a clearly evil aura, or some negative side effect (like a huge minus to a stat, say wisdom or some such).

Also keep in mind that if PCs get extraordinarily powerful items, that may attract other baddies that want to take the items from them. If the barbarian suddenly becomes a powerhouse, and particularly if waves his shiny new sword around, someone is gonna come looking to either a.) steal it when the barbarian sleeps or b.) kill the barbarian and take it from him.

I like the evil aura idea best, though...this is something that you could slip in after awhile (in the same way that the Ring from the Hobbit seems innocuos (spelling?) until Lord of the Rings).
primemover003
01-03-04, 01:22 AM You do realize the weapon is intelligent right? It's also Chaotic evil and an unholy weapon. Is your PC evil, if not he's taking a negative level. Also it happens to have an Ego of 34!!!!! There is no way it would accept your PC as it's wielder. Read the section on Intellignet weapons in the DMG, specifically the items vs. characters section.

The sword of Kas is going to eat your PC for breakfast!

What are the gauntlets of Hextor... I don't see them in my DMG (3.0). Obviously you are playing in greyhawk (or a GH-lite version of the core), if so dig up Dungeon magazine 105 and throw Warduke at them... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
themind
01-03-04, 02:22 AM Here is what i would do.

First off explain to him that being in possesion of these items is messing up the game balance and all of the other stuff the other peopel said.

Then in game do like Avalongod suggested and have someone steal it when he is asleep. Now this would :censored::censored::censored::censored: off the Barbarian in character and would probably make him want to go get it back.

To counter this, have it where some person needs to use the artifact for some ritual and thus drains the blade of any power and usefulness to anyone else. If you want you can even have it where the PC's stop the ritual halfway through, but still too late to save the the artifact.

Since you are good at coming up with stories you could expand more on this and make it look good, if you wanted to use this that is.

And if you do like the concept above, go ahead and use it. Im just here to give my 2cp

Oh and try and refrain from putting artifacts into a campaign wherre the PC's could get their grubby little hands on them. Pc's shouldnt get or find artifacts until at least Lv 40 or so in my opinion.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Setzer 01-02-04, 11:49 PM	Ok,I've come to a little problem of morals.I'm basically gonna go with taking votes more or less here, I'm only 17, I've DMed for three years though,due to a complicated situation.My friends and I get pretty serious when we play, I do try to keep them in character,we follow most rules(I just completely ignore attacks of opportunity though,due to some events of campaigns past) and I will allow anything from Wizards of the Coast,as long as my players can provide me with a copy of the rules if I don't have them,for prestige classes and what not.I've always loved playing with magic items,and they abound in my campaigns...but I'm at a bit of an impass...I had a character that ended up with A sword of Kas, and Gauntlets of Hextor.Plus he's a Barbarian....well....I kinda want to take them away form him,or at least keep them out of his hands until much higher levels,did I mention this lucky roller is only lvl. 7? Is it wrong of me to focus on trying to remove them from him?Oh, on one other note,I like to talk,so this message may have been a bit much,but I can't be breif,just not in me.....could explain why my adventures take four or five sessions.Any advice at all about anything about DMing is welcome,my players always walk away happy,and people love the stories I come up with, but I'm overjudging,so I still consider myself kind of a newbie DM.A DM of 19 years was pleased with my style but...agh,rambling again...ok,well,thanks guys,in advance,for any help.
BRJN 01-03-04, 12:05 AM	Somebody else (who just happens to be on a Divine Quest) shows up and challenges him to a wrestling match - or something other than lethal combat - for possession of the Gauntlets. For humor's sake, the challenge could be a feast. The last party still able to eat, wins. Note that most people get full after about a half hour. A prepared feaster will go on short rations for a week beforehand and will chew each bite 20 times slowly before swollowing. A prepared feaster will also encourage the other fellow to drink himself under the table. A REALLY prepared feaster will bring along a dwarven champion (who has prepared for the feasting) to take his place. Another way to get him rid of the sword would be for him to roll a '1' in combat and - if you use critical hit / critical miss rules - say, "You lose your grip on the sword and throw it across the room." If the PCs do not successfully hold the field of battle, the other side will be in possession of the sword.
Avalongod 01-03-04, 12:31 AM	First off...how did he get that stuff if you didn't want him to have it. I would avoid "random treasure" for this very reason. HAve that stuff rolled up ahead of time so you can edit stuff that might be ridiculous. Although at times you won't know how ridiculous some things are until you see them applied. Having the character "kidnapped" and his stuff taken for good would be one way....although he would then lose everything. There are some magic items that will drain magic from other items (I forget to what degree the Rod of Cancellation and Wand of Negation are each good for this, you will have to look that up in the DMG). An NPC could have one of these and use it on his stuff. You may (if you have a good relationship with the player) want to take him aside and explain your thoughts on this in advance. You will want to avoid a situation in which you are obviously removing the items from him, unless you have his "consent" for this in advance. Some players will be okay with this for game balance, others not. On the other hand if you ask him for "consent" and he says no, then you spring something on him to have them removed, it will be even more obvious what you are doing. Hard to gauge what the best path might be.
Avalongod 01-03-04, 12:31 AM	First off...how did he get that stuff if you didn't want him to have it. I would avoid "random treasure" for this very reason. HAve that stuff rolled up ahead of time so you can edit stuff that might be ridiculous. Although at times you won't know how ridiculous some things are until you see them applied. Having the character "kidnapped" and his stuff taken for good would be one way....although he would then lose everything. There are some magic items that will drain magic from other items (I forget to what degree the Rod of Cancellation and Wand of Negation are each good for this, you will have to look that up in the DMG). An NPC could have one of these and use it on his stuff. You may (if you have a good relationship with the player) want to take him aside and explain your thoughts on this in advance. You will want to avoid a situation in which you are obviously removing the items from him, unless you have his "consent" for this in advance. Some players will be okay with this for game balance, others not. On the other hand if you ask him for "consent" and he says no, then you spring something on him to have them removed, it will be even more obvious what you are doing. Hard to gauge what the best path might be.
Setzer 01-03-04, 12:38 AM	Ok,well,Avalongod brings up a valid point,he got the gauntlets before I stopped doing totally random treasure,the sword he got because I had someone try to kill the party with it...and through some amazing,and unnatural luck,managed to prevent the attempt,and when splitting up the treasure,the barbarian wanted it,and being the only powerhouse in the group,went uncontended.
Avalongod 01-03-04, 01:05 AM	Live and learn, I suppose. :D That's a tricky thing too, never give your NPC villains nice weapons you don't want your PCs to have. Alternatively you could enhance the items with something to make them undesirable to PCs...like giving the item a clearly evil aura, or some negative side effect (like a huge minus to a stat, say wisdom or some such). Also keep in mind that if PCs get extraordinarily powerful items, that may attract other baddies that want to take the items from them. If the barbarian suddenly becomes a powerhouse, and particularly if waves his shiny new sword around, someone is gonna come looking to either a.) steal it when the barbarian sleeps or b.) kill the barbarian and take it from him. I like the evil aura idea best, though...this is something that you could slip in after awhile (in the same way that the Ring from the Hobbit seems innocuos (spelling?) until Lord of the Rings).
primemover003 01-03-04, 01:22 AM	You do realize the weapon is intelligent right? It's also Chaotic evil and an unholy weapon. Is your PC evil, if not he's taking a negative level. Also it happens to have an Ego of 34!!!!! There is no way it would accept your PC as it's wielder. Read the section on Intellignet weapons in the DMG, specifically the items vs. characters section. The sword of Kas is going to eat your PC for breakfast! What are the gauntlets of Hextor... I don't see them in my DMG (3.0). Obviously you are playing in greyhawk (or a GH-lite version of the core), if so dig up Dungeon magazine 105 and throw Warduke at them... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
themind 01-03-04, 02:22 AM	Here is what i would do. First off explain to him that being in possesion of these items is messing up the game balance and all of the other stuff the other peopel said. Then in game do like Avalongod suggested and have someone steal it when he is asleep. Now this would :censored::censored::censored::censored: off the Barbarian in character and would probably make him want to go get it back. To counter this, have it where some person needs to use the artifact for some ritual and thus drains the blade of any power and usefulness to anyone else. If you want you can even have it where the PC's stop the ritual halfway through, but still too late to save the the artifact. Since you are good at coming up with stories you could expand more on this and make it look good, if you wanted to use this that is. And if you do like the concept above, go ahead and use it. Im just here to give my 2cp Oh and try and refrain from putting artifacts into a campaign wherre the PC's could get their grubby little hands on them. Pc's shouldnt get or find artifacts until at least Lv 40 or so in my opinion.