The Compendium is nice for the ability to find what the item actually IS, but for a DM rolling treasure parcels, it has no randomness whatsoever as far as items/loot goes.
I really liked having a random loot table, basically because of the fact that it causes my players to think on their feet: sometimes that item that never seemed to have a use suddenly became the best thing on earth (example: making a successful grapple check place an Everburning Stove onto the head of a Frost Giant).
also, why roll parcels? from my experience, non-planned items never act out as well as planned story items.
WhiteBaron has a good point of course
Thanks,
A fun idea. We will look into how much work it is.
WhiteBaron has a good point of course
Thanks,
I agree. Some items are a bit more important; however, to me tracking initiative is a moot issue, since I prefer to do that the same way I always have (whiteboard); and the gametable and stuff has been in development for years and scratched, while this should be able to be a pretty simple thing to do.
Thing is, they already have half the work done. They have searchable list of all magical items according to level, type, etc. I just wish there was an interface that I could search through them better.
The thing that gets my goat about it is the fact that somebody already did this BY HAND before WotC actually made their server for the Compendium searchable by things other than the Compendium itself:
http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMagicItems/randomTreasure.php
Problem is, that guy doesn't have the time to update this program with all the new content. If I use his loot generator, I'm missing out on Dragonshards, Warforged equipment, heck, just about EVERYTHING that came out since he stopped manually updating everything.
Talking to him, it seems like the scripts themselves are really easy; it is just knowing how to make the script (which, unfortunately, I can't do).
It just seems weird to me to have a monster builder program to track and store every monster ever made for 4e, but if we want to find out what type of magical level 7 sword we just found, you have to open 6 books.
It just seems weird to me to have a monster builder program to track and store every monster ever made for 4e, but if we want to find out what type of magical level 7 sword we just found, you have to open 6 books.
even the free part of the compendium already covers this.
items - category weapons - level 7 to 7 take a d20 and roll.
or take d6/8/10 to choose the page, and then take a d20 and roll.
It just seems weird to me to have a monster builder program to track and store every monster ever made for 4e, but if we want to find out what type of magical level 7 sword we just found, you have to open 6 books.
If you want a list of magic items the Character Builder and the compendium both contain every magic item ever made.
If you want a list of magic items the Character Builder and the compendium both contain every magic item ever made.
I understand that. However, my point is, even if I were to use the compendium, there is no fast way to find a "random" item. Say I'm giving out a level 7 magical item. According to the Compendium, there are over 140 magical items of level 7. Am I supposed to roll a d100 plus 4d10 and add it all together to see what my player got (which, since I am rolling 5 dice, means it is impossible to get items 1-4, because it is impossible to roll that low on 5 dice of either 1-100 or 1-10).
Say my player rolls then a 68. Now I have to go through the Compendium and figure out which item is the 68th item on the list...
And on top of that, I can't filter out specific magical items. With the script I posted, I could say "no crossbows" or "no potions" or "do not use anything from the forgotten realms," or "show only gems, minerals, or dragonshards"
While I understand the need for other tools is felt more strongly by other players, I want to be able to assign loot at the table (something that is VERY MUCH LOOKED FORWARD TO in my games), instead of at home after the game because it takes 20-30 minutes for the compendium to keep up with me looking up treasure parcels.
Now, that is not to say that the Compendium could not be tweaked to do what I want it to do. Slap on a "exclude these things" filter, and number the listings, and I could deal with manually rolling the treasure parcel and typing it in to see what my players got.
Load your 5 or 6 characters' lists in, and out pops this level's treasure parcels based on what they want without having to cross reference a bunch of lists. If it could look at the equipment that the players are wearing would be cool too (so it wouldn't pop out say a second +2 neck-slot item when they already have one.)
This is a part of game prep that takes me forever, especially since I can't remember who got what when, the equipment of 6 players is a lot to remember.
Even if you limit it to very specific kinds of weapons and level ranges, there are tons of enchantments that will just be essentially useless to particular characters, making for a huge waste.
It's incredibly easy to give a new sword, and find that the player vastly prefers his existent weapon even if it's got a +1 enchantment less, simply because of the properties or power. Then you get sold (or disenchanted) items that either you let the party take a loss on, or remember to "try again" with another item later, saving you almost nothing.
And this is not even to comment on the huge variability in power even objectively, where some items are overly weak and some are "broken" powerful.
Require a wishlist from players, decide what items to select and where to put them, and copy or print out the relevant information to give as in-game handouts as they are found.
On the other hand, coding a random loot generator is less an hour's work if you already have a level-sorted item database (which Wizards do). An hour of work to please the couple of dozen people who play this way seems like a fair exchange; it should be done.
I want to be able to assign loot at the table (something that is VERY MUCH LOOKED FORWARD TO in my games), instead of at home after the game because it takes 20-30 minutes for the compendium to keep up with me looking up treasure parcels.
why don't you do that when planning for your next game day? if all your players want is to be assigned loot while playing, it certainly would be a good idea to prepare it upfront.
On the other hand, coding a random loot generator is less an hour's work if you already have a level-sorted item database (which Wizards do). An hour of work to please the couple of dozen people who play this way seems like a fair exchange; it should be done.
if you want to have just the possibility to say "1 item of lvl X", or "treasure parcel for lvl Y", you might be right for a mediocre tool. Real Software takes a lot longer to cook up than most fanbased "always-alpha-scripts". WOTC can hardly afforder to put up another tool that's as messed up as some of what they produced in the past. CB, Monster Tool (sic), those are the way to go - if there ever is a random loot generator, i expect it to be part of the adventure tool, and to be a lot more complex than what you could code within an hour.
but for a DM rolling treasure parcels, it has no randomness whatsoever as far as items/loot goes.
I don't really like random dice rolling in 4th ed. But a simple list is just as simple.
Item Category
1. Weapon
2. Armour
3. Dragonshard Augment
4. Orbs
5. etc, etc.
Weapon Type
1. Bastard Sword
2. Battleaxe
3. Blowgun
4. etc, etc.
Armor/Weapon Type would obviously only be considered if you rolled a 1 or 2 on the first dice. Once your down to actual items you can easily get a list (real simple in the character builder to get a list of level 3 fullblades available) roll one more dice and count down from the top.
A maximum of 3 dice rolls later, and no fancy program necessary. Just some initial hard work (20 minutes tops).