Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Ipecac Mar 08, 2015 9:36:45	Hello fellow DM's!   I just finished my 11 session campaign (my first) and it was a smashing success.  My dudes want to take their spoils and cook up some special gear during the downtime.  I need advice on what / how to allow it.   The monk wants to have a "gypsy wagon" with fold out sides for gear or wares, bunks for 4 inside and locking doors.  I sold him one for 300gp, but made him fix it up during his downtime.  I think this may have been excessive as a carriage is 200g.  I just figured this was like an RV.  Is that reasonable?  also, if he wants to do things like add a trap door on the bottom for escapes, or one on the top for archery, how would you guys proceed in terms of gold and time (he donsn't have carpentry skills).   The assassin wants custom belts and gear harnesses.  He wants two short swords he can draw over the shoulder, dart holsters next to that.  he wants a bandoleer of poision bottles with oilskin caps so he can quickly pierce one with a dart or dagger and have it be poisioned.   Is this stuff even special in Faerun, or is a leatherworker likely to craft just this sort of thing? How much gold and time to have it crafted?   Also:  would any advantage be offered by this when it comes to drawing darts?  Could poisoning a blade be a free action or a a "cunning action"   Thanks for your thoughts.
#2 MechaPilot Mar 08, 2015 11:15:10	There are no official rules for modifying the gear in the books, so it's really a DM's judgement call on time, cost, and whether or not it requires any dir rolling.   Personally, I wouldn't charge extra for gear as long as it doesn't offer a mechanical advantage.   Example #1.  Drawing swords over the shoulder is fine as long as you still use the same rules for stowing and drawing weapons.  If the PC wants some kind of quick-release scabbard so she can draw her blades then do something else as her free object manipulation during movement, then that PC is going to have to pay some cash.   Example #2.  The poison bandoleer that allows for quick-poisoning of darts sounds exactly like what I mean by granting a mechanical advantage.  I would certainly require a cost for that.  How much I would charge would depend on how negligible the act of poisoning the darts becomes.  I would charge less if poisoning the darts consumed a reaction or a cunning action than I would if posioning the darts could be done as your free object manipulation during movement, which would also cost less than being able to poison them freely and immediately upon drawing them.   Example #3.  This is a non-combat example.  Modifying gear, whether wagon or backpack, to carry more weight without slowing you down would also be a mechanical advantage.  Also, adding special features (like the bunks and trap doors you mentioned) should have a monetary cost, but they also carry a cost in terms of weight/encumbrance: Beds have weight, and if you have a trap door on the floor for easy escape, you can't stow as much gear in the wagon or else you'll cover it up.   With regard to the wagon and its cost, the pdf lists a carriage as costing 100 gp.  I am assuming that the carriage is a simple conveyance, that it is wood, that the interior has two bench seats that face each other and seat a total of four to six people, that any luggage is stowed on top (behind the bench where the driver sits) or on the back, and that it may or may not have a window on the left and right sides.  This kind of vehicle is rather small compared to the luxurious RV the PCs have in mind.  I would be inclined to map out the RV on graph paper.  Then, I would charge one chariot's worth of gp for every 10 foot by 10 foot section of the RV (that also breaks down to an easily applied 1 gp per square foot).  The trap doors should really have a marginal monetary cost, probably 4 gp each to hire a carpenter to do it and to pay for the latches and hinges.   Also, don't forget the weight of the RV.  They are probably going to need to buy a team of horses to pull that thing at a reasonable speed (and those horses will need food, water, harnesses, and possibly armor while adventuring; plus stabling while in town), and even then it should need a considerable berth to take corners, and it'll have to deal with potentially getting stuck in mud.
#3 crimfan07 Mar 08, 2015 19:15:23	One way to make things mechanically cool but not overwhelming would be to put either a Long or Short Rest requirement on it. So for instance, the fancy scabbard that lets you quick draw once might need a bunch of careful resetting that can only be done during a Long Rest.    It essentially becomes a once a day power, but it's fun.