Hi All,
I know we don't have the DMG at the time of this post, but I'm wondering how to do treasure. Old school had lots of random treasure tables and roll roll roll. In 4E we had predefined treasure bundles. Certainly, there are times when you know NPC has items X, Y, and Z. But, in general, how do you suggest dolling out the goods? Just picking seems too much like DM fiat. Totally random can end up with some truly strange results.
Let me know how you all handle it.
Thanks
PS -- Sorry if I missed an earlier thread on this. I looked but did not find. 
DooHickey wrote:
Id go totally random. It was so much fun in 2e. And I loathe the "treasure parcels" idea when players suggest their own treasure. uuurgghh.
If it turned out, after a few levels, that a PC was falling behind, I would throw in a specific item to help them out. But otherwise.... let the dice decide!
For most utilitarian magical items, I prefer totally random. It inspires creativity. You get a result that you would never think of yourself and then have to come up with a reason for why it's there or a story behind its use.
But I also like to place specific magical items, especially if I think they'll become signature items for a particular character and have a strong tie-in to the current story. Like a cursed Holy Avenger wielded by a pit fiend that a paladin has kill and then purify the sword and then it becomes his.
Ask your players their preference. I always hated random treasure, so as a player in your game I'd be against it.
It even works if some want it random and others don't. Place what the placers want, and roll for the rest. It might be something the other players can't use, but that's apparently what they wanted to risk.
I mostly roll randomly for treasure, but every session I put in a specific item for a specific PC until they all have one. For the PC that uses a quarterstaff, magical quarterstaves don't just roll off the random tables.
Cheers,
Redbeard2
If you want some "ancient wisdom" on the matter of placing treasure, here's what Gygax said back in 1974 (Underground and Wilderness Adventures, vol. 3 of the original D&D, p. 6):
As a general rule there will be far more uninhabited space on a level than there will be space occupied by monsters, human or otherwise. The determination of just where monsters should be placed, and whether or not they will be guarding treasure, and how much of the latter if they are guarding something, can become burdensome when faced with several levels to do at one time. It is a good idea to thoughtfully place several of the most important treasures, with or without monsterous [sic] guardians, and then switch to a random determination for the balance of the level. Naturally, the more important treasures will consist of various magical items and large amounts of wealth in the form of gems and jewelry. Once these have been secreted in out-of-the-way locations, a random distribution [...] can be made [...]
You could roll items randomly, then pick half of them for what the actual treasure is.
Mixes random and deliberating thought.
Llenlleawg wrote:
In my campaign magic items are somewhat rare (my party is 4 level 3s and have found 2 magic items) so I specifically craft each item and never use a generic +1. Some of them are tailored to the party and others are intentionally not ideal. If I was playing a world where magic items abound, I would probably use random tables for a majority of items and create a few choice items to include as well.