Exceptional Items: Keeping the Party Geared Up in a Low-Magic Campaign
A while back Ed posted an article about “gritty” campaigns and referenced one that I was running for our group. Addressing all the mechanics for such a campaign will take several articles, so I decided to start with equipment, both because I think it’s very important to a gritty campaign and because it’s on my mind for our current “regular” campaign. It’s important to keep in mind (particularly since we’re talking about equipment) that an alternate name for this type of campaign is “stingy.”
Now gritty and stingy campaigns are not exactly the same thing. The first stingy campaign I played in was based in Waterdeep, with all the fantastic things going on there, I wouldn’t really call that a gritty environment. But I can tell you that my DM made it stingy. I don’t think we saw a single magic item for at least five levels. We literally took jobs for silver, and sometimes even copper. He made us pay for everything. Finding gold in a treasure was a major event. It was a great time.
So while a stingy campaign can be run in a high fantasy world, a gritty campaign pretty much demands stinginess. That means that players should not be able to afford the heaviest armors at first level, and even getting a suit of chainmail should feel like an accomplishment (like getting magic armor is supposed to feel). But of course players like getting better “stuff” for their characters. That’s fine.
But to maintain the gritty feel, you want to ensure that the better stuff is not magical. That doesn’t mean that you won’t let them get their hands on a magic sword at some point just that the bulk of the improved stuff is mundane, probably just better manufactured than what they started with. If you go that route, gaining a magic item will be a truly special event, because their characters have never seen one before.
D&D, particularly 4e, expects certain amount of magical gear for each character at each level so that the characters are still competitive with monsters of comparable levels. Obviously this presumption doesn’t work well in gritty campaigns. In previous editions, this presumption was necessary to a certain degree because so many monsters were immune to damage from non-magical weapons, but 4e has done away with that mechanic. However, the level scaling (defenses and attack bonuses) was designed on that same presumption. The DMG 2 did offer an option for low-magic campaigns, inherent bonuses, which I recommend for a gritty campaign. That way you won’t feel you’ve thrown your party an insurmountable curve ball when the tyrannical baron confiscates their gear of war.
Even using the inherent bonuses though, you still want the characters to be able to get different (read better) equipment. But again, because you are being stingy with your equipment, you don’t necessarily want your better “stuff” to be really fantastic masterwork items. The easiest way I’ve found to handle that is to lower the starting point. For instance, make the standard for weapons in your campaign iron, rather than steel. That way your steel weapons can have a +1 enhancement bonus and not raise any eyebrows. You could also have low and high steel weapons (+1 and +2 respectively). After that you can start using the standard fantasy metals, mithril and adamantine, etc. You can also use special forging techniques to add other characteristics to weapons.
I developed this chart for my own campaign, but I haven’t really used it yet, because, well, I’m stingy. It has little application to non-metal weapons. Here, low steel has only a damage bonus, where high steel has a +1 enhancement bonus. You can add a forging technique to a material, but we’re not really interested in making alloys. Obviously this chart could be expanded considerably, but it’s a good starting point. And if you are using these items, I recommend allowing the characters to add the enhancement bonuses to the inherent bonuses, otherwise it defeats the purpose. Plus, if you’re really being stingy, your characters can use any edge they can get. Ah, puns . . .
Low Steel +1 damage +50gp
High Steel +1 enhancement +150gp
Mithril +2 enhancement +1000gp
Adamantine +3 enhancement +3000gp
Elf Forged High Crit +500gp
Dwarf Forged Brutal 1 +300gp
So for weapons you can simply say that what the characters are buying at the weapon smiths’ is iron (rather than steel) and go from there. Armor is a bit different, particularly because leather (and hide) is prevalent and conspicuously not made of metal.
I created the following changed armor list for my gritty campaign. The prices are definitely different, but the biggest change is probably damage resistance. I don’t apply this to monsters (except possibly lieutenants or leaders) so it is almost purely for players. It affects physical damage (ranged and melee) but not other damage types. The “L/H” column identifies light and heavy armors (basically a few of the chainmail types are ‘light’). A few armors (like studded leather, ring mail and brigandine) have been added (or reinstated perhaps) to the list to fill gaps mostly for particularly destitute defenders (which is hopefully all of them).
The point here is to try to make the available armor types match a bit better with the typical leather/chainmail that characters in gritty fiction and historical fiction tend to wear, while at the same time having value to the players. The damage resistance is meant to help with that. Your defenders aren’t expected to be armor plated tanks with really high AC’s, because plate is expensive. Instead, they can get by a bit better with chain or even brigandine because, though they get hit a bit more often that their ‘standard game’ counterparts, they also take a bit less damage each time.
Hopefully this is a good starting point for getting your characters down in the ‘grit.’ Happy destitution.
Click to see the chart full size (much easier to read).
Related posts:
- A Table of 100 Random Items to Fill Your NPCs’ Pockets
- Neverwinter Campaign Setting is a Sandbox for Characters to Play In. Or Destroy.
- Krazy Kragnar’s Black Market Magic Items: Banned in Five Realms!
- Take Your RPG Back to Basics with the “Grim and Gritty” Campaign
- Eberron Campaign Guide Rich with Intrigue and Wonder
April 22nd, 2011 1:35 PM
On a related note– 4e has quest rewards that are basically extra powers with a GP cost, & you can wrangle the same sort of thing out of 3e complaint systems. Give your players FEATS instead of treasure– that way they can keep to the power curve without being festooned with fetishes, potions, scrolls, charms, & all that rot.
April 22nd, 2011 5:02 PM
I hadn’t realized you had the gritty stuff fleshed out so much. I definitely like the idea of different forging techniques creating different effects to match certain enchantments. It adds a “weight” to weapons in a gritty/stingy setting when you say their Dwarf or Elf creations. Maybe some enemies would think twice about attacking a character who told them he/she is, “the vigilante who wields Dwarven steel”, or some such rumor that had been going around.
I think a combination of the stingy equipment, and bonus feats idea would work pretty well. Since improved equipment would probably be scarce, a new feat every now and again would be welcome, and serve to vary things up a little.
April 25th, 2011 10:46 AM
This sounds good for martial characters. But what about implements?
April 25th, 2011 12:48 PM
Well, for me, part of the point of the gritty campaign is that it is low magic. Including extreme rarity of fantastic races and non-martial characters. so implements are not that big an issue for development for me (at least not yet). In fact our characters are mostly martial, with one monk (who feels martial) and one bard who takes powers that can be explained martially has successfully mocked several enemies to death (stick and stones have nothing on him its all pure apoplexy)
Even so, I’ve always envisioned poaching some from harry potter. like a rowan wand tipped by a wyvern tooth or something-maybe granting an extra bonus to poison spells (I like the hollow cored wands with special ingredients inside, but it feels a little too ‘industrial magic’ for me in a medieval campaign). But the point would be explaining the implement in a less magical way. obviously the implement is for magic (rather than martial) but I’d go with a description like the wand resonates more strongly with you so you have a +1 enhancement bonus to you spells, rather than the wand is itself inherently magical.
April 25th, 2011 12:55 PM
Mordicai I have also thought about using feats as ‘treasure’ though i don’t want to do it too much, cuz part of the gritty campaign’s motif is that the characters can lose what they’ve gained on the whim of fate. Feats are harder to threaten with that.
I agree Eric that it can be fun and a powerful story element to identify a character with a specific item, but that just doesn’t see doable with the 4e mechanics for me.
April 25th, 2011 1:53 PM
I keep forgetting that we’re talking about a gritty campaign, and so finding even one such weapon should be quite difficult. I guess items like Dwarven axes, Elven swords, etc. could be saved until such a time as the party gains in renown. If they manage to, “get their big break,” and gain access to high-end equipment, then word of a band of powerful warriors might spread.
For example, after doing something truly heroic, or villainous, or just by dumb luck, the fighter of the party gets a +1 brutal (read Dwarven) axe. He names it Spine Splitter, and continues to destroy fools with it. On paper it’s just a brutal axe, but in RP it’s a feared and/or respected weapon wielded by a warrior of growing renown. The mechanics remain the same, but get a small layer of fluff for the purposes of role playing.
As the fighter levels up, instead of having him swap Spine Splitter for a better axe, just have it become a +2 brutal axe, and explain it as the fighter becoming more familiar and skilled with the weapon. That way the character can hold onto the same weapon for his/her entire career, and still have it scale up.
April 25th, 2011 1:57 PM
Actually, if you are using inherent bonuses as well as a few exceptional items, you don’t need to ‘scale up’ your items, because the inherent bonuses do that. The extra bonus from your cool axe are just gravy . . .
April 25th, 2011 2:02 PM
I would like to see the temporary use of a feat granted as a reward. For instance, something like Headsman’s Chop or Nimbus of Light. As a minor reward, you are granted single use of the feat that you can expend whenever you want. That’s how I think the whole random fortune cards should have been created.
So, for Nimbus of Light, it would be something like: You gain the Nimbus of Light feat until the end of your next turn whether or not you meet the prerequisites. In addition, the next attack you make gains the radiant keyword and does radiant damage in addition to the power’s original damage types.
And for Headsman’s Chop: Expend this card when you hit a prone enemy with a melee attack. Gain a +5 bonus to damage from the attack.
April 25th, 2011 2:03 PM
Bah, I forgot about the inherent bonuses. I guess that makes it even simpler.