Now my question is about treasure. I already know how to drop my treasure on my monsters or chests, the question is what to drop?
Does anyone have any tips? Do you use the cost of the item for the PC's level (i.e 1-10)? The level of the item? How do you determine what level gets Arvoreen's Amulet of Aid for example?
The short answer is that I use the module-wide treasure chests and stock them as if I had ItemByLevel turned on. However. . . The default prices are not in alignment with PnP rules and thus can easily turn into a Monty Haul game. Here's the long answer:
I customize itemvalue.2da -- MAXSINGLEITEMVALUE is set to the experience points of the character levels. For example level 1 items have a MAXSINGLEITEMVALUE of 999 gold pieces, level 2 of 2999, etc.
Then I create custom copies of all the magic items that I will offer in the module and adjust their prices to match 3 ½ Edition (link).
While this method ensures balance, the default magic item list is a bit sparse. So I add the following:
- +skill items (rings of spellcraft, gloves of pickpocketing, etc.)
- Polished armor with various heraldric colors (i.e. black cloth & leather, red & white cloth & leather, etc.)
- +1 attack or enchantment vs. specific race (sword +1 vs. orcs, heavy flail +1/+1 vs. undead, etc.)
- I also add light properties to most weapons, based on enchantment bonus. For example a +1 sword has a dim yellow light, +2 sword a normal yellow light, mace +1 vs. undead has a dim white light with a holy glow, etc.
- All the missing potions & wands
- And just to add a bit a whimsy, I use a couple of Easter eggs -- dead rats (light flails) and fishbats (clubs). The first time my kids fought some Goblins swinging dead rats, their reaction was priceless!
Finally I manually stock the module-wide treasure containers with level appropriate items as defined in my customized itemvalue.2da.
Oh and magic items can only be bought from wizards or itinerant merchants (think Gheed from Diablo 2) and at 10 X normal price. Non-magical items can be bought at normal prices but not magic ones. To paraphrase E. Gary Gygax, 'Players should have an incentive to venture into the underworld. Allowing them to buy magic items cheapens the thrill of acquisition.'
I hope this helps!
