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I've been quite enthousiast with Rivendell, in particular with the Treasure section and how it was integrated with the core system.

One thing has me thinking, especially after I briefly told one of my players about the new system: the fact that PCs have to have XPs floating around if they want to benefit from a Wondrous Artefact or a Famous Weapon or Armour.
My player suggested, and I was already thinking about something similar, that if the opportunity to get something more than a Precious Object presents itself, that future XPs earned by the PC serve to pay for the item.

For example, if 4 Success Dice are used and two success are obtained, the player will have to pay the next 2 XPs (for a Wondrous Artifact) or 4 XPs (for a Famous Weapon) he earns (i.e. he won't get those XPs while the other PCs wil).

That solution has a couple advantages:
1) Players won't have to continually delay the progression of their PCs (which results in better odds of surviving, not a bad thing considering how our last Campaign ended...);
2) When that opportunity to get the big item occured, it won't be screwed by the PC having no XPs, even though both the player and LM (consider the time the LM invests in creating those items) really want the item to come into play.

What do you all think about this proposition?

Mythicos wrote:What do you all think about this proposition?

I've used similar rules in this and other games for players to pay for stuff in advance without any problems - as long as you're fair and consistent and your players don't abuse it then I can't see the issue. Perhaps don't allow them to pay for more than one item each in advance though so that if there's a PC that hasn't paid in advance for anything then they aren't too far behind (in power level) to those that have.

I know that I plan to build up a reserve of XP that I'll never let drop below 6. Which is fine, I guess, but I'm not sure why creating an incentive to do that is beneficial to the game.

Idea for a slight tweak to your proposal: you can't "unlock" any attributes of the item until you've paid off the XP.

... Actually, I can see a possible issue.

The players decide how much XP they'd like to commit to the Treasure roll in order to see what they've found (ie, 1 XP per success dice). If you allow them to get it in advance then surely everyone is going to be rolling 6 success dice which will mean that it could skew what is found each time in favour of the more powerful weapons and armour to the detriment of artefacts with blessings etc.

Rich H wrote:... Actually, I can see a possible issue.

The players decide how much XP they'd like to commit to the Treasure roll in order to see what they've found (ie, 1 XP per success dice). If you allow them to get it in advance then surely everyone is going to be rolling 6 success dice which will mean that it could skew what is found each time in favour of the more powerful weapons and armour to the detriment of artefacts with blessings etc.

You're absolutely right, that is an issue...

This is only an issue where the LM allows a player an item 'before it makes sense'. If the LM has given careful thought to the placement of treasures as per the guidelines given, then I don't see a problem with allowing PC's to 'pay in advance' IF IT MAKES SENSE story wise for the character to have the item now. The LM is free to disregard dice roll results where they conflict with his story.

I actually see a greater issue with having to explain to a player: "No you can't have a Famous weapon even though you rolled for one because there are no more Famous Weapons in this campaign. You"ll have to accept a Wondrous item instead."

Robin S.

Or you just not let them pre-spend any more points than the higher (or lower, if you're harsh) of their Valor or Wisdom.

alaskan15 wrote:Or you just not let them pre-spend any more points than the higher (or lower, if you're harsh) of their Valor or Wisdom.

Oh that's clever.

Elfcrusher wrote:

alaskan15 wrote:Or you just not let them pre-spend any more points than the higher (or lower, if you're harsh) of their Valor or Wisdom.

Oh that's clever.

I agree, it's a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

Slightly off topic, but still in the same vein. It's about the RAW. My reading is that you need unused experience to make the rolls to potentially get a Wondrous Artifact etc, but that you don't actually spend any of that unused experience unless you actually get a Tengwar Result and use it to purchase a Wondrous Artefact/Legendary Weapon. Is that correct or am I missing something?