ART OR SCIENCE: FAIR ITEM DISTRIBUTION

It's hard to say, really, who gets what items in a game where everything is pre-generated and players are forced to choose what they think works best. The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has shaky item distribution methods as it is, and the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game dispenses with items altogether.

So how to make items fair? Well, lots of factors go into determining who gets what stuff, how much they get and why they don't get more.

KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid

The first factor that goes into Item Distribution is a character's Intelligence. This in and of itself is the largest limiting factor on the items a character has and is relatively recent in its application. Before the idea that smarter characters are better equipped, giving a character items was the second-most difficult process, following the unique character concept that initially drove the character to creation.

Some might ask: "Doesn't a lack of items make dumb characters weaker?" Well, yes, yes it does. You could call it justice for making Intelligence a dump stat. You've got to remember though, if they're dumb, that means a different ability score has that 14 or 15 instead of Intelligence, and that's where the character's strength lies (oftentimes literally in Strength). Others might argue that putting a high score in Intelligence might make a character weaker, especially if that character isn't a rogue or wizard. I like to think we cater more to the people who make the latter statement. Having a high Intelligence should never be a disadvantage, especially when it comes at the cost of Strength or Constitution.

KICC: Keep it Core, Cutter

Initially, the problem with equipping characters stemmed from the difficulty of creating a single pool of items to draw from. Should every sourcebook be used? What if the ones building the characters don't have access to every relevant sourcebook? How do we proofread characters when we can't be sure of the original source used to build them? Many other problems surfaced. Then we created the Core-only restriction.

Even now, not all characters have Core-only items. Some characters, whose concepts are actually based on items found in specific sourcebooks, are allowed their items on the Concept Principle, basically that the item, in combination with some other ability or feature, is the core of the character's concept, and therefore, allowable.

Few exceptions like the above exist, though exist they do. Most characters follow the Core-only item restriction. Items beyond those found in the Core Rulebooks are rarely needed for a character concept.

Infinite Battles = Infinite Items?!

There's another problem in equipping the PCs to the max: theoretically, they are constantly in a state of fighting. And they're not gaining experience and leveling up. The story and background support this, but how do they get this nigh-infinite supply of oils of magic weapon and potions of cure light wounds? Well, it stretches credulity, to say the least.

So we keep the kinds of items they have low-impact and we reduce the numbers of items that each character has. This way it's okay to say "these are the items a character has at the beginning of every battle and when she returns to life during a match." Smarter characters might have more options available, but they tend to be self-sufficient. Less intelligent characters don't budget their resources as well. *Shrug* I think I might be sounding like a broken record at this point.