Item Pool?

[Ginger]

What about the original idea of a pool for magical items? I liked that idea a lot. Before leaving town, we'd take our list of magical items, everyone would say what they wanted, and we'd divide them accordingly. We could mix a pool along with an ownership model, by having the miscellaneous items go into the pool (wisdom necklace, ring of human influence, statue) while characters own some of their items.

A helpful way to start this might be to have the four members list the items they have, and have the DM list whatever we have in the pool.

[Ginger]

Raven has:
Plate mail +1
Shield +1
Longsword +2
Necklace of Wisdom +1
Elixer of Restoration
Love Potion

[Mr. Trommer]

Let's see I have:

Ring of Protection +1
Spellbook of the Archmage
Black earthy Pellet

Wand of Detecting People Who Don't Like You (Detect Evil or Good?)
Staff of Striking with Snakes (Clerics Only)

I personally believe in an even distribution of magic with those that can use an item getting it. If we are not going to do the pool then we gather all the magic items found and vote on them. If multiple people want a certain item then we can roll for it. I don't want to get in the situation of arguaing whether someone has more items than another. If we have a situation where there aren't items available for a certain class after a session the that person gets consideration for the next time. I gave Dell the ROHI because at the time he was starting out and did not have a lot of options. That has changed since he has gained in power as evident in his attacking from the rear shows.

[Mr. Trommer]

I suppose you could add the painting of Nerull. I don't thnik of it a personal item and I would argue with a suggestion that it is.

[Dell]

I have to vote against the pool idea. I mean, if you don't get money, and you just get to "borrow" magical items from the company, then what's the point?

Anyway, Dell has:

Longsword +1 and Dagger +1
Ring of Human Influence
Lion Figurine
Evil Amulet
Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes.

[Ginger]

Dell said:

I have to vote against the pool idea. I mean, if you don't get money, and you just get to "borrow" magical items from the company, then what's the point?

Well, if the Company has 100,000 gold pieces in assets, then you have 25,000 gold pieces in assets, since you are 1/4 of the company.

[Dell]

ArrowGuy said:

Well, if the Company has 100,000 gold pieces in assets, then you have 25,000 gold pieces in assets, since you are 1/4 of the company.

And the magical items are part of those assets. So if I decide to take my toys and go home, what toys do I take? I mean, I'm planning to retire at some point. I'm not just going to keep adventuring until I get killed or something.

I can see a use for some "floating" items, but there are some that should be owned. I say that as of right now, everyone gets the items that they're carrying, except for:

The Ring of Human Influence I'll give back to Winthrop, or we can make it a company item, either way is fine. The protection scroll could be given to Al. And I'd like to have the love potion, but it's not a deal-breaker.

This leaves me with some weapons, a part-time lion, and an evil amulet. The pool would contain the four other evil amulets, as well as the Nerul painting, the Nerul shield, the Snake Staff of the Nerul priest, that message sending ring that doesn't work, and whatever else we had that no one was using.

(As a side note: according to the sale prices listed in the DMG, [which are far beyond what we'll actually be able to get for our items, unless the Silent One is a real big spender] Winthrop is currently packing about 50,000 GP of magical swag - and that's not including the Spellbook of Dontalkabout. Raven and Dell combined don't have that much - they're both down around the 15-20K range. Of course, Winthrop is the CEO... and if you count the various daggers that Dell has picked up, it's a little bit closer, but Winthrop is still the man.)

[Ginger]

It seems to me that the following things are owned:
Plate +1 (Raven)
Shield +1, Hart (Raven)
Longsword +2 (Raven)
Ring of Protection (Winthrop)
Black Pellet (Winthrop)
Longsword +1, Hart (Dell)
Dagger +1, Hart (Dell) (I think we might want to give this to Al, but that's up for discussion)
Amulet of Protection against Good (Dell)

Pool:
Amulet of Wisdom +1
Elixer of Restoration
Love Potion
Super Spellbook
Reptile Staff
Wand of detection
Painting of Nerill
Ring of Human Influence
Lion Figurine
Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes
Shield of Nerill

As a general rule, nothing should leave the pool unless it is fully identified.

Also, I think Al might want the dagger since, as far as I can tell, he has no magical items.

[Dell]

ArrowGuy said:

Also, I think Al might want the dagger since, as far as I can tell, he has no magical items.

Al's got a set of magical chain mail, and a potion of fire resistance. He didn't want it last time I asked, either - he's pretty attached to that axe of his. He's also got two silver daggers from the werewolf hunt - or maybe he has one and Frank has one, I'm not sure.

In case you don't recall Dell owes Elmo two minor magic items, at least one potion, and copies of all the new spells he's learned as payment for "graduating" from wizard school. So it's kind of important to him that he knows what he owns (and can use to pay his debts) and what he doesn't.

If the items aren't going to be divided up as we go, then once again, what is the point of being in the Company? Dell wants to know what he gets to take with him when he goes. The point of having the magical items is to own them and use them, not to have them on loan from some central fund. I say we distribute everything - every item should have a listed owner.

"Join the Company of the Blue Sun, and on occasion borrow powerful magic items from us after you pay the membership fee," is not an awesome sales pitch.

[liato]

As long as we are doing an inventory of magic items I should add my characters.

Liato currently has none.
Ed, if I remember correctly, also had none.

[Ginger]

Dell said:

Al's got a set of magical chain mail, and a potion of fire resistance.

I forgot about that, although chainmail +1 without the weight bonus hardly counts.

If the items aren't going to be divided up as we go, then once again, what is the point of being in the Company? Dell wants to know what he gets to take with him when he goes. The point of having the magical items is to own them and use them, not to have them on loan from some central fund. I say we distribute everything - every item should have a listed owner.

"Join the Company of the Blue Sun, and on occasion borrow powerful magic items from us after you pay the membership fee," is not an awesome sales pitch.

Some items will be divided up and owned by characters, and some will be shared in the pool. Weapons, armor, and class specific stuff should probably be owned. Other stuff should probably be shared. For example, once we track down Dred, Elsie, Siggurd or whoever else has our ioun stones, those will certainly not be owned.

[Ginger]

liato said:

As long as we are doing an inventory of magic items I should add my characters.

Liato currently has none.
Ed, if I remember correctly, also had none.

Liato should be able to rejoin the company for the next adventure at 3rd level. Does that mean that he'll have Call Lightening? That may qualify as being cool enough to warrant company membership, assuming you'd even be interested in it.

But as a future policy, no non-members get magical items. Maybe they'll get temporary use out of them, or maybe we'll sell them items cheaply, but we'll never give them away.

[Dell]

You can share your stuff all you want, but I'm keeping mine.

Say we end up hitting the jackpot on this current mission, with loads of magical stuff. We get back to Blue Sun Hall, and Dell says "It's been fun, but I'm retiring. Gimme my share of the stuff." He's entitled to 1/4th of the magical items, but which ones does he take with him? I'm just saying that it's better to make these decisions now, rather than later.

As far as Dell's concerned, he owns what he's carrying, and you own what you're carrying, and he's fine with that.

[Dell]

ArrowGuy said:

Liato should be able to rejoin the company for the next adventure at 3rd level. Does that mean that he'll have Call Lightening? That may qualify as being cool enough to warrant company membership, assuming you'd even be interested in it.

Call Lightning is teh suck. A spell that takes ten rounds to cast, and is only useful outdoors when it's raining? That'll be really helpful.

Summon Insects is the only 3rd level Druid spell that's useful in combat - but Liato better have Neutralize Poison memorised instead.

[liato]

Well not all of us are combat casters are we, Dell? Maybe I can teach you how to turn into a tree.

Besides, don't forget that neutralize poison is reversable.

[Dell]

You're right, Poison could be useful in combat, and it is 3rd level. Not as useful for combat as Summon Insects, though.

And yes, I understand that most Druid spells are poorly suited for combat, but there's more to adventuring than just combat.

[Ginger]

Dell said:

As far as Dell's concerned, he owns what he's carrying, and you own what you're carrying, and he's fine with that.

I'll be fine with it too, as long as Winthrop and Al are fine.

[Dell]

ArrowGuy said:

I'll be fine with it too, as long as Winthrop and Al are fine.

You saw that Winthrop agreed, so the motion is passed... all the things I hold are mine, to do with as I please. Future magical goods will be endlessly argued over and then divided by the company members. Since Al has ended up on the short end of this deal, I think the Nerul shield should go to him, as well as... any other unassigned magical goods remaining.