Black Friday Shopping List

In the spirit of Black Friday, when those who love to shop worship the After Thanksgiving Sales in crowded stores, let us not forget that most players love to shop for their character and thus celebrate this most impressive of shopping holidays in the manner best fitting our favored past-time.

Beginning with the Basics

In addition to armor and weapons, there are certain things most character will need to procure before adventuring in the great wide world. I try to never leave home without the following:

• Backpack
• Bedroll
• Winter Blanket – I love to use these for more than just camping in the colder months; they’re handy for a make-shift litter or awning, and in a pinch, you could create a blanket rope.
• Scroll case, parchment, ink & pen – a great DM with whom I once had the privilege to game had a house rule that unless you character was carrying the necessary equipment for taking notes, you as the player didn’t take notes. So if you wanted to keep a copy of the prophecy, you character better be able to write it down. Ever since that momentous session, I have always equipped my character with the necessary writing materials.
• Flint & Steel
• Mirror – sometimes you use it, sometimes you don’t. But you never know when a mirror will come in handy.
• Rope – of course.
• Waterskin & Rations – even though our house rule doesn’t specifically monitor such things, I always have them on my character sheet.
• Class-specific requirements – holy symbols for clerics, instruments for bards, thieves’ tools for rogues, etc.

Adventurer’s Wish List

Beyond the basics, every character has a wish-list of items they would buy if they had enough money. For me, these tend to be:

• Amulet of Natural Armor – since most characters don’t have anything to provide natural armor, this is a quick boost to AC without the tedious mucking about trying to figure out what kind of bonus it is and do you always have something with that bonus.
• Stat-boosting items – gauntlets of ogre power, cloaks of charisma, gloves of dexterity, anything that will boost the primary stat for your character class
• Bag of Holding – true shopping can only begin when you can sell more loot! And to sell more, you must be able to carry more.
• Magic weapons – for the fightery-types, magic is always better, especially if it comes with some sort of extra enhancement, like fire damage or keen-ness
• Magic accoutrements – for the spell-castery-types, bonus spells are always a plus… magic wands, extra scrolls, anything to fill the void when you’ve used up your best spells for the day
• Magic Armor/Robes – anything to make it harder for the enemy to hurt you is always cause for celebration, whether you need shiny new plate or a fabulous new robe.

I know I always have a great time when I get to cash in my share of the loot and upgrade my character’s equipment. And it’s even better than Black Friday door-busters, since you don’t have to wake up before the sun just to get the best deals!