Setting Combat Loot

 
This is not too difficult and can be done after Setting Chest/Pack Loot. Just follow the instructions on that page to set your chest loot then proceed with setting combat loot. 
 
Always remember to save your game before ever stepping into a room. Setting combat loot simply means stepping into any room and fighting your opponents. Save your game, check out the loot, and if it isn't up to your standards, restore and have a go at it again. However, the loot from the first encounter maybe be tricking you. It may look nasty, but the rest of your opponents in this room type may hold very valuable items. See Following a Spawn for pointers on how to maximize your chances at really great combat loot.
 
Once you get some goodies you are happy with proceed on by either setting the loot in new room types or following the instructions on the Following a Spawn page. My personal preference after all these games I went through was to opt for following the spawn. That way if one room type had icky loot showing up I could retore from the first encounter and go at it again without loosing the loot from the other room types that were spawning really good stuff.
 
I discovered that combat loot, no matter if it is in a room or out in the map is "set" only after you enter that area and then save your game. For example, the combat that takes place with Amy's Protector in the Ye Bitten Dog Sector. Save your game at the very start of the game with James standing in the Palace area.  Run to Amy, go upstairs, agree to help The Whisperer, then run right back and face her protector without ever saving. Defeat him, save the game, then restore from where James was in the Palace area and do this all again. Note The Protector's inventory randomizes. He always has your original gear with the exception of your gold of course. 
 
This holds true for the battle on the way to the Temple in the North Gate Sector, the one where you are accosted by two street Thugs upon entering the Rainbow Parrot Sector, and the 3 Street Thugs in the second half of the Rainbow Parrot Sector. Naturally you must get the battle as you enter the Rainbow Parrot Sector to load before traveling to the second half of the map for the threesome. This is an odd battle and happens only now and then, I just kept restoring and entering the map until it showed up. In each of these encounters I was able to obtain magical clubs and rings after a few restores.  The second half of the Rainbow Parrot Sector is treated like a new map from the game perspective, so if you save in the first half of the map you have not "set" the second half.
 
After restoring and replaying these chapters so many times from the same save game I found the loot did fall differently. In one set I got nothing but cursed chainmail and ironskin jerkins off the Sailor with the 2 Keshians. In another set of save games I got Dragonskin Jerkins, Enchanted leather Jerkins, Poison-Proof Jerkin, and Komondorskin. In yet another set of saves I got the Mail of Invulnerability, Viox, Komondorskin, Dragonskin, and Poison-Proof. The list was never the same. The loot in any room type is set from the moment you enter that room and save so I would set my combat loot by making sure the first encounter in each room held different inventory than the ones previously encountered in the other save games.  This way I could follow the spawn in a room type and if I didn't like the way it was going I would restore from the save game I made for that room type and get totally different items by making sure the first combat inventory was different than the one I had started with before.
 
Below is a chart of the types of special items that may appear in the inventory of your opponents. What I mean by special item is that they are above the norm, magical or enchanted in some way, yes even cursed. I have listed the items by their class, for example if it says daggers then they could have enchanted, magical, or cursed daggers in their inventory. The thing to remember here is you can always reset the way the loot is falling.  When the word jewelry is used it means they can hold all manner of jewelry, rings and amulets. 
 
Remember, loot on your opponents gets better in the later chapters, and if this 78 combats are all there is to be had then the ideal way to get the best loot and the most experience is to wait until Chapter 3 to even enter a room where the random combats occur. When I did this, James and Jazhara left Krondor quite rich, with excellent items, and they were level 13 and 11. Note: I also took every possible combat required for each chapter's progression.
 
Beggar none found
2 Workers 2 handed axes & hammers, vambracers, greaves
2 Townsmen daggers, broadswords, maces, rings
1 Female Thief rings
Sailor, Worker, Short Ruffian jerkins, daggers, cutlasses, jewelry
Sailor, 2 Keshians chain shirts, jerkins, cutlasses, broadswords
Yeoman, Drunk clubs, daggers, short swords, rapiers
Thief, Tough Looking Guy jewelry, rapiers
2 Tough Looking Guys, Rough Looking Guy clubs, rings
Mocker, Rough Looking Guy maces, jewelry
Thief, Short Ruffian, Toughing Looking Guy rings
2 Nighthawks rings, cutlasses, broadswords, great swords, greaves, vambracers
2 Bandits rings
3 Bandits rings