Need Advice about Magic Item Rewards

[Zero grim]

To give a bit of context for a few weeks now i have been giving my D&D group access to double edged magical items at a rate of about once a session, this is on top of normal rewards for adventuring.

This has gone from a magic ring that summons pit fiends to a +5 magical longsword made of admanantine with possible unknown consequences :smallwink:

BTW they are level 4 going on 5.

My question is does anyone have advice on what happens if players receive items well beyond their expectations and anything I should avoid, mainly the group focuses more on role-play then they do for numbers if that helps. (the current party member who wields the longsword, a psion with a grand total of +0 to hit if he attacks with it)

[ddude987]

I don't sorry, but I do have a good idea for one weapon you could give them. There was a magic weapon in 2nd that always hit no matter what. The user then would take damage = to the difference between the attack roll and the target AC. I don't remember if that was exactly it, it is probably on the googles somewhere.

[Yahzi]

My question is does anyone have advice on what happens if players receive items well beyond their expectations
The game ceases to be about their characters and becomes about their items. Who cares what your psion levels up in if his sword's bonuses are more important than his? And is there any problem that can't be solved by summoning a pit fiend?

Worse, they come to take it for granted: so many powerful items cheapen all magic items. Pretty soon they're using the Arkenstone to prop open doors. And then what do you do to impress them?

It also makes hash out of your world. Does everybody have items like this? If so, the chaos is pretty unimaginable. If not, the characters are absurdly spoiled.

Of course, you might think a game like that is fun: maybe you want over the top absurdity. In which case carry on. :smallsmile:

[HurinTheCursed]

We do have this kind of problems in my group, but it's plotted in the books.
We access to one +4 artefact since level 6 up to +10 at level 11 and a few others in between. They're all specialized and plot-related, they don't look like the items we'd have dreamt of (except the paladin's +5 holy dragonlance !!)

It's plotted, we may cause wars if we're not secretives. For the moment, we only had to fight CR appropriate bounty hunters but armies are moving toward us.

[Duke of Urrel]

I don't have a problem with allowing even low-level PCs to find powerful magic items, but these should be mysterious and risky to operate (like high-level scrolls), cursed, or, in the case of wands and staffs, low on charges. This gives the PCs a taste of power, but makes them hunger for more.

Real powerful magic items that are also easy to use should be really rare and hard to find. The local magic shop shouldn't automatically carry them, even if PCs can afford to pay for them. They should have to travel to a big foreign city or even to a hermit specialist somewhere to get them. Remember that the manufacturers of really powerful magic items must be high-level themselves, and there aren't too many of them in the world. The caster level of the local magic-arms dealer or wondrous-item crafter should limit the caster level of the items for sale.

[Zero grim]

The game ceases to be about their characters and becomes about their items. Who cares what your psion levels up in if his sword's bonuses are more important than his? And is there any problem that can't be solved by summoning a pit fiend?

Worse, they come to take it for granted: so many powerful items cheapen all magic items. Pretty soon they're using the Arkenstone to prop open doors. And then what do you do to impress them?

It also makes hash out of your world. Does everybody have items like this? If so, the chaos is pretty unimaginable. If not, the characters are absurdly spoiled.

Of course, you might think a game like that is fun: maybe you want over the top absurdity. In which case carry on. :smallsmile:

The sword they refuse to use since they picked it up in an area of taint along with the ring, the ring is failed to mention was charged, had 5 total uses, Most of the items are good-bad, powerful abilities with a catch, not always cursed but always requiring more thought then just "use it to solve everything"

mainly the campaigns devolve down to to just silliness anyway, might as well give people what they want from a game.

None of the items have been just treasure drops, mainly they all exists at the end of short quest lines and such.

Like the idea of the auto hit sword, anyone got stories of funny items they have run into? -no head of vecna please-

(also the first problem they elected to try and solve with the pit fiends was to take over the second largest kingdom in the world, it is technically possible with 5 pit fiends, if they didn't have an hour limitation on the calling)

[Krobar]

Everybody loves picking up a new sword, and hearing a voice in their head say "Hi, I like you. I think I'll make you my b****."

[Zero grim]

Or a lawful good bow telling the party to kill the obviously evil character they are travelling with.

"your an angel, he's a warlock, just pull back the string and I can shoot him for you!"