Starting at Level 5- Equipment and Magic Items?

[DragonBaneDM]

Hey everyone!

Starting a new module soon that I wrote for NaNoWriMo. SUPER excited and want to have a blast, which is why I've been posting a bit more than usual.

I've got a mix of experienced 5E players, a proficient Pathfinder player, and an inexperienced player who only has a bit of Pathfinder and 4E under her belt.

We're doing character creation/session 0 this weekend, and the module starts at level 5. Whenever I go through big databases of pregenerated character sheets and whenever I've created characters past level 1 in past editions, there has always been a magic item on the sheets that the higher level characters found on their earlier adventures. I think this is mechanically beneficial, but also a cool roleplaying tool that fits into my fairly high-magic setting and would be a great piece of sentimental gear that players cherish.

What are the pros and cons of letting my players start with one or two Uncommon magic items? Maybe one weapon/armor and one consumable? How have other DMs handled this in the past? Any items I should outright outlaw (I know +1 armor on a paladin can be sort of gamebreaking)

And on a smaller note- How should I handle starting gold/equipment? There's really no "wealth by level" guide that I was able to track down in the DMG. I'm comfortable making that up on the fly, that seems to be what 5E encourages when it comes to money, but if there's a more official source I'd rather use that.

[BabyCthulhu]

DMG pg38, starting at higher levels, is what you are looking for.

As for Adv/Disadv, I would say, that playing from lvl 1 to 5 might or might not give you a random magic item, whil starting at lvl 5+ using that table let's you CHOOSE the magic item you like most, making character creating a bit breaking (Like dumping STR completelly because you are going to choose Gauntlets of Ogre Power and have 19STR anyway)

You could always give them one RANDOM magic item from the appropiate rarity. :smallamused:

[Shaofoo]

I'll be honest, if you aren't sure then don't give them any magic items at all. Better to start off without nothing and build up than having problems high and then trying to lower their level.

The game assumes that you will go up to level 20 without finding a single magic item so anything is a bonus basically.

I am sure people will begin to mention "But the weapon resistant/immune enemies!" but since you are a DM you can control the amount of said enemies or you can even omit said ability and have all the enemies take damage normally or have the ability work differently (Silvering your weapon is good to bypass damage resistance), as a DM you have full power over monster stats.

If you really want magic items then don't give anything that can grant +X to any stat at all and also don't give items that fix a stat to a certain point (Gauntlets of Ogre Power and the like). Also don't let yourself be trapped into thinking that magic rarity is a good measure as to how powerful an item is.

[Blue Lantern]

Speaking from experience, nothing wrong with giving an uncommon magic item, at worst you had to slightly adjust the difficulty of the encounters.

The thing you should be very careful about will be not giving them free choice on the items, unfortunately the balance of the items by rarity type is a bit out of wack, so you'll end probably with the experienced players getting the "optimal" item, while the new ones with possibly the cool but ultimately not that useful item.

There was a pdf floating around with gold prices attached to the various magical objects, I would suggest to use it to chose a ballpark gold that could be spent on magic items, maybe half destined only to consumable, it is a bit more work but I think it will help balance thing.

[MrMcBobb]

The game assumes that you will go up to level 20 without finding a single magic item so anything is a bonus basically.


Can't say I agree with this. Part of the "Starting at higher Levels" section in the DMG talks about giving magic items to the characters.

Just ask your PCs to draw up a list of common-uncommon magic items they'd like to start with and then pick one for them. Alternatively say which ones are OK and let them roll for/choose one.

Magic items are fine for starting off with and some come with cool but not game breaking effects. Just don't give people +3 sentient weapons right off the bat. Generally the introduction of magic weapons would come at levels 5/6 (hence why Druid and Monk get their fists / wildshape attacks counting as magic attacks for the sake of resistances at level 6)

If you're reluctant to have +1 weapons (because they're boring) but you want your PCs to have a weapon they stick with them maybe have the weapon change and level up with them - "your magical artifact gathers the souls of the things you kill and grows more powerful with every enemy you slay" or different fluff for a musical instrument etc but give it fun effects that your PCs suggest to you or you come up with yourself. Maybe there is an option of a few magical effects and the player gets to choose which one they get. There's a magical axe in my campaign that causes the wielder to grow extremely thick black hair all over their body which gives a bonus to unarmoured AC (we went points buy, not rolled, so the Barb has quite low unarmoured AC - I'll probably regret it later on when he's dumped a few ASIs into CON)

[Clone]

One thing you could do after the session 0 and you have a better idea what each of the characters are going to be like, you could customize your own magic items from the DMG to suit their characters, or you pick them straight from the DMG/ other sources and give them out to make up for a weakness the character may have. Sure the fighter may like a +2 flametongue greatsword and all, but think of the RP implications and other other uses that would be relevant if he got a Wand of Magic Missiles or Elven armour. Whichever suits best of course.

[Shaofoo]

Can't say I agree with this. Part of the "Starting at higher Levels" section in the DMG talks about giving magic items to the characters.


The book says that this is for DMs that want players to start with magic items or rather.

Starting equipment for characters above 1st level is
entirely at your discretion, since you give out treasure
at your own pace. That said, you can use the Starting
Equipment table as a guide.

Besides if you look at the table you should only give magic items at level 5 if you are playing a high magic item campaign, anything else should start magic itemless.

The point is that the game is willing to go the route of no loot if the DM wishes. Also considering the fact that not all magic items are the same among rarity it would be better if you took time instead of giving stuff from the get go.

[Oramac]

Were I in your shoes, I'd let the players choose, but they would have to justify their choice in-character. Which is to say, there would have to be a legit RP story reason their character has a particular item.

Alternatively, I'd say they could choose an item that is fitting for their character, excluding any +X items. So for example: a character with the Sailor background might choose a Folding Boat or Cap of Water Breathing.

[DragonBaneDM]

Right now I'm kind of digging the "let them build the characters and then assign them an appropriate item" idea. I like the idea of making an individual menu of three or four items for each of them to pick from even more. That way I still have control over what gets brought into my game, but players get the feel of uniqueness as well!

While I also kind of like the random item table, I would feel sorta bad if the players ended up with useless items for themselves, and kind of silly if they ended up trading items during the first session.

Seems like the general idea is to give them one item, though. And I can dig that logic. Won't overwhelm anybody at creation and will make the focus be more on class abilities than on gear. The module is built to go from levels 5-9, so there's a good bit of loot they'll come into.

[Rolero]

Right now I'm kind of digging the "let them build the characters and then assign them an appropriate item" idea. I like the idea of making an individual menu of three or four items for each of them to pick from even more. That way I still have control over what gets brought into my game, but players get the feel of uniqueness as well!

While I also kind of like the random item table, I would feel sorta bad if the players ended up with useless items for themselves, and kind of silly if they ended up trading items during the first session.

Seems like the general idea is to give them one item, though. And I can dig that logic. Won't overwhelm anybody at creation and will make the focus be more on class abilities than on gear. The module is built to go from levels 5-9, so there's a good bit of loot they'll come into.

I think this is a very good solution. I would recommend only one uncommon magic item per character and that you choose them. It may sound a bit stingy but magic items frecuently come as an adventure reward or random hoard loot, so is not usual that you get your hands on what you want.

Try to be creative nonetheless, don't go with the standar +1 magic weapons and armor and evade items that may broke some encounters at low levels (give winged boots to an archer and he will be uberpowerful at this stage)

[Galadhrim]

I think this is a very good solution. I would recommend only one uncommon magic item per character and that you choose them. It may sound a bit stingy but magic items frecuently come as an adventure reward or random hoard loot, so is not usual that you get your hands on what you want.

Try to be creative nonetheless, don't go with the standar +1 magic weapons and armor and evade items that may broke some encounters at low levels (give winged boots to an archer and he will be uberpowerful at this stage)

Letting each player select 2-4 items and then rolling for one sounds like a good solution to me. I think this is best done after character creation, as others have said. we recently played in a game that started at level 15 and were able to select an uncommon and a rare of our choosing. being able to select prior to character creation really changed the items I chose. for example, headband of intellect sets your int at 19 and is an uncommon item. I am playing an arcane trickster. I could have set my int at 8 and then selected the headband. this would really increase the power level of my character. However, if the items are chosen after character creation and I am unsure whether I'll get said headband, there is no way I'm dumping my int. (I tried to balance the power gamer and the role player in myself and set my int at 13 (wizard multiclass level of int) just incase I lost the headband. It still gave me a lot of extra juice to work with in point buy.

[the secret fire]

DMG pg38, starting at higher levels, is what you are looking for.

As for Adv/Disadv, I would say, that playing from lvl 1 to 5 might or might not give you a random magic item, whil starting at lvl 5+ using that table let's you CHOOSE the magic item you like most, making character creating a bit breaking (Like dumping STR completelly because you are going to choose Gauntlets of Ogre Power and have 19STR anyway)

You could always give them one RANDOM magic item from the appropiate rarity. :smallamused:

Better would probably be for the DM to simply ban the stat-increasing items from the list of what players can choose, and issue a general warning that munchkin synergy between stats/abilities and magic item choice is going to get crushed by falling rocks.

That said...except for the obviously problematic crap, I think for PCs starting at 5th level, players should be given the choice of a single uncommon item. As far as wealth goes, that is largely setting and character specific, but by 5th level, players should at least generally have access to whatever PHB equipment they want.

[Copper_Dragon]

It sounds like you've already decided, but here's what I'd do. I'd ask each player for a wish list of items (maybe 2 uncommon and 1 rare). Then I'd pick some number and maybe throw in a few items that weren't on anybody's list. Give the lot to the group and let them decide who gets which items, sort of like combining and fast-forwarding through all the divvying up of loot that would have happened if you had played through levels 1-5. You can continue to use their wish lists as the game progresses. Even if you're using a module, you can swap out some things here and there to better suit what your players are hoping for.

[JackPhoenix]

It sounds like you've already decided

That sounds likely, considering the thread is year and half old.