Guidelines for granting magic items?

[Snowbluff]

Thread title. New to DMing 5e (I usually do pf or 3.5).Players will be leve 10 and I want them to start with some items or have them find some soon.

[Townopolis]

If you're looking for a system from the books, I don't think there's anything other than the loot tables in the DMG. If you use those, you'll eventually roll some magic items sooner or later. There is also an anemic wbl table somewhere in the book. I'll edit the page numbers in in a minute. Meanwhile, since the math of 5e is balanced without magic items and blah blah blah, the main reasons to give out magic items are


You want the freedom to use "Resistance to nonmagical weapons" monsters freely without making your martials and rogues feel lame.
Your players want cool magic items

Which, unfortunately, doesn't give us a great system for pacing item rewards. But it does suggest a few things. First, getting magical weapons into the hands of anyone who uses sharp, pointy object to deal damage could be considered priority #1. However, for these weapons, there is no standard for how powerful they should be--as long as they're magical. A Vicious Weapon (dmg 209) is pretty weak as far as effects go, but it'll still tick of all the boxes we really care about (unless one of those boxes is "make this character OP"). Other than that, I'd say keep items rare but interesting. Since nobody should need +3 to all saves to be effective, there's no need to keep everyone's magical arsenal constantly updated. Instead, focus on cool abilities that the players will notice and enjoy or that will unlock new thinking and strategies. A ring of water breathing opens new approaches when the party enters a dungeon. A ring of protection, on the other hand, doesn't add anything to the game.

But you asked about pacing. Right. I guess my only advice there is just hand out items like you would in 3e except remove all of the ones that only exist to boost stats and improve existing resources. Like the Badge of Courage from 3.x that every bard wanted for the +1 to their song. You don't need that. And you can just throw out the +1-5 armor, shield, weapon, and cloak of protection upgrades. Whatever is left after throwing all that stuff out, keep. So, like, if you normally hand out 3-4 items in any given dungeon, but 1-2 of those are just number boosters, you can just give out the remaining 1-2 items per dungeon.


... but I'd probably make them rarer than that. The key is that, since magic items are supposed to be optional, it's much more a matter of what your individual table wants. I'd personally have each PC start with maybe 1 magic item, and then I'd include an average of 1 item per quest. Some quests have no items, and then sometimes they fight a guy toting a ring of freedom, a scarab of protection, and a sunblade.

Random loot tables begin on DMG 136, but their use is explained at the beginning of chapter 7, DMG 133.

Starting equipment for higher-level characters is at the bottom of DMG 38.

[Haldir]

The great thing about 5e is that you don't need magic items to balance the game anymore, so I'd focus on things that are flavorful and add game options.

Recently had a player port over from 3.PF which a character sheet full of Cloaks of Displacement and +2 Armor and Amulets of Ultimate Evil, and I had to drop the ban hammer on some of it.

The magic items my level 9 party mostly uses are a Ring of Jumping, an Periphat of Speak with Animals, an Ivory Goat Figurine and now a Ring of Mind Shielding and these guys are stomping every encounter I throw their way most times.

A few adventures ago I made the mistake of thinking our fighter needed a +1 weapon with an extra 1D6 bonus damage, which was quite frankly insane. The main point of the item was to give him an AOE rider that he can use with jumping attacks, but he was just smooshing everything in sight no problem. Thankfully it was a holy weapon in a Temple, so when the adventure ended I took away the bonus damage and reduced the jumping AOE to a D4 because he was no longer in a Consecrated area. This, I think, is a lot more fun and honestly serves a dual purpose of making the item much more flavorful fi they're ever back on Consecrated ground, and saves me from having him just outshine every party member.

Other items I'd like to plan for my party to have:
Wands of utility spells- sending and detect magic and the like.
Eventually magic armor for the bard and fighter.
A Bag of Holding (been keeping this one away simply to see how logistics work out)
Some form of flight in the 10-12th level range.

Honestly, think about what your players want to be able to do and enable it. Pure mechanical bonuses are less fun and less necessary, which is why I'm a die-hard 5e convert.

[Specter]

If you want to maintain balance, it's important that you pick the items yourself. In that case, you can give as many items as you want.

If you let your players choose, maybe 2 uncommons and 1 rare, or 1 uncommon and 1 rare.

[Coffee_Dragon]

Or give them the Sane Magical Prices document and set a price ceiling, maybe 5000-15,000 gp depending on how magic rich the setting is, and be open to negotiation. Then drop more valuable stuff during the campaign.

[Kane0]

1 Rare and 2 uncommons is about normal for starting a mid level campaign, either picked or rolled depending on how you want to go about it.
You could also use the Sane Magic Item guide with a gold limit for each character, which is a 3.X-esque way of doing it.

Either way magic items are a bonus, not a necessity so feel free to do whatever you like. The DMG and this (http://www.lordbyng.net/inspiration/)have some nice things for flavor rather than power, I'd suggest adding stuff from them to make magic items feel a bit more than just a +1 sharp sword of pointing.

[Zman]

In 5e, be very careful in giving out magic items. Take everything you've learned in 3.P about magic items and do your very best to forget it. 3.P is buoy around internal assumptions ie must have +c items any y level. 5e does not assume magic items at all. 5e is also built on bounded accuracy, meaning any +X item greatly alters that balance.

Be incredibly careful with stacking bonuses.

At 10th level I'd be looking at 2-3 items per character, I would keep it to +1 or good +0 Weapons, and +0 armors and shields. I wouldn't introduce +2 weapons till the teens, and may never give out +3, and if you do make earning it epic.


Do not give out magic items in 5e like you are used to in 3.P. It will break the games assumptions about balance over it's knee. It can be fine, but will make your job harder.

Using the same magic items guide is a good starting point, rarity really doesn't match power well, this is much better IMO.

[GorogIrongut]

Rule number one is that you have to pick the level of how much magic is found in your particular world. If it's rich in magic casters and items... then you may want more. Whatever you do though, you have to stay consistent.

So for example... my world started with the players at level 5. It's a fairly rich in magic world, so I had each player start off with 1500 gp worth of armour/weapons/equipment/mounts/etc. They were also each given a suitable roll from Magic Items Table A (x1) and Magic Items Table B (x1). These were both the two bottom tables for consumable magic items. I also gave them suitable rolls from Magic Items Table F (x1) and Magic Items Table G (x1). These are obviously items that are intended to be more permanent than consumables... and still is the lower end of tables providing magic items of that nature.

During the process of the next 5 levels, I of course dictated what magic items were available to be found. And there were definitely instances where they shined and got some good items. They even got a couple of legendary... artifact level items... Which they're currently afraid to use or let anyone else know that they have for fear of losing them to theft or misuse.

If you're going to go magic heavy... don't forget to include negatives (i.e. to get access to uber magic there have to be consequences to balance things out).

For example, they found a possessed leather satchel that essentially can resurrect them... A ridiculously powerful magic item that helped them to come to grips with the lethality of the games I DM. But that magic items is being powered by a Demon from another plane practising on mortals so that he can attune himself to the Prime Material Plane before unleashing a Demonic Apocalypse. Each time the players use it, they have no clue which criteria are necessary for the Satchel to have reached the level for unleasing the Apocalypse, so they really have to stop and think about whether or not it's worth the risk.
Worse, because the Demon is imperfect in his resurrections, they come back slightly altered (i.e. out of phase with the Prime Material Plane). This allows me to use this awesome table:
https://wrathofzombie.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/the-d200-side-effects-of-being-resurrected-table/

And of course, later on in the game it can become a whole character story arc.

[Snowbluff]

1 Rare and 2 uncommons is about normal for starting a mid level campaign, either picked or rolled depending on how you want to go about it.
You could also use the Sane Magic Item guide with a gold limit for each character, which is a 3.X-esque way of doing it.

Either way magic items are a bonus, not a necessity so feel free to do whatever you like. The DMG and this (http://www.lordbyng.net/inspiration/)have some nice things for flavor rather than power, I'd suggest adding stuff from them to make magic items feel a bit more than just a +1 sharp sword of pointing.
Yeah having a concise way of doing it with rarities sounds on point. Thanks!

I've looked at your weak magic item tool. I don't think these should require attunement. :p

In 5e, be very careful in giving out magic items. Take everything you've learned in 3.P about magic items and do your very best to forget it. 3.P is buoy around internal assumptions ie must have +c items any y level. 5e does not assume magic items at all. 5e is also built on bounded accuracy, meaning any +X item greatly alters that balance.

Be incredibly careful with stacking bonuses.

At 10th level I'd be looking at 2-3 items per character, I would keep it to +1 or good +0 Weapons, and +0 armors and shields. I wouldn't introduce +2 weapons till the teens, and may never give out +3, and if you do make earning it epic.


Do not give out magic items in 5e like you are used to in 3.P. It will break the games assumptions about balance over it's knee. It can be fine, but will make your job harder.

Using the same magic items guide is a good starting point, rarity really doesn't match power well, this is much better IMO.

Man, I've *played* 5e. I've done the Curse of Strahd and Storm King's thingy with characters that ended up with quite a few items. Especially in Curse, since I was a few levels lower than everyone and the only dedicated caster, I got a staff of power, a staff of frost, a shield guardian, a little statue that gave a bonus to saves, and a bunch of miscellaneous items.

My job is to have my players have fun, and magic items are pretty sick. The players are level 10, and would have gotten at least a couple leveling up to this point.

[Haldir]

2-3 uncommons and 1 rare is exactly what I told my new player. Very good rule of thumb.

[JNAProductions]

Give less than you think you should-it's easier to give more later, if your players need/want and can have more, than it is to take away existing items.

[Snowbluff]

2-3 uncommons and 1 rare is exactly what I told my new player. Very good rule of thumb.
Yeah sounds consistent.

Give less than you think you should-it's easier to give more later, if your players need/want and can have more, than it is to take away existing items.

Of course I can give too many but make them all atonement. The players can only use 3 at a time/. ;p

BTW, dibs on making a Pact of the Rod Keeper warlock pact for homebrew. Our warlock in the curse game keep misnaming his Rod of the Pact Keeper. XD

[CaptainSarathai]

I give my players lots of little items that don't really add much to their combat capabilities. Heck, one of them got his hands on some Full Plate thanks to some oversight on my part, and now I'm trying to hit AC20 when the rest of the party is more like AC16. If I throw in something that can hit him with a weapon, it's gonna be like a heat-seeking missile against the rest of the party.
Instead, I'm giving out stuff like a really elaborately crafted armor which gives +1 to a few Cha skills. I gave them an item that lets them recall memories and so on, but it's not always accurate and sometimes it even works in glimpses of the near future. That kind of stuff, cool and characterful, but not necessarily OP.
Think LotR. None of the magical gear that they received was particularly powerful. Sting doesn't suddenly burst into flame and cleave Orcs in two. Nope, it just lights up when they're nearby. The Elven cloaks don't make you actually invisible, they just make you blend in to things way better than normal. Sam gets the light of a star, in a bottle. Does it deal 2d100 Radiant Damage and explode on impact? Nope, it's just a fancy flashlight.

If you do give your players tons of magic gear, that's fine. Just understand that you'll need to account for it in your encounter planning. The encounters are currently set up assuming NO magical items (mostly). So if you give them a +2 Sword, they're going to start rolling through encounters for easily. If you give one them a magic carpet or something to fly around on, expect them to use it for shenanigans, and be prepared to adjust your encounter difficulty accordingly.

[furby076]

I agree with start small, and give as you go. For the most part its easier to give than take. Given that, dont be afraid to have magic rich games. Whatever the pcs can have, so can the bbegs. Years ago, in pathfinder 3.5, we had a dm give us tons of perm boosts and insane magic items. He would wipe the floor with us using core rules, and basic builds.

Also, talk to your player's to know they should work with you. My dm gave me a +1 weapon with a thunder stone (+1d6 thunder dmg). I thought it was too strong and offered to give it back. He said keep it, and then dropped me next battle. Players can be strong, but dms are much much stronger

[Willie the Duck]

Or, you can give out little-to-no +X or +xd6 damage style magic items. That's the advantage of 5e--it's pretty resilient to sliding the numbers bar up and down (as furby076 said, you can just adjust the challenge to match).

What's frankly a more interesting question is how much utility/"problem solved" loot to give out. A flying carpet can still allow the party to bypass whole categories of obstacles, as can slippers of spider climbing. Instant fortress type items make secure sleeping a more sure thing. And so forth.

My best generic/general advice includes:
whenever you have the option, go with lesser and see how it goes
err on the side of expendable (so scrolls and potions)
interesting before powerful



Other than that, just do what you like. The worst case scenario is that you have to find a way to get rid of some of them (and who doesn't love a good "washed overboard, now we adventure on a desert island" scenario? :smallbiggrin:).