Character-specific magic items

[Xayah]

I'm currently in two different campaigns with two different DMs and groups that don't know each other at all, and yet both DMs have done something very similar. In both games, they gave us magic items created to enhance our character's skills from their backstory and build at a low level (once at level 1, the other at level 3).

In the first game, I am playing a VHuman Knowledge Cleric with the Sage background that taught at a university and is now on a quest to find out the secrets of magic. Knowing things, and thus Intelligence checks, are his specialty, so what did my DM give me? The Pocket Locket Library. It's a magic necklace that holds the secret of the world: once per long rest when I fail an Intelligence check, I can use it to look up the answer, thus succeeding anyway. Thematically, I have a literal library hanging around my neck and it's amazing.

In the other game, I am playing a Goliath Berserker that holds a sword with many legends surrounding it in his tribe. He's looking for the so-called 'Wielder of the Aegis' (Aegis is the name of the sword), which is the only person that can swing the sword. Of course, he is the Wielder of the Aegis, but he's not very smart and doesn't realize that, instead believing the sword is granting him its strength. Either way, my DM decided to give the sword actual magic powers: first off, I have disadvantage on attack rolls with other weapons as long as I am attuned with it, and anytime I don't damage an enemy that has damaged me, I need to pass a DC 12 CHA save or take 1d4 Psychic damage. In return, it's a +1 Greatsword and I can, once per long rest when I get a level of exhaustion, use it to 'push past my normal limits' and simply not get that level of exhaustion. Obviously, this is really good in general, but for a Berserker, this is mindblowingly good.

Anway, just so that this isn't just me talking about how much I love my DMs, I'm curious if this is a common thing. What experience have you guys had with items like that? Did it help you really feel like you were playing the character, moreso than you otherwise would have?

[Zhorn]

I don't think it's a mandatory thing DMs MUST do for their players, but it is a nice aspect to show you are trying to support the type of characters your players are trying to make.

One of the things I did at the start of the campaign I'm running was ask the players not just where their characters came from, but where as players they wanted to take them (both in terms of story goals and play styles). Then as the game goes forwards, I feed small pieces to them to enable them to realise their characters.
I really enjoy that moment when they realise those minor magic items I gave them can voltron their effects together to let their characters do some pretty neat stuff they were musing over in session zero :smallsmile:

[Randomthom]

I'm currently in two different campaigns with two different DMs and groups that don't know each other at all, and yet both DMs have done something very similar. In both games, they gave us magic items created to enhance our character's skills from their backstory and build at a low level (once at level 1, the other at level 3).

In the first game, I am playing a VHuman Knowledge Cleric with the Sage background that taught at a university and is now on a quest to find out the secrets of magic. Knowing things, and thus Intelligence checks, are his specialty, so what did my DM give me? The Pocket Locket Library. It's a magic necklace that holds the secret of the world: once per long rest when I fail an Intelligence check, I can use it to look up the answer, thus succeeding anyway. Thematically, I have a literal library hanging around my neck and it's amazing.

In the other game, I am playing a Goliath Berserker that holds a sword with many legends surrounding it in his tribe. He's looking for the so-called 'Wielder of the Aegis' (Aegis is the name of the sword), which is the only person that can swing the sword. Of course, he is the Wielder of the Aegis, but he's not very smart and doesn't realize that, instead believing the sword is granting him its strength. Either way, my DM decided to give the sword actual magic powers: first off, I have disadvantage on attack rolls with other weapons as long as I am attuned with it, and anytime I don't damage an enemy that has damaged me, I need to pass a DC 12 CHA save or take 1d4 Psychic damage. In return, it's a +1 Greatsword and I can, once per long rest when I get a level of exhaustion, use it to 'push past my normal limits' and simply not get that level of exhaustion. Obviously, this is really good in general, but for a Berserker, this is mindblowingly good.

Anway, just so that this isn't just me talking about how much I love my DMs, I'm curious if this is a common thing. What experience have you guys had with items like that? Did it help you really feel like you were playing the character, moreso than you otherwise would have?

I've done & not done as described in games. It depends on the world and the setting.

In a sandbox world I might hint at such items existing, perhaps dangling the idea of obtaining it in front of the player.

In a quest-driven story I might be more inclined to give them something from the start but allow them to discover it's greater properties later. I allowed a Hexblade Warlock to begin with a family heirloom magic sword whose only properties initially were that it counted as a magic weapon for purposes of overcoming damage resistance. By the end of the campaign it was an intelligent weapon with a bunch of other properties.

When running Out of the Abyss I very deliberately steered away from giving bespoke items as I wanted the adventure to feel like they were scrounding for whatever they could get to survive. They found some cool stuff, jsut not stuff designed precisely for their characters. Even the Wizard who had been coveting a broom of flying for half the adventure only found one on a high near-inaccessible balcony next to a dead NPC who had been killed by a trap (and therefore the broom felt like it belonged in these circumstances).

[DarkKnightJin]

I made some customized magical items for the players in the one-shot I ran.
It was kind of a two-pronged approach, because with the items they could tackle the puzzles and encounters I put in a bit better.

Most obviously: Giving a player an item that worked with a class feature they already have to use Greater Restoration. Mostly because I chucked a Gorgon into the maze, and a Medusa near the end.
Because if the only way you can 'beat' your players is by chipping away at their HP.. you're not being creative.

It was mostly a little thing without (much) combat application that tied into their background and backstory. It helped get some more fleshed out characters at the table, which is always nice.

[Crucius]

I like handing out personalized magic items. There often are plenty of quality of life changes that can be addressed in this way and it (hopefully) shows that I know what the players like and that I care for their characters as much as they do.

Friend of mine absolutely does not like to do this. He claims that the world exists without the player characters just fine, and to find such a highly specific item comes at the cost of realism/immersion.

Granted, it is a bit strange to find the PERFECT item for your character, but I think sometimes it is best to keep game systems and narrative systems separated. Maybe it's also a difference in game perception/execution; he favors sandboxes, whereas I prefer tight story-focused games.

Now to answer your question:
Gave a player a ring for her monk that charges for each unarmed strike you make and then you could expend a number of charges to shoot a chromatic orb. She loved that she had a decent ranged attack option, as well as giving her the tactical choice of doing more damage (attack with quarterstaff) or accrue more charges (attack with fists).

Had a fellow player craft a greataxe with a chain attached to it for my barbarian, imbued it with lightning energy so it could perform a variant of lightning lure. I love it! It's inferior damage and messes up action economy, but it helps me get a bit more range, do some crowd control and draw aggro at the same time.

[dragoeniex]

One of our games is set in a noir-esque roaring 20's era, where the party members work as a PI team for magical mishaps. I play a wonderful homebrew necromancer class (credit to Mozared) whose subclass can raise a special Undead Minion that lasts a short while. It can be a wide variety of creatures and maintains its sentience and personality while it's back.

It's a great fit for my lead PI, who uses the power to bring back victims to help solve their own murders or give closure. She developed this power by studying basic necromancy and a dead language, then tattooing her entire body sans head/hands/feet with arcane scripts and connecting sigils.

Around the time players were getting their first drops, our DM had a mysterious being leave a vial of ink with unknown properties on my PI's nightstand. It was hinted to be the entity who first left her that dead language book. She had to use a couple of rests to apply the ink, and during those, DM asked me broadly what I'd like to improve: my magic, my necromancy, or my resilience. I chose necromancy.

Ever since, I've got the option to burn an extra hit die (three instead of two) to raise my Undead Minion, and they get an extra hitpoint for every necromancer level I have. They are on the breakable side, so this was the kind of thing I'd been hoping for.

It was a personal story hook and a boon I quite liked delivered in an item only my character would know how to use. Honestly, I was touched.



The same DM played an artificer in a game run by another friend, and he took time and care to craft an item with a small customization for each teammate there too. For my sniping Psychic Blades-ing spy bard with crossbow expert, he applied his canonsmith knowledge to make a double-range hand crossbow.

In general, this friend likes to see people get things that accentuate how they see their characters. He's a great team player.

[solidork]

The way we got my War Cleric into the current campaign was that someone had stolen an heirloom magic item from his family's crypt and he was looking to take it back. It was a magical scabbard/greatsword that let you cast Booming Blade, and if you crit with it, it would affect all nearby enemies with Booming Blade's secondary effect so that they would take damage if they moved.

It played heavily into how I RPd the character, because while I had the sword/scabbard my spirit guardians took the form of legendary heroes who had previously used the sword. I also did a lot of agonizing over if my character was worthy of using his ancestor's blade (he was supposed to return it to the crypt immediately but got caught up in the events of the campaign) so it led to nice character moments when my ancestors's spirits came back from the dead to judge him as well as when I finally used the greatsword in the final battle against an elemental prince.

[Jinxed_K]

I had a GM that did this as well.
They took into account character class and background to make a magic item (usually a weapon) that would increase in power with levels, ie: magical bonus, abilities, spell like abilities that the item granted to the user.

My monk got a pair of magical cestus (equipping one counted as a pair) that was shared with the pugilist fighter and long as they were within 30ft of each other, they got access to spells and abilities that worked between them. For instance being able to switch places on the map as part of movement or being able to take a free reaction to attack if the other bearer crit an enemy.