Giving NPCs magic items the players can't loot

[Thrasher92]

Is is cheap or unfair to give enemies magic items that the players can't loot or use?

There have been a few times that I want some NPCs to have a wand of magic missiles or such but I really don't want to give the players even more magic items than i already have.

[J-H]

NPCs and PCs don't follow the same rules. Just give them 3 1st level castings per day of Magic Missile or something.

[zinycor]

Why don't you just have the NPC cast a lot of magic missiles?

I would just give the NPC the ability to do whatever it is that the item does.

[Corpsecandle717]

I think it would be, I'm curious how would you explain that away and how long you would expect your players to put up with the, "your loot is in another castle" line.

The real solution has already been posted, just integrate the ability into the npc rather than use a magic item.

[Ventruenox]

If you are the DM, then it goes however you say it goes. Unless your players believe themselves to be entitled to every last piece of loot in your game (JRPG-style), then they will get over it. A few ideas for you, though:

- Magic items may be attuned to the life force of your NPC, and are rendered inoperable without it.
- The item is found to be now out of charges (permanently) when the corpse is looted.
- The NPC knew the spell and the object was just the arcane focus.
- The command word is in a language that none of your PCs know or can speak.
- The item is cursed. The NPC had a horrible affliction through use of the item.
- Use the "Are you sure?" + Evil DM chuckle combo.

[Thrasher92]

Well, I was just using a wand of magic missiles as an example. It could easily be a flame tongue sword so that their attack does some fire damage too, but I don't want to have them use the flame blade spell because I don't want to have to roll for concentration.

[Corpsecandle717]

Well, I was just using a wand of magic missiles as an example. It could easily be a flame tongue sword so that their attack does some fire damage too, but I don't want to have them use the flame blade spell because I don't want to have to roll for concentration.

Just make it so that your npc bad guy has a special attack option, that works with any old weapon, that operates mostly like flame tongue would. I'd suggest you change some of the visible descriptions so you don't get your player's hopes up though.

[zinycor]

Well, I was just using a wand of magic missiles as an example. It could easily be a flame tongue sword so that their attack does some fire damage too, but I don't want to have them use the flame blade spell because I don't want to have to roll for concentration.

What if he sprays a weird magical liquid on the sword he is using, so his sword is now in flames?

[Zetakya]

His Magic Sword was a pact weapon all along. Sorted.

[J-H]

Flame Blade: As a devoted servant of Rh'llor, once per day, NPCDude can invoke the power of the Red Evil Dude and cause his weapon to blaze with flame, dealing 2d6 fire damage on hit for one minute.

Done.

5e is so much easier to make NPCs for.

[Sigreid]

The other people who DM my group know all they have to do to stop me using a magic item is maki it intelligent. I am not interested in arguing with my equipment. They've seen me leave an intelligent sword stuck in the ground on the bank of a river when it would have been my only magic item.

[KOLE]

+1 to everything above. I like to create “bosses” for my PCs to tackle at climatic moments instead lf familiar monsters. If I want them to have an ability similar to a magic item, I just add it to their statblock- there’s a million ways to explain it.

Of course, sometimes magic items on a evil NPC is a great way to give the players loot that can’t otherwise be explained. You track an evil wizard who’s hiding out in an abandoned mine- odds are, the mine isn’t going to have treasure hordes or cool magic items laying around to reward them. Oh, he was carrying a Bag of Holding stuffed with rare potions, wands, wearing a Cape of the Mountebanc and boots of Elvish kind? There’s your reward for the kill! Also makes encounters interesting. I had an evil sorcerer wearing a Robe of Useful Things. Made the encounter memorable and the Bard was happy to use the remaining patches afterwards.

Of course- don’t do this and ALSO give them loot- this should be an alternative looting means, not an additional one. Too many magic items can really mess up balance.

[Nagog]

Could be a family heirloom that's attuned permanently to the character's bloodline. Could make for some interesting plot relevance.

[zinycor]

One thing to have in mind is that neither a wand of magic missiles or a flaming sword would be such a big deal on the player's hands.

[Sigreid]

So, to clarify my thought from up post, you don't have to prevent them from getting the magic item if the item is something they'll feel to icky to take.

[Damon_Tor]

I will frequently load my bad guys up with non-recharging wand-like items. Then if my players are clever enough to put them down before they use up all the charges they get to have a little ace up their sleeve, but not something they get to just toss out everytime something looks like it might maybe survive the first round of combat.

[Amechra]

Could be a family heirloom that's attuned permanently to the character's bloodline. Could make for some interesting plot relevance.

Heck, establish that as the case... and then let one of the players use it anyway.

[False God]

"Unfortunately the item was damaged in the fight and has become useless."

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Add weird restrictions to the items.

Only a woman named Joe can attune to the wand and only on Friday.

Make it a lesser version of the wand.
A lesser wand of MM that only have 1d6 uses and no recharge.

[Tawmis]

Is is cheap or unfair to give enemies magic items that the players can't loot or use?
There have been a few times that I want some NPCs to have a wand of magic missiles or such but I really don't want to give the players even more magic items than i already have.

So one adventure the party just did...
A scorned lover (who was murdered by his rival) returned as "undead" and made a deal with a demon (potentially Orcus).
Said, "Give me a chance to extract my revenge and I will kill in your name."
The demon agreed, sending the spirit back in a body (similar to a ghast), but had all of his intelligence and memories of his previous life.
Forged in the fires of Hell, he had two swords that he could summon back to his side (if he dropped, fumbled, however, they might get knocked out of his hands).
Party comes along, mows through the zombies and skeletons protecting his little fortress.
Get to him, and go for a long fight (as he's an amped up "ghast" essentially with way more hit points as a "boss").
He summons his swords (both mounted on a wall before the fight) for "Ohhh and ahhhh" effect.
The party knows this dude is going to be a tough fight. But at the same time the fighter is salivating at the notion to get his hands on the swords.
The eventually defeat the "ghast" - and the fighter picks up the swords.
I make him roll a Wisdom Savings Throw, as the blades are cursed, forged in Hell, and want to take control of him.
He passes, thinks he's fine; 24 hours later, another savings Throw....
He realizes, "I can't keep this... we need to get this back to the Church to be destroyed..."
The Church pays him for returning the evil relic...

[Snails]

What if he sprays a weird magical liquid on the sword he is using, so his sword is now in flames?

What is nice about this approach is it is very tunable. Say, two identical bottles found on the NPC and one is empty. You may not want to hand out a flame tongue sword, but surely it is okay to reward the PCs with a fleeting taste of that flaming goodness, right?

[Vogie]

The other option is by occasionally giving single use items.

I was in a game at a FLGS and looted a +2 Shortsword with an unknown rune of transmutation magic on it with my monk. The first time I used it, the sword dealt damage... and immediately shattered.

Many of the items on the Weak Magic Items generator (https://www.lordbyng.net/inspiration/results.php) have charges that don't renew or refresh ever.

[Sigreid]

A lot of these suggestions have a high chance of frustrating and ticking off the party. The potions idea is solid though if not over used.

[Willie the Duck]

Is is cheap or unfair to give enemies magic items that the players can't loot or use?

There have been a few times that I want some NPCs to have a wand of magic missiles or such but I really don't want to give the players even more magic items than i already have.

Well, it comes from a storied tradition. Drow were (supposedly) initially created because Gygax wanted to be able to use human-like opponents (tool and weapon-bearing, etc.) without every fight being a great big giveaway to the PCs, and thus they had special fancy items that would develop a unhaltable rot if ever exposed to sunlight. Beyond that, plenty of the NPCs in the 5e Monster Manual clearly have 'magic items' (or poison, or the like) built in mechanically, they just aren't stated as items on their persons.


A lot of these suggestions have a high chance of frustrating and ticking off the party. The potions idea is solid though if not over used.

Yes. In particular the 'damaged in the fight' ones. I'd strongly suggest that the first time something like this is used, and the players even slightly notice, saying something like, "Look, you guys are getting the treasure appropriate for the challenges you are facing. If you weren't facing a swordsman with a sword that is flametongue for him but not for you, you would instead be facing a fire-breathing monster where the 'you can't get this ability off the body' was a little more obvious. I just want to use humanoid opponents more often, while keeping the treasure distribution the same."

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Well, it comes from a storied tradition. Drow were (supposedly) initially created because Gygax wanted to be able to use human-like opponents (tool and weapon-bearing, etc.) without every fight being a great big giveaway to the PCs, and thus they had special fancy items that would develop a unhaltable rot if ever exposed to sunlight. Beyond that, plenty of the NPCs in the 5e Monster Manual clearly have 'magic items' (or poison, or the like) built in mechanically, they just aren't stated as items on their persons.



Yes. In particular the 'damaged in the fight' ones. I'd strongly suggest that the first time something like this is used, and the players even slightly notice, saying something like, "Look, you guys are getting the treasure appropriate for the challenges you are facing. If you weren't facing a swordsman with a sword that is flametongue for him but not for you, you would instead be facing a fire-breathing monster where the 'you can't get this ability off the body' was a little more obvious. I just want to use humanoid opponents more often, while keeping the treasure distribution the same."

A lore fix I like for it is magical tattoos.

"After you feel the burn from the fighter sword you notice a bright red rune on his arms."

Make the humans magical.
The players can loot body parts but they can't use them as magic weapons.
(They can still try to cast on it magic weapon and use it as an improvise weapon, it is to funny in a non serious game to not allow)

In the end of the game I like to give the players the option to get this kind of stuff.
Sometimes before the final encounter and sometimes after.

[Trickery]

This reminds me of the old Ice Devil Spear debates with players wondering whether a blade pact warlock could gain proficiency with that weapon. Just because a weapon does a thing when a particular creature uses it doesn't mean it works the same way for players.

[Dessunri]

If you are the DM, then it goes however you say it goes. Unless your players believe themselves to be entitled to every last piece of loot in your game (JRPG-style), then they will get over it. A few ideas for you, though:

- Magic items may be attuned to the life force of your NPC, and are rendered inoperable without it.
- The item is found to be now out of charges (permanently) when the corpse is looted.
- The NPC knew the spell and the object was just the arcane focus.
- The command word is in a language that none of your PCs know or can speak.
- The item is cursed. The NPC had a horrible affliction through use of the item.
- Use the "Are you sure?" + Evil DM chuckle combo.

Oh man the 'are you sure' line gets my players every time. the key to making it work, however, is at least once or twice you need to make something really bad happen after you ask them if they're sure.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Oh man the 'are you sure' line gets my players every time. the key to making it work, however, is at least once or twice you need to make something really bad happen after you ask them if they're sure.

I never saw it working.

Maybe that because my groups and I embrace the curse every single time as players, most of the time the characters hate the curses.

[Demonslayer666]

Is is cheap or unfair to give enemies magic items that the players can't loot or use?

There have been a few times that I want some NPCs to have a wand of magic missiles or such but I really don't want to give the players even more magic items than i already have.

In short, yes. As a player, I would feel you are going to far to make encounters more challenging. It would be much better if you added in a sorcerer that would cast magic missile. You could also add in lair abilities, or magic traps. I like to use poison, scrolls, and clerics to add a little extra to my encounters. You could also add in a few extra combatants to make it more challenging.

If they have too many magic items, you could always have a cost of one to get access to somewhere they need to go.


A lot of these suggestions have a high chance of frustrating and ticking off the party. The potions idea is solid though if not over used.
Agreed.

[LordEntrails]

Yes it's cheap. Unfair? Who cares, life is not fair (in that way).

Make the wand limited use and doesn't recharge. Use tattoos. Give them abilities. But, imo, don't make the items just break or crap like that.

My favorites are; make items use attunement slots or make them cursed. But I only give magic items to BBEG / solos, not ever goblin I want to be a little stronger.

[Segev]

For wands...replace them with scrolls. The NPC uses them up.

[Knaight]

Cheap or unfair? No, not really. Fictionally bizarre in ways that are immersion damaging? Potentially, if handled poorly. Items in general are pretty transferable by nature, to the extent to which putting something on an item instead of a character pretty much communicates that it can be transferred. You can take someone's magic sword but not their skill with a blade.

Potions and the like can get around this to some extent, where you can't use them because they've already been used up. A cleaner method though would be something like a divine blessing added as essentially a type of treasure gained a bit differently - that's not something you'd expect to transfer, and so it causes no friction when it doesn't. The tattoos/runes mentioned upthread are also a good example of this.

[GeoffWatson]

Well, I was just using a wand of magic missiles as an example. It could easily be a flame tongue sword so that their attack does some fire damage too, but I don't want to have them use the flame blade spell because I don't want to have to roll for concentration.

I DM'ed the Princes of the Apocolypse campaign, and some of the fire cultists had the ability to set their weapons on fire for extra damage. The players accepted this with no demands for flaming swords.
Enemies having powers the players can't easily get is fine, even if they are similar to magic items.