When to give Magic Items

[Nagog]

As the title states, about when level-wise should different rarities of magic items should be given out as a DM?
Also, is there a general ruling (RAW or RAI) for how many/rarity/if at all for magic items belonging to characters created at higher levels?

[PhoenixPhyre]

As the title states, about when level-wise should different rarities of magic items should be given out as a DM?
Also, is there a general ruling (RAW or RAI) for how many/rarity/if at all for magic items belonging to characters created at higher levels?

There are guidelines in both the DMG and Xanathar's. But they're fuzzy.

Basically,

Uncommon: late T1/early T2 at the soonest.
Rare: T2/early T3
Very Rare: T3
Legendary: T4 if any.

Even in a high-magic world, no single character should have more than "a few" (3-5) permanent magic items total until very late in the game. Consumables should come out much more frequently.

None of these are required for game math, although it's nice to have a magic weapon (does not have to have a +X, the moonlit blade that just glows in the dark works) to overcome resistance/immunity. In fact, giving +X weapons/armor tends to make the game quite a bit easier than the DMG guidelines suggest. Plus, those are boring IMO.

[stoutstien]

As the title states, about when level-wise should different rarities of magic items should be given out as a DM?
Also, is there a general ruling (RAW or RAI) for how many/rarity/if at all for magic items belonging to characters created at higher levels?

On the first question: the rarity/power ratio is pretty off in 5e some of the uncommon items are as powerful as the rare ones. Every class/item combo is unique.

On the second one: nope you can play 5e and never hand out a single magic item. They are no assumption on magic items built into the core balance of the game.

[sithlordnergal]

Also, is there a general ruling (RAW or RAI) for how many/rarity/if at all for magic items belonging to characters created at higher levels?

Ehhh, not exactly. There isn't much of a ruling on how many magic items a character can/should have. However, it is actually assumed you have some sort of magical weapon by the time you hit Tier 3. A lot of creatures gain resistance to non-magical weapon attacks at Tier 2, almost all encounters have that resistance at Tier 3, and a some high CR monsters are flat out immune to non-magical weapons in Tier 4.

If you run modules it is generally expected that the party has magical weapons, and the writers write for that. I can name at least one Tier 2 module where the boss is immune to non-magical weapon damage.

EDIT: A good idea to determine when players are semi-expected to have a magic weapon is to look at classes like the Monk, Moon Druid, and Shepard Druid. All three gain an ability at level 6 that makes the attacks they'll be using most be treated as magical to get past resistance. The Monk has their fists, the Moon Druid has their wild shape attacks, and the Shepard Druid has their summons.

[firelistener]

I like to make sure martial classes have at least a +1 weapon (or any other weapon that deals magical damage for the purpose of overcoming resistances) around level 6.

[Toofey]

When it's fun. I find with different groups under different circumstances the amount of treasure I give out varies wildly.

Some groups you can give very powerful items at low level and it works out like any number of fantasy stories where things like that happen. Other groups you need to be a scrooge to keep them from overpowering all the fights, and some groups just don't even enjoy them and would rather just keep the story moving.

as far as general rules of thumbs, I would avoid items that give abilities that would be beyond a character of that level, or who's bonuses are more than the characters proficiency or stat bonus to their best stat, whichever is lower. But these are general rules and items can be very fun depending on the players.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I like to make sure martial classes have at least a +1 weapon (or any other weapon that deals magical damage for the purpose of overcoming resistances) around level 6.

You don't need to have magical damage to overcome it. All it needs is the "I'm a magic weapon" tag. So, for example, a Common weapon that keeps itself clean but states "This magic weapon..." would count.

+X weapons (and armor) are probably the worst items to give if you care about staying close to the DMG guidance. Extra damage is fine (within limits), but extra attack bonuses/AC start skewing things much faster.

[stoutstien]

You don't need to have magical damage to overcome it. All it needs is the "I'm a magic weapon" tag. So, for example, a Common weapon that keeps itself clean but states "This magic weapon..." would count.

+X weapons (and armor) are probably the worst items to give if you care about staying close to the DMG guidance. Extra damage is fine (within limits), but extra attack bonuses/AC start skewing things much faster.

2nd this. Only items in my games that have + attack and attributes are relics.

[Dork_Forge]

You don't need to have magical damage to overcome it. All it needs is the "I'm a magic weapon" tag. So, for example, a Common weapon that keeps itself clean but states "This magic weapon..." would count.

+X weapons (and armor) are probably the worst items to give if you care about staying close to the DMG guidance. Extra damage is fine (within limits), but extra attack bonuses/AC start skewing things much faster.

I agree with this mostly, +x weapons can really strectch bounded accuracy. I'd say you don't really have to worry about +1 weapons though, a Forge Cleric can create one at first level, a Warlock at 3rd, an Artificer at 2nd level. However an Artificer can't make a +2 until 12th level and the Magic weapon spell doesn't push to +2 until you get access to 4th level slots.

[Bjarkmundur]

Agreed. I don't want to have to re-adjust my encounter-calculating methods for each individual group. That's why I don't give items that give +AC. I instead treat the high-end armors as magic items of themselves. Plate is worth 1500gp, good luck finding that one at low levels! Rewards in my game come almost exclusively as quest rewards. For each session a quest takes I'll increase the treasure.

I've found that, when using the sane magic item prices (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wVfo9yXgYa8jgpyFJKgswj2sFGg4dX3TShbp-qitJ4Q/edit?usp=sharing), items of 5000gp value work great for the first five levels. After that magic items are usually a lot more custom.

You can see exactly what items I give my players at levels 1-5 here (https://tinyurl.com/y3cgpmcv).

[PhoenixPhyre]

I agree with this mostly, +x weapons can really strectch bounded accuracy. I'd say you don't really have to worry about +1 weapons though, a Forge Cleric can create one at first level, a Warlock at 3rd, an Artificer at 2nd level. However an Artificer can't make a +2 until 12th level and the Magic weapon spell doesn't push to +2 until you get access to 4th level slots.

Generally, +X weapons or shields are less distorting than +X armor. In part, because hitting 5% of the time more doesn't change the curve too much and only a few builds really use shields. +X armor is bad, because it can push you "off d20" (get hit only on a 20), which removes a lot of resource drain for low (relatively) CR monsters. Which chops off a whole chunk of the possible encounters. +X save DC items are awful. Because you quickly get to the point where things can't ever make their save.

My "rough rule of thumb" is that a +X weapon counts as

Tier 1 or 2: +X level for balance purposes
Tier 3: +(X-1) level, min +0
Tier 4: +(X-2) level, min +0

Armor and save DC items go as
Tier 1: +(X+1)
Tier 2: +X
Tier 3: +X
Tier 4: +(X-1)

[Pex]

On the first question: the rarity/power ratio is pretty off in 5e some of the uncommon items are as powerful as the rare ones. Every class/item combo is unique.

On the second one: nope you can play 5e and never hand out a single magic item. They are no assumption on magic items built into the core balance of the game.

Yes, but that does not mean one should never give out magic items.

[J-H]

Things I have bookmarked for reference on this topic:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/treasure-rolls-a-typical-campaign.419072/

and

https://www.enworld.org/threads/analysis-of-typical-magic-item-distribution.395770/

The short version from second link...


To translate this into a very even distribution of magic items over all 20 levels, I would probably go with the following approach:
1 common consumable every level from 1 to 5.
1 uncommon consumable every level from 6 to 10.
1 rare consumable every level from 11 to 15.
1 very rare consumable every level from 16 to 19.
1 legendary consumable at level 20.
1 uncommon permanent item at level 4, and another at level 7.
1 rare permanent item at level 10 and another at level 13.
1 very rare permanent item at level 16.
1 legendary permanent item at level 19.

or


Something I just thought of, for those of you who like a bit more randomness. Given that Magic Item Tables A to I are more or less grouped by rarity, here is an alternate approach to generate magic items for each PC:

One roll on Table A for every level from 1 to 5.
One roll on Table B for every level from 6 to 10.
One roll on Table C for every level from 11 to 15.
One roll on Table D for every level from 16 to 18.
One roll on Table E for levels 19 and 20.
One roll on Table F at level 4 and again at level 7.
One roll on Table G at level 10 and again at level 13.
One roll on Table H at level 16.
One roll on Table I at level 19.

[Zalabim]

Ehhh, not exactly. There isn't much of a ruling on how many magic items a character can/should have. However, it is actually assumed you have some sort of magical weapon by the time you hit Tier 3. A lot of creatures gain resistance to non-magical weapon attacks at Tier 2, almost all encounters have that resistance at Tier 3, and a some high CR monsters are flat out immune to non-magical weapons in Tier 4.
This is just not even remotely true. I don't know where this idea comes from. The DMG has a guideline for starting magic items for characters beyond level 1. XGE has a guideline for the kinds of items typically awarded by the DMG's treasure rolls. There are nonmagic-attack resistant-or-immune enemies all throughout the CR range with no particular concentration of the ability at high levels. The majority of any CR of enemies lacks the resistance. Even when making high level challenges, there's plenty of use for lower CR enemies in greater numbers and combined with more dangerous foes, even if there were a glut of high CR enemies with the ability. Which there isn't. Finally, based on the monster creation guideline's HP multiplier for monster's with resistance or immunity, it would appear that resistance is still expected to matter up until tier 4 (CR 17+). That may mean a party where the casters use a lot of summons that don't bypass resistance, or it may be a party with no permanent magic weapons where the fighter just powers through or uses consumable items or caster aid.

Since the GM can see the encounters in advance, it's up to the GM whether the party needs permanent magic weapons or can get by with other means for the few times it comes up, if ever. It's just an easily disproved assumption that every enemy becomes resistant to nonmagic attacks. It just doesn't happen. As such, there's no hard and fast rule for if or when any character should have a magic weapon.

Also, level 6 is when classes often get the ability, but it's also when other characters are easily able to have silvered weapons and in the case of the monk, they're still probably making most of their attacks with a weapon, like a quarterstaff, for that d8 damage die. Even if they flurry every turn, that's still half their attacks being made with a weapon.

[Fable Wright]

Agreed. I don't want to have to re-adjust my encounter-calculating methods for each individual group. That's why I don't give items that give +AC. I instead treat the high-end armors as magic items of themselves. Plate is worth 1500gp, good luck finding that one at low levels! Rewards in my game come almost exclusively as quest rewards. For each session a quest takes I'll increase the treasure.

I've found that, when using the sane magic item prices (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wVfo9yXgYa8jgpyFJKgswj2sFGg4dX3TShbp-qitJ4Q/edit?usp=sharing), items of 5000gp value work great for the first five levels. After that magic items are usually a lot more custom.

You can see exactly what items I give my players at levels 1-5 here (https://tinyurl.com/y3cgpmcv).

...In what world are those sane magic item prices?!

A Weapon of Warning is 60,000gp, while a +3 weapon is 16,000? Rod of Lordly Might is priced slightly cheaper than a Doss Lute at 28k, when again, Weapon of Warning is 60k. Frostbrand is at 2200 when Armor of Resistance (Fire) is at 6k. I don't understand any of these prices.

EDIT: Marvelous Pigments at 200gp.

I just... I just don't understand what universe you live in.

[sithlordnergal]

...In what world are those sane magic item prices?!

A Weapon of Warning is 60,000gp, while a +3 weapon is 16,000? Rod of Lordly Might is priced slightly cheaper than a Doss Lute at 28k, when again, Weapon of Warning is 60k. Frostbrand is at 2200 when Armor of Resistance (Fire) is at 6k. I don't understand any of these prices.

EDIT: Marvelous Pigments at 200gp.

I just... I just don't understand what universe you live in.

I think I know the universe. Take a close look at the items that are priced higher. They are either magical Armor, or they give you some sort of defensive bonus. For example:

The Holy Avenger is 165,000, while the Cloak of Displacement, Robe of Stars, and Weapons of Warning are 60k. He doesn't have the Staff of the Magi or the Staff of Power in there, likely due to them being too strong in his eyes. Now, what do all those items have in common? They provide a defensive buff. The Holy Avenger, which I consider to be quite weak comparatively, grants you an aura that gives advantage to saving throws. The Cloak of Displacment gives disadvantage on attacks, Robe of Stars boosts Saves, and Weapons of Warning grant a party wide Alert effect that prevents surprise.

Meanwhile the Rod of Lordly Might is far cheaper, but lacks such defensive attributes. Now, as a player who has had the Rod of Lordly Might since level 10 on a Soradin that is now level 20, that I would never, ever exchange the Rod for a holy Avenger. The Rod is just so much better at literally everything. However, Bjark seems to be more concerned with defensive buffs then offensive ones.

[sithlordnergal]

This is just not even remotely true. I don't know where this idea comes from. The DMG has a guideline for starting magic items for characters beyond level 1. XGE has a guideline for the kinds of items typically awarded by the DMG's treasure rolls. There are nonmagic-attack resistant-or-immune enemies all throughout the CR range with no particular concentration of the ability at high levels. The majority of any CR of enemies lacks the resistance. Even when making high level challenges, there's plenty of use for lower CR enemies in greater numbers and combined with more dangerous foes, even if there were a glut of high CR enemies with the ability. Which there isn't. Finally, based on the monster creation guideline's HP multiplier for monster's with resistance or immunity, it would appear that resistance is still expected to matter up until tier 4 (CR 17+). That may mean a party where the casters use a lot of summons that don't bypass resistance, or it may be a party with no permanent magic weapons where the fighter just powers through or uses consumable items or caster aid.

Since the GM can see the encounters in advance, it's up to the GM whether the party needs permanent magic weapons or can get by with other means for the few times it comes up, if ever. It's just an easily disproved assumption that every enemy becomes resistant to nonmagic attacks. It just doesn't happen. As such, there's no hard and fast rule for if or when any character should have a magic weapon.

Also, level 6 is when classes often get the ability, but it's also when other characters are easily able to have silvered weapons and in the case of the monk, they're still probably making most of their attacks with a weapon, like a quarterstaff, for that d8 damage die. Even if they flurry every turn, that's still half their attacks being made with a weapon.

Have you...looked at the MM, Mordenkainen's, and Volos? I currently only have the MM and Mordenkainen's available, but here's what's there at CR 14 within those two books. Also, I won't be counting the two dragons since they appear in every tier and their damage resistances don't change:

CR 13: 7.5 out of 14 creatures are resistant, with the .5 being resistant in dim light or darkness and one of them being immune to non magical weapons.

CR 14: Half are resistant or immune to non-magical weapons, and two of those are flat out immune to non-magical damage

CR 15? Literally everything outside of the Purple Worm and two Dragons are resistant to non-magical weapons.

CR 20? Everything but 2 Dragons and the Drow Matron Mother are resistant

21? Everything except 2 dragons are Resistant or, in the Lich's case, immune to non-magical damage


If the designers had the intent that you could go from level 1 to 20 without any magical equipment, you'd think the designers might have avoided putting in so many creatures that are resistant or flat out immune to non-magical attacks at higher tiers. And while yes, the DM is in charge of making encounters, looking at the monsters that have a similar CR to party levels at those tiers, you can kind of tell they had magic items in mind. That or they just wanted to say screw it to any Martial character that relies on a weapon.

But again, I point to the Monk, Moon Druid, Shepard Druid, and Hexblade/Pact of the Blade Warlocks. They are all able to gain a magical weapon naturally without any need of an item. With the exception of the Warlock, all of them get it at level 6. And yes, while most Monks might continue to use a Quarterstaff due to it having d8 damage, that is only true for Tier 2. But I'm not talking about Tier 2. I'm talking about Tier 3, where about half of the monsters are resistant or immune to non-magical weapons, and you find a greater number of the monsters with said resistances from Tier 2 popping up more frequently.

As for Moon Druids and Shepard Druids, I've yet to find a Moon Druid that doesn't attack using their animal forms. Show me a Moon Druid, or a Shepard Druid for that matter, that makes melee attacks using a bog standard scimitar or quarterstaff instead of Wild Shapes or Cantrips, and I'll show you a player who has no idea how to play a Druid.

[Kane0]

Double edged swords everywhere. Next session im gonna hand out an arrow-catching shield, except it functions for ranged spell attacks.
Level 4 party.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Have you...looked at the MM, Mordenkainen's, and Volos? I currently only have the MM and Mordenkainen's available, but here's what's there at CR 14 within those two books. Also, I won't be counting the two dragons since they appear in every tier and their damage resistances don't change:

CR 13: 7.5 out of 14 creatures are resistant, with the .5 being resistant in dim light or darkness and one of them being immune to non magical weapons.

CR 14: Half are resistant or immune to non-magical weapons, and two of those are flat out immune to non-magical damage

CR 15? Literally everything outside of the Purple Worm and two Dragons are resistant to non-magical weapons.

CR 20? Everything but 2 Dragons and the Drow Matron Mother are resistant

21? Everything except 2 dragons are Resistant or, in the Lich's case, immune to non-magical damage


If the designers had the intent that you could go from level 1 to 20 without any magical equipment, you'd think the designers might have avoided putting in so many creatures that are resistant or flat out immune to non-magical attacks at higher tiers. And while yes, the DM is in charge of making encounters, looking at the monsters that have a similar CR to party levels at those tiers, you can kind of tell they had magic items in mind. That or they just wanted to say screw it to any Martial character that relies on a weapon.

But again, I point to the Monk, Moon Druid, Shepard Druid, and Hexblade/Pact of the Blade Warlocks. They are all able to gain a magical weapon naturally without any need of an item. With the exception of the Warlock, all of them get it at level 6. And yes, while most Monks might continue to use a Quarterstaff due to it having d8 damage, that is only true for Tier 2. But I'm not talking about Tier 2. I'm talking about Tier 3, where about half of the monsters are resistant or immune to non-magical weapons, and you find a greater number of the monsters with said resistances from Tier 2 popping up more frequently.

As for Moon Druids and Shepard Druids, I've yet to find a Moon Druid that doesn't attack using their animal forms. Show me a Moon Druid, or a Shepard Druid for that matter, that makes melee attacks using a bog standard scimitar or quarterstaff instead of Wild Shapes or Cantrips, and I'll show you a player who has no idea how to play a Druid.

A lizard druid should use one melee attack, a bite for the thp(is it Healing or THP? I am AFB).


Anyway, there are spells to make the weapon magical, a lot of spells for it.

There are even spells that make a magical weapon (I am looking at you shadow blade) that some fighters and rogues have access to.

[MrStabby]

Have you...looked at the MM, Mordenkainen's, and Volos? I currently only have the MM and Mordenkainen's available, but here's what's there at CR 14 within those two books. Also, I won't be counting the two dragons since they appear in every tier and their damage resistances don't change:

CR 13: 7.5 out of 14 creatures are resistant, with the .5 being resistant in dim light or darkness and one of them being immune to non magical weapons.

CR 14: Half are resistant or immune to non-magical weapons, and two of those are flat out immune to non-magical damage

CR 15? Literally everything outside of the Purple Worm and two Dragons are resistant to non-magical weapons.

CR 20? Everything but 2 Dragons and the Drow Matron Mother are resistant

21? Everything except 2 dragons are Resistant or, in the Lich's case, immune to non-magical damage


If the designers had the intent that you could go from level 1 to 20 without any magical equipment, you'd think the designers might have avoided putting in so many creatures that are resistant or flat out immune to non-magical attacks at higher tiers. And while yes, the DM is in charge of making encounters, looking at the monsters that have a similar CR to party levels at those tiers, you can kind of tell they had magic items in mind. That or they just wanted to say screw it to any Martial character that relies on a weapon.

But again, I point to the Monk, Moon Druid, Shepard Druid, and Hexblade/Pact of the Blade Warlocks. They are all able to gain a magical weapon naturally without any need of an item. With the exception of the Warlock, all of them get it at level 6. And yes, while most Monks might continue to use a Quarterstaff due to it having d8 damage, that is only true for Tier 2. But I'm not talking about Tier 2. I'm talking about Tier 3, where about half of the monsters are resistant or immune to non-magical weapons, and you find a greater number of the monsters with said resistances from Tier 2 popping up more frequently.

As for Moon Druids and Shepard Druids, I've yet to find a Moon Druid that doesn't attack using their animal forms. Show me a Moon Druid, or a Shepard Druid for that matter, that makes melee attacks using a bog standard scimitar or quarterstaff instead of Wild Shapes or Cantrips, and I'll show you a player who has no idea how to play a Druid.

If I read this correctly, your mistake is assuming that the party only faces creatures of a CR similar to the party's level. A level 10 party can still face trolls or fire elementals.

As for raising the point about moon druids, monks etc. I think it is a good one. These classes get a cool special ability and they should be allowed to have that be special for a while - ensuring that they have the easiest access to magic attacks, at least for a while adds to the coolness of their class.

[Zalabim]

Have you...looked at the MM, Mordenkainen's, and Volos? I currently only have the MM and Mordenkainen's available, but here's what's there at CR 14 within those two books. Also, I won't be counting the two dragons since they appear in every tier and their damage resistances don't change:
I'm gonna have to ask you to stop right there because that's kinda the point. They appear in every (or multiple) tier and their damage resistances don't change. Demons, devils, yugoloths, golems, celestials, lycanthropes. Undead resistances do change, but they change quickly from zombies and skeletons to wights and greater undead, with the incorporeal ones like shadows and ghosts again always resistant. So rather than complain about dragons, let's specifically look for things gaining resistance that didn't have it before. And expanding my search to include Mordenkainen's since you have it, but I haven't looked at it since it's the most recent monster manual and I haven't needed it before.

CR 11: There's 16 creatures. 5 of them resist nonmagical attacks. The demon, the devil, the yugoloth, the sphinx, and the spirit troll. The gynosphinx is the first introduction to sphinxes and the spirit troll is an incorporeal troll, so it's notable but fits right in with its incorporeal brethren. The genies actually don't have resistance, but the pure elementals generally do.

CR 12: There's 9 creatures. 6 of them resistant. 2 yugoloths, 1 devil, 2 undead (1 is incorporeal), and the archmage (because stoneskin). Not actually anything new here.

CR 13: There's 15 creatures. 7 are resistant. One is immune. The dire troll and star spawn seer are notable because lesser trolls and lesser star spawn aren't resistant. The rakshasa is special because it's actually immune, but then it's just a really special fiend anyway. The remaining 5 are 1 undead, 2 demons, 1 devil, and 1 yugoloth.

CR 14: There's 9 creatures (though beholder in lair is a second appearance). 1 devil (resistant) and two evil golems (immune). Don't ask how you make a golem evil.

CR 15: There's 10 entries (with the return of the death tyrant and vampires) 6 resistant: 4 undead, 1 demon and 1 devil. It's probably worth mentioning that the death tyrant is not resistant despite being an undead beholder.

CR 16: There's 12 entries (Mummy Lord is back) 7 are resistant (Undead, devil, demon, angel, elemental, star spawn, and a construct) and 2 have immunity (iron golem and steel predator). Oddly, the hellfire engine has the hallmarks of a golem, but only has devil resistances. Going the other way, the steel predator is kind of a golem, but adamantine will not pierce its immunity.

CR 17: There's 9 entries. 2 are resistant (devil and demon) 1 is immune (the androsphinx). Of the others, the Death Knight is actually not resistant despite being a powerful undead.

CR 18: There's only 4 entries. 2 are resistant (demon and devil) 1 is immune/resistant (the mighty mini, Demilich). CR 20? Everything but 2 Dragons and the Drow Matron Mother are resistant

CR 19: There's 3 entries. 2 devils and 1 demon. Take a guess.

CR 20: There's 7 entries (with the demilich returning). 3 resistant (devil, elemental, undead), plus the demilich's immune/resistant.

CR 21: There's 8 entries. 5 are resistant (angel, 2 devils, demon, and the astral dreadnought) and the lich is immune. The astral dreadnought is just a horrifying thing all round.

Of 102 entries so far, 47 are resistant and 9 are immune to nonmagical attacks of some sort. The majority of creatures with resistance are types that have it all along. All devils' resistance can be bypassed by silver, and adamantine works against 3 of the golem sorts. Resistance isn't a dealbreaker itself, so there's only 9 creatures that a martial requires a special weapon to damage, and of those, only 6 require it be magic. Yes, this is about half of the high CR creatures being resistant (though lower CR creatures didn't go away), but if less than 10 creatures makes it impossible to play without magic weapons, you need to get a new playbook.

[Mad_Saulot]

My players are all level 9 they have: Frostbrand, Flame Tongue, Holy Avenger, Staff of Power, a legendary book that allows you to free cast any spell that you have inside it (it counts as a spellbook with unlimited space), dragonplate armour +1, bracers of defense, ring of protection, ring of spellstoring, crown of hate (allows you to concentrate on two Hex spells at once), Robe of the dastardly wiggler (grants immunity to stuns, restraints, grabs, etc),wand of the warmage+2, dozens of potions and scrolls, half a million gold coins, and a caravel (a biggish ship).

Now i imagine some of you will call me mad but ?I find thats it isnt the gear that determines victory against a monster, it is opportunity and tactics, the single most important factor is how many people the players have, if the enemy dont outnumber you 4 to 1 then chances are the players are gonna roflstomp their way through the enemy, when things go bad tho, they go bad fast, despite their gear there have been plenty of close calls with players rolling death saves mid combat, the players enemies are mainly dragons and demonlords plus their minions.

The two main objectives are to defeat Tiamat and kickstart a new nation.

[firelistener]

You don't need to have magical damage to overcome it. All it needs is the "I'm a magic weapon" tag. So, for example, a Common weapon that keeps itself clean but states "This magic weapon..." would count.

+X weapons (and armor) are probably the worst items to give if you care about staying close to the DMG guidance. Extra damage is fine (within limits), but extra attack bonuses/AC start skewing things much faster.

I'm not sure this is correct. Can you explain why you believe this is the case, like maybe a Sage Advice or DMG reference I'm unaware of? I am under the impression that a weapon needs to have the text "considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances" for it to work like that. For example, a flametongue's slashing damage is still resisted by demons and only the fire damage is magical.

[Fable Wright]

I'm not sure this is correct. Can you explain why you believe this is the case, like maybe a Sage Advice or DMG reference I'm unaware of? I am under the impression that a weapon needs to have the text "considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances" for it to work like that. For example, a flametongue's slashing damage is still resisted by demons and only the fire damage is magical.

A plus one sword reads "you get a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with this magic weapon." Not in its description, or any other magic weapon description, do any magic weapons have the text "considered magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances". Flame Tongue also describes itself as a magic sword. You could argue that a magic weapon needs to describe itself as magical to get that bonus, I guess? But that seems like a huge headache to check, and doesn't seem like it's rules as intended

[PhoenixPhyre]

I'm not sure this is correct. Can you explain why you believe this is the case, like maybe a Sage Advice or DMG reference I'm unaware of? I am under the impression that a weapon needs to have the text "considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistances" for it to work like that. For example, a flametongue's slashing damage is still resisted by demons and only the fire damage is magical.

The statement from the SA Compendium is:


Determining whether a game feature is
magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions
about the feature:
• Is it a magic item?
• Is it a spell? Or does it let you create the effects of a spell
that’s mentioned in its description?
• Is it a spell attack?
• Is it fueled by the use of spell slots?
• Does its description say it’s magical?

If your answer to any of those questions is yes, the feature is magical.


Magic items always are magical. And the trigger for resistance/immunity is "bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from attacks not made with magical weapons". Since they are magical weapons, all the damage dealt penetrates the resistance/immunity.

[Corsair14]

I throw random stuff in all the time in my adventures, PCs rarely find them and that is expected by me. In fact they have found so few of my little stashes none of my groups over the years have noticed I normally include them in almost every area I create. These are basically the only times I really use the random item tables and just toss in whatever. They find them by specifically looking in certain places and rolling high enough search/perception checks and so forth. Just walking into a room and saying I search the room and rolling a dice isn't going to cut it. "I am checking the inscription and stonework on the pillar and with my bonuses scored a 25." You notice a hairline crack in the stone....

As for items actually given to the party, usually they are found on boss type creatures or in untouched ruins. Extremely rarely will they be found in stores and if so they will be minor items under the counter the owner only offers to his friends kind of things. Magic items are fairly rare in my lower fantasy worlds. A +1 weapon in a 3rd or 4th level party wouldn't be unheard of. A +2 would be. My one exception was a hilarious daemon weapon that gradually gained power the longer the cursed owner used it and eventually would start to take over the PC. They thought it was great until a heated situation in negotiations came up and the barbarian failed a willpower check to stay in control and the sword told him to attack. Otherwise they are items I either make up or assign based on what the holder should have. Rarely do I put crazy things in because the character wanted to be a special snowflake and use a weapon or armor that no one in the current or past local cultures uses or ever used. You aren't going to find a magic farming scythe(as opposed to a war scythe) in a deep dwarven hold where none of them has ever seen or used one before.

[ad_hoc]

As the title states, about when level-wise should different rarities of magic items should be given out as a DM?
Also, is there a general ruling (RAW or RAI) for how many/rarity/if at all for magic items belonging to characters created at higher levels?

There is no requirement. A party could have no items and they could get the sun sword at level 3 and the game will continue to function.

Our table use the treasure hoards in the DMG and it works very well for us. PCs could have lots of items, no items, or somewhere in between. Treasure is always exciting this way and encourages creative and cooperative use of said treasure.

A note about item rarity: It doesn't necessarily mean the item is more powerful. It literally means that the item is more rarely encountered in an average campaign. So typically the weirder items are more rare not because they are more powerful but because they are rare.