How many magic items have appeared in your campaigns?

[Yora]

Talk about whether characters absolutely need to have magic weapons at certain levels and at which ones made me realize that other people seem to be way more stingy than me about this, and I was considering myself to be running a fairly low magic campaign.

So I am curious: What magic items have the parties in actual campaigns that you've played gotten their hands on? And do you consider that to be sparse or abundant?

For most of my current campaign, the party consisted of 5 PCs. They got a staff of the adder and eyes of charming at 2nd level and a dagger +1 at third level. Most likely getting an elemental gem before reaching level 4.

I was considering that to be quite sparse as magic items go. The staff and the dagger are magic weapons, but being a staff and a dagger of little interest to the fighter and clerics. The dagger will probably end up with one of the two rogues, but that thing has been sitting in a bag for some while now and the decision be postponed for later several times.
The eyes of seeing I picked both because they made sense for a hostile NPC to have, but also because the party has two warlocks and a wizard who could all learn charm person as a 1st level spell (and two of them did). I really didn't give them anything that wasn't available to them anyway, and with the DC on the eyes being only 11, it now makes more sense to have the warlock or wizard cast it with their own spell slots instead.
An elemental gem is cool at 3rd level, but it's a single use item and players are always hanging on to these things for later "in case we might need it".

So my perception is "sure, they got some magic items, but these don't actually do much".

[DrKerosene]

So I am curious: What magic items have the parties in actual campaigns that you've played gotten their hands on? And do you consider that to be sparse or abundant?

I usually try to give out one tailored T3 item to each PC during the first three sessions. This is usually a homebrewed weaker version of an official item, but it includes room for expansion based on what the Player wants (kind of like Matt Mercer’s exalted weapons).

Back in 3.5e this was a couple of sentient magic rings that essentially made the PCs gestalt, but I flavored them as “vestige phylacteries” with a little bit of the Knight Of The Sacred Seal theme.

I gave someone who was playing a complicated Bard/Crusader/Sublime Chord/Jade Phoenix Mage build a harmonizing sword of songs that was haunted. They really liked the “lay the really old elven ghost to rest” mystery angle.

In 5e I’ve given a Staff Of Thunder & Lightning to one PC, reflavored as Brass Knuckles. I gave another PC an Oathbow, but I removed the +2 from both items and gave the Oatbow a 1/month Flame Strike (it can be upgraded to 1/day and a spell known, and finally a 1/month Meteor Swarm).

I’ve tried to use an Elven Moonblade a couple times, but it’s got 7 runes and each is locked behind some kind of ritual or other quest type thing.

[HappyDaze]

Eberron game, party of four, currently at 5th level:
Mace of Smiting (random drop)
Cloak of Protection (placed treasure)
Everbright Lantern (purchased)
Imbued Wood Focus--Lammanian Oak (quest reward)
Orb of Shielding--Lammanian Flint (quest reward)
+1 Rapier (purchased)
+1 Longsword (quest reward)
A few scrolls (random drops)
A few potions--other than healing potions (random drops)
MANY healing potions (some purchased, some placed treasures)

[elyktsorb]

I recall having a plethora of magic stuff in one campaign. Let me remember. This was from a campaign where I went to 15th lvl and we finished that campaign, it was a 5th edition port of Pathfinders Carrion Crown campaign I believe, and these were my items specifically, other party members had their own stuff.

+1 Scimitar
+1 Short Sword
+1 Studded Leather Armor
Bracers of Defense (which I never used)
Ring of Protection
Necklace of Adaptation
+1 Longbow (that I didn't use often)
2 Greater Healing Potions
3 Potions of Healing
+1 Dagger
+2 Dagger
+2 Leather Armor (didn't wear)
Charlatans Dice

The only other campaign I remember getting magic items in is my Descent into Avernus Campaign where I'm lvl 5 and all I have is a single Lightning Javelin to my name. Oh and Goggles of night vision but that's more of a 'everyone else has darkvision' wave.

So I dunno, maybe it's standard, I think my Carrion Crown game might just be an outlier given it's Pathfinder and not 5th edition strictly.

[Crucius]

Call me lazy but I rolled a bunch of magical items according to the guidelines in Xanathar's, and put them all in a magic item shop that has stores in every major city, and presented that list to the players in session 2. This way the players know what they can expect in terms of magical items, and they can save up to buy major items together, or deck themselves out with minor items by spending their own cut of the loot. The campaign goes to level 16 (now level 7).

7 potions and other consumables
Staff of the Python
Boots of Striding and Springing
Periapt of Wound Closure
Wind Fan
Stone of Good Luck
Javelin of Lightning
Portable Hole
Cape of Mountebank
Cloak of Elvenkind
Staff of Healing
Rapier of Wounding
Arrow-Catching Shield
Ring of Protection
A homebrew magic item

They found a bunch of +1 weapons that were shoddily made so they break on a nat 1. I guess that counts as magic items? (basic +x weapons are so boring though)

Then each player has a clue to a very rare/legendary artifact somewhere in the world, adding another 6 items to the world.

The only thing I want to have control over is magical armor, so that will be distributed manually. The paladin has mizzium plate armor now, and last session I also gave them three sets of +1 magical armor that allows the wielder to add their proficiency bonus to a saving throw they are not proficient in (once per long rest).

So plenty of items have appeared, though they have yet to be 'looted' by buying them with looted GP.

Edit: Right, I forgot, I also put 20 spell scrolls in the store for the wizard in the party. They're pricey but this way I can't forget to put spell scrolls in the game, because I already did, HAH

[da newt]

I've been playing mostly AL.

Upon advancing to 5th lvl every PC get to choose one vanilla +1 magic weapon or shield.

About half of the tier one adventures (~4hrs and gain a lvl) include a magic item that all the PCs can choose to take - some are great - staff of defense/+1 longsword, some are pretty good - stone of good luck/cap of disguise/eyes of charming/fan of wind, some are nearly useless and you are limited to one magic item slot.

Once you get to tier 2, you get the vanilla item of your choice and 3 slots, and darned near every module has a magic item and they tend to be pretty useful - amulet of health/glamoured studded leather/iron bands of belario/mantel of spell resistance/robe of eyes/necklace of fire balls ...

I think this is more than generous, but there is no adjusting for what a character wants - I've never seen a magic 2 handed weapon or heavy armor for example.

[J-H]

Castlevania game, levels 3 to 12, party hits 13 after defeating Dracula.
I based my loot distribution on this:
https://www.enworld.org/threads/analysis-of-typical-magic-item-distribution.395770/#post-6468347

I added a few items on where appropriate for bosses or things I wanted to include, knowing that the party would miss items...and they did. They missed the Mace of Disruption in an undead-heavy campaign. Lots of clues dropped and missed.

Here's the table of loot by type:
+1+benefit means that there's more than just the +1, like +1d6, or "3/day +2d6 psychic damage on-hit", etc.

Category
Item Description Quantity
Light Armors 3
Studded +1, spider 1
Leather+1, resist force 1
Elven Chain +1 1


Medium Armors 4
Scale Mail, Adamantine 1
Breastplate, magic 1
Scale Mail +1 1
Breastplate +2 1 *End boss

Heavy Armors varies
Full plate lots
Full plate +1 1
Full plate, magic 1

Shield 3
Shield, Magic 2
Shield, +1+benefits 1


Ranged Weapons or Ammo 6
Returning weapons 2 (1 dagger, 1 greataxe)
Weapon, +1 2
Weapon, +1+ benefits 2

Ammunition 108
Ammunition +1 37
Ammunition +2 20
Arrow, unique 1
Ammunition, magic+damage 50


Finesse Weapons 12
Silver weapon 3
Weapon +1 2
Dagger +1, Returning 1
Whip +1 1
Weapon +1+benefit 3
Weapon +2+benefit 1
Monk Wpn +1+benefit 1

Regular Weapons 12
Silver weapon 1
Weapon, Magic 2
Weapon, +2 2
Weapon, +1 1
Weapon, +1+benefits 3
Tentacle Rod 1
Weapon, +2+benefit 2


Great Weapons 7
Silver weapon 1 (reach)
Weapon, Magic 1
Weapon +1 1
Weapon +1+benefit 4 (2 reach)

Magic Amulets 3
Mithril Crucifix 1
Amulet, Subtle Spell 1
Amulet, librarian 1 * This is an optional battle that could kill the party


Magic Rings 7
Ring of Swimming 1
Ring of Protection +1 1
Ring of Superior Sneaking 1
Ring pair of shield other 1
Rings, librarian 2 * This is an optional battle that could kill the party
Ring, evasion 1

Magic Cloaks 3
Mantle of Spell Resistance 1
Cape, Mountebank 1
Cloak of the Reaper 1

Magic Boots 3
Boots, Levitation 1
Skyfall boots 1
Boots, cold resist 1

Potions 45
Healing, all kinds 23
Potion, other types 14
Holy Water 8
Potion, Vitality 1d6* *can be refilled with a trip to a fountain

Other Defensive Items 3
Luckstone 1
Bracers, defense 1
Mirrored Helm 1

Spellcasting Aids 10
Pearl of Power 2
Circlet of Blasting 2
Rod of the Pact Keeper +1 1
Instrument of Bards, Doss Lute 1
Wand, Spell 4
Stopwatch 1

Stat Increases 7
Ioun Stone, +2 CON 1
Heart of the Wicked Tree 1
Tome, stat* 3 *Party may not have time to use
Headband, intellect 1
Ioun stone, mastery 1

Misc. Magic Items 37
Misc. minor items 11
Bracers of Archery 1
Helm of the Crescent Moon 1
Spell Scrolls, all types 24

[Waazraath]

Now level 5:
- intelligent sunsword
- crossbow +1
- ring of stoneskin (1/day I think)
- speaker crystal (number of charges to cast speak with dead/plants/animals)
- necklace of fireballs
- bunch of potions

[Pex]

Depends on the campaign. Some have been more generous than others. One was Monty Haul while another was Ebeneezer Scrooge but eventually understood the true meaning of Christmas. Generally I haven't any issue with the amount of magic items, and warriors did get magic weapons in the form they like.

I think the Scrooge DM overcompensated his original stinginess. He caused it himself by increasing the threat the party was falling behind in relative power. The magic items are homebrewed tailored for the campaign. He was a 4E DM, and I think this was his first 5E game as DM so he might have misread the power level of 5E. There are other issues not related to magic items in particular, but it's perhaps all related for the circumstance. In any event what started as a low powered game became a high powered one.

The Monty Hall campaign was bit dissatisfying. In addition to the magic items we became filthy rich. By level 9 I had over 100,000 gp worth of gems and a robe of the arch magi. It was balanced relative to the power level of the campaign but way too much in comparison to 5E in general or perhaps any normal campaign. I don't mind high powered games, but it happened too soon.

How much is too much or too little is subjective. I can't give a number, but I'll know it when I play it. It's how much, how often, and how soon. Most games, though still variable in comparison, have provided enough.

[Dork_Forge]

In the current game I'm running I let PCs pick out 2 uncommon items pending my approval (they started at level 8) and they have the opportunity to get 3 items (need to solve a puzzle) and have so far gotten a bunch of bespoke potions (spendning resources helping NPCs that weren't plot relevant).

[Kane0]

One or two permanent magic items per party member per tier, about half a dozen consumables per party member per tier.

Give or take.

[Yora]

I think the Scrooge DM overcompensated his original stinginess. He caused it himself by increasing the threat the party was falling behind in relative power. The magic items are homebrewed tailored for the campaign. He was a 4E DM, and I think this was his first 5E game as DM so he might have misread the power level of 5E. There are other issues not related to magic items in particular, but it's perhaps all related for the circumstance. In any event what started as a low powered game became a high powered one.

The Monty Hall campaign was bit dissatisfying. In addition to the magic items we became filthy rich. By level 9 I had over 100,000 gp worth of gems and a robe of the arch magi. It was balanced relative to the power level of the campaign but way too much in comparison to 5E in general or perhaps any normal campaign. I don't mind high powered games, but it happened too soon.
About how many items do you consider scroogy or hauly?

[Veldrenor]

I use Blackball's Treasure (which divides items into 10 classes) and a lot of either custom items or items translated from Pathfinder, so I'm not sure where they are in terms of the DMG rating of "common-uncommon-rare-etc."

Not including potions and scrolls, my current level 10 party has:

Ranger: 2 class III, 1 class IV
Druid: 2 class III, 1 class V
Monk: 3 class III, 1 class IV, 1 class V
Cleric: 2 class III, 2 class IV,
Wizard: 1 class V (his fighter died and none of the previous items fit the new character)
Warlock: 2 class IV (same player as the ranger, the ranger has left the group to spend time with his wife and kid)

Party: 1 class II, 1 class III, 3 class IV (1 cursed), 2 class V, 2 class ??? (both cursed)

[Asisreo1]

I gave them a formula for health potions.
A formula for a driftglobe.
A potion of giant strength.
A potion of growth.

[False God]

I like to keep magic items rare and interesting, but my players tend to be interested in stuff that just ups their damage and numbers, so very few.

[Kane0]

A lot of the time i deliberately make magic items without numerical bonuses, including +0 magic weapons.

My groups current favourite is the arrow-catching shield that works for spell attacks instead, which they handed straight to the ancients pally.

[sithlordnergal]

I tend to give out a plethora of magical items, some plain and some unique. I think my current party of 7 people has about 3 magic items each...maybe 4.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

In my game they have:
+2 bow(+1d6 lighting) +2 insignia of the claw(+1d6 radiant) +2 rod of the pact keeper +2 wand of the war mage and a staff of frost, staff of striking, Magic arrows with different magical damage(all add a 1d6, non rare damage types).

3 stones of luck, a cloak of protection, Bracers of Defense, ring of spell storing, a necklace of fireballs, Ring of Djinni Summoning, ring of feather falling, boots of elvenking, bracers of archery, rapier of warning, dancing greatsword(used by the Djinni), scimitar of sharpness (used by the Djinni), bag of tricks rust, immovable rod, a pipe of hunting, a bag of endless cookies and an homebrew item that give the druid an extra 2 wildshep a day.

The party is a fey warlock refluffed yuan-ti as a unicorn kin. A wood elf ranger a wood elf monk and a lizardfolk druid.

They also gave an insignia of the claw(+1) to the manticor the warlock dominate and the bear the warlock tamed was awakened by druids they helped.

They are level 9.


Edit: there are some magic items I forgot about.
There are a lot of consumables that I don't keep track of, I see this as the players responsibility (last session I forgot the monk have a ring of spell storing with shield and blasted him with a level 4 magic missiles).

[Pex]

About how many items do you consider scroogy or hauly?

For the Scrooge campaign we started at level 6 and got our first permanent magic item/weapon, not counting the bag of holding, at level 12. We had to silver our weapons beforehand to fight all the fiends we were encountering. It was level 15 that I had more than 500 gp in coin on my character sheet. The Monty campaign started at level 3. By level 6 I was already attuned to three items and had around 20,000 gp of treasure. The 100,000+ gp in gems came at level 8 and the Arch Magi robe at 9. Campaign ended because DM had to move.

[Misterwhisper]

Level 3 group:

2 potions of cure wounds
a feather token messenger bird.

that is all the MAGIC items,

however we have gotten just over 2K in gold maybe a little more.

[Corsair14]

In my current campaign they have found a variety of potions, a Ring of Jumping, a Ring of Protection +!, a few +1 weapons here and there.

Whats funny to me is they forget to cast detect magic, especially early on and a few items have been sold to vendors at standard prices. Then one time they actually cast it they noticed half the party was carrying something magical and didn't know it. I knew what it was so I just added the bonuses in my head and didn't inform them.

[HappyDaze]

In my current campaign they have found a variety of potions, a Ring of Jumping, a Ring of Protection +!, a few +1 weapons here and there.

Whats funny to me is they forget to cast detect magic, especially early on and a few items have been sold to vendors at standard prices. Then one time they actually cast it they noticed half the party was carrying something magical and didn't know it. I knew what it was so I just added the bonuses in my head and didn't inform them.
That seems unusual for 5e, the edition where you effectively identify items by spending a short rest with them (rubbing on them and calling them "my precious" is optional).

[Throne12]

Way too many. And way to soon.


Edited
Does any not give +x weapons and armor? Because I as a DM dont. My players haven't expressed any feeling for or again this. The reason I dont give out +x stuff because I see no need for them. For the most part my players are hitting a lot and they arnt getting stomped every encounter. Most of the time my player paladin is getting hit 1or 2 time out of 3 attacks.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

That seems unusual for 5e, the edition where you effectively identify items by spending a short rest with them (rubbing on them and calling them "my precious" is optional).

Every group I played in or DMed for ignored this rule.

His group may act the same.

[Corran]

In 5e campaigns? Two or three bags of holding, an animated rope (can't remember the item's name), several water-related equipment pieces during one campaign (the most magic item heavy I've ever played so far), one orb that allowed misty stepping and I think contact other plane 1/day. Oh, and let me not forget. One map which could show you the current location of everyone you could name, within the bounds of one specific city. You had to sing the map song from Dora the explorer in order for it to work though, so there was a heavy price for owning something that useful. A mirror that allowed you to see as if you were using true seeing when looking through it (although there was some catch to it, but campaign ended before we figured it out). A book of sending. A horn of fog. And I think that's about it. Might be forgetting a few things (there was the occasional potions and more rarely a spell scroll or two), but probably nothing too important. No magic weapons, armor, wands, etc. Generally, nothing that adds bonuses to attacks, damage, DC and checks. Personally I care less about bounded accuracy and more about not having magic items (questing to acquire them, getting them back if stolen, etc) take away focus from my character's actual motivations, or be central to achieving goals (eg the villain can only be killed by using the sword of destiny, which you have to quest to get, etc).

[Yora]

Does any not give +x weapons and armor? Because I as a DM dont. My players haven't expressed any feeling for or again this. The reason I dont give out +x stuff because I see no need for them. For the most part my players are hitting a lot and they arnt getting stomped every encounter.

+1 or +2 bonuses to rolls are boring because they don't let you do anything. +1 is a +5% chance to succeed at certain rolls. You won't ever notice the difference it makes, except for the occasional cases where you know the target number and roll exactly the minimum total you need to succeed.
Good items let you do things you otherwise could not. They give you new options and change how you play. +2 strength gloves would always go to a fighter. But 18 strength gloves are much more interesting for wizards and rogues. I am glad they went back to that.

This is why I really like potions. They can give new abilities to characters who usually don't have them, but they can only use them once, so they don't completely change the game.
I think the most excited my players have been so far about magic items was when they saw that the temple was selling two scrolls of locate object. They bought them both. One to use right on the next adventure and the other to learn for the wizard when he gets 3rd level. It took them three sessions to finally find someone who would take the boring dagger +1. He took it to replace his secondary short sword, but he really wasn't interested in it either.

[HappyDaze]

+1 or +2 bonuses to rolls are boring because they don't let you do anything. +1 is a +5% chance to succeed at certain rolls. You won't ever notice the difference it makes, except for the occasional cases where you know the target number and roll exactly the minimum total you need to succeed.
Good items let you do things you otherwise could not. They give you new options and change how you play. +2 strength gloves would always go to a fighter. But 18 strength gloves are much more interesting for wizards and rogues. I am glad they went back to that.

This is why I really like potions. They can give new abilities to characters who usually don't have them, but they can only use them once, so they don't completely change the game.
I think the most excited my players have been so far about magic items was when they saw that the temple was selling two scrolls of locate object. They bought them both. One to use right on the next adventure and the other to learn for the wizard when he gets 3rd level. It took them three sessions to finally find someone who would take the boring dagger +1. He took it to replace his secondary short sword, but he really wasn't interested in it either.

My players still appreciate mechanically "boring" options. They don't necessarily need items to give them more options as the characters are all spellcasters. In many cases, the new options would probably compete with what they can already do, and not necessarily in a good way (i.e., not all of them want to change the way they play).

[Pex]

+1 or +2 bonuses to rolls are boring because they don't let you do anything. +1 is a +5% chance to succeed at certain rolls. You won't ever notice the difference it makes, except for the occasional cases where you know the target number and roll exactly the minimum total you need to succeed.
Good items let you do things you otherwise could not. They give you new options and change how you play. +2 strength gloves would always go to a fighter. But 18 strength gloves are much more interesting for wizards and rogues. I am glad they went back to that.

This is why I really like potions. They can give new abilities to characters who usually don't have them, but they can only use them once, so they don't completely change the game.
I think the most excited my players have been so far about magic items was when they saw that the temple was selling two scrolls of locate object. They bought them both. One to use right on the next adventure and the other to learn for the wizard when he gets 3rd level. It took them three sessions to finally find someone who would take the boring dagger +1. He took it to replace his secondary short sword, but he really wasn't interested in it either.

I would say the +1 dagger isn't boring because it's only +1 but that it's a dagger. No one uses daggers. At 12th level I wouldn't want my magic long sword to be only +1, but at level 3, 4, or 5 it's good because a +1 means more at those levels. If anything it means I can more easily take a feat instead of +2 ST since the sword gives me the equivalent. Potions are fine, but the game doesn't fall apart when players have permanent useful magic items of abilities they normally couldn't do.

[Corsair14]

That seems unusual for 5e, the edition where you effectively identify items by spending a short rest with them (rubbing on them and calling them "my precious" is optional).

I stick to the prior edition rules. I might make an obvious one like a sword that glows or never seems to need sharpening but for 99% of what they find, they need a Detect Magic. Like I said though I do allow them to use things like weapons that are magic and just apply the bonuses on my end. Magic armor automatically adjusts to the wearer unlike standard and masterwork which usually need a dedicated armorsmith to adjust. So there is that

[J-H]

I allow +1s and +2s (campaign ends at 12), but there are very few +2s that also have other stuff going on. If you want bonus damage or other effects, it's a +0 or +1 weapon.
One of the +2s that I did give them is a polymorphic weapon. It can be reshaped to any martial melee weapon, and is effectively metalline (from 3.5) although, I didn't use that term.

It's still just a +2, but so far it's been a warhammer, a longsword, and a pick. The first two were for fighting, and the last one was for sabotaging something by punching a hole in the side of a fluid tank.

[Vogie]

I make great use of consumables, and Lord Byn's Weak Magic Items for 5e generator (https://www.lordbyng.net/inspiration/).

I also enjoy making a homebrew port of Path of Exile's skill gems that the party can use to customize their magic items.

Edit: I just remembered that I also include Paper Birds, the uncommon magic item from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, in all my games. Even though they're expensive at low levels (around 50 gp for a one-way Sending), my parties just gobble them up.

And I have one player that actively seeks out a Cloak of Billowing, regardless of character played.