Level

[minute]

Not really sure

[MrStabby]

It depends on your style.

I would go for one uncommon and one common at this level. Explicit prohibition on stat altering items.

I find that much of the fun of magic items comes from their discovery, their backstory and an appreciation that comes from having earned it.

Depending on your group, I would also say to consider getting the players to build items for other PCs in the group (especially for a 1-shot). PC describes their character, their history and what they want to be good at. The group Secret Santas the whole thing and hopefully everyone ends up with something flavourful and at the guided level of power.

[Kane0]

One rare or two uncommon is a fair call, but expect most players to choose the latter.

[da newt]

I'd say let every PC pick one common and one uncommon magic item to build around, and then as DM I'd make 1 rare per PC available during the encounter, but I'd pick them to fit my theme, balance, and surprise the players.

It's a 1 shot - be generous.

[Unoriginal]

Or you could go with 0 magic item -at character creation, that is.

And during the one shot the PCs find/are give some magic items themed after the one-shot. Or they could do the whole one-shot without magic item.


A one-shot can be a good occasion to do something unusual.

[J-H]

Weapon-users pretty much have to spend one of their uncommons on a +1 weapon to get past the "you must be this tall to ride" resistance issue. More magic items favors martials over casters.

From this analysis (https://www.enworld.org/threads/analysis-of-typical-magic-item-distribution.395770/#post-6468347), a typical level 10 PC following WOTC's guidelines would have gotten:
5 rolls on Table A (consumables) (90% consumables/10% uncommon items)
5 rolls on Table B Uncommon items
2 rolls on Table F Uncommon items
1 roll on Table G 98% rare item/2% uncommon item

So I would expect 7 Uncommon items, 1 rare item, and 5 consumables, per PC, at level 10.... minus whatever has been traded or sold off.

2 items at level 10 indicates an extremely low magic campaign.

[Mastikator]

I was in a level 10 oneshot and we were allowed to start with one rare, one uncommon, one common and ~500 gold per PC. It worked out fine.

[DwarfFighter]

Make a shortlist of magical items relevant to the one shot and let the players pick equally from the list, maybe include some duds in there too.

[MrCharlie]

I have an odd philosophy here-I tend towards giving them a bunch, but making them all single use. There are lot of fun consumable items people are too conservative (or forgetful) to use, and a one-shot is the prefect environment to get people to start throwing them about. Stuff like oil of slipperiness, potions of flying and mind reading, elemental gems-all great items that the party can manage over the course of the adventure.

The great thing about 5e is that magic items are never assumed to be required, so it's not like even a level 20 character needs a +3 sword except to have a magic weapon of some sort, in some circumstances. And if they do, give them oil of sharpness.

If you want numbers-one rare consumable, and three uncommon or common consumables, only one of which should be directly related to combat. Toss in one very rare consumable for the entire group to split at the start.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Weapon-users pretty much have to spend one of their uncommons on a +1 weapon to get past the "you must be this tall to ride" resistance issue. More magic items favors martials over casters.

From this analysis (https://www.enworld.org/threads/analysis-of-typical-magic-item-distribution.395770/#post-6468347), a typical level 10 PC following WOTC's guidelines would have gotten:
5 rolls on Table A (consumables) (90% consumables/10% uncommon items)
5 rolls on Table B Uncommon items
2 rolls on Table F Uncommon items
1 roll on Table G 98% rare item/2% uncommon item

So I would expect 7 Uncommon items, 1 rare item, and 5 consumables, per PC, at level 10.... minus whatever has been traded or sold off.

2 items at level 10 indicates an extremely low magic campaign.

That's not per PC. That's per party. Big difference. 2 non consumable major items per person is right on for a 4 person party.

Also, following Xanathar's guidance, the party should have received:

Level 1-4 : 6 common, 2 uncommon, 1 rare minor items (tables A-E). 2 uncommon major items (table F)
Level 5-10: 10 common, 12 uncommon, 5, rare, 1 very rare minor items. 5 uncommon, 1 rare major items.
Total (per party): 16 common, 14 uncommon, 6 rare, 1 very rare minor. 7 uncommon, 1 rare major items.

The vast majority of the minor items are consumables, although things like mithral armor are minor. Note: That includes spell scrolls, each one of which takes up a reward slot.

So 2 major items per person sounds about right.

Using the "starting at higher levels" table from the DMG, the only option that grants any magic items is the High Magic Campaign, which awards one uncommon magic item plus up to 750 GP (and normal equipment).

8 major magic items per person is insane Monte Haul by 5e standards.

[Dark.Revenant]

I've made the closest thing to a "WBL" (per person) table that 5e can realistically have. This is wealth "expected" (add more quotes for emphasis—this is an extremely loose guideline) upon entering a given level.

If you actually start a campaign at a level, consider how much money would have been spent and how many consumable items would be already consumed.

Major items are in bold. Money includes 100 gp of starting equipment.


Level
Rolls
Money
1
-
100 gp
2
A
140 gp
3
AA
265 gp
4
AAA
470 gp
5
AAAA F
755 gp
6
AAAAA F
1350 gp
7
AAAAA B F
3050 gp
8
AAAAA BB FF
5900 gp
9
AAAAA BBB FF
9900 gp
10
AAAAA BBBB FF
15000 gp
11
AAAAA BBBBB FF G
21500 gp
12
AAAAA BBBBB C FF G
24500 gp
13
AAAAA BBBBB CC FF G
33500 gp
14
AAAAA BBBBB CCC FF GG
48500 gp
15
AAAAA BBBBB CCCC FF GG
70000 gp
16
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC FF GG
97000 gp
17
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC D FF GG H
130000 gp
18
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC DD FF GG H
175000 gp
19
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC DDD FF GG H
300000 gp
20
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC DDD E FF GG H I
510000 gp

[PhoenixPhyre]

I've made the closest thing to a "WBL" (per person) table that 5e can realistically have. This is wealth "expected" (add more quotes for emphasis—this is an extremely loose guideline) upon entering a given level.

If you actually start a campaign at a level, consider how much money would have been spent and how many consumable items would be already consumed.

Major items are in bold. Money includes 100 gp of starting equipment.


Level
Rolls
Money
1
-
100 gp
2
A
140 gp
3
AA
265 gp
4
AAA
470 gp
5
AAAA F
755 gp
6
AAAAA F
1330 gp
7
AAAAA B F
3050 gp
8
AAAAA BB FF
5900 gp
9
AAAAA BBB FF
9900 gp
10
AAAAA BBBB FF
15000 gp
11
AAAAA BBBBB FF G
21500 gp
12
AAAAA BBBBB C FF G
24500 gp
13
AAAAA BBBBB CC FF G
33500 gp
14
AAAAA BBBBB CCC FF GG
48500 gp
15
AAAAA BBBBB CCCC FF GG
70000 gp
16
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC FF GG
97000 gp
17
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC D FF GG H
130000 gp
18
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC DD FF GG H
175000 gp
19
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC DDD FF GG H
300000 gp
20
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC DDD E FF GG H I
510000 gp


How are you deriving this? And is this per person? Or per party? Because per party is the only way this matches the guidance in xanathars.

[Dark.Revenant]

How are you deriving this? And is this per person? Or per party? Because per party is the only way this matches the guidance in xanathars.

It's per person (cumulative total at a given level), and derived from the guidance in the DMG for the amount of times that treasure hoards should be rolled upon—Xanathars' method more-or-less matches this method, as well.

[J-H]

That's not per PC. That's per party. Big difference. 2 non consumable major items per person is right on for a 4 person party.

Also, following Xanathar's guidance, the party should have received:

Level 1-4 : 6 common, 2 uncommon, 1 rare minor items (tables A-E). 2 uncommon major items (table F)
Level 5-10: 10 common, 12 uncommon, 5, rare, 1 very rare minor items. 5 uncommon, 1 rare major items.
Total (per party): 16 common, 14 uncommon, 6 rare, 1 very rare minor. 7 uncommon, 1 rare major items.

The vast majority of the minor items are consumables, although things like mithral armor are minor. Note: That includes spell scrolls, each one of which takes up a reward slot.

So 2 major items per person sounds about right.

Using the "starting at higher levels" table from the DMG, the only option that grants any magic items is the High Magic Campaign, which awards one uncommon magic item plus up to 750 GP (and normal equipment).

8 major magic items per person is insane Monte Haul by 5e standards.

The post says it's per PC, not per party. I haven't double-checked the numbers against the DMG because it seems about right.

I'd be really annoyed having only a couple of magic items by level 10. They're a major way to add variety and interesting options and choices for players, especially for some of the simpler martial classes.

I haven't done anything with DDAL, but I know that some of the published campaigns (ROTFM reportedly) assumes that the DM will hand out extra magic items according to AL treasure award guidelines.
From what I can find (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/magic-items-and-rewards-dd-adventurers-league), they stated an average of 1 permanent magic item for the party per 4-hour session. For a 4-player party, that'd be .25 items per session per PC. If it's 2-3 sessions to level up, then at level 10 that's 20-30 sessions, which gives 5 to 7.5 permanent magic items per PC... plus anything handed out with their reward system (some sort of treasure point or certificate thing).

If I'm off base on my AL calculations, let me know, but this seems to be a lot more in line with the numbers I've been using than 2-3 magic items at level 10.

[PhoenixPhyre]

The post says it's per PC, not per party. I haven't double-checked the numbers against the DMG because it seems about right.

I'd be really annoyed having only a couple of magic items by level 10. They're a major way to add variety and interesting options and choices for players, especially for some of the simpler martial classes.

I haven't done anything with DDAL, but I know that some of the published campaigns (ROTFM reportedly) assumes that the DM will hand out extra magic items according to AL treasure award guidelines.
From what I can find (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/magic-items-and-rewards-dd-adventurers-league), they stated an average of 1 permanent magic item for the party per 4-hour session. For a 4-player party, that'd be .25 items per session per PC. If it's 2-3 sessions to level up, then at level 10 that's 20-30 sessions, which gives 5 to 7.5 permanent magic items per PC... plus anything handed out with their reward system (some sort of treasure point or certificate thing).

If I'm off base on my AL calculations, let me know, but this seems to be a lot more in line with the numbers I've been using than 2-3 magic items at level 10.


It's per person (cumulative total at a given level), and derived from the guidance in the DMG for the amount of times that treasure hoards should be rolled upon—Xanathars' method more-or-less matches this method, as well.

No, it absolutely doesn't. Because here's what Xanathar's says on the matter:


The Magic Items Awarded by Tier table shows the number of magic items a D&D party typically gains during a campaign, culminating in the group’s having accumulated one hundred magic items by 20th level.

Not a person. Not a PC. A party. For a total of 100 (including consumables, which make up roughly 80% of the total) cumulatively by level 20.

And the DMG is talking about hoards per party. No where in there does it discuss per PC. Not at all.

I have the data here, I can do the math.

The "typical campaign" says (per party):

7x 0-4 hoards
18x 5-10 hoards
12x 11-16 hoards
8x 17+ hoards

An average pull on the 0-4 table gives 1.805 magic items, for a total of 12.6. The chances of pulling a single permanent magical item (ie not consumable) is 0.44 per pull, or an average of 3.06 total per party. Which exactly matches Xanathar's guidance. As a party.

The same continues on for the other hoard categories. They're all per party, not per person. Because that's absurd. You'd be swimming in magic items, for an edition that makes no assumption that you'll have even a single one and which limits you to 3 attuned items (and strongly cautions about messing with that limit).

[J-H]

Wow. That doesn't line up at all with what I consider fun.

5 magic items per PC by level 20 really doesn't leave many options, especially for non-casters who don't have tons of variability in their daily choices. 2 weapons, 1 shield, 1 armor, and 1 wondrous item total. If you're a level 20 fighter, barbarian, melee rogue, etc. and want to deal with flying enemies you either rely on the party wizard, use a bow that you may not be very good with, or hope that your 1 magic item happened to be Boots of Levitation or something instead of, I dunno, an Alchemical Jar or Cloak of Magic Resistance.

I guess I will just define myself as running high magic campaigns when the topic comes up in the future.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Wow. That doesn't line up at all with what I consider fun.

5 magic items per PC by level 20 really doesn't leave many options, especially for non-casters who don't have tons of variability in their daily choices. 2 weapons, 1 shield, 1 armor, and 1 wondrous item total. If you're a level 20 fighter, barbarian, melee rogue, etc. and want to deal with flying enemies you either rely on the party wizard, use a bow that you may not be very good with, or hope that your 1 magic item happened to be Boots of Levitation or something instead of, I dunno, an Alchemical Jar or Cloak of Magic Resistance.

I guess I will just define myself as running high magic campaigns when the topic comes up in the future.

Note: that's five major items. Alchemical jars and many of the utility items that are actually fun are minor. And you're "expected" (bad word there, really) to have gained 20 of those per character by level 20. That does include consumables.

And unlike 3e, nothing particularly breaks if you go lower or higher. A common (minor) moon touched blade pierces resistance just as well as a +3 sword. If you go super high, you do have to adjust the enemies if you want a challenge. Because the baseline for which CR is written is, well, low.

[Dark.Revenant]

No, it absolutely doesn't. Because here's what Xanathar's says on the matter:

Not a person. Not a PC. A party. For a total of 100 (including consumables, which make up roughly 80% of the total) cumulatively by level 20.

And the DMG is talking about hoards per party. No where in there does it discuss per PC. Not at all.

Where in my per-person data is the contradiction? My table gives out 25 items by level 20, which, for a four-person party, is 100 items. I don't see what you're seeing.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Where in my per-person data is the contradiction? My table gives out 25 items by level 20, which, for a four-person party, is 100 items. I don't see what you're seeing.

You know what? I think I was misreading the table completely. Mean culpa. Your table does match the guidance. I'm sorry.

[Dark.Revenant]

You know what? I think I was misreading the table completely. Mean culpa. Your table does match the guidance. I'm sorry.

It's no biggie. I made it a while back when determining a baseline for magic items & gold to hand out to players for one-shots, and so far it has worked fairly well, though being able to just pick and choose items is a bit much. In the future, I think what I'll do is something like this:

1. Find the appropriate table row.
2. For gold, take the amount in the table, then divide by half the level (rounding up), and round off to 2 significant figures.
3. For magic items, take off a number of consumables equal to half the level (rounding down), starting with the weakest. Then, offer a choice:
3A. Roll on the tables for each item to see what you get. For each item, you can choose to keep it yourself, trade it with another player, or re-roll it. If you re-roll, you lose the original item, then you roll twice on either the corresponding minor item table (e.g. F -> B) or on one level down (e.g. B -> A), and you choose which of the two you'd like to keep.
3B. From A to I, divide the number of items in each category by 2, rounding down. If there was only one to begin with, it downgrades (see above) instead of disappearing. The player can take that many items of their choice, though DM retains veto power. A = Common, B = Uncommon Minor, C = Rare Minor, D = Very Rare Minor, F = Uncommon Major, G = Rare Major, H = Very Rare Major. For example, BBBBB FF G becomes BB FF; the player can take two Uncommon Minor and two Uncommon Major magic items of their choice.

This is pretty easy to present to the players. For example, a level 9 one-shot would look like this:

"You have 2,000 gp of equipment. For magic items, you can either roll once on Table A, three times on Table B, and twice on Table F, OR you can pick and choose one Uncommon Minor and one Uncommon Major magic item of your choice. If you choose to roll, you can trade the items you get with the rest of the party, or you can re-roll any items you don't like. If you re-roll, you get two rolls from the next table down (B -> A or F -> B), your choice which of the two rolls you keep."

[KorvinStarmast]

This is pretty easy to present to the players. For example, a level 9 one-shot would look like this:

"You have 2,000 gp of equipment. For magic items, you can either roll once on Table A, three times on Table B, and twice on Table F, OR you can pick and choose one Uncommon Minor and one Uncommon Major magic item of your choice. If you choose to roll, you can trade the items you get with the rest of the party, or you can re-roll any items you don't like. If you re-roll, you get two rolls from the next table down (B -> A or F -> B), your choice which of the two rolls you keep." That's very doable. I'd pick one minor uncommon and one major. (Though your re roll mechanic is nice)