D&D 5E Magic Items You'll Never Give Out

[Caliban]

Honestly, it's a real problem with the 5e dying rules in general - to make things scary, you have to basically bully a player whose character isn't even getting to do cool things. I'm not a fan of it, really, and I don't like big house rules, so my players simply don't die a lot.

I don't get this. Anytime a PC goes to 0 HP, they are potentially 2 rounds from death (Rolling a 1 on a death save counts as 2 failures, one more and you are dead). Any attack against a PC at 0 HP is an automatic death save failure, or 2 failures if it is a critical (and if they are within 5 feet, it's an auto-crit).

It's really easy for PC's to die in 5e. Even with a Periapt of wound closure - stabilizing doesn't mean your failed death saves go away. Really, the periapt just means it takes an extra stab to be sure.

What makes it hard to kill PC's is the presence of allies with ranged healing magic, healing kits, healing potions, etc. Even though it's easy for a PC to die, it's even easier to save them, if the party is motivated to do so.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I don't get this. Anytime a PC goes to 0 HP, they are potentially 2 rounds from death (Rolling a 1 on a death save counts as 2 failures, one more and you are dead). Any attack against a PC at 0 HP is an automatic death save failure, or 2 failures if it is a critical (and if they are within 5 feet, it's an auto-crit).

It's really easy for PC's to die in 5e. Even with a Periapt of wound closure - stabilizing doesn't mean your failed death saves go away. Really, the periapt just means it takes an extra stab to be sure.

What makes it hard to kill PC's is the presence of allies with ranged healing magic, healing kits, healing potions, etc. Even though it's easy for a PC to die, it's even easier to save them, if the party is motivated to do so.

Well, sure - but in practice, I basically never see the rest of the party not just spot heal them back up after one failed death daving throw. It's somewhat tense. But my only means, as a DM, to control that tension - to make the bad guys look like they MEAN BUSINESS - is to basically curb stomp a player who already is having less fun. To pick on the guy who's already down. It's certainly an option I have, but I can't say that I relish the idea of using it. And by not doing it, the players functionally achieve character immortality unless they get a party wipe.

 

[pukunui]

stabilizing doesn't mean your failed death saves go away

Actually it does: "The number of [successes or failures] is reset to zero when you regain any hits points or become stable." (PHB 197)


Another one for me: Shatterspike from The Sunless Citadel. This weapon totally ignores the fact that 5e goes out of its way to make it impossible to damage objects that are being worn or carried by someone. (Personally, I'm not wholly in favor of that line of thinking - You're fighting a fire elemental and now you're literally on fire ... but somehow nothing you're wearing or carrying even gets the slightest bit damaged? Really? - but this weapon is not how I'd want to go about getting rid of it.)

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

What items will I never willingly give out? Well, I'll never again give out a standard unlimited-reuse Deck of Many Things. It's too easy to exploit. I will give out a Deck of Many Things which vanishes as soon as whoever opened it draws as many cards as they originally declared they were going to draw.

There are some other items which are pretty lame and which I wouldn't give out on purpose unless I was deliberately trying to disappoint my players (Universal Solvent--its only property is the ability to counter a single specific underwhelming Legendary Item), but I don't have a problem with rolling them up randomly. Likewise, I tend not to give out potions because I find them underwhelming.

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I've had problems with the Periapt as well. My players felt that it meant the character just ignored the mechanic entirely, meaning that at the start of his turn he just went back to 0. I was rather unimpressed with the idea that a hypothetical Assassin could stand next to his unconscious body, sawing at his throat with a razor, and never kill him since he'd only make one attack a turn.

The assassin can kill him if he Readies an action to attack right before the assassin's normal turn would occur. E.g. if a noncombatant chicken goes right before the assassin every round, and does nothing but cluck and walk around, he Readies "cut this guy's throat when the chicken clucks", and then on his own turn his cuts the throat again. Two auto-crits = 4 failed death saves = dead PC.

Which just goes to show the goofiness of a the 5E default (cyclic) initiative system, among other things.

 

[pukunui]

Which just goes to show the goofiness of a the 5E default (cyclic) initiative system, among other things.

Eh. That's a pretty goofy example, too. I mean, what self-respecting assassin is going to carry a trained chicken around with them when they go out on a job?

 

[Caliban]

Well, sure - but in practice, I basically never see the rest of the party not just spot heal them back up after one failed death daving throw. It's somewhat tense. But my only means, as a DM, to control that tension - to make the bad guys look like they MEAN BUSINESS - is to basically curb stomp a player who already is having less fun. To pick on the guy who's already down. It's certainly an option I have, but I can't say that I relish the idea of using it. And by not doing it, the players functionally achieve character immortality unless they get a party wipe.

*shrug* I see it as a feature, not a bug. They get the tension from a close brush with death, but I don't actually have to worry about pulling punches to avoid killing characters on a regular basis.

As a DM, my goal isn't actually to kill characters. That is simply a side effect of other things that are happening (dice, monsters, player actions, etc).

If you think you have target a downed player to show you "mean business"...well that's not a problem I've had. Maybe because I completely ignore the encounter building guidelines in the DMG and just throw whatever monsters at them that I feel are appropriate to the situation. It may also be that my current group is 3 players and an NPC, so they don't always have someone nearby to stabilize/heal a downed PC. They just do their best to avoid going to negatives in the first place.

 

[Caliban]

Actually it does: "The number of [successes or failures] is reset to zero when you regain any hits points or become stable." (PHB 197)

Ah, I missed that tidbit. Thanks.

 

[Caliban]

Eh. That's a pretty goofy example, too. I mean, what self-respecting assassin is going to carry a trained chicken around with them when they go out on a job?

Well it's just good planning. What, you expect them to do something crazy, like remove the periapt and stab them again?

 

[pukunui]

As a DM, my goal isn't actually to kill characters.

And let's face it, making a new PC in 5e isn't always as quick as it's made out to be. There's so much more that goes into a character than in the past: in addition to race and class, you have to pick a subclass, a background, a whole bunch of personality traits, and so on. My players put a lot of thought into their characters. It takes them a while, and then they get quite attached to them as a result.

 

[Jester David]

+# weapons and armour. Unneeded in 5e.

Other than that, not much. My party has an instant fortress, wand of wonder, flask of endless water, and a couple other "gamebreaking items"