-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
D&D 5E I want more Magic Items in my games...
- Thread starter tglassy
- Start date
This is just my 2cp but as many have said, it's fine as long as you consider it when designing your encounters.
Consider what items they have and what effect they have. If the group all has magic weapons it negates the resistances that a large portion of the monsters have and increases hit percentages and in turn damage output of the party. So Increase monster HP and/or add some defensive abilities to balance. If the group has a lot of Defense items that increase AC or resistances, tweak the monster's attack bonus and/or damage a bit. If you give out items that increase abilities and effect the action economy of the party, add monsters and/or sprinkle legendary actions around on your monsters to increase the enemy action economy to balance.
One of my groups have a lot of magic items. When I design the encounters for that group, I pick the monsters for the theme I want then I tweak them to balance and create a challenge. Depending on the monsters and situation I do 1 or more (sometimes all) of the following... HP, AC, Atk, Damage, add abilities, add class levels, add legendary actions and resists, add extra monsters, or add terrain/encounter complications. Yes, it's more work on my part but Magic items are fun. Giving out items is fun for me and I feel adds to the fun of the players to get new fun stuff. And I absolutely keep the attunement rules in place cause I like that my players have a bunch of items but have to pick and choose what they want to use. Makes it kinda like spells, they have to guess at what they are heading into for the day and what might be most useful.
One other thing, I started creating custom magic items that are limited use but may or may not require attunement. This has allowed me to give out a steady stream of magic items but they end up being expendable resources. This helps avoid characters having tons of items they are carrying around or selling as they use them up so there is a constant attrition. It also helps avoid the issues with always having to give out better and better items. If you give out all +1 swords, well, giving out more +1 swords is kinda useless so then you end up having to give out +2, then +3, vorpal, etc.. You create unending power creep. But if you create temporary or limited use items, you can give a steady stream without having to continually adjust the monsters upwards. Makes it fun for me cause I get to create crazy fun magic items that are often very powerful but that power just effects a fight or 2 and doesn't create a continual imbalance, and the overall power level remains more consistent and easier for me to design for.
And for god's sake, please don't give out tons of magic and blow the power of your party thru the roof and then come back to the forums whining about the game being broken and all the monsters being too simple.
Consider what items they have and what effect they have. If the group all has magic weapons it negates the resistances that a large portion of the monsters have and increases hit percentages and in turn damage output of the party. So Increase monster HP and/or add some defensive abilities to balance. If the group has a lot of Defense items that increase AC or resistances, tweak the monster's attack bonus and/or damage a bit. If you give out items that increase abilities and effect the action economy of the party, add monsters and/or sprinkle legendary actions around on your monsters to increase the enemy action economy to balance.
One of my groups have a lot of magic items. When I design the encounters for that group, I pick the monsters for the theme I want then I tweak them to balance and create a challenge. Depending on the monsters and situation I do 1 or more (sometimes all) of the following... HP, AC, Atk, Damage, add abilities, add class levels, add legendary actions and resists, add extra monsters, or add terrain/encounter complications. Yes, it's more work on my part but Magic items are fun. Giving out items is fun for me and I feel adds to the fun of the players to get new fun stuff. And I absolutely keep the attunement rules in place cause I like that my players have a bunch of items but have to pick and choose what they want to use. Makes it kinda like spells, they have to guess at what they are heading into for the day and what might be most useful.
One other thing, I started creating custom magic items that are limited use but may or may not require attunement. This has allowed me to give out a steady stream of magic items but they end up being expendable resources. This helps avoid characters having tons of items they are carrying around or selling as they use them up so there is a constant attrition. It also helps avoid the issues with always having to give out better and better items. If you give out all +1 swords, well, giving out more +1 swords is kinda useless so then you end up having to give out +2, then +3, vorpal, etc.. You create unending power creep. But if you create temporary or limited use items, you can give a steady stream without having to continually adjust the monsters upwards. Makes it fun for me cause I get to create crazy fun magic items that are often very powerful but that power just effects a fight or 2 and doesn't create a continual imbalance, and the overall power level remains more consistent and easier for me to design for.
And for god's sake, please don't give out tons of magic and blow the power of your party thru the roof and then come back to the forums whining about the game being broken and all the monsters being too simple.
Tony Vargas
Legend
The only balance problem is getting the challenge 'right' - and if you're not too worried about the odd rollover or TPK, that's not much of a problem, at all.
But, another problem you might find is that finding lots of magic items may cheapen them. Another alternative might be to start the party with some very significant magic item(s) as the initial plot hook. Rather like Frodo & the Ring, perhaps. Enemies who want those items (perhaps because they already have a complementary or opposed item) then seek them out. That way magic can be a big part of the paryt's story, while still being rare & wondrous in the larger world.
Similar Threads
