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

[Daniel Van Patten]

Give the Holy Avenger to someone really wonderful and pious. A great guy/gal, and not someone the party would ever want to kill. Even when he is faced with dire odds, and the players greedily think this means the guy will die and pass on the sword to them, he heroically perseveres and subverts the trope!

 

[Charles Rampant]

Vorpal Sword - rolled for it and gave one out when my group got higher level. Foresight + Vorpal Sword = Nope never again.

Paladin in my group got a Vorpal Sword at level 14 or so. He failed to roll a natural twenty for three levels, and was despairing of it. Then promptly decapitated three Goristos in a row. Damn that thing! Damn it to heck!

In fairness though, it's a fun weapon, and definitely memorable.

 

[Blue]

Weapons, armor or shields that are just +1, +2 or +3.

I'm not saying that an interesting item might not also have a plus as well, but in terms of wow-factor a math adjustment is pretty boring even if it is useful. It gets figured in on the character sheet and never really thought about at a later time. I'd much rather give out something with a new option, or something that comes up every once in a while. "I get to ignore the giant's crit!" is more exciting.

 

[Soul Stigma]

I think maybe some of the concerns for DMs have to do with control. If certain items appear (Deck being a common one in this thread), control is lost.

As a DM, though, you can roll with the changes. Ultimately the whole game is about having fun while telling awesome stories - not just the campaign story, but the PCs' stories as well.

If players exploit magic items in confounding ways, roll with it and even reward them if they're thinking outside the box. One of my triggers for giving out Inspiration is "stumping the DM", when a player/PC does something I never saw coming.

 

[Soul Stigma]

Weapons, armor or shields that are just +1, +2 or +3.

I'm not saying that an interesting item might not also have a plus as well, but in terms of wow-factor a math adjustment is pretty boring even if it is useful. It gets figured in on the character sheet and never really thought about at a later time. I'd much rather give out something with a new option, or something that comes up every once in a while. "I get to ignore the giant's crit!" is more exciting.

And one way I make bonus items more interesting is by naming them. Sure, a +1 sword gets calculated in and forgotten about, but "Longclaw", the storied sword of ancient Jarl Torig, with its runic inscription down the blade, is less forgettable. It's still just a +1 sword, but it has meaning in the world and to the character that found it.

 

[merwins]

I can think of only one book-standard item I will never give a PC. In the hands of a capable character, it can wreak havoc on a campaign:
Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location

Almost all other items have drawbacks, limited range of applications, require an attack roll, run out of charges, or stop working in some circumstance. This item has none of those flaws or limitations.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I can think of only one book-standard item I will never give a PC. In the hands of a capable character, it can wreak havoc on a campaign:
Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location

Almost all other items have drawbacks, limited range of applications, require an attack roll, run out of charges, or stop working in some circumstance. This item has none of those flaws or limitations.

And it maks a Rogue with Greater Invisibility cast on him effectively invulnerable.

 

[merwins]

And it maks a Rogue with Greater Invisibility cast on him effectively invulnerable.

Invisibility is an "easy" stack. There's much worse/impressive things you can do with an APDL. Depends on what your GM lets you get away with, of course. But crank that imagination up. Way up. Y'know, like to 11.

And then pretend no one can tell you're doing it. Because they can't, unless they're looking directly at you. And even then, maybe not.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I dislike bog-standard +x weapons. Even an interesting history can't save them from being bland. +x armor is even worse.

I much prefer weapons and armor that do interesting things, even if they're minor or slightly disadvantageous. Characters will remember a sword that glows in the presence of orcs... even if it constantly glows because the region you're in has a lot of folk with an orc somewhere way back in their family tree.

So I never hand out plain +x items. They always have to have something more.

 

[futrtrubl]

Definitely crits. A zero HP character is Unconscious. Per SRD on that condition:

• Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
• Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature.

The question is, is the DM really going to have the assassin waste a turn on a downed character if there are other PCs up and more threatening? I could see it only if the DM needed to explain why the Periapt wearer didn't survive a TPK.

Yes, probably a crit. He could still miss, even with advantage.
But that isn't the question. The question was what magic items are barred in peoples games and why. Someone felt the periapt was too powerful because it was too difficult to get around. I was explaining why I believe it isn't all that hard to get around.