D&D 5E Wizard Loot?

[The Grassy Gnoll]

If magic = technology equivalent, Wizards are the ultimate early adopters - hence, they're all about the wearables - robes, hats, belts, amulets, boots, necklaces. Also the more esoteric items - figurines of wondrous power, qualls feather tokens, daerns instant fortress, bucknards everfull purse...

I like the idea of wizards being tattooed with magic, so their school (and spell book) becomes written in ink on their skins. The tattoos shift around as the wizard prepares them. Or they can be tattooed with spells that act as scrolls (ie one shots)?

Wizards should be WEIRD.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

Wand of the War Mage is always a useful magic item to a blaster Wizard, as it eliminates the need to take Spell Sniper. Staff of Defense gives the Wizard a boost to AC and frees up spell slots from being used on spells like Mage Armor and Shield.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Staves, rods, and wands are really good, though a lot of them are a little too potent for the lower levels.

There has never been a wizard that hasn’t coveted a ring of protection or bracers of defense, too.

What I find makes a magic item pop, regardless of the class it's intended for, is giving it a good name, unique appearance, and some backstory. Oh, and sometimes an extra little ability added onto it. Take a basic ring of protection. Then make it an animate snake that slithers on your finger, name it Fanguard, crafted by a wizard of Thay who went mad fearing that he would be assassinated by his Yuan-Ti enemies, and add the ability to detect poison.

 

[Saeviomagy]

If you want to really make a wizard happy, give him a brand new spell that's not in the books. You might hand out a fireball that does +1 damage, swap elements on a spell or reflavor something (from his spellbook or even some other classes).

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

If you want to really make a wizard happy, give him a brand new spell that's not in the books. You might hand out a fireball that does +1 damage, swap elements on a spell or reflavor something (from his spellbook or even some other classes).

E.g. a custom Polymorph that can only turn you into one creature, but that creature is not a beast. Maybe it's an Owlbear or a Red Slaad.

 

[venkelos2016]

I can see some of those, but a few of the answers seem unlikely, on account of the rarity of magical items, in general. The likelihood of finding magical robes, or staves that are actual staves, instead of just +1 quarterstaffs, seem remote. I do now see where carrying a couple scrolls of your higher levels might be good, with the low threshold for spell slots can seem to limit your effectiveness. I guess the wizards of 5E might also be a bit more likely to break the iconic mold of non-armor robes, a quarterstaff, et al, so some of the mundane loot might still be appealing.

I had an idea of what magic items they'd like, but the chances of finding any of them in "typical" dungeons seemed remote, so unless the enemies happened to have a horde of jewels, as was said above, I wasn't sure what goodies the wizard was hoping to find, while his cohorts got maybe better weapons, heavier armor than they had bought, or what have you. Likely, I was just looking at it a bit too narrowly, with more the "iconic wizard", and less the "a person who happens to also be a wizard."

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Now that I've thought about it a bit more, I don't think scrolls are necessarily too out there. Even though they are some of the more common items, they don't hand them out like candy like some other editions. It doesn't seem unreasonable that a mage would be carrying around one or two scrolls that he/she really wants, given that they are some of the easiest items to make (if still not cheap). It could inspire some backstory. Why does this particular mage have a scroll of Tenser's floating disc and magic missile of all things?

Staff of Defense gives the Wizard a boost to AC and frees up spell slots from being used on spells like Mage Armor and Shield.

I still think it's kind of weird that staff of defense didn't make it into the DMG. Just one more reason all DMs should have the Starter Set.

 

[Giant2005]

Wizard loot is easy - there is a significant amount of gear tailored to Wizards in the DMG. Monk loot is where the real challenge is.

 

[venkelos2016]

Are cantrip scrolls even a thing? I am uncertain if the limit on cantrips from a class progression is hard-set, or just "these are how many you are guaranteed to get, regardless on whether you find more." I didn't know if you could "set" an assortment of cantrips to be your usable ones, till you reconfigure your prepared spells, regardless of how many cantrips you know, if you can learn more, if you are lucky, or if they are just the handful you will ever get, because of their new flexibility/utility. I know Sorcerers have a max known spells aspect, so I assume cantrips are the same, and there are even two feats that give you some more, but I figured I'd ask if they are set in stone, or if you can acquire more? Maybe additional ones would become lvl 1 spells, or something?

 

[Celtavian]

Wizard loot is easy - there is a significant amount of gear tailored to Wizards in the DMG. Monk loot is where the real challenge is.

This is my experience. Plenty of wizard or caster loot in the DMG. Monk loot? Not so much. If you want to make an unarmed monk, there's really nothing for you in the DMG. It really hurts your offense considering 1/3 to 1/2 of your attacks per round are unarmed.