D&D 5E Magic Items in 5e... Lackluster?

I love 5e, but I have a big beef with its magic items.

They aren't bad, per se. A lot of them are just as good as when I first saw them in earlier editions. But I'm coming to expect more from magic items, not just "spells in a can" or a magical "swiss army knife."

Take a look over at Paizo's RPG Superstar contest right now, and you'll see hundreds of great magic items. Every single one still in the voting pool is easily a B-, and there are dozens of A+ items in there. I look in the 5e DMG and... not a lot of the magic items in there grab me.

It's not that the items aren't tightly designed; most of them seem to be mechanically sound. (There are a few exceptions; the mantle of spell resistance tweaks me a little bit. 5e ditched spell resistance, ditch the mantle, too, it's sloppy as written.) No, the real issue is that there are very few "superstar" items in the DMG. Now that magic items aren't an assumed part of the math progression, do we need +X items, like cloaks of resistance anymore? They don't interest me, either as a gamer or a storyteller.

Most of the items that wowed me were legendary. Which is a shame, because I love low-level magic items. It's a hard design space to work in, but WotC is definitely up to the challenge. Personally, I wish they were more strange, off-the-wall magic item ideas than the array of classics currently in the book. I guess those are what supplements are for.

Jumblejacks said:

There are a few exceptions; the mantle of spell resistance tweaks me a little bit. 5e ditched spell resistance, ditch the mantle, too, it's sloppy as written

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I am too tired to talk about anything else right now. But this is incorrect. Lots of monsters have magic or spell resistance. The Mantle gives them the almost same thing as the monsters, advantage on saving throws against spells.

5E is just a game trying to be your typical D&D, and the items in the DMG are your typical D&D magic items. Don't get me wrong, but if you're disappointed by +1 swords, rings of protection and scrolls of fireball, you should have given up on D&D at least four editions ago. Also, let's not forget that the RPG superstar is all about originality. if you look at Pathfinder core, you'll find +1 swords that are as boring as 5E ones.

Jumblejacks said:

I love 5e, but I have a big beef with its magic items.

They aren't bad, per se. A lot of them are just as good as when I first saw them in earlier editions. But I'm coming to expect more from magic items, not just "spells in a can" or a magical "swiss army knife."

Take a look over at Paizo's RPG Superstar contest right now, and you'll see hundreds of great magic items. Every single one still in the voting pool is easily a B-, and there are dozens of A+ items in there. I look in the 5e DMG and... not a lot of the magic items in there grab me.

It's not that the items aren't tightly designed; most of them seem to be mechanically sound. (There are a few exceptions; the mantle of spell resistance tweaks me a little bit. 5e ditched spell resistance, ditch the mantle, too, it's sloppy as written.) No, the real issue is that there are very few "superstar" items in the DMG. Now that magic items aren't an assumed part of the math progression, do we need +X items, like cloaks of resistance anymore? They don't interest me, either as a gamer or a storyteller.

Most of the items that wowed me were legendary. Which is a shame, because I love low-level magic items. It's a hard design space to work in, but WotC is definitely up to the challenge. Personally, I wish they were more strange, off-the-wall magic item ideas than the array of classics currently in the book. I guess those are what supplements are for.

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I don't have a problem with the magic items. I mean, they're D&D, it's how the game has always been, for better or worse. I find it leaps and bounds above the drudgery of 4e magic items. If you don't like the pluses, why not just leave them off and tag on a secondary ability as the only magic? Something glows in the presence of X monster; it deals +2d6 vs. X monster; it speaks telepathically to a player; strip the wondrous powers from X item and give it to a weapon, such as a axe that acts as Boots of Spring and Striding, or do the reverse, a potion that turns your touch into a lifedrinker. Because the math of the game has been stripped away from level advancement you can do just about anything. I gave a player a dagger with no pluses but it always deals 4 points maximum damage. OR...just take the Pathfinder items you mentioned and import them.

I'd love to see a 5e book of magic items that deviates from the default. For example, wands recharge at a different rate. Hand out some cursed items that give a big boost but all of a sudden the PCs discover the drawback, and they have to weigh the pros and cons to keep it or not. Another alternative...hand out Magic items way above the suggested level. Maybe a 3rd level character gets a ring of invisibility and another finds a Staff of the Magi. Could that break the game? Maybe, sure. Or, it could lead into a whole fascinating story arc of how to deal with the repercussions of having powerful magic that everyone else wants.

Jumblejacks said:

Take a look over at Paizo's RPG Superstar contest right now, and you'll see hundreds of great magic items. Every single one still in the voting pool is easily a B-, and there are dozens of A+ items in there. I look in the 5e DMG and... not a lot of the magic items in there grab me.

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Is there a link to go straight there, I'd like to see these.

Look through the D&D blogosphere and Google+ communities and you will find tons of interesting magic items available for 5e. I've started using these almost exclusively.

Bag of beans is boring?
Sword of Sharpness is boring?
Horn of Valhalla? (Might be spell in a can-ish, but no summon spell summons a PLATOON of berserkers?) Tentacle Rod? The classic Thor combo (Hammer of Thunderbolts,Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Belt of gisnt strength?)

For that matter how about potion miscibility tables?

To the contrary, this edition sees the return of a lot of flavorful items that were dropped around 3e's release. Not to say you cant get some flavorful items from Pathfinder or other games; the advantage here is you can crib liberally from PF and other games' items in addition, because it's still compatible enough to steal those items that aren't just "spells or plusses in a can."

Bupp said:

Look through the D&D blogosphere and Google+ communities and you will find tons of interesting magic items available for 5e. I've started using these almost exclusively.

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Do you have any convenient links? I'd like to see a compilation of these somewhere without having to search endless posts.

Henry said:

Bag of beans is boring?
Sword of Sharpness is boring?
Horn of Valhalla? (Might be spell in a can-ish, but no summon spell summons a PLATOON of berserkers?) Tentacle Rod? The classic Thor combo (Hammer of Thunderbolts,Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Belt of gisnt strength?)

For that matter how about potion miscibility tables?

To the contrary, this edition sees the return of a lot of flavorful items that were dropped around 3e's release. Not to say you cant get some flavorful items from Pathfinder or other games; the advantage here is you can crib liberally from PF and other games' items in addition, because it's still compatible enough to steal those items that aren't just "spells or plusses in a can."

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I totally agree. I think some people get really worked up over "+1" magic items in 5e, and don't realize that you can 100% just leave that off and replace it with something else and you're not going to break a damn thing. OR...to be more sympathetic, they wanted WotC to do this because they're the game designers and it's just more end work for busy DMs.

What I really liked are the charts in DMG that you can use to make regular +x magic items far more interesting. Quite inspiring.