D&D 5E Does anyone else find the arcane magic items in LMofP and in HoDQ over the top? (spoilers)

[zoroaster100]

Lost Mine of Phandelver and Hoard of the Dragon Queen Spoilers
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I like both adventures, despite a few issues here and there. But one thing I 'm concerned about is the spider staff and staff of defense in Lost Mine of Phandelver, and the staff of fire and wand of winter in Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Compared to a modest +1 weapon in the hands of a fighter or rogue, these items seem like they would wreck the spell slot economy for characters that can use them. With so many charges, and the daily recharge, it seems like even a bit of caution will let these items last for the duration of the whole campaign, and will double or more the amount of nova that a character of these lower levels can achieve per day.

I'm considering toning them down or coming up with my own replacement items for the adventure. If the items had only 4 or 6 charges and recharged 1d4 or 1d6 charges per day at least there might actually some day be a chance they might have to make a check (which is still only 5% chance, unless I change that too) to get permanently drained. Even if they only provided one single first level spell with a few charges per day, it would still be a great item to have and more fun than a plain +1 sword.

 

[Crothian]

If you are looking for fun items I would just find a way to make the sword more interesting. D&D has always had the problem of the most boring class (Fighter) getting the most boring magical items.

 

[the Jester]

Keep in mind, too, that there is no reason that +1 sword can't be +1d6 damage, as well- either every time you hit or once per day or anywhere in between.

I can really see myself importing the shock, frost, etc. qualities from 3e into 5e. I don't think extra damage is all that game-breaking for a melee character.

 

[Chocolategravy]

The real crime is that fighters aren't interested in taking a couple levels of wizard for the aura of antipathy anymore so they won't be using the wands themselves. Wizards on the other hand will take a fighter level or two very often.

 

[drjones]

I had a similar impression, at least from phandelver. It seems like the new rules for magic items should be that players have no way to tell how many charges the item has or how many it recharges every day. Just that it stops workign for the day, and eventually stops working forever. Otherwise one item gives free mage armor to most party members all day every day for the rest of their careers. No player is going to use the last charge unless they have to so the item will see a lot of use.

I am all for magic items being fewer and better but the math does seem a bit off on that one for 2nd or 3rd level characters.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

There is a pretty awesome sword in Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

 

[Psikerlord#]

ive only seen the phandelver stuff, but I agree with the OP, seems like a lot of free spells to me... If you wait for DMG to come out, you could swap those items for others. Or perhaps DMG will have some alternate rules for recharge style items. I think maybe something like an escalating chance of breaking, not just a flat 1 on d20 each time you run out of charges.... More like it becomes 1-2 on a d20 the second time you run out. Then 1-3 on a d20 the third time, and so on. I would also have the item recharge on a long rest, but only after its completely run out. This would probably encourage much more judicious use of wands/staffs or similar.

Even just something very simple in the DMG like, this is typically how wands/staffs work, but each magic item is unique, feel free to tweak the rules on charges etc would work for me.

 

[GameDoc]

There is a pretty awesome sword in Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

It is indeed! Although...

Spoiler

I imagine the vast majority of PC's are of non-evil alignment, so I wonder what the implications are supposed to be for attuning yourself to an intelligent item of evil alignment. It seems premature to put that out there with no DMG available for reference. In past editions at least, doing so would require a constant battle of wills with implications for accessing the items features or your own mind/spirit being corrupted.

 

[samursus]

In the LMoP though, as written, the players are not as likely to get the Staff of Defense. My players didn't.

 

[Blackwarder]

I love those Items, they are awesome.

Warder