I could do this, but I don't think that some of my players would appreciate it at all. One would like it, but all of the rest of them tend to like the "DM handles the rest of the world outside my character" style of play. So I'm more than a little hesitant to use this method with this particular group.
My way of dealing with this is to determine from the player what their characters favorite type of weapon is, as an example. Then I make sure that when I use the random generator it covers that particular parcel. I don't spend a lot of time with this since inherent bonus is the method to close the gap.
When I talk about leveling treasures with the characters I mean that I'll start adding properties to the equipment as the characters level so as to make the equipment much more interesting.
I had one player that really wanted his character to be a master of stealth and he described to me this "overly" powerful magic cloak. It was only "overly" powerful because of his current level (I think 3rd). So I took that description and broke it down into simple mechanics that I could add at specific intervals. In essence the cloak would reveal more of its secrets as he leveled. So it kept pace with the power level of the character. Some of these things were mechanical and many were actually not. For example the first power he found was that the cloaked character did not cast a shadow. After that the cloak granted a +2 to Stealth checks. I think it added a +2 to NAD next, etc. Over time that became one of his most prized magic items. And the bonus was that I did not have to think too hard on it.
Is there an easy way to do this on the character builder? I already have somewhat of a hard time using actual magic items on there as-is (especially artifacts).
I use the offline character builder and customize the crap out of it. I'm not sure to what level of customization the online one was taken. I stopped using it because of it's online only requirement. For the longest time we played at a friend's pool table and it's location was not wireless friendly meaning all the online tools were unreachable. Once I got the offline one to update locally I never looked back. Did the same with the compendium eventually.
What I'd actually recommend is to create a template for magic items in something like MS Word. Then add what you want and give it to the player. I don't see a real reason for attempting to track that in the CB, particularly if the bonuses are rather easy to jot down on their sheet. The CB is super convenient but nothing there is so difficult that a player or DM can't easily jot it down on the sheet.
I could do this. It might at least give me inspiration, even if I wouldn't use it like I would in other editions.
Here are links to 2 random treasure generators that I've used extensively. Asmor's is very cool because you can filter for specific books. For example if you don't want players to get anything from the Eberron books you can drop them from the selection. The donjon is very helpful if you want to populate an entire level because you can tell it how many treasure hoards to generate for the particular level. Presto, changeo, treasure for all encounters until the character's level.
http://www.asmor.com/scripts/4eMagicItems/randomTreasure.php
http://donjon.bin.sh/4e/treasure/
This is what I've been doing (inherent bonuses), but I'm coming up against a wall now. My players are already amassing an amount of powers that means they rarely-to-never use some as it stands now, so I'm hesitant to add more.
Totally understandable. That is why I take the time to add "odd" powers such as the one about the shadow above. It does not add anything mechanical for the characters to forget, but it is cool when they do use it.
On the other hand, it's really tedious to carefully plan out "and your alternative reward goes from level 4 to level 9, meaning you can teleport one more square" or something. I have to figure out "do I have a level 9 magic item to give? If not, can I mess with the rest of the wealth to swing the difference? etc." It's wearing on me.
I would say forget about the carefully balanced treasure hoard or rewards, particularly since inherent bonus already handles some of the heavy lifting. The game is rather difficult to break, and bends quite well. As long as the characters are still "hittable" then you can pretty much ramp up the opposition to match. If they are unhittable at level 8, eventually they will go to level 9, 10, etc. and the tables will turn.
My thought process mostly goes something like this - Is the item cool? Is it no more than one level above their level? Then no problem. What if they do have 5 level 8 items at level 6? They are only going to use one at a time. If they decide to disenchant and move the enchantment elsewhere then so be it. If you use the random generator and don't want the hassle of buying selling magic items figure out which item each character likes. Then whenever you roll an item of a different level either level their current item, or give them the new one. Or better yet see if you can combine some of the properties of them. Also don't forget about consumables (potions, alchemical items, etc.), rituals, and martial practices. These serve as great padding.
I think you might be finding it tedious because of your desire to stick closely to the rules. My recommendation, don't worry so much. Go crazy. 4e magic can be too clinical, let loose a bit. The game is quite flexible and this can be great fun.
For example let's say you want to plan stuff out a bit. Go to Asmor's treasure generator. Unselect all and only select things that you think the player characters would use, the filter is a little funky so it looks like it resets. Try it a bit. So if you have no monks you might want to drop Ki Focus. No controllers maybe you don't need orb, tome, etc. Drop any sources you don't want to bother looking at. Then select 8 characters of the current level. Submit. You will get a listing of 7 magic items of up to level + 4, and other sundry treasure. Magic items that sound interesting keep, the ones that don't seem so cool reroll. When you're satisfied with the remaining list copy and paste all magic items, not treasure. Do the same several times, and do it for several levels.
When you see an item like lockbust chalk, what comes to mind? Possibly an impenetrable lock. Guess what you just got - some inspiration for an encounter or situation with an impenetrable lock.
After you're done with this go to donjon and generate 4-5 hoards per level. Copy and paste and see if some of the items here sound cooler than the ones you already selected. Then just replace any magic items as you see fit. Keep the treasure from this as it is usually more interesting, and you can tweak it to provide more coins or trade.
It might take a bit of time, but I think that it took me a little over an hour to come up with treasure for 5-6 levels (30+ hours of play), and several items were so inspirational that an encounter arose around them. So 1 hour treasure prep for 30+ hours of gaming. The best part, I had to invest almost zero effort in generating this and I spent no time counting how many coins to get to the center of a dragon's hoard. Take out the tedium and shoot it man!
When the players latched to particular items, like the dwarf and his reverberating axe (I don't remember if that was the name) I just made sure that item was the one I selected to level up.
So for now, I just threw gold at the players. They've already started spending it on building projects, so I'm hoping this will inspire me when looking over rewards in the future. I'm not 100% how I feel going forward, but I feel better than I did before running my session.
I hope what I mentioned above helps you get to a point where this is fun and not tedious. Good luck.
