D&D 5E What magic items should you have for a given level?

[daddystabz]

Is there anything in the books or anywhere where you can have an idea what magic items you should have at what level in order to determine how much magic gear characters should have?

 

[Minsc]

There's something in the DMG. I don't know the page right now.

I can tell you this: at 5th level, the only magic item I got was one uncommon.

 

[Sunseeker]

There's no assumed magic item math. There are some general guidelines as to what will work without breaking the system and some general guidelines on treasure, but there's no assumed X magic items per level.

 

[hbarsquared]

I'll echo Minsc, but I don't have the DMG with me. It's in the first chapter, regarding starting characters at higher levels, in a low-, medium-, or high-magic campaign. Nice table.

 

[steeldragons]

There's no assumed magic item math. There are some general guidelines as to what will work without breaking the system and some general guidelines on treasure, but there's no assumed X magic items per level.

<emphasis by me>

THIS!

So, the answer to the question of "What magic items should you have for a given level?" is...None.

You can have some/give some out. But there is no concept of "should have" or [much much worse] "deserve/are entitled to" per level in 5e.

 

[daddystabz]

I'm speaking of the charts like Pathfinder has that if you are at x level you are likely to have x numbers of magic items, cash, etc.

Let's face it...it is D&D and loot is a HUGE part of the experience. We are playing in the Forgotten Realms so I think magic items are inherently part of the draw of the setting. It is after all, the highest magic setting in all D&D.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I'm speaking of the charts like Pathfinder has that if you are at x level you are likely to have x numbers of magic items, cash, etc.

That chart was in 3E and 4E, as well, and it's been explicitly removed from 5E. The game isn't going to tell you that you need 70,000gp worth of stuff at level 10. Whatever the DM feels like giving you, that's what you get.

 

[AverageCitizen]

Is there anything in the books or anywhere where you can have an idea what magic items you should have at what level in order to determine how much magic gear characters should have?

There's something in the DMG. I don't know the page right now.

I can tell you this: at 5th level, the only magic item I got was one uncommon.

I'll echo Minsc, but I don't have the DMG with me. It's in the first chapter, regarding starting characters at higher levels, in a low-, medium-, or high-magic campaign. Nice table.

It's on page 38. Curiously, there aren't corresponding rules for how to generate low-magic campaign treasure. It is like the others warned, there is no hard-fast rule. However, I believe the chart on page 38 will help you. Good luck!

 

[Blue]

[MENTION=3424]FireLance[/MENTION] did a fantastic mathematical breakdown of this back in December.

He worked out what a party could get from the expected number of treasure parcels.

Then he assumed a 4 PC party and suggested a per PC per level breakdown following the charts that matched it:
[sblock]To translate this into a very even distribution of magic items over all 20 levels, I would probably go with the following approach:
1 common consumable every level from 1 to 5.
1 uncommon consumable every level from 6 to 10.
1 rare consumable every level from 11 to 15.
1 very rare consumable every level from 16 to 19.
1 legendary consumable at level 20.
1 uncommon permanent item at level 4, and another at level 7.
1 rare permanent item at level 10 and another at level 13.
1 very rare permanent item at level 16.
1 legendary permanent item at level 19.
[/sblock]
This is all his work, go read his original article: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...-of-quot-Typical-quot-Magic-Item-Distribution

 

[Fildrigar]

Is there anything in the books or anywhere where you can have an idea what magic items you should have at what level in order to determine how much magic gear characters should have?

Respectfully, daddystabz, I think you might need to find a new DM. Just about every thread you've started here has been one complaining about your DM. Perhaps it's time to find another one?