D&D 5E Would you let your player choose their magic items they get?

[S'mon]

So, I have seen several GM say that, and say that they allow it. But then, they turn around and make all plots time sensitive, so that if the players stop and take weeks to go off on quests for recipes, and more quests for ingredients, and then take even more time in crafting, well, the BBEG stomps all over the place, killing people and making advancements far beyond the making of a single magic item the PCs can achieve in the same time.

So, to folks who say that, you actually have to put your money where your mouth is, and not just nominally allow it, but not actually penalize the players for doing it.

For 'build a bear' systems, I like the 4e D&D crafting system where you can basically make anything in an hour.
Long crafting times work well in sandbox games. If it's a time-limited quest game where crafting takes a long time, the PCs should have a reasonable opportunity to be aware of the downside and plan accordingly.
Running Red Hand of Doom in 5e, I like its approach of simply throwing a ton of magic items at the PCs via all the NPC enemies - it is both flavourful ("These guys are serious!") and practical. But I also like the standard 5e official adventure approach of making magic items fairly rare & not necessary for success. It gives a different feel from 3e/4e, a bit more grounded.

 

[S'mon]

Player: "Wow, the Duke's forces are really, really tough - those demons that need magic weapons to hit are kickin' our butts. Maybe I need a magic weapon."

Sometimes the best campaigns are the ones where the PCs lose! Really depends on the setup - linear APs tend to be designed around assumed success in each set encounter, but more open campaigns where the PCs have a lot of choices really benefit from failure as an option. Being chased by the Duke's guards a la Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, or The Terminator, can be more fun than grinding through them in encounter-balanced packets.

Edit: Caveat - losing can be fun; what is not fun is the massive class power imbalance of 3e D&D (& Pathfinder to a slightly lesser extent), which can be somewhat mitigated by the GM handing out a ton of magic weapons and armour. Easy item crafting does not help since the crafting PCs are the same ones who are already more powerful, & they naturally craft for themselves first. Easy purchase doesn't help much either since weapons are overpriced compared to wands. The only halfway decent solution is a ton of nice arms & armour found adventuring.

 

[S'mon]

Here's a typical list of 5e purchasable items for one of my games:

Magic Items available in Waterdeep, 1491 DR
1. Bag of Holding - 2000gp
2. Boots of Striding and Springing - 1000gp
3. Cloak of Elvenkind - 1500gp
4. Gauntlets of Ogre Power - 4000gp
5. Gloves of Swimming and Climbing - 1000gp
6. Goggles of Night - 1000gp
7. Headband of Intellect - 4000gp
8. Keoghtom’s Ointment (5 doses) - 500gp
9. Wand of Magic Detection - 1000gp
10. Wand of Magic Missiles - 4000gp
11. Various +1 weapons & shields - 2000gp each
12. Potion of Climbing - 50gp each
13. Potion of healing - 50gp each
14. Cloak of Billowing - 200gp
15. Potion of Growth - 250gp
16. Potion of hill giant strength - 250gp
17. Ring of mind shielding - 2000gp
18. Ring of swimming - 2000gp
19. Perfume of Bewitchment - 50gp each
20. Ring of Warmth - 2000gp

The lists only vary a bit by setting, but in my Epic-20 Runelords game the PCs could easily afford anything there; in my ca level 14 Primeval Thule game the PCs could often afford items there, in my level 11 Princes of the Apocalypse game the PCs can rarely afford to buy anything - there are 7 PCs, they split all loot and it hasn't really occurred to them to pool resources to buy a nice item. Edit: In the POTA game though the two melee warriors both have ancestral weapons - a flaming sword, and the Axe of Uthgar - that level up alongside the PCs.

 

[Olrox17]

In my games, players have no input on found magic items. That rests entirely on me, the DM, and I usually go with a mix of custom items that fit the campaign setting, and rolled random loot.

The players do have a bit of agency when it comes to trading and crafting items.

Trading: because magic items are so rare and valuable, they are rarely sold for money. It’s more common to trade a magic item for a magic item. So if the PCs find a full plate that nobody can use, they can search for an interested buyer, and trade it for a more useful item. It ends up working basically like rerolls on the loot table.

Crafting: when the players REALLY want something, they can try this. It takes research and questing to find the recipe, materials, and possibly the right place and person to do the crafting.

 

[NaturalZero]

In 5e, I haven't seen a lot of games where players feel they need a specific set of items like in 3.5 or 4e. As a DM though, I almost never ever ever roll random magic items anymore because I know what it's like to be a player at a table where the DM throws nothing but useless items at the group. I remember a game where I was running a greatweapon barbarian and the DM was confused as to why I wanted to just sell off the special magical dagger he gave me.

 

[S'mon]

I remember a game where I was running a greatweapon barbarian and the DM was confused as to why I wanted to just sell off the special magical dagger he gave me.

IMC (PoTA, 11th level) the barbarian keeps finding magic greataxes - it's at the point where the Dwarf Cleric is wielding one. The archer Fighter only has a mundane bow though, and the Kensai a mundane katana - they could get them enchanted to +1 if they ever put enough cash together. But the archer has Tinderstrike, a +2 flaming dagger +2d6 fire, so is pretty devastating when he puts down bow & draws steel!

 

[Stormdale]

In 5e, I haven't seen a lot of games where players feel they need a specific set of items like in 3.5 or 4e. As a DM though, I almost never ever ever roll random magic items anymore because I know what it's like to be a player at a table where the DM throws nothing but useless items at the group. I remember a game where I was running a greatweapon barbarian and the DM was confused as to why I wanted to just sell off the special magical dagger he gave me.

I tailor a we bit, do make lists of items I'd like to put in the campaign (whether or not they are found is another matter) but also roll randomly. Often items I think someone would want are given to some else entirely). My Pathfinder/3E fan who is new to the group still struggles with the concept of not being able to buy what he wants "off the rack" and you know actually doing some research and questing for an item, that's right, tracking down clues, doing research and (maybe) finding the item IS the adventure- but he's starting to get the hang of it. He was a bit taken back when he learned that a long dead frost giant jarl was rumoured to have used an enchanted axe (just the item he was looking for) and so was the spring board/hook to get the party into an adventure called Ancient Blood- Dungeon #20).

I also run things heavily 1E/2E inspired so none of this resistance to non-magical weapons malarky, its magic weapons to affect certain monsters or you do no damage- with the number of classes that can cast cantrips its not really an issue in my experience- and as I reminded my players, you know there is a spell called magic weapon, maybe one of your spellcasters needs to learn it. Anyway, most have magic weapons (or cantrips) now (party 6th level) but one of the fighters didn't have a magic weapon and turned his nose up at a dagger +1 the wizard offered him as a back up weapon "But I use a scimitar." Funny how that +1 dagger came in handy though when they were attacked by creatures needing magic weapons to hit.

In the past they've sold an enchanted weapon or two they could have used and then moaned when they didn't have a magic weapon vs a certain creature. They get no sympathy from me.

Stormdale

 

[delphonso]

None of my players look at the lists in the DMG. Any of my players who are veterans, I usually make new magical items designed for their character.

I've been in a 3 PC run of Phandelver and boy - getting a staff none of the party can use, or a plus 1 longsword where only one character is proficient in it sucks. I've never liked the pure random rolls off the horde table, even if it's a bit unrealistic that someone in the party can always use whatever they're given.

If a player told me they wanted something specific, I'd include a quest for it, or make it part of a quest if it's not exceptional.

 

[atanakar]

No need to make lists or let the PCs choose. I know what the classes (builds) are and which weapons the PCs are using. The few magic items I use in my current 5e campaigns were all very helpful to the group. Random ones are potions, scrolls and other more common items.

 

[Shiroiken]

I will never put a +x shield in a game, unless it's a plot device, as those heavily break bounded accuracy. Items that set an ability score can't be chosen if creating characters at higher level, as it's easy to shenanigan them (such as a barbarian taking Gauntlets of Ogre Power with an 8 Str and uses ability score and ASI to max Con instead). There are also a handful of other items I'll never give out, but they're not as common.