D&D 5E Is Treasure and Magic Items Important To You?

[Sithlord]

I can't say I care much about coinage and gems, but give me a fancy ring, a torc with a grimacing ogre face engraved on it, or a cloak patterned with a deity's holy symbol and I'm all over it. Mundane stuff that my character can wear and look cool with makes me happy.

I've come to realize that I prefer a greater baseline of magic item distribution than is the current norm (based on AL and official adventures). As a DM, I want to see PCs get interesting magic items that they can use in unanticipated ways, that they can feel epic discovering and wielding.

The exceptions are the Bag of Holding and Deck of Many Things. Those I will never willingly give out in an adventure. shakes fist at them

Oh god. I love the deck of many things. I love setting up an encounter where they have a choice to make a draw against a powerful rival or being that loves games of chance. I can’t resist having an NPC that is a force of chaos and a deck of many things.

 

[SkidAce]

Huh. I can't imagine not running a campaign where one of the first items the PCs got was some form of Bag of Holding. Nobody at our table wants to track encumbrance, and the bag gives us a great excuse to never bother with it.

My latest version was:



I wanted something that gave the PCs storage, but was a little less convenient than a Bag of Holding. The Crypt gives a lot of storage space, but is limited in how often you can use it, and calling on it is not as subtle as reaching a hand into a bag. The item intentionally doesn't tell you what happens if you try to put a living creature inside it. However, it is called the Tomb of the Necromancer.

As for a Deck of Many Things, I think I've only ever seen one campaign survive it.

May I copy the Tomb?

 

[cbwjm]

They aren't all that important to me when I'm playing, not sure about my players though. I do tend to give out quite a few since my homebrew world is very magical and items unique to the setting are littered around the place. I also like creating magical items and spells and handing them out to players. As an example, I've created a druidic/sorcerous version of magic missile called fireflies which creates 3 missiles and targets hit by them are lit up like faerie fire for a single round. I'm not sure if this spell came before or was created because I wanted a druid's staff called the staff of the fireflies which can cast light, daylight, and the firefly spell, a jar hanging from the top of the staff shows the number of fireflies (and charges) remaining in the staff.

So, I don't think they are terribly important when I'm playing, but I do love to create and hand out magical items when running a game.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Oh god. I love the deck of many things. I love setting up an encounter where they have a choice to make a draw against a powerful rival or being that loves games of chance. I can’t resist having an NPC that is a force of chaos and a deck of many things.

User name checks out.

 

[hopeless]

Might want to clarify how your dm and his players sort out who carries what magical item.
In one game (3E) my character found a small bag of holding containing a bone ring and as per the DM rules noted I was carrying it.
Next thing I know someone else is carrying it despite my character NOT handing it over as they wasn't even asked.
It was more a case of the dm ignoring their own rules rather than abiding by them.
Not a good example, but one I felt worth mentioning in case this thread heads that way.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

There's always Cawood Publishing's Duck of Many Things:

Oh god. I love the deck of many things. I love setting up an encounter where they have a choice to make a draw against a powerful rival or being that loves games of chance. I can’t resist having an NPC that is a force of chaos and a deck of many things.

 

[Lanefan]

Might want to clarify how your dm and his players sort out who carries what magical item.
In one game (3E) my character found a small bag of holding containing a bone ring and as per the DM rules noted I was carrying it.
Next thing I know someone else is carrying it despite my character NOT handing it over as they wasn't even asked.
It was more a case of the dm ignoring their own rules rather than abiding by them.
Not a good example, but one I felt worth mentioning in case this thread heads that way.

Indeed. This is where an item numbering or identification system (and recordkeeping on character sheets!) can come in handy; saves a lot of:

".....is it this ring or that ring you've got; and if it's this ring then who's got that ring, and are either of them even being worn or are they sitting in your packs.....sigh....."

 

[hopeless]

Still would have been nice to have been asked as I would have mentioned it, managed to give the ring to the dwarf PC turned out to be of negative plane protection and saved his character at a key point.
Just annoyed remembering about that.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Truly random treasure has been annoying to me. A friend ran Storm King's Thunder with post-battle rolled magic items. In the entire campaign we got two items from the "best" table: both were Instruments of the Bards. The Cleric/Bard enjoyed that, but the Paladin still hoping for a magic sword at level ten was rather disappointed.

 

[Maxperson]

Oh god. I love the deck of many things. I love setting up an encounter where they have a choice to make a draw against a powerful rival or being that loves games of chance. I can’t resist having an NPC that is a force of chaos and a deck of many things.

Have you seen the Tarot Deck of Many Things from the Encyclopedia Magica? Probably from an early Dragon Magazine. It's pretty amazing.