Thanks everyone for the replies so far. I think this thread could be summarized as such:
- Of the few people who responded with specific numbers, several gave out fewer than the guidelines in the DMG, and that worked for them.
- One person pointed out that thanks to the attunement rules, there is already a heavy constraint on items and it's difficult to go too far. (I've noticed that the 2024 rules gave attunement requirements to more go-to items, like the broom of flying.)
- Most people had extremely limited experience with campaigns up to 15, and no one who responded went past that.
What I've gathered is that the written guidelines are somewhat inconsistent and not helpfully organized, probably because this isn't a big focus for the current rules (which are reasonably focused on early game).
If anyone else wants to share their experience, especially with number of items in tier 3 or 4 games, I'm happy to hear it.
I wrote and ran a 13-20 campaign, I'm currently running a high magic availability Baldur's Gate II 5e campaign, and I'm currently running an epic module (playtest) with multiple epic boons.
I have a pretty free hand with magic items and don't see it as a problem.
In the 13-20 campaign, the paladin ended up facetanking an avatar of Huitzopochtli while wielding a +3 godslayer sword (expanded crit ranges vs deities/divine casters, +2d12 poison or acid on hit, mind blank, intelligent with limited clerical spellcasting) and keeping Circle of Power up the whole fight. The Warlock used an Anyspell Tome (does what it says once a week or so) to insta-cast an 8th level spell that normally takes 10 minutes and broke the enemy army. The kensei monk could use his Cragtop Longbow (+2? +3? don't remember) to sharpshooter enemies from 1200' away, run faster than anything else while hasted, and turn invisible and ethereal a few times a day. The party got arrogant and let the enemy army surround them at one point, then suddenly got a case of dead from 16 fireballs. The party Fighter once used the Helm of Teleportation and his Samurai "Go to 0, take a turn" ability to get their corpses out of there for resurrection. They also found and used 6 or 7 stat tomes during the campaign.
Magic items just made their awesome characters a bit more awesome, and specifically also added versatility and options that they didn't have before. I don't think anyone was using a +X anything except maybe armors (which unfortunately tend to be boring compared to weapons). I did give an extra attunement slot at 11 and another at 20, so everyone was attuned to 5 items. Most of them had to spend a slot on Amulets of Protection from Detection & Location because their cleric-heavy enemies started doing scry and die repeatedly.
In the BG2 campaign, the party is 14. The rogue is currently running around with about 7(?) magic swords, although he mostly just uses the Short Sword of Backstabbing (+2, +2d6 sneak attack). He pulls out the others for their special powers (detect shapeshifter; sunray 1x/day; silence 2/day; etc.), except for the +1 shortbow of speed they got very, very early on.
The storm cleric just got led by Thor (his deity) to a Hammer of Thunderbolts (+3, +5 lightning damage on hit, +1 spell attacks and DCs; a good Hammer, not the trash in the DMG that takes all your attunement slots). If they figure out how to find the scroll of the Crom Faeyr's True Name, it'll upgrade to a +2 to spell attacks and DCs and +10 to his strength. His strength is only 14, but he can still get himself up to 26 STR with an ASI, which would put him hitting at +17 for 3d8+16 damage - which beats out most cantrips at least.
They still almost died against some mind flayers led by an Alhoon after 3 prior encounters (escaping from a paladin, some slaves, other mind flayers). I don't feel like I have any problem challenging them... although I did cap off HP growth at level 10 like 2e. After 10 they get 3, 2 or 1 per level depending on class. I can throw tough stuff at them and generally not worry about it. I don't really look at CRs any more.... but I also don't let them have a 5 minute working day.
For the epic module I'm running, everyone started with a legendary, a couple of very rares, a couple of rares, etc. Attunement limits are a big pain at this point, and make it harder for them to get meaningful loot. Extra Attunement slots are a worthwhile epic boon. I think the magic items that have been used the most are Cloaks of Displacement and Magic Resistance, and the cleric's Carpet of Flying.
I'm also re-running Castle Dracula for my wife and boys, and limited attunment on a 3-person party means a lot of good stuff is simply useless, which doesn't feel good.
The most impactful items are typically either stat boosters, non-AC defense (miss chance, magic resist), and mobility granters (spider climbing and flight).
