D&D General 5e, the least magic item impacted edition?

[jgsugden]

There are three angles to consider: 1.) Yes, 5E is designed to have less magic items than prior editions, 2.) Stock modules, like Lost Mine of Phandelver, have more magic items than would be expected under the guidelines for hoards in the DMG, and 3.) this is the first edition that has very limited guidance on how to buy magic items.

In my experience, the game is most fun if you follow the DMG guidelines for number of items to be found, if you allow items to be purchased with gold if you can find a market for them, and that you keep things rare enough that each item is meaningful. When PCs for get they have an item, it usually means they have too many.

 

[Bolares]

Phandelver is a bonanza in comparison to what level 1-5 characters can get their hands on in Tomb of Annihilation or Rime of the Frostmaiden.

Tomb also has a disproportional division. My players are going in to the Tomb next session, and they will encounter more itens inside the tomb than they have found until now. (If you don't count the magic item shop in Port Nianzaru)

 

[Burnside]

Tomb also has a disproportional division. My players are going in to the Tomb next session, and they will encounter more itens inside the tomb than they have found until now. (If you don't count the magic item shop in Port Nianzaru)

That was my experience as a player - up until entering the Tomb, I think my 8th or 9th level bard had a +1 dagger, a ring of jumping, and a scroll of protection vs undead as the sum total of his magic items. But he grabbed a BUNCH in the Tomb. We couldn't afford anything in Port Nyanzaru.

On the other hand, my current paladin in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus had more and better magic items at level 4 than my bard had at level 8.

 

[Bolares]

That was my experience as a player - up until entering the Tomb, I think my 8th or 9th level bard had a +1 dagger, a ring of jumping, and a scroll of protection vs undead as the sum total of his magic items. But he grabbed a BUNCH in the Tomb. We couldn't afford anything in Port Nyanzaru.

My players returned once to Port Nyanzaru, so they had the cash to buy some stuff there. Other than that and sparse itens they found in the jungle, the first thing they got was the loot on the boss in Omu:

Spoiler

Ras Nsi's Flametongue and bracers of defense

.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Hmmm...that gets me thinking about attunement limits. I recall when it first came out, several people were upset that they could only attune 3 items.

As a player or DM, I've completed HotQ, ToA, SKT, DiA, and several shorter adventures, and not once did anyone run into an issue with having more than 3 attunable items for their PC.

 

[Burnside]

My players returned once to Port Nyanzaru, so they had the cash to buy some stuff there. Other than that and sparse itens they found in the jungle, the first thing they got was the loot on the boss in Omu:

Spoiler

Ras Nsi's Flametongue and bracers of defense

.

Ah

Spoiler

We negotiated with him so didn't end up killing and looting him. My bard did find the Instrument of the Bards (Canaith mandolin) in the Tomb, which is the best item I've ever found with a 5E character). We still TPKed in the last fight with Acererak.

 

[Burnside]

Hmmm...that gets me thinking about attunement limits. I recall when it first came out, several people were upset that they could only attune 3 items.

As a player or DM, I've completed HotQ, ToA, SKT, DiA, and several shorter adventures, and not once did anyone run into an issue with having more than 3 attunable items for their PC.

I hit the limit towards the end of ToA, but only because I had one slot occupied by a cursed, un-removable item.

 

[Bolares]

Ah

Spoiler

We negotiated with him so didn't end up killing and looting him. My bard did find the Instrument of the Bards (Canaith mandolin) in the Tomb, which is the best item I've ever found with a 5E character). We still TPKed in the last fight with Acererak.

One of my players is a Yuan-ti Warlock, with Dendar as a patron so:

Spoiler

Fenthaza talked to him in his dreams (making him think Dendar was speaking to him directly) and asked him to seek her out. So they made a deal where he would kill Ras Nsi and find the opal crown in the tomb and later both would go on the mission to free Dendar. The player is divided in what he will do when he finds the crown, and I'm rubbing my hands waiting for him to decide

 

[Maxperson]

I was going through many of the older adventures from various editions, and it seems that 5e has a significantly lower amount of magical items in the published adventures than previous editions.

For example, in B/X and 1e, it seems there is an average of 29 magic items per module (it varies quite a bit, like Palace of the Silver Princess having roughly 10, while Keep on the Borderlands is pushing 40, and Temple of Death having 65!). But most are between 25-30, with roughly half of those being potions or scrolls.

5e seems to really have pushed the "magic" part of the game into class abilities, and away from magical items. Let's say a typical campaign in B/X starts with B2, goes to X1 Isle of Dread, then X4 and wrapping it up at X5. That puts the PCs at around level 8-9ish. In that one campaign, there are 141 magical items. how many are there in an equal 5e adventure path from levels 1-10? How many does HotDQ have? Rime?

Does 3e, known for its Christmas tree magic item lists, have more magic items per adventure than AD&D, or is TSR era D&D the king of magical loot?

It's actually one of the most magic item impacted editions. The reason for so few items in published adventures is that the 5e math doesn't take magic items into consideration at all, so they are pure bonuses that serve to increase the PC power level. Too many and it will unbalance the game considerably.

3e and 4e were christmas tree editions, because you had to have those items just to keep pace. I hated it. Magic items should be special and additive, not required for a treadmill.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Just went back and pulled up a couple of my PCs that completed DiA and HotDQ to check.

Setac (DiA, level 13), exactly one magic item

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Justicar (HotDQ, level 15): 5 magic items

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