D&D 5E Alternative to magic weapons and armor so they do not break bounded accuracy.

[Blue]

As a bunch of other posters have said, there are multiple examples in the DMG abotu weapons and armor without bonuses - give out those and/or use them as examples to make more.

That said, if you want to keep the plus but not change the bonus to hit or AC to keep the same range:

Bonus to hit becomes rerolls. So a +1 sword rerolls any 1s your roll to hit. A +3 rerolls any 1-3.

Bonus to hit gets changes to "static magic to hit". A +1 sword could have a to hit of +6 - and you can use either your number or that +6. So either you let the magic guide it (for d20+6 only) or you guide it. This will raise the lower range a touch, but not break the higher edge of bounded accuracy.

Bonus to hit becomes expanded crit range. So no change to chance to hit, but more damage bursts.

The bonus to damage you were suggesting seems to be quite high.

With a 50/50 change to hit without a magical weapon doing say 2d6+5, you can expect 6 points of damage per attack.

A base game +3 weapon will make it 65% chance to hit doing 2d6+8, giving an expected of 9.75 damage per attack.

With your proposed damage it will keep it 50/50 to hit, but doing either 2d6+3d8 (avg 20.5) or 8d6 (avg 28) for expected damage of 10.25 (not bad) or 14 (a lot more) per hit.

And that assume 50/50 - characters with archery style, with Bless on them, or other methods to hit more will get more mileage from the extra damage. Also since it's a die it would be increased by crits unlike a static number, so those who crit more often like champion or barbarians (because of advantage) will also get more utility out of it.

 

[Tony Vargas]

5e handles level scaling with damage more than attack, so that works fine. You might even want to make it dice - d6's or weapon dice - instead of a mere +1 (though that depends on whether you're adding the bonus once per round/turn or on every attack, dice would be fine in the former case, while per-attack bonuses would scale with Extra Attack).

Magical functions that have nothing to do with hit/damage could also be a real option. The old sword that glows in the presence of enemies & the like.

 

[flametitan]

Alternatively, Give out bonuses, but (in the case of armour) drop the rank of the armour so that the armour rarely outdoes the best natural tier already does. A +1 breastplate is about equally effective as studded leather, and with a couple other quirks can still seem like an interesting magic item (e.g. Dragonguard in LMoP).

 

[hejtmane]

The more I think about it the more utterly boring the difference between a +2 and a +1 magic item becomes. Trying to watch an experienced player attempt to explain to a completely new to RPGs player why a +2 weapon was cool really brought it into perspective to me. A weapon is magical, that is inherently cool, giving it a +1 is an easy way to indicate that but not all that interesting in and of itself, going to a +2 adds essentially nothing but math. It is really hard to think of anything magical that is less interesting than +1, +2, +3, etc. whether it is to damage, to hit or both.

I much prefer items that do something cool, sure they aren't as easy as adding a flat modifier, but they aren't that hard either. Animated Shield is cool and allows for some interesting things, Spellguard shield is a rather flat bonus but distinct, Shield of Missile attraction can be funny and useful, and so on. Shield +1,+2,+3,

I created a shield of spell absorbing and gave it to a player it only works on spells that are directly aimed at them but it has been fun for him

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Personally, I never found the +X weapons & armor boring. I view them from the standpoint of the wielder: "it makes me a more dangerous warrior".

I mean, competitive powerlifters use special shoes for practice & competition. Because of their construction, they typically add @5kg to their wearer's standing lifts. This is noticeable, even though it is a fractional improvement.

So a magic weapon that lets you hit the mark more often and with more force...you're going to notice an improvement in your deadliness...

 

[Xeviat]

Bonus damage and bonus HP could very much work for magic weapons and armor. Give it a try!


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[cooperjer]

I agree that the bonus to hit with magic items in the game can make the game much easier and thus potentially more boring for the players. I'm not sure if there is an easy way to resolve the bonus to hit.

The idea of more damage but no increase in to hit shortens combat time significantly and will decrease the threat that the players feel during combat. To compensate for this I would increase the HP of the monsters to ensure the players feel their PCs have some threat to them in any particular encounter. An increase in the monster HP thus negates the increase in damage, so why give out the sword with a bonus to damage.

The idea of re-rolling the d20 based on the magic bonus (+1 = reroll 1's; +2 = reroll 1, 2, 3; +3 = reroll 1, ..., 6) statistically is nearly the same mean value as adding the value to the originally dice roll and adds more time for a player rerolling dice during combat play. This will slow combat down. If slowing combat down is not a concern then this idea will help with the bounded accuracy.

A third idea is to grant inspiration at the beginning of an encounter based on the magic bonus. For example: a +1 weapon grants a player on inspiration at time of initiative. A +3 might grant six inspiration at time of initiative. Depending on your rules for inspiration this will help PCs shine with the magic item. This potentially gives a bonus to crits, and allows re-rolls of a d20 in case of failure. Since this benefit is inspiration it could also apply to saves during combat.

The bonus to AC is also a tough one to address. The monsters tend to have low to hit values when designing encounters that use several (7+) lower level monsters. A +1 plate armor character vs. a hoard of orcs is like a character in a tank. No risk to the character and a potentially board player. Damage reduction might be the way to use this one, where +1 is 3 points of reduction to +3 is 9 points of reduction. i.e. x3 multiplier in reduction. In my experience the 9 point reduction could be 1/3 to 1/2 of the damage reduced from any given attack at mid-level.

Alternatively, the player could also receive inspiration at the beginning of an encounter based on the bonus of the armor. In this way the inspiration could be used to give disadvantage to the NPC for attacks, saves, etc.

The addition of large amount of HP to a PC decreases the threat the player may feel in an encounter. If you think about the damage a fireball does (about 26) or consider the average damage of a monster by CR the bonus to HP could also be given. Possibly add three hit's worth of HP to the character for each bonus.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

This actually came up for me recently, and to make a long story short i'm compiling a document of alternative magic items with the setting i've been cooking up.

It's not so hard, a lot of items aren't hard to convert (I just have to account for relative strength and because of setting reasons, rephrasing something as a blessing of ____)

Many of them can even be handled with one entry, "Blessing of Elemental War" just uses a command word on a weapon to convert the damage type (and ignite the blade or whatever)

So You might have a Longsword of Radiance created with this blessing, when you call out "Holy Light!" if that's what the god who made the item set it as, it flares to life, and converts slashing to radiant. Another item gives advantage against a specific enemy type and also burns brightly while in their presence- inspired of course by sting.

All items are essentially uncommons, "Blessed items"

But then there are a class of god-bound items, that are actually like legendary weapons, but they start out mundane, and then the player has to undergo quests (or you could directly gate it to leveling i guess, that's the mechanical purpose) to unlock ever more powerful properties. Sometiems Blessed Items are like shadows of these items- every soldier in the demon war might have held a weapon of radiance, but the general wielded the legendary Angel Blade of Rage (which is much more powerful and if a player found it would have it be their one super powerful item)

The biggest part of the reason (other than cool factor) i'm doing this, is because I miss items in the PHB and I want players to have control over what items they get- I want you to make character for whom your most basic concept was "Barbarian with a flaming axe" and have a system where you get to basically pick that for your character. Also, I kind of hate how magic items interfere with BA, because ultimately, my players want magic items that are useful in combat, so I can't just leave it out without messing with the system.

 

[aco175]

I have not given out magical armor yet. I have given bracers of armor and a ring of protection +1. I do not plan on having any magical 'plus' armor, but armors with abilities and powers that make each unique. The players do not seem to have a problem with this and are 9th level so far.

I have given out +1 weapons and all the characters except the bard has one. All of them may improve to a +2 weapon sometime after 12th or 14th level, but more likely I will add powers or come up with some other +1 weapon with a cool power to give them. The players do not seem to have a problem with this as well over a +2 weapon.

 

[Parmandur]

Bounded Accuracy does go to 30, actually; magic armor and weapons not needed, but they don't break anything at all either.

Also, use the tables for random features to give the items real personality. Priceless stuff, that.