D&D 5E (2024) Help me Houserule 5e Equipment & Items

[FitzTheRuke]

I just began work on what will probably be a big project - a complete overhaul of "what you can buy" in 5e. It's something that's bothered me since 2014, and 2024 did little to address it to my satisfaction. This project will probably include the entire Economy of the game, and also include Magic Items. It's quite a lot to take on!

It occurred to me, that this community might be a great resource for ideas, even if some might tell me not to do it. I welcome your input, and I'm happy to be influenced in certain directions, I think, but I have a basic outline of goals that I'd prefer help with, as opposed to resistance against. I'm fine with alternative suggestions, but you may have different goals in mind than I do. There's a lot of different ways that it could be done, but not all will suit my purpose, if you follow.

Goal #1: Stuff to Buy
Ultimately, I want players to be able to have some fun stuff to spend their money on. I have a few specific thoughts on that:

• I want to expand the equipment list, but I don't just want "moar stuff" - I want it to actually DO things (mechanically). Somewhat like what 2024 has done, but with better scaling (looking at YOU, Alchemists Fire).
• I am happy to steal things that Magic Items do, and move it over to "mundane" items. There's always been a lot of "Magic Items" that aren't all that magical. I even include +1 (etc) weapons in this! To me, that's always simply been a higher quality of craftsmanship. It's not mechanically (IMO) "magical" enough for a magic item, if you follow me. So when it comes to Armor & Weapons, I would like mundane quality rankings.
• I am okay with it being ultimately more "video-gamey", but I don't want it to be TOO "video-gamey", if you get me. I want you to be able to buy stuff, but not to be bogged down in tons of stuff that you trash and replace.

Goal #2: How you buy it.

• I'd like to bring the cost of things "toward the middle". I find the exponential curve of the cost of (primarily magic items) to be, frankly silly (You can buy a Warship, or an Army, for the price of some Magic Swords). OTOH, I really don't care, and have never had any players who care, about tracking copper pieces.
• I've considered the "Silver Standard", and I really like it. However, D&D is really, really married to the Gold Piece Standard. I haven't 100% decided what to do, here. But either way, having the "cheap stuff" be more expensive, and the "expensive stuff" be cheaper, might make things a little more reasonable. No, I don't care if it's historically accurate here. D&D Worlds tend to have an awful lot of coins compared to the real world. I won't find it strange if your meal at an Inn costs 1gp, or whatever we come up with.

Goal #3: Do It Yourself Crafting

• Yes, I'd like a crafting system. 2024 D&D is close, maybe, to a working system, but I'm not sure I like things taking months and months at higher levels. Maybe.
• OTOH, I don't want people crafting Magic Items. At least, not pumping them out like Bastions seem to do, or building all the broken combos like 3e seemed to do. IDK - I'm open to feedback on this one.

Goal #4: Healing, and systems like it.

• As part of my "stealing" Magic Items for Mundane Items, I'd like to come up with a simple system for Healer's Kits & Bandages and that sort of thing, that replaces (at least at lower levels) the "Healing Potion". Again, I'm not a fan of basic stuff that people can do in the real world jumping immediately to a magical fix. IF HP are not entirely "Meat Points" (and I'm okay with them being a - little - bit meat, they should be able to come back just as easily with some TLC as they do with some Strange Brew. Let's get some basic bandaging before we jump to slugging potions!
• This goes DOUBLE for Alchemy! I'd like Alchemy, and Poisons, and that sort of thing to be useful beyond Level 1. If you're going to be, essentially "throwing gold pieces" at an enemy, it should AT LEAST be comparable to a Cantrip (probably better than that). It HAS to be worth using your Action for, when you could otherwise be doing something for free that is more effective.

I have many more thoughts on the subject, but I'd better stop before I lose everyone. Anyone have anything that they'd like to share?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm going to reserve this spot for stuff that we come up with.

 

[Stormonu]

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog really seems like something to draw on here. It's like an old Sears & Roebuck catalog that not only lists a wide variety of equipment, but has blurbs what it's used for and even sometime touches on ideas useful in the game at large.

Also, a couple of alchemical things from 3E's heyday:

Sunrods - essentially magnesium road flares, providing torch-like illumination a little worse than a torch, but not easily put out. They can even function underwater.

Tanglefoot Bag - A easily breakable pouch or bag that releases a sticky residue meant to Restrain a target it comes in contact with. Can be broken down with vinegar.

Smoke Pellets - glass marbles filled with an alchemical liquid that turns into black, sooty smoke when exposed to air. Obscures a 5 ft area for a few rounds before dissipating.

Firewands - essentially Roman candle fireworks, industrial grade. Light it up and for the next minute, it pops off a miniature ball of fire with fair range, shooting from 1-3 balls a round (the more shots, the more $$$).

That should get things starting...

 

[Stalker0]

Since your goal is more good things for PCs to do with their cash, might I suggest a focus on consumables, and designing them to maximize the action economy.

Aka bombs I can chuck as a bonus action or even a use an option action. Once you do that they don't need to have crazy effects or super powerful scaling....any damage is damage on top of what you would normally do. Or some kind of armor attachment that works once but then has to be rebuilt at a cost (but has no action cost or works as a part of another action such as a grapple).

And that way the PCs are utilizing their gold into these consumables that get depleted as you adventure, so creating a nice natural gold sink to work from.

 

[bedir than]

Fireworks

Type: Firearms Ranged Weapon | Cost: 10 gp | Weight: 1 lbs | Damage: 2d4 | Type: Fire | Properties: Ranged (30/90), Loading, Special*
*On a hit those within 5′ of the target must succeed on a saving throw or take half damage.

Coffee gear I wrote up as a tool from Xanathar's, but you can roast and serve coffee. And if your check is good enough you can restore exhaustion.

Coffee Gear – a 5e D&D Tool

Add a new tool to your 5th Edition D&D campaign with Coffee Gear. Have a character that roasts, brews, and serves coffee whether in cafes or in the wilds.

fullmoonstorytelling.com

 

[Zardnaar]

Way im doing it is inspiration from Baldurs Gate. Prices are cheaper than 5.5 DMG but I'm not handing out huge amounts of loot.

Curated lists of things for sale are your solution along with adding vendors. Finding said vendor also rewards exploration pillar.

Basic items like +1/2/3 items should be available. You can make them a bit cheaper than other items of equal rarity. No -5/+10 feats accuracy boosts are fine now.

Some abilities are fine as long as you don't put it on the best weapons. The best weapons are vex, nick and great weapons. A vicious dagger or spear isn't as abusive as say a halberd. 5.0 best weapons were bows, hand crossbows and great weapons. Bows are now similar to sword and board damage wise.

+1/+2/3 items for spellcasters are fine. Dont let them stack or let multiples be bought however. 3 +1 boost items might be cheaper than a single +3 for example.

5.5 DMG has guidelines as to when you get stuff. Its mostly fine as long as you are careful on what you place.

First rare item can drop by level 4. That's a flametongue, +2 weapo or shield, +1 armor. Tier two each PC probably needs several uncommon, 2 rares and a very rare if you break down the DMG. Put some in that don't require attunement.

Weak classes you can give the better items. That rogue thief probably wants a want of magic middle toer 1. Tier two fireball or lightning wand nay be appropriate.

Paladins and Fighters can deal absurd damage dual wielding be careful with great weapons. Barbarian with great weapons. Monk weapons also can be absurd espicially with 1 level of fighter or ranger added.

That's the big ones. Spell DC items and bonus dice of damage (2d6 or more) are the ones to watch out for with powergamers.

Level 10 for so Rangers and rogues might appreciate such weapons however.

From BG3 I'm liking these types of weapons at rare late Tier 1 or early tier 2.

Cacophony - bg3.wiki

Cacophony is a rare +1 Quarterstaff that grants the wielder the Thunderous Smite spell.

bg3.wiki

Gold Wyrmling Staff - bg3.wiki

Gold Wyrmling Staff is a rare +1 Quarterstaff that deals additional Fire damage with melee strikes and grants its wielder the Fire Bolt cantrip.

bg3.wiki

Sword of Screams - bg3.wiki

Sword of Screams is an uncommon Rapier that deals an additional 1d4 Psychic damage.

bg3.wiki

Basically +1 weapons with extra d4 damage and a cantrip or level 1 spell attached. Interesting, powerful wont break the game relative to other rare items.

Dont put in a vicious halberd, short sword, and great weapons in general. Dagger maybe. Maybe put it in when you place +2 armor late tier 2 early 3 if you do.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm going to "show my work" here so that you can comment on it and talk me off the ledge, if I need it. I welcome discussion.

Today, I've been looking at, well, I started thinking about healing, but I've gone other places.

To start: I figure that because D&D allows Magic to do EVERYTHING and other things (like alchemy, poisons, and mundane equipment) to do very little, that I'd start by analyzing what magic can do, and what it costs, as a baseline. I discovered a few interesting things.

A few notes: I'm looking at both the Sane Magic Item Prices and the Discerning Merchant's Price Guide. Both were written for 2014 5e. If you know of any updated version, or if you know which magic items have significantly changed with 2024 updates, feel free to let me know.

I'll just share a chart and then explain it:

Spell	Char. Lvl	Service	Calig	SANE	DMPG	CW	HW	POTION	SANE	DMPG
Scroll L0	1	30	15	10	15
Scroll L1	1	50	25	60	25	12	8	7	50	50	Healing
Scroll L2	3	200	100	120	150	21	13
Scroll L3	5	300	150	200	400	31	19	14	150	300	Greater
Scroll L4	7	2000	1000	320	800	40	25
Scroll L5	9	2000	1500	640	1500	49	31
Scroll L6	11	20000	10000	1280	2000	59	37	28	450	750	Superior
Scroll L7	13	20000	12500	2560	3500	69	44
Scroll L8	15	20000	15000	5120	5000	80	51
Scroll L9	17	100K	50000	10240	20000	91	59	45	1350	1500	Supreme

We're starting by looking at scrolls. Char Level refers to what level you can cast the same spell, as a full caster. Service is the GP cost to get a spell of the same level cast by an NPC according to the 2024 PHB. Calig. refers to the GP cost (again, according to 2024 PHB) of scribing the scrolls yourself with Calligraphy Tools. SANE is the GP cost of the scroll, according to Sane Magic Item Pricing, and DMPG is the GP cost according to Discerning Merchants. CW is the average healing dealt by a Cure Wounds of that level, and HW is for Healing Word. Next we have Potion, which is the average done by Healing Potions. As there are four types of potions, I placed them at the same levels as how a Cantrip would Scale, but obviously you can find them at other levels. Then we have the cost of them according to those two files. I don't know if there's official sources on the cost of anything other than a basic Healing Potion.

I've got to go to work, so I'll be back to talk about what I think about the above list.

 

[Lidgar]

To riff more off of Baldurs’ Gate 3, there are many consumables you can add to the list.

For example, most of the grenades could fit well: Grenades - bg3.wiki

For healing, I’d start with a system that looks at spells like Goodberry to start with (for scaling purposes). I’d want to make sure the cost and utility didn’t make that spell obsolete.

 

[Zardnaar]

To riff more off of Baldurs’ Gate 3, there are many consumables you can add to the list.

For example, most of the grenades could fit well: Grenades - bg3.wiki

For healing, I’d start with a system that looks at spells like Goodberry to start with (for scaling purposes). I’d want to make sure the cost and utility didn’t make that spell obsolete.

You can port most BG3 things to 5E imho.

Not tge easy access though that parts a bad idea.