D&D 5E How do you handle magic item churn in 5E?

[abirdcall]

My comment earlier wasn't even much of a joke. I don't concern myself with these things because my campaigns generally don't include magic items in large quantities. Most magic items are uber-powerful artifacts, not a generic-brand +1 Sword type of item. The party might expect to find only a few magic items in an entire campaign.

That +1 Longsword could be seen as a powerful artifact if it is what saves the party from the demon.

 

[generic]

That +1 Longsword could be seen as a powerful artifact if it is what saves the party from the demon.

Very true. The legendary or non-legendary quality can also depend on the level of magic in the setting and, even more so, the description you give the item. The +1 Sword isn't just a superior sword, it's the sharpest sword ever seen in the Seven Vales, and, it seems to have a mind of its own, guiding the wielder with each stroke.

 

[Shiroiken]

In general I give out far more consumables than permanent items. This prevents the party from really accumulating a lot of item, since they use them over the course of the campaign. As for permanent items, I give out whatever is reasonable for the adventure, which doesn't always fit the player's desires.

Because of this, I've created a downtime activity where players can seek out other magic item owners to trade. They can either trade away an item they don't want, or look to trade for an item they do want. This trade usually not in the player's favor according to the charts, but they players don't mind at all (trading useless for useful is far more important than getting "value").

 

[TwoSix]

The problem with attunement without slots is that you can objectively pick the three best items & the gm can no longer have a powerful thing that conflicts with some other powerful thing so only one can be used. Now you unattune the weakest thing & attune to both powerful things

As soon as you have 4 good items, you've automatically put the fourth into conflict with the other 3. (Granted, if the party shares it only really happens when you hit (3*party members)+1, but same concept.)

The concept of "I'll keep the powerful items and not use the weakest items" doesn't go away if you use slots, it simply spreads it out.

And of course, "weakest item" is incredibly subjective. There's real reluctance to give up good defensive items, even when there's a new item that's rarity levels higher but offensive in nature.

 

[aco175]

As soon as you have 4 good items, you've automatically put the fourth into conflict with the other 3. (Granted, if the party shares it only really happens when you hit (3*party members)+1, but same concept.)

We discussed this a few times in my home game and I allow another slot after 10th level, and maybe another at 15th but we never played that high. I do tend to give out more items than the book says though.

 

[TwoSix]

We discussed this a few times in my home game and I allow another slot after 10th level, and maybe another at 15th but we never played that high. I do tend to give out more items than the book says though.

I personally wouldn't do that, but that's just me. Attunement is good! Hard choices are good!

 

[Quartz]

Attunement is good! Hard choices are good!

Something I've been considering:

High Magic = 1 attunement per point of Proficiency Bonus.
Low Magic = 1 attunement per 2 points of PB.

 

[Odysseus]

If you have a use for gold in your game, then this is never a problem. Players are eager to sell the magic items they don't want.

The problem is that most DMs don't give players a reason to accumulate gold, because they don't include things like strongholds, followers, ships, or armies in their games.

The solution is to include those things, then watch your players sell magic items and scrounge for gold, because they never have enough.

My solution was to have the PC spend gold to level up. So they are constantly trying to sell the magic items so they can level up.

 

[Coroc]

I hand them out as i see fit, i would even ignore the atunement rules.

The "level" of the magic items depends on the campaign type and world. It might be +1 is the biggest find in a low magic setting, but it also might be magic item shops are part of the game for some standard items.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Item churn in 3E was easy thanks to Disjunction, but how do you handle it in 5E?

I don’t care much about it in my games that have a magic item economy (like Eberron or my homebrew that is higher magic than Eberron), and in other games I just don’t give out many magic items.
In either case, I use items that increase in power with the character, and the characters can craft and upgrade their own stuff.