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

[Maxperson]

I don't hand out much magic. At 6th level only 1 PC has 2 uncommon items everyone else has 1. I'm more likely to hand out consumables.

Eventually I'll upgrade existing gear if it's a weapon or armor. I don't plan on ever giving anyone a +n shield.

This. The campaign I'm running has 4 PCs of 6th level. There are 2 +1 weapons, 1 +1 wounding weapon, 1 cloak of elvenkind and 1 pair of slippers of spider climbing. Potions and scrolls I hand out much more frequently.

The major difference I think is that I don't care about rarity. Since I'm giving out fewer items, I don't mind them being good. I feel that magic should be magical.

 

[Maxperson]

As to your boots of mind control?... no 3.5 dmg288 pretty much explicitly slaps that down

I'm now totally going to make these for my 5e game.

If you kick your opponent in the head(hit with disadvantage), the boots triggers a dominate effect on the target.

 

[ad_hoc]

This. The campaign I'm running has 4 PCs of 6th level. There are 2 +1 weapons, 1 +1 wounding weapon, 1 cloak of elvenkind and 1 pair of slippers of spider climbing. Potions and scrolls I hand out much more frequently.

The major difference I think is that I don't care about rarity. Since I'm giving out fewer items, I don't mind them being good. I feel that magic should be magical.

That's fewer items?

At our table that would considered a great haul.

Our current campaign is at 6th level and the party only has a pair of slippers of spider climbing. They have both gotten unlucky with the treasure die and missed a decent amount of treasure so this is certainly on the low end.

I'd hate to see what kind of a game you or others would consider to be 'average'.

 

[TwoSix]

I'd hate to see what kind of a game you or others would consider to be 'average'.

I tend to use this as a baseline (from this thread). This is per PC over 20 levels:

4 or 5 common consumables
5 uncommon consumables
5 rare consumables
4 or 5 very rare consumables
1 legendary consumable
2 or 3 uncommon permanent items
1 or 2 rare permanent items
1 very rare permanent item
1 legendary permanent item

My own game is higher powered, but I think this is a pretty decent baseline. By level 6, this would expect most PCs to have acquired 1-2 uncommon permanent items, and a fair amount (5-6) of consumables.

 

[Maxperson]

That's fewer items?

At our table that would considered a great haul.

Our current campaign is at 6th level and the party only has a pair of slippers of spider climbing. They have both gotten unlucky with the treasure die and missed a decent amount of treasure so this is certainly on the low end.

I'd hate to see what kind of a game you or others would consider to be 'average'.

Look at the modules. The game seems to intend for 5e PCs to have a LOT of magic items. The tables also generate a good amount of magic items if you use them.

 

[ad_hoc]

I tend to use this as a baseline (from this thread). This is per PC over 20 levels:

4 or 5 common consumables
5 uncommon consumables
5 rare consumables
4 or 5 very rare consumables
1 legendary consumable
2 or 3 uncommon permanent items
1 or 2 rare permanent items
1 very rare permanent item
1 legendary permanent item

My own game is higher powered, but I think this is a pretty decent baseline. By level 6, this would expect most PCs to have acquired 1-2 uncommon permanent items, and a fair amount (5-6) of consumables.

Magic items become much more common as characters level up.

The treasure hoards from levels 1-4 are pretty sparse. By 6th level the characters will have only found 3 level 5-10 hoards (18/6 levels). Each one only has a 20% chance of yielding permanent items (though sometimes multiple items when they do hit).

Look at the modules. The game seems to intend for 5e PCs to have a LOT of magic items. The tables also generate a good amount of magic items if you use them.

We use the treasure hoard tables and aim for the average amount of hoards per level.

Sometimes the players only barely accomplish their objectives and that sometimes means missing some hoards. Sometimes the nature of the adventure means more available hoards though (or extra possible ones for truly daring or clever adventurers).

 

[TwoSix]

Magic items become much more common as characters level up.

The treasure hoards from levels 1-4 are pretty sparse. By 6th level the characters will have only found 3 level 5-10 hoards (18/6 levels). Each one only has a 20% chance of yielding permanent items (though sometimes multiple items when they do hit).

I know. All the calculations (which are based on treasure hordes and probabilistic calculations) are in the thread I linked.

 

[werecorpse]

My main homebrew difference is to run games where level up is much slower than 5e rules. I dislike the 5e attunement limit (although I like the requirement to attune to an item to use it as a minor limitation) and prefer the 3e slot limit factor.
1. I find the decision as to which items require attunement and which don’t inexplicable making the intent of it being a limiting event not only non functional but irrational. Compare zero attunement Andre with +3 plate mail, +3 sword, a cape of the mountebank, goggles of darkvision and a wand of magic missiles to maxed out attunement Byron with his Boots of levitation, ring of jumping and sword of life stealing.
2. I want players to enjoy getting magic treasure. When I played in a normal Xp progress (though admittedly high magic item game) we found that once we got to 12th level we started to quite frequently find a fun cool attunable magic item that just didn’t quite make the grade so we either just carried it around waiting for a good reason to use it (rarely ever happened - my cleric carried around a ring of invisibility for 3 levels before the campaign ended. Never used it) or just sold it for a second cape of the mountebank or wand of magic missiles (items that don’t require attunement and thus are much more desirable at high level). I accept that the Christmas tree affect of earlier editions can make getting magic items a bit mundane, but getting items that should be fun but you can’t activate is imo worse.

So in answer to the question
1. I have made consumables better (a normal potion has a random number of sips in it - each time you sip from it you roll a d4 if you roll a 1 it was the last use otherwise there is a little bit left; if it’s a d6 potion when you roll a 1 it gets converted to a d4 from now on, Scrolls the same - the words fade but don’t always disappear- and most wands/staves etc though they can go up to d12.).
2. I use 3e slots as a limiter rather than attunement
3 I give out a lot more consumables (ie a Cape of the mountebank charged with a d4 like a potion)
4 I have a small amount of magic item trade
5 I tend to play with large groups (6-8 PCs) so items filter about the group
6 I’m a bit stingy as a dm when it comes to loot
7 I give out items with properties that grow with the character or are based on the characters power (ie cymbals that when clashed cast Thunderwave at a spell level equal to the proficiency bonus of the character using it)

 

[ad_hoc]

I know. All the calculations (which are based on treasure hordes and probabilistic calculations) are in the thread I linked.

I know what they are.

I'm telling you that I actually use those tables as they are recommended in the DMG.

The PCs do not get an even amount of magic items from levels 1-20.

Levels 1-4 are both very quick to go through and the treasure hoards have very little permanent items.

 

[TwoSix]

I know what they are.

I'm telling you that I actually use those tables as they are recommended in the DMG.

The PCs do not get an even amount of magic items from levels 1-20.

Levels 1-4 are both very quick to go through and the treasure hoards have very little permanent items.

Obviously, whatever amount of magic items you want to give out your game is fine. I just find the calculations in the other thread to match with my own reading of the DMG, and the chance of getting virtually no permanent items by level 6 to be a fairly low (albeit not 0) probability.