I know magic items are unnecessary but

[Ymdar]

Do you have any method to give magic items to PCs? I have seen the tables in dmg and xgte but was wondering if anyone uses something different?

 

[GM Lent]

Every item I give out is carefully considered and placed. Even when I roll randomly on a table (which I do sometimes for inspiration if nothing else), I make adjustments to match my setting.

So that's my take.

 

[Ymdar]

Every item I give out is carefully considered and placed. Even when I roll randomly on a table (which I do sometimes for inspiration if nothing else), I make adjustments to match my setting.

So that's my take.

So how many items do you give to PCs in the course of 20 levels?

 

[Li Shenron]

Do you have any method to give magic items to PCs? I have seen the tables in dmg and xgte but was wondering if anyone uses something different?

In 5e I've been running published adventures only (either 5e playtest packets or older editions adventures converted on the fly), so I just hand out whatever the adventure say, with casual adjustments. I have rarely used the random tables.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

If you don't like the random rolls, you can pick out items that you want the party to get and place them in the adventure.

Or have them either as objective (the party wants a magic sword, so they research a place or creature that might have one, and the adventure is to obtain it) or reward (their patron or the person to gives them a quest offers them an item if they are successful).

Or even have some items available to buy.

 

[iserith]

In a one-shot adventure, I will typically place specific magic items that can be useful in the context of that adventure. I will also tend to "front load" them so that PCs get them early enough where they can use them by adventure's end if they wish.

In an ongoing campaign, I use random treasure tables and I ask the players to roll for it. Whatever they find, they find. In my experience, the players have a lot of fun with this because they know they have a chance to get some really great stuff. I typically use treasure as a reward for exploration challenges rather than for combat challenges (where they instead get XP).

 

[GM Lent]

So how many items do you give to PCs in the course of 20 levels?

I have no idea. I haven't had a campaign go that high since 1998.

 

[Ymdar]

We have just started a new shared campaign where several people will DM (worked for us in the past) and have looked at the xgte magic tables which recommend to give out 100 magic items to a party of 4 over the course of 20 levels. We thought that looks like a bit much so decided to give each character over the course of the campaign:
- some random healing potions (with the option to buy these)
- some random consumable magic items (possibly stat increasing tomes at high levels exact numbers are TBD)
- 4 signature magic items which can be chosen by the players and which will be given to the PC in due time once roughly every 4 levels, with the potential for that magic item to increase in power. The items will be awarded by rarity (meaning rarer items will be given later) or a weaker version of the items will be given at lower levels.

We hope the above system prevents powergaming, getting too powerful items too early and to have a feeling of being in a fantasy novel. Any suggestions?

 

[CapnZapp]

Do you have any method to give magic items to PCs? I have seen the tables in dmg and xgte but was wondering if anyone uses something different?

I hand out gold, which the PCs then use to shop items with.

It might sound radical and unproven, but I see no reason to change what works well ☺

 

[Vymair]

I'm starting a new campaign and I'm just using random treasure tables for a bit. I've made a few re-rolls when the item didn't make sense to the context of the adventure. For example, a Cloak of the Manta Ray in a dungeon in the middle of the jungle feels out of place, so I just rolled on the table again until I found something that didn't conflict with what I felt was reasonable. I'm sure I'll end up placing a few items especially if I don't end up with a few magic weapons over time.