D&D 5E Is Treasure and Magic Items Important To You?

[tetrasodium]

I'd forward a slightly alternative take. Magic Item Attunement is a solid design element, they were just overly aggressive with tagging items to require it. Attunement should be reserved for major items you want to lock to a specific user or prevent too much stacking, not minor items like a Ring of Jumping. If an attunement requirement was a bit less common the cap would be a lot less oppressive.

That's a bit tangential to the point though. Wotc made attunement slots to simplify body slots & move away from the "christmas tree effect" and designed many of the items to be more impactful and removed safeguards that existed when decking out a character in magic items was possible and designed the system's underlying math so it never considered the presence of magic items. All of those together cause things to rapidly slingshot into the deep end of unbalance caused by extreme christmas tree effect while removing room for a gm to give out occasional magic items that play well within the powerscale of a given level.

I'm sure that there are tables that like the way only using attunement slots to limit magic items that exceed the system's math the second they are available in almost any form. That's great if someone likes it, but wotc also declared all other use cases of magic items within a campaign unsupported & out of scope for 5e by not even supporting them in optional rules & coding the system math against trying to add them back in.

 

[Rabulias]

I was toying with the idea of having a wealth "score" that increases by level. So instead of tracking gp, a player would try to buy something, roll a die and add their wealth bonus. It would have to be structured so that commonplace things were an automatic success (e.g. you are third level yes you can afford a candle), but if they wanted to buy something more expensive like plate mail, they would need a lucky roll or a higher wealth score. Granted, common sense would need to apply to make sure the players didn't abuse this mechanic ("yes, I'll take 500 flasks of oil please, thank you").

d20 Modern (among others) did something very similar to this, and it might be easy to adapt: d20 Modern System Reference Document

 

[Xetheral]

In my campaigns, treasure is hugely important, because it gives the PCs the ability to start shaping the game world in an open-ended way. Whether they choose to do so by building their own home base, engaging in politics, upgrading infrastructure, building a network of contacts, engaging in commerce, founding an organization, hiring a personal staff, or something else, their choices on how to use their treasure influence the campaign more than just gaining levels does.

 

[MGibster]

Treasure and magic items aren't that important to me. To start with, in most D&D games I find there really isn't a whole lot for me to spend my gold on. When I'm a player, most of my characters spend a significant chunk of their treasure carousing. When my fighter rolls into town he lives the most extravagant lifestyle possible spending significant amounts of gold throughout the community.

It's fun to get a new magic item every once in a while. But honestly, when I look back at my favorite campaigns from the past it isn't the magic items that comes to mind. It's what our characters did and the rolls we made that I really remember.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Well, at the rate magic items are given out (as broken down in Xanathar's), assuming the same 5 person party size, that's about 20 permanent magic items, filled up by the end of 16th level.

So, if this was before then, it seems you had a DM who was much more generous with items then 5e gives - so that wouldn't be a problem with 5e. As a matter of fact, it sounds like Attunement was working as intended, preventing christmas trees of magic items even though the DM was far outside the parameters of 5e.

That's like telling a poor man he shouldn't have any trouble with banks charging overdraft since he hasn't got any money in the first place.

Edit: To be sure, the way we got that many items was using the Random Treasure from the DMG. Not how I prefer to do treasure, but this DM loves rolling on random tables.

We got roughly 1-2 treasure hoards each level. If you think that's outrageous an outrageous number of items for mid-level, then I'll note the DMG says, "Over the course of a typical campaign, a party finds treasure hoards amounting to seven rolls on the Challenge 0–4 table, eighteen rolls on the Challenge 5–10 table, twelve rolls on the Challenge 11–16 table, and eight rolls on the Challenge 17+ table." That's 45 rolls, or 2.25 treasure hoards per level. About half the campaign there were only 3 PCs and the rest were with 4 PCs. Our fifth player was covering second shift that campaign.

The only unusual thing the DM did was throw back items that didn't fit anybody in the party, but it more or less tells you to do that. For example, around level 7 or 8 we took down a pretty powerful demon, and the DM rolled on the 11-16 table (it's based on the enemy CR). We got... a holy avenger! Cool! Thematic! Except... nobody was a paladin so we re-rolled it.

 

[aco175]

I'll echo what some others say about specific items over a simple +1 sword. At lower levels I may give out something cool and them at mid levels I may allow a boost of something the PCs are carrying.

Example may be at 3rd level the thief gets a +0 dagger that returns when thrown and can cast misty step 1/rest. Then at 9th level the party comes across a radiant pool in a dungeon allowing each of them to dip something into it to boost somehow. Perhaps that dagger now becomes +1 and can also cast shield 1/rest or cast lightning bolt 1/day. Maybe the thief wants to dip in the armor he is wearing to become mithral shirt that can teleport into a ring like the old Flash superhero. At that point it is the PCs choice of what item and I may allow some choice to the gained powers.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I'd forward a slightly alternative take. Magic Item Attunement is a solid design element, they were just overly aggressive with tagging items to require it. Attunement should be reserved for major items you want to lock to a specific user or prevent too much stacking, not minor items like a Ring of Jumping. If an attunement requirement was a bit less common the cap would be a lot less oppressive.

This I would agree with. Attunement should be used to limit item trading. However, it needs to be more useful than just, "This item can be meaningfully traded." It's got to be abusive when trading not merely useful though. Like all the limits they used to put on a ring of regeneration. Overall I think attunement to limit item swapping is fine. The party has to decide who uses an item, but they can change it as needed.

I think a limited number of attuned items is much more questionable, however. I think it's fine as an optional rule, but I don't buy it as a general rule anymore. They don't even use it to limit mechanical bonus stacking. You can have a sword +3, armor +3, and shield +3 and none of those take attunement. I wouldn't want to give those items out as a DM ever; they're both extremely powerful and absolutely boring.

 

[Thunder Brother]

As a DM I'm probably on the conservative side when it comes to magical items. They're notably uncommon in my campaigns and I rarely tailor them to the wants or needs of my players (at least overtly).

I want magic items, even a relatively humble +1 weapon, to be something with a history behind them; the sword of an ancient king, a druid's staff made from a branch of the first oak tree, a dagger that is the fang of a dragon killed generations ago, etc. Heirlooms and relics, something that helps build out the setting in a way that I think a shop filled with magical knick-knacks doesn't. I want artifacts, not commodities.

Similarly, I've never given out a Bag of Holding in any campaign I've ran. I want finding a hoard of treasure (or an unwieldy item) to present something of a dilemma for the party. "How are we going to move all this stuff?". I like the RP that can come out of seemingly mundane problems.

 

[TwoSix]

Important enough that one of my next campaigns won't have characters gain abilities from class at all, they'll simply spend XP to craft magic items or unlock more powers from their gained magic items.

I like the idea of power gain being random and based on the narrative rather than driven by their first session choices.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I can't say I care much about coinage and gems, but give me a fancy ring, a torc with a grimacing ogre face engraved on it, or a cloak patterned with a deity's holy symbol and I'm all over it. Mundane stuff that my character can wear and look cool with makes me happy.

I've come to realize that I prefer a greater baseline of magic item distribution than is the current norm (based on AL and official adventures). As a DM, I want to see PCs get interesting magic items that they can use in unanticipated ways, that they can feel epic discovering and wielding.

The exceptions are the Bag of Holding and Deck of Many Things. Those I will never willingly give out in an adventure. shakes fist at them