D&D 5E Magic Items for individuals?

[hejtmane]

I hate the no magic item crap that is not D&D I grew up to in the old D&D and then 1e world so I have magic items in my game then again I use custom magic item none of mine has tohit on them. We had magic item just not tons of them back in the old days what made playing fun a nice shinny magic item.

Then again away around that is you could attune the magic item to the NPC and have the item not attune to the players therefore the magic item is just a hunk of steel to them.

 

[SheckyS]

Lots of people on this thread seem to be saying that in 5e, the players just don't get a lot of magic items. But I find that really hard to swallow. Players love loot and the DM's guide is packed with cool stuff. What's the point of all that if you don't expect the players to accumulate some of it?

There are also monsters in the MM that are immune to damage from non-magical weapons. So if the players never get any magic items, they will not be capable of surviving or defeating many of the monsters they encounter.

So that's not making a lot of sense to me.
I'm coming from older version of D&D here, I guess, and so I expect that at a certain point, almost ever PC should at the very least have a +1 weapon or some magic armor or SOMETHING.

 

[hejtmane]

Lots of people on this thread seem to be saying that in 5e, the players just don't get a lot of magic items. But I find that really hard to swallow. Players love loot and the DM's guide is packed with cool stuff. What's the point of all that if you don't expect the players to accumulate some of it?

There are also monsters in the MM that are immune to damage from non-magical weapons. So if the players never get any magic items, they will not be capable of surviving or defeating many of the monsters they encounter.

So that's not making a lot of sense to me.
I'm coming from older version of D&D here, I guess, and so I expect that at a certain point, almost ever PC should at the very least have a +1 weapon or some magic armor or SOMETHING.

I am with you on that like i said I give out magic items hey I am the DM

 

[Illithidbix]

Lots of people on this thread seem to be saying that in 5e, the players just don't get a lot of magic items. But I find that really hard to swallow. Players love loot and the DM's guide is packed with cool stuff. What's the point of all that if you don't expect the players to accumulate some of it?

There are also monsters in the MM that are immune to damage from non-magical weapons. So if the players never get any magic items, they will not be capable of surviving or defeating many of the monsters they encounter.

So that's not making a lot of sense to me.
I'm coming from older version of D&D here, I guess, and so I expect that at a certain point, almost ever PC should at the very least have a +1 weapon or some magic armor or SOMETHING.

Lots of us have come from 3E and 4E backgrounds, and whilst they got a lot of things right, some of us really dislike the wealth per level and golf bags of magic items that came with it. If magic items feel too common they become a necessity, not something well... magical. Esp. if the game maths relies upon the players having them.
Hence this edition lets the DM choose how common/rare items are.

Basically the guidelines for giving NPC's magic items are: Are you happy with the players to then get hold of said magic items from looting the body (or otherwise acquiring them)?
If so, great! Go ahead. Makes sense for the monsters to be using them.

Regarding non-magical weapon resistance/immunity, yep, again it lets the DM choose how long this potentially very scary monster trait remains relevant as the players are forced to rely upon their spells or that single silvered dagger they found.
As a very rough guideline at 6th level Monks get Ki-Empowered Strikes and 6th level Moon Druids get Primal Strikes which means their unarmed or beast form attacks count as magical for purposes of overcoming nonmagical resistance and immunities.

 

[Li Shenron]

So should I just roll for the NPC's "lair" and have him carry anything useful with him, regardless of the individual treasure rules?

There are no guidelines because the past has shown that there are strongly different preferences among gaming groups, and 5e does not want to lean towards favouring any of them at the cost of the others.

What you should do, is what you want to do!

One important concept that 5e proposes is that of attunement. This is introduced into the game to set a limit on how many magic items a single PC can use at the same time. As such, it creates a safety net for you, if you are worried about the PCs getting too many permanent magic items. When you create your own items, it's still up to you to decide which ones need attunement and which not. But with this concept in place, you can feel more free about trying out having NPCs with full magical gear, because attunement can keep the main problem (that of the PCs "inheriting" all the NPCs' magic items after the battle) under check.

If you find attunement is not enough, slap some race/class requirement on top of those items (e.g. orcs using magic items that only work on orcs). You can even have unique individual requirements e.g. "This magic axe was crafted specifically for Thog the Half-Orc Barbarian, and works as a normal axe for everyone else".

Magic items are very rare. An NPC walking around with one is not the expectation, it is the exception. In 5E it is perfectly reasonable for a melee character to go 20 levels and never find a magic weapon (although they'll likely be able to buy a +1 weapon somewhere around levels 5 to 10 ihn most games).

The big problem for you, as a DM, is that if you give an NPC as much magic as a PC would have and the NPC dies, the PCs might get their hands on the items. That can (up to) double their magic items and make them more powerful than expected. Avoid the temptation. If you want them suped up a bit, put a wizard in their service that enchants their arms before battle...

I would not suggest to "avoid the temptation", just to use and abuse the attunements & requirements rules

I hate the no magic item crap that is not D&D I grew up to in the old D&D and then 1e world so I have magic items in my game then again I use custom magic item none of mine has tohit on them. We had magic item just not tons of them back in the old days what made playing fun a nice shinny magic item.

Don't overreact, the 5e system supports such playstyle just as well as the "zero magic items" one.

 

[Azurewraith]

Throw out magic items in anyway just be aware that the game system assumes 0 and a lot of +s to hit and AC will break the system so hand out non +hit/AC stuffs or balance the Mobs by adding +1 for each +2 the pcs have.

Personally in my game 98% of magic items are from a bygone era and as such very rare and have some impressive effects such as Regis Sword of Regicide this is a Long sword that was carried by Regis as he slayed the king whose blood still stains the blade carrying the creates an itch to become King that slowly grows until you find your self insane seeking royal blood, The blade however is unnervingly sharp and deals critical hits on an 18-20.

 

[Sunseeker]

Typically, important NPCs have unique magic items that have a chance to be destroyed in battle. I keep them simple, usually no more than a +1 and a simple effect, all custom made.

 

[S'mon]

Either roll a hoard of appropriate CR and distribute items among the NPCs in the encounter/group, or for a higher magic game you can arbitrarily give NPCs appropriate items. I tend to do the latter with +1 gear, but in 5e it's best not to routinely give out lots of items to NPCs. Typically I would not give anything to CR 0-4 NPCs. I might give out one +1 item to a named CR 5-10 NPC, most commonly a weapon. I just statted a Cleric-11 BBEG and gave him three +1 items (breastplate, shortsword, ring of protection), but that is very unusual - after 54 sessions online my 9th-10th level PC group have never encountered anyone with magic armour. Their items (most gained recently) are:

Hakeem, Barbarian-10: +2 longsword, & +1 werebane longsword left with wife
Rey, Rogue-9: +1 rapier, +1 dagger (sheds light 20' radius), +1 ring of protection, potion of greater healing, potion of water breathing
Thuruar, Cleric-9: +1 shortsword of disruption, potion of heroism, potion of mind reading, scroll of hold monster

 

[Li Shenron]

What's the difference between letting the party find a magic item in a treasure, or having the NPC carry such item?

The difference is that in the latter case the party has to probably fight against the item, before earning it. And that actually sounds like a reward!

So I'd say, rather have the magic items in the hands of the NPCs than stashed inside a chest - unless it's locked, trapped, and requires some thinking to get its contents

 

[CapnZapp]

Even so, it doesn't seem right. I mean... a Level 10 NPC would roll on a table that makes it very unlikely that they will be carrying, for example, a +1 weapon. There has to be some appropriate guidelines somewhere for creating realistic NPCs with realistic magical equipment like armor and weapons, no?

In 5e, the "realistic" level of magic possessions for a NPC is none.