D&D 5E Magic Items found during the game: How do you handle the "oh look, this random dungeon just happens to have that sword my character wanted."

[the Jester]

Something I used to struggle with back during 3rd and 4th edition was basically the Christmas list of items they wanted.

I didn't struggle with them, I hated them. No player ever handed me a Christmas list! If they wanted a specific item, they talked to the guy with the Enchant Magic Item ritual. Later, when they introduced the rarity item rules, it made it much more of an old-skool, 'you get what you find' kind of thing.

How do you handle these things in 5th edition?

I generate almost all magic items randomly. I never, never, never place items 'for' a specific character. Never. Well, unless you count things like "your high priest gives you a quest. As a reward, when you complete it, he'll give you (insert appropriate item for pc and church)."

 

[Dausuul]

I don't do it. They get what they get. If they want a specific item they can search for clues and stories and try and hunt one down.

Agreed. My attitude is that a campaign should contain the following magic items:

• Random stuff you find in monster treasure. The DM can make these up, or roll on the loot tables. More and more, I am favoring the loot tables, to ensure the treasure really is random.
• Planned/plot-related items. These are appropriate to the scenario; the desires of the PCs don't affect them.
• Items that the PCs make an effort to go out and find.

I'm a big believer in taking what you find and thinking up clever uses for it. Case in point: The monk in our party has a staff of frost (he has a couple warlock levels, which makes him the only one in the party who can use it). Given a choice of items, I'm confident in saying he would never have picked the staff. But he saved the party's bacon with it in the last session, by using wall of ice to block an underground river for a few rounds, and he's started looking for opportunities to wield it.

If a PC really wants a given item? Great! We got us a plot hook. Player-made plot hooks are the best plot hooks. Go forth, good PC, and seek your item, and the DM shall throw monsters and traps and maddening riddles in your way, and if you survive, you'll get the item and it'll be much more satisfying than if the DM just threw it in with the rest of the loot.

 

[Sunseeker]

I don't like wasting my time giving my party gear I know they're not interested in and/or simply won't use. It's a waste of effort on my part and it's a waste of time on their end to go through looking up the item and then realizing that noone has any use for it.

Almost all my items are custom-made for my game and serve some plot-based purpose. You didn't find a dungeon full of random loot. You found a dungeon full of random loot AND the Sword of Seven. No, it's not Seven-of-Nine's sword. No she didn't use it for that. Oh for...make a con save! *rolls low* the Sword just assimilated you. Have fun with that.

 

[77IM]

In 5e you don't "need items for a build." Have you read the DMG items? Very few of them interact with PC abilities in that way. Like in 3e you could do some neat things with expanded crit-range, and in 4e you were expected to have certain items to make the math work. But most items in 5e are more like, "huh, that's neat."


When players tell you what they consider fun, listen to them. But players also enjoy a bit of a surprise. So if a player approached me with a list of items they wanted, I'd observe their character for a few sessions and figure out which sort of items would be most useful to them. Then I'd twist the item in one of several ways:

1. The item is in the hands of a major villain. By "in the hands of" I mean "he's killing you with it." And by "major villain" I mean "you might want to gain a level or two before tackling this guy."

2. The item is cursed.

3. The item has some weird properties that are not what you expect. Like a magic bow that lets you cast create/destroy water. Huh?

4. The item isn't quite what they want, but is similar. Like instead of a +2 longbow you give a quiver with 20 +2 arrows.

5. The player finds a treasure map leading to the item, instead of the item itself.

6. Princes of the Apocalypse actually has a really nice quest (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) where the PCs find a fairly powerful magic item, and are then approached by NPCs willing to trade that item for an item of the PCs' choice. So that's a way to make the PC feel like they got to pick the item they want, but they still had to earn it.

7. When the PC is in a really bad situation -- like the party has been captured and stripped of gear, or the PC has fallen into an underground river and been swept away from the rest of the party -- that's when they find the item they really wanted.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

For somethings I would say the players needed to research the items and could possibly have them made, but I always hated then that random chest in some random dungeon just happen to have that item a player was asking me for.

Some items are better than others. The players know this. The characters might know this, if magic items are commonly known in your world. Most importantly, though, the ones who created the magical items in the first place should know this.

In 3E, terms, every low-level barbarian wants Gauntlets of Ogre Power, because they give the best return on investment. Because they are so popular, and so powerful, they are also one of the most-created of magical items. If the world contains 1000 barbarians of level 8 or higher, then there are probably 800+ sets of Gauntlets of Ogre Power among them. Thus, whenever you find a magical item, it stands a reasonable chance of being something useful.

If your players want the good items, then it's not all that strange when they find such a thing. It's only really weird if someone wants something unusual, and that happens to show up. There might be a grand total of three magical greatclubs in the world, and only one of them is a frost weapon; if a character in the party wants one, and it happens to show up, then that's kind of silly.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Something I used to struggle with back during 3rd and 4th edition was basically the Christmas list of items they wanted. For somethings I would say the players needed to research the items and could possibly have them made, but I always hated then that random chest in some random dungeon just happen to have that item a player was asking me for. It all felt planted to me and really took the fun and mystery out of finding a new item. I never personally liked to find items that I needed for a build.

How do you handle these things in 5th edition?

I, er, mostly don't tailor magic items. At all.

In one case there was a new 1st level bard PC in a group of 6th to 9th level guys, and they beat a CR 12 chain worm so I took pity on him and declared the treasure within its lair as including a magical shortsword by fiat (+0, adds 1d6 psychic damage per hit, is always clean--which is how he spotted it). Even in that case, it got its psychic damage ability because it was gith-forged (I got the idea because they'd just met a group of githyanki in the area, who gave a distinct impression that they knew the area well), but githyanki don't normally use shortswords so I can't deny that I did tailor that one a little bit.

But for the most part I just roll on the DMG treasure charts (especially the Minor Properties table) until I get something I find inspirational and appropriate for the monster.

 

[Li Shenron]

Magic Items found during the game: How do you handle the "oh look, this random dungeon just happens to have that sword my character wanted."

They went into that dungeon because they heard rumors it might have that sword one of their characters wanted.

 

[DaveDash]

All my items are rolled randomly.

I actually rolled a +3 Vorpal Greatsword. Both rolled for the vorpal weapon and the great sword.
The Paladin in my group (greatsword wielder) found it. He knows I roll for everything randomly and he was over the moon to find such an item, it's really a once per lifetime kind of thing.

 

[wedgeski]

4E really supported the idea of PC's "destined" to find the items that would make them the most powerful, since PC's were assumed to be chosen ones, a cut above the hoi-polloi. In that respect, I never had a problem with wish lists. The convergence of magic on a PC was simply a reflection of their cosmic standing.

I also had a table at the time where the disappointment of finding a magic item that no-one could use was palpable. It wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to do very often.

In situations where I wanted to vary it up, I usually provided one-off fonts of magic or other special locations where the PC could transmute an existing item into a more powerful version of itself (the next 'plus' up, add a property, that kind of thing).

Magic items remain a big part of my table's enjoyment of the game, so we have a magic-heavy 5E campaign. We don't use wish-lists, but we do use downtime crafting, which has spawned some useful NPC's and at least one scenario so far. Frankly, rumours or research pointing to one of the PCs' favoured items is usually all I need to provide as an adventure hook. They're usually out the door before I've even finished the sentence.

 

[JWO]

I was in a game where the GM handed out magic gems that you could use to upgrade your mundane weapons. It was a while ago but I think you had to bring them to a weapon smith who would attach them to whatever weapon you chose. It's kind of a video-game way of doing it but it also means you don't have to justify characters stumbling on the exact weapon type they favour.

I wouldn't do it this way in my own game but it's an option!