D&D 5E Magic Items in 5e... Lackluster?

[Staffan]

To the contrary, this edition sees the return of a lot of flavorful items that were dropped around 3e's release. Not to say you cant get some flavorful items from Pathfinder or other games; the advantage here is you can crib liberally from PF and other games' items in addition, because it's still compatible enough to steal those items that aren't just "spells or plusses in a can."

What I really like is that since items no longer form the basis of a point-based character generation system layered on top of D&D's normal class-based system, they no longer compete against one another the way they did in 3e. In 3e, you can either get a serpentine owl figurine of wondrous power, or a cloak of resistance +3. In 5e, they don't compete directly against one another the way they do in 3e.

 

[Tormyr]

That +1 magic item goes a lot further in 5e than in other recent editions. In 5e you don't need the magic items. Getting that boost over a monster's damage resistance, +5% chance to hit, and +1 damage is a bonus rather than a necessity.

 

[Staffan]

That +1 magic item goes a lot further in 5e than in other recent editions. In 5e you don't need the magic items. Getting that boost over a monster's damage resistance, +5% chance to hit, and +1 damage is a bonus rather than a necessity.

I'd argue that you're expected to eventually get a magic weapon, at least if you're a weapon-dependent character. If I were to put an expected level on it, it would be 6th, as that's when the monk's unarmed attacks count as magical.

It's also notable that in 5e, magic weapons are easier to get than magic armor (uncommon/rare/very rare vs rare/very rare/legendary). In 3e, it was the other way around (bonus squared x2000 gp for weapons, bonus squared x1000 for armor). I guess there are two reasons for this: (a) a magic weapon is more or less a necessity at mid- to high level, because of various resistances, and (b) a magic weapon makes fights go faster, while magic armor makes it go slower.

 

[Bupp]

Do you have any convenient links? I'd like to see a compilation of these somewhere without having to search endless posts.

I'll start you off with some shameless self promotion. On my blog I've been going through old Dragon Magazines and converting 1e and 2e stuff to 5e. Here's a link to just the things I've tagged as magic items, though I've done a bunch of monsters and spells as well.

http://5egrognard.blogspot.com/search/label/magic items

 

[Nebulous]

I'll start you off with some shameless self promotion. On my blog I've been going through old Dragon Magazines and converting 1e and 2e stuff to 5e. Here's a link to just the things I've tagged as magic items, though I've done a bunch of monsters and spells as well.

http://5egrognard.blogspot.com/search/label/magic items

Nice. Added to my blogroll.

Edit: brilliant

[h=3]Everstriking Sword[/h]

Let's mix things up with a cursed item, the everstriking sword, originally by Stephen Martin and appearing in Dragon Magazine #91. Pretty straightforward conversion, except I added the bit about trading for exhaustion. The original also drained additional points if a creature could only be hit by a certain plus weapon, but since that has been replaced by damage resistance, I left it out.

Everstriking
Cursed magic weapon
An everstriking sword always hits an intended target unless an impossible blow is attempted, such as striking at a target that is out of range of all attacks. This weapon has no bonuses to hit or damage. However, a peculiar effect comes into play when such a sword is used in combat.


If the sword is swung at an opponent and a miss is rolled, then you lose a number of hit points equal to the difference between the failed to hit roll and the target’s AC, making the strike hit, in effect using the your own energy to guide the attack home. Ten hit points worth of damage drained can be “traded” for a level of exhaustion. This energy drain will be felt as a sudden, sharp pain coupled with a feeling of exhaustion.


Any character who uses this sword once in combat will be cursed to always draw the sword in any further combat, and will ignore all other weapons that he carries in favor of this one. If another weapon is used, all attack rolls with it are made with disadvantage.

 

[Jester David]

Take a look over at Paizo's RPG Superstar contest right now, and you'll see hundreds of great magic items. Every single one still in the voting pool is easily a B-, and there are dozens of A+ items in there. I look in the 5e DMG and... not a lot of the magic items in there grab me.

RPG Superstar is a funny beast. It's not that there aren't Spell-in-a-Can magic items in Pathfinder. There are lots. Tonnes in the Core Rulebook and Ultimate Equipment. They're easy to use, desirable for players, and fairly fun at the table. But they're a poor gauge of the skill of a game designer, so they're discouraged in that contest.

Most of the 5e magic items are classics. They're simple and iconic and have been in the game for longer than most people on this forum have been alive. But, no, that doesn't make them particularly evocative.
But you can't just tack on new powers to them, or rework all the magic items.


Still, how jaded are we when a sword that's freakin' on fire isn't cool enough any more?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Since the campaign started before the DMG was out, the magic items I've given out have all been custom.

The cleric got a mace that allows her to attack with the strength of her faith (Wisdom) rather than physical strength, and can answer one divination-style question every day at dawn.

The paladin (with the defender combat style) got a magic shield that, once per encounter, will allow him to use his defense ability to protect an ally as far away as 30 feet.

The druid got an armlet that lets him cast a spell in wild shape, but only once/day.

The fighter got a flail that can lengthen or shorten on command, giving her either 10-ft. reach, 15-ft. reach with a damage penalty, or--once per short rest--perform a Scorpion-style "Get over here!" attack up to 50 ft. away.

 

[CapnZapp]

I'll start you off with some shameless self promotion. On my blog I've been going through old Dragon Magazines and converting 1e and 2e stuff to 5e. Here's a link to just the things I've tagged as magic items, though I've done a bunch of monsters and spells as well.

http://5egrognard.blogspot.com/search/label/magic items

Feedback:

Sword of Night: I'd lose the +1. The sword still counts as magical, and is still insanely desirable. Unlike previous editions, items with special powers don't need static plusses. Btw, a good design call that, to leave off frightened. Shouldn't a sword this good require attuning?

Sword of Assassination: I guess by "assassin character" you mean "only rogues with assassin subclass". A better way to enforce this (admittedly wonky) restriction would be to call out the particular class ability instead, perhaps death strike. This way, there's no confusion whether "assassin" means any old sneaky cutthroat.... and it would theoretically allow future classes/subclasses that also give out this class ability to work straight away. Since it is so restricted, I agree no attuning.

Everstriking: paying a couple of hp to turn misses into hits is an easy choice. I understand why you added exhaustion to the mix, but perhaps easier to simply assume any level 1 character will quickly die... this is an excellent weapon for high-level characters in 5e, since with bounded accuracy even when you roll '1', you're unlikely to lose more than 20 hp! You would normally never want to take exhaustion instead; except when Greater Restoration becomes plentiful. In short: I'd lose the bit about exhaustion...

Trumpet of doom: strange how "but what if there are lots more creatures than four?" isn't answered. I'm imagining this item creating dozens upon dozens of undead, and the duration should really continue to be halved all the way down to "a single encounter" (say 10 minutes), IMO.

Regards,

 

[Li Shenron]

If you don't like the pluses, why not just leave them off and tag on a secondary ability as the only magic?

That's exactly what I'm going to do.

Because the math of the game has been stripped away from level advancement you can do just about anything.

Exactly.

I think some people get really worked up over "+1" magic items in 5e, and don't realize that you can 100% just leave that off and replace it with something else and you're not going to break a damn thing.

Not only it isn't going to break the game, but it will work towards balance. It's one-point tighter bounded accuracy.

OR...to be more sympathetic, they wanted WotC to do this because they're the game designers and it's just more end work for busy DMs.

I would have wanted WotC designers to do it because it would have been a useful message, instead now we still get a lot of people assuming that because the +1 is still there in all magic weapon then it must mean that all magic weapons need it, when it is in fact the contrary.

That, and not including a +1 (or +X) to magic weapons actually makes +1 weapons more desirable/useful. If every magic weapon comes with a +1 minimum, then finding a +1 weapon with no additional property is kind of sad: you just know that it will become junk as soon as you find a similar weapon with a special property, because it will also have the same +1.

Remove the +1 from every magic weapon that has other properties, and there's a tactical reason to keep that +1 weapon around forever.

 

[Blackbrrd]

@Jumblejacks have you checked out page 142 and 143 in the DMG? It has tables that you can use (or use for inspiration) to make any magic item unique. A table for: who created it or was intended to use it?; What is a detail from it's history?; What minor properties does it have?; What quirks does it have? All of these can make any "plain" magic item interesting. You also have page 214/15 in the DMG with guidelines for creating sentient magic items.

Let's take the Cloak of Protection +1 that was made Air Elementals, half the normal weight and diaphanous. While wearing it you can speak with Air Elementals, you also feel fortunate and optimistic about what the future holds. Butterflies and other harmless creatures might frolic in your presence.

I much prefer "random" tables like that added to the game instead of page up and down with premade items that won't fit my campaign/setting. A bit of extra work sure, but it really makes the magic items unique. It also helps me as a DM just create a custom magic item.

All in all, it looks like they have done a good job with magic items in 5e, better than BE(CMI)/AD&D/3e, 3.5 and 4e in my opinion. The only way they could have done it better in my opinion is to have some more "random" charts for modifying magic items. I am totally fine with some simple items like a +1 weapon. It's an option to use them plain, add customizations or just skip them and give some cooler items like the Nine Lives Stealer Sword.

Slightly off-topic: Just got my DMG today and after having just browsed through the book, it looks awesome. Just the kind of tool you would want as a DM. Sure, I would wish for more optional rules and customizations, but the book is 320 pages long, so I guess they just ran out of space. I hope they publish some rules expansions targeted at DMs. With the quality of the DMG, I am sure to buy it.