D&D 5E (2014) Magic Items with Charges

[SilverBulletKY]

Do you tell your players how many charges an item has left? Otherwise, why would they ever use their last charge and the item being destroyed in the process?

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I always tell them how many charges an item has, as part of the identification process. If I didn't, then they'd put it in their back pocket for a week and then assume it was full.

They will use the last charge, and risk breaking it, if it's an emergency and not using the last charge would be worse than losing the item.

 

[GM Lent]

Yeah, especially in 5th Edition it matters less, since everything just recharges every night anyway. If I didn't tell them they'd just wait util they were sure the item was full again.

 

[Shiroiken]

I tell my players the number of charges... but I also don't use rechargeable magic items. Once spent, those charges are gone forever.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I tell the players how many charges an item has when they identify it, including how many recharge when/if they recharge, and I leave it up to the players to keep track.

Sure, they basically never spend the last charge (since situations dire enough to be worth the risk of losing the item are pretty rare) - but in my experience the alternative that happens when the players don't know how many charges something has is the players rarely, if ever, using the item at all, which leaves me wondering "Why did I even give them this item?"