D&D 5E Magic Items

[Nilbog]

Hi

just a quick question on magic items, are named items (especially weapons) automatically +1? so does a flametongue sword give +1 to hit and damage as well as the flaming effect?

If not, how would you balance a +1 Flametongue? up its rarity a level??

thank you

 

[The Crimson Binome]

just a quick question on magic items, are named items (especially weapons) automatically +1? so does a flametongue sword give +1 to hit and damage as well as the flaming effect?

No, they're not. Flametongue has its own unique abilities bonuses, but doesn't give a flat bonus to hit or damage.

If not, how would you balance a +1 Flametongue? up its rarity a level??

Magic items aren't balanced. While a +1 Flametongue might be more rare than a regular Flametongue, there's no reason to believe that there's more than one Flametongue in the world. It's going to vary between game worlds.

Unless the DM is starting a new game, and specifically stating that everyone gets one rare item and one very rare item, it's just not going to come up. The +1 Flametongue will be exactly where the DM says it is.

 

[77IM]

If not, how would you balance a +1 Flametongue? up its rarity a level??

Yeah, pretty much.

As Saelorn points out, it's totally up to the DM. If you're the DM you could easily rule that all magic weapons and armor bear at least a +1 bonus, and not raise the rarity at all. It would probably still be balanced as it affects many items.

The rarity system isn't totally balanced anyway. An item's rarity also reflects, well, how rare it is in the setting. Generally, more powerful items are harder to make and therefore more rare, but this isn't universally true. Actually, the rarest items should be the ones that are useless but hard to make -- nobody bothers making them, so they are incredibly rare. ;}

 

[CapnZapp]

Yes, I would consider a +1 Flametongue one level more rare than the DMG Flametongue.

 

[ranger69]

Also the more + and specials on weapons, armour and suchlike the more expensive it is. The more expensive the longer it takes to make.

 

[abirdcall]

Also the more + and specials on weapons, armour and suchlike the more expensive it is. The more expensive the longer it takes to make.

Not necessarily.

This sort of thing is left up to the DM in 5e.

Maybe you can't make any magic items, the only ones being crafted a long time ago.

Maybe they all take the same amount of time and you just need special ingredients and formulae.

Or maybe there are magic item workshops with people working away at them and a +1 Flametongue is a special order item.

Up to you. There are no rules as they aren't assumed to be in the game and are not balanced against anything.

Personally I wouldn't add +1-3s to anything, and I would even take them away from some items. They mess with the math and tend to be less memorable than special abilities.