D&D 5E new, learning to be GM, have Questions

[Pinkie3.14159]

so I'm working on making a whole (smallish) world and I've got this idea to make magic items prevalent, make a whole world that is got excess magic that can, in certain circumstances, seep into items and make them magical without a person or entity purposely making it so. now to try and balance things I'm thinking of making gold/currency in shorter supply, and to make some of the magic items be useful, but not combat useful. maybe it dyes your hair, or makes you burp, maybe some are unhelpful without being exactly a curse. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on pitfalls, or things that would be good to do. this world is a little silly, kinda being inspired by the land of Oz, at least the version in the books. I've played a bit here and there over the years, but my normal GM is wanting a chance to play, so I said I would try. any advise would be welcome.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Why would you hand out less currency? If the magical items you hand out aren't useful or just gimmicky they can't be sold for a lot of money(*1). Furthermore, you said that the spontaneous infusion of items with magic happens under certain, not further described, circumstances that sounds like it is not that common.
If magic items are that prevalent in your world there should be shops to buy and sell them nearly everywhere.

As long as you don't hand out magic items that actually improve what the characters can do beyond what is assumed by the game you should be fine. If you give them too many gimmicky items and they can just sell them and buy more combat relevant items it is the same as handing your players too much currency.

Look at magic items as currency(*1).

In your world it shouldn't matter if you hand your players
500G
5000S
4 rubies they can sell for 500G
2 magical items they can sell for 500G
as long as 500G is the number of wealth you want your players to gain.


The spontaneous infusion with magic could also create potentially dangerous items like bombs that need to be defused or portals to dangerous parts of the world/other worlds that need to be closed. There you go instant quests and sidequests.

 

[Leatherhead]

Limiting gold isn't really that big of a hindrance to groups. After the point where you can buy plate armor, gold has next to no impact on how much combat power a character has in 5e. That point is going to happen around level 5. And of course, that's assuming your players are using characters who want such expensive pieces of equipment.

Fortunately for your set up, if a magic item proves too disruptive, you can simply hand-wave it into a different magic item overnight. And having a general limit on powers of even once per short rest will curb most abuses before they can get started.

As for magic effects that are far more useful than anticipated:
Anything that can be used at-will.
Anything that summons something, be it an object, monster, or person.
Things that change the characters physical dimensions.
Reusable healing items.

You should also shy away from "cursed" items that take away control of characters from players, or that drastically change characters.

Additionally, expect players to dump buckets of water on any witch they find.

Oh yes, also, welcome to the forums.

 

[MNblockhead]

Agree with other posters. Gold isn't going to be something to worry about.

The main balance is that in a world like this, it isn't just the PCs that have access to magic. Not only that, but powerful people will covet and hoard powerful magic and control the especially powerful items. There is still going to be the haves and have-nots. This may mean that lower-level characters have to be VERY careful until they are able to have sufficient magical protections of their own and sufficiently powerful magic to get past the protections of the antagonists.

 

[jaelis]

This seems like some good advice, but also, don't worry too much about it. You have an interesting idea, feel free to just go with it and see what happens. I bet that most people here learned the game in horribly unbalanced whacky campaigns, that were still plenty fun

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

wrong thread

 

[aco175]

I can picture something similar to Ley Lines where magic is focused and certain creatures can sense where these are. Maybe a certain race or class can predict or know where they are.

A good adventure may involve an evil caster setting up a tower at the crossroads of these lines and being able to terrorize the locals. Maybe a hidden cave where a secret fountain sits at the crossroads and infuses items placed in it. It could be instantly, or over some time. Heck, it could be a year or such and you come in and see a bunch of items in the fountain with date tags and owners hanging off of them.

 

[Pinkie3.14159]

did I post this in the wrong place? if so I'm sorry, what should I have done differently?

 

[robus]

did I post this in the wrong place? if so I'm sorry, what should I have done differently?

No worries Flexor responded in the wrong thread. His problem, not yours. Carry on.

 

[Oofta]

Something I've done in my own campaign is that the magic specified in the DMG is magic that is useful to adventurer types, and that magic permeates the world. People don't think of magic more than we think of electricity. It's useful, just about everywhere and potentially dangerous if not handled correctly.

In addition, most of the magic used by non-adventurers is of the very mundane variety. A potion that helps cure the flu or helps bones mend more quickly (speeding recovery but not making it instantaneous) a water dowser's rod that really does help find a good place to drill a well. Low level, but things that are useful for everyday life. Most people will understand what a fireball is, although a cantrip that makes the baker's bread last a little longer is far more useful even if he doesn't realize that's what he's doing when he makes bread the way he was taught.

So yes, that broom might be magical, but it just cleans the floor a little better and doesn't allow you to fly.

Hopefully that gives you some ideas.

As far as gold goes ... gold is only useful if you let people purchase things. Let the PCs buy the table cloth that never stains no matter how much gravy is spilled on it, but limit access to +1 swords and you should be good.