D&D 5E Noticing a magic item

[CapnZapp]

Pixel bitching is fine. Crucially, the game can be played without it.

I'm happy you can play 5th Ed in the way where you need to poke every brick with your eleven foot pole as long as I don't have to

 

[Fanaelialae]

Yeah, there's definitely a "how much enjoyment gained vs. how much time spent" thing that goes into this, and I really don't understand the "entertainment calculus" that goes into a lot of people's thoughts. Particularly when so much is made of reducing the time allegedly "wasted" on combats...so that more of this pix--er, "fine-toothed comb," spend-half-an-hour-meticulously-deconstructing-the-lair stuff can be squeezed in?

I don't think that optimizing the flow of combat is typically done so that there's more time for "fine-toothed comb" play. More likely, it's to move the game along to whatever aspects of play the group enjoys most. Which, I'll grant, could be "fine-toothed combing" if you're into that sort of thing...

 

[77IM]

I don't know the new rules at all, I'm an old AD&D2e player coming back after a 2 decade break, so it could be that things have changed. But in old games I played the DM may well say ''he's got on really nice boots'' when he is talking about a perfectly normal, but well made, expensive pair of boots. I seem to recall quite a few magic items specifically looking 'nothing out of the ordinary' and at least one particular item we found looking distinctly shabby.

To my mind - and again the new rules may contradict me - this is how it should be. Otherwise what is the point of detect magic?

That's pretty much how I run it. The "really nice boots" might just be expensive boots. A player who examines them might get clues that they are magical (e.g., the rest of the corpse's clothes are tattered and rotten but the boots are perfectly intact; or, pulling the boots off the feet makes no sound whatsoever) but to be certain, somebody has to pop off a detect magic (it's a ritual now, so no biggie).

 

[Uchawi]

If you place a magic item in the game as a DM, the thought process is you want one of the players to have it. So why work so hard to conceal it? A cursed item or artifact may be an exception. But either can have a big swing on party dynamics so it makes sense to conceal it or make it harder to find. Or for a cursed item provide multiple warnings. I guess you could have a table or game that is all about randomness and luck of the draw. I guess that would be the most appropriate time to let the dice decide.

 

[RevelationMD]

If you place a magic item in the game as a DM, the thought process is you want one of the players to have it. So why work so hard to conceal it? A cursed item or artifact may be an exception. But either can have a big swing on party dynamics so it makes sense to conceal it or make it harder to find. Or for a cursed item provide multiple warnings. I guess you could have a table or game that is all about randomness and luck of the draw. I guess that would be the most appropriate time to let the dice decide.

It's funny - generally I see things the entirely opposite way. The villain in the story (assuming he's not wearing the item when he's killed) would almost certainly try to conceal his valuables - regardless of whether I as the DM in an OOC capacity would like the party to find them. A cursed item - especially a sentient cursed item - may very well want to be found and so be designed to be ''obviously special'' to entice the unwary to pick it up.

That said - it depends on the magic item in question, its history and the importance of the item being found to further the story. Trust me, if I was DMing and the party couldn't proceed to the part that I had spent several nights writing without picking up the 'ring of translocation' - that ring would be singing, dancing and juggling to get noticed.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

The problem with just giving players items or giving obvious hints is that they won't get rewarded for their actions. Player actions should matter and my players certainly have more fun when they get a reward because they played well rather than they just get an item because I decided it to be there.

 

[Uchawi]

I always had a problem with magic being easy to use, versus easy to discover, so to that end an item may have multiple properties and over time through testing the true power is revealed. But at least one of the players has it

 

[Maxperson]

Let's say the group finds a corpse and that corpse is wearing a magic item, e.g. his shoes are magical. But nobody in the group mentions they wanna check out the stuff he is wearing. They might just end up giving the corpse a proper burial. Nobody used Detect Magic either. Would you as DM give them hints? Like "Something seems extraordinary about his clothes" or would you just be "Well if they don't want to search a dead body they have to live with not getting the magic item he is wearing"?

No. Magic items can be missed just like any other. I once had an ancient temple that had been abandoned in a hurry. The PCs went inside and I had descriptions all over about the incredibly rusted state of hinges and other metal items that they encountered. They eventually found a workshop and on the bench I described to them an unpainted steel shield that was reflecting their torch light off of its shiny surface. They just left the +2 shield sitting there and walked away.

The situation there is slightly different in that the clues were there for them to see, but that still doesn't mean that I will invent clues if they decided not to engage in adventuring 101 and detect magic on the body with the magical shoes.

 

[Maxperson]

If you place a magic item in the game as a DM, the thought process is you want one of the players to have it.

My thought process is..

I want one of the players to have it if they earn it. That could be as simple as casting a detect magic, or as hard as finding the secret lead lined compartment in the treasure vault.

So why work so hard to conceal it?

Because NPCs aren't stupid. They aren't going to leave all of their valued treasures around for the party to just stumble across. There are lots of reasons why a magic item would be hard to find.

 

[S'mon]

If I want PCs to have an item, NPCs come and give them the item. Everything else is optional. If they don't check the body and the shoes don't look unusual, too bad.