D&D 5E The logic behind magic items treasure tables?

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Jester David]

Do we have an official explanation of how they designed these "A-I" tables?

They are vaguely ordered by the relative power of their magic items, but not strictly. They also mix permanent items with consumables.

As you move higher in the alphabet the rarity increases, with consumables either being given their own table or increased frequency on tables. As mentioned, A-E are mostly consumables or low-impact items, with Table A being common consumables and Table E being very rare.

Beyond that, the items tend to be sorted alphabetically by odds. So you have A-Z in the items with a 5% chance, A-Z with the 2% chance items, and A-Z with the 1% chance items. Often with armours spaced out evenly. Table F is uncommon permanent magic items that have a greater game impact while Table I is all the very rare impactful items.

Nope.

In fact, it feels like they just made it up as they went along. All the experience designing and playing 3e and 4e went down the drain...

3e's random magic item tables weren't any better.
And 4e didn't even bother attempting random magic item tables.

Unless this is another post complaining about how they didn't assign exact and absolute gold piece values for each item...

 

[Li Shenron]

The logic, of course, is that there is a table.

...

But you say- how, exactly, were the dinosaur percentages derived? No. That is missing the point.


Just be happy there is a table.

Somehow I think also my point is being missed here...

I wasn't looking for an explanation why there is a table... the random magic items (or harlot/dinosaur encounter) table serves the purpose of randomizing the specifics when the DM has decided that there is a magic item to be found or harlot/dinosaur to be encountered.

And I wasn't looking for an explanation of percentages either, because they don't matter, beyond the generic "the rarer, the less probable" (which is actually self-defining).

What I was looking for was an explanation of why different multiple tables. But I am not looking for it anymore, because while some were giving up before trying, I figure it out by myself:

tables A-E contain [I]consumables[/I] and some lesser [I]permanent[/I] items, mostly wondrous items
tables F-I contain [I]permanent items[/I]

table A: 
 common consumables
 lesser uncommon consumables (healing and 2nd-level spells)
 lesser uncommon wondrous items (bag of holding, light)

table B:
 uncommon consumables
 uncommon wondrous items (some of them, presumably of intermediate value)
 lesser uncommon armors (mithral, mariner)
 lesser uncommon rings (swimming)
 lesser uncommon wands (detection)

table C:
 rare consumables
 uncommon wondrous items (presumably the better ones)
 lesser rare wondrous items (handy haversack, folding boat, horseshoes)

table D:
 very rare consumables
 rare wondrous items

table E:
 greater very rare scrolls (8th-level spells)*
 greater very rare potions (healing)*
 greater very rare ammunition (slaying)
 legendary consumables
*these are also in table D, my guess is they were added also to table E otherwise it's too small of a table

table F:
uncommon permanent items**

table G:
rare permanent items**

table H:
very rare permanent items**

table I:
legendary permanent items**

**armors have a more precise distribution by type and therefore AC (so that uncommon heavier armors might be in table G or even H, rare heavier armors might be in H and I etc.)

So as you can see it wasn't that difficult to figure out The logic of Tables F-I is really simple. Tables A-E confused me because some wondrous items are also included, but they are actually mostly stuff that doesn't have significant use in combat.

 

[Tony Vargas]

And nothing screams 1e like tables. Lots and lots of tables. And if you ask yourself, "Self, what is the logic behind this," then you're doing it wrong. The logic, of course, is that there is a table.

(Heh, I always like the old "you ask our self, Self..." joke.)

There supposedly was a logic behind the random item tables in the 1e DMG (if you believe what the 1e DMG had to say about it's own tables). It was meant to be weighted towards items that would be useful to classes that needed a magical edge to keep up with casters at higher levels.

So as you can see it wasn't that difficult to figure out The logic of Tables F-I is really simple. Tables A-E confused me because some wondrous items are also included, but they are actually mostly stuff that doesn't have significant use in combat.

Ok then.

 

[ccs]

Because 5e is inclusive of older editions.

And nothing screams 1e like tables. Lots and lots of tables. And if you ask yourself, "Self, what is the logic behind this," then you're doing it wrong. The logic, of course, is that there is a table.

Because you never know when you'll need a table in town-
View attachment 76323

Best table ever. (runner up: Treasure type H in 1e)
No DMG is complete without a random harlot table.

 

[Trudra]

Do we have an official explanation of how they designed these "A-I" tables?

They are vaguely ordered by the relative power of their magic items, but not strictly. They also mix permanent items with consumables.

The items on the charts are not as important as the rarity and how many you get on each role. As the level of play goes up so do the quality and number of items you get. As you can see in the chart below the number of items at each quality level goes up with the CR of the monsters.

As for individuals pointing out why should you care, primarily so we can add other magic Items from other books to the random list. As a DM I take into account what players have on a wish list and hand those out as special items for reaching a goal. I do all other treasures randomly as I am not reading through everything to just randomly pick what I think is cool.

Special note:
CR 11-16: combines A and B as well as F and G under the same % roll so add them together.

Treasure type by CR	0-4	5-10	11-16	17+
A: Common/ Uncommon	D6	D6	D4
B: Uncommon	D4	D4	D6
C: Uncommon/ Rare	D4	D4	D6	D8
D: Rare/ Very Rare		1	D4	D6
E: Very Rare/ Legendary			1	D6
F: Uncommon	D4	D4	1
G: Rare	1	D4	D4	D4
H: Very Rare		1	D4	D4
I: Rare - Legendary			1	D4

 

[Blue]

Ah, @Trudra , it's an 8 year old thread you're necro-ing.