D&D 5E What magic items should you have for a given level?

[Mistwell]

I'm speaking of the charts like Pathfinder has that if you are at x level you are likely to have x numbers of magic items, cash, etc.

5e takes a great deal of pains to combat this notion, to speak to it directly and explain 5e isn't like that, and to discourage it. If your DM really really wants it, there are some rough guidelines. But, the stated intent of 5e is to have no fixed charts for this, to have no set number of magic items and cash at a specific level, etc.. It's intentionally being left flexible for each DM and campaign.

 

[Hereticus]

An experienced DM knows what is appropriate, so do the players.

If you have to look at a chart, you are doing it wrong.

 

[steeldragons]

I think the presumption that this is something the DM of this game wants might be mistaken.

The language in the OP sounds more like it is something the poster wants/is looking for...Perhaps to show to their DM to, shall we say, "express their desire" for more magic items/feel they are not receiving "enough" or their perception of "an appropriate amount" for their level. Perhaps they feel they're receiving too much? Perhaps some other reason.

But I'm just guessing/reading between lines/could be wrong. *shrug*

 

[ExploderWizard]

Such a thing is highly campaign dependent. Everything depends on how the DM wants magic items to work. The rarity ratings exist in order to compare magic items against each other. The DM still needs to decide how common ANY magic items are at all. So in one campaign, common items might be found regularly in shops. In another campaign, common might mean that adventurers may have heard of such items but very few have ever found one.

 

[Jester David]

Page 38 of the DMG. Or however many fit your campaign.

 

[Sunseeker]

I'm speaking of the charts like Pathfinder has that if you are at x level you are likely to have x numbers of magic items, cash, etc.

Let's face it...it is D&D and loot is a HUGE part of the experience. We are playing in the Forgotten Realms so I think magic items are inherently part of the draw of the setting. It is after all, the highest magic setting in all D&D.

As has been stated, those charts do not exist in 5E. There are charts on what expected sorts of loot ranges your players should encounter at certain levels and those charts are tied to random item tables from which you could extrapolate the probability that a character might find a magic item and then turn that into a sort of base assumption on how likely a player is to have magic items at a certain level.

But there's no "You should have X magic items of Y quality by Z level." charts in 5E because in 5E the default assumption is that you probably won't have any magic items at all.

I believe there are also attunement limits.

 

[Riley37]

Respectfully, daddystabz, I think you might need to find a new DM. Just about every thread you've started here has been one complaining about your DM. Perhaps it's time to find another one?

My main goal on Enworld is to provide daddystabz with supporting material when he argues with his DM.

Therefore, I assert that a PC should have as many magical items, as the following characters from heroic fiction:

Odysseus, Beowulf, Robin Hood, Legolas/Gimli, Taran Wanderer, Inigo Montoya, and Sparrowhawk.

If having as many magic items as *each* of those characters doesn't feel like enough, then a PC should have as many magic items as *all of them combined*.

 

[daddystabz]

My main goal on Enworld is to provide daddystabz with supporting material when he argues with his DM.

Therefore, I assert that a PC should have as many magical items, as the following characters from heroic fiction:

Odysseus, Beowulf, Robin Hood, Legolas/Gimli, Taran Wanderer, Inigo Montoya, and Sparrowhawk.

If having as many magic items as *each* of those characters doesn't feel like enough, then a PC should have as many magic items as *all of them combined*.

That response was pretty asshat.

Too many of you assume way too much. My question about this was due to a DISCUSSION with the DM actually. We wanted to gauge this kind of thing as we increase in level. Some of the players in the campaign have expressed a tad boredom with the lack of interesting loot and really bad xp they have been getting. We are lucky to get 200 xp if we are lucky in a session. Part of this is due to the face out party size is very large, with 7 people now, and the fact that we are playing a starter adventure still at lvl 5. I was trying to help the DM have an idea of how to gauge this sort of thing. He asks me for my opinion a lot because I have a lot of experience and I ahve DM'ed a lot.

 

[jgsugden]

If you use the guidelines for treasure distribution in the DMG and assume a 5 PC party, the 'average' found magic item haul (excluding purchased items) is about 6 'permanent' magic items (not scrolls, potions, etc...) over 20 levels per PC. Those items are not all guaranteed to be that efficient or useful. If the PC allows magic item purchases and/or the PCs get lucky on treasure rolls, this could be more than tripled - or halved if the PCs are unlucky on the random treasure die rolls and can't buy magic items.

My recommendation is: 1 permanent item per PC by 6th level, then 2 more per PC found between 6th and 10th. Then 1 or 2 per PC between 11th and 15th and 1 or 2 more per PC after they reach 16th.

 

[Fildrigar]

That response was pretty asshat.

Too many of you assume way too much. My question about this was due to a DISCUSSION with the DM actually. We wanted to gauge this kind of thing as we increase in level. Some of the players in the campaign have expressed a tad boredom with the lack of interesting loot and really bad xp they have been getting. We are lucky to get 200 xp if we are lucky in a session. Part of this is due to the face out party size is very large, with 7 people now, and the fact that we are playing a starter adventure still at lvl 5. I was trying to help the DM have an idea of how to gauge this sort of thing. He asks me for my opinion a lot because I have a lot of experience and I ahve DM'ed a lot.

Do you mean 7 PCs, and you're playing two of them; or 7 players, but 8 characters, because you're playing two of them?