D&D 5E Would you let your player choose their magic items they get?

[Asisreo]

The thing with me is that I don't randomly roll and I don't necessarily let players completely influence my decisions on where and when magic items appear. If a player asked me about a magic item, I'd tell them if they knew where to look for such an item or something similar and if they did, I'd tell them as many clues as they'd realistically know.

Maybe I'll say "You've seen potions of healing being sold in the herbalist shop in the capital" or maybe I'll say "You don't know where it is, but you know of archebal, the wizard you've gone to academy with that has wrote a thesis on the item. He might not have it anymore, though"

If they don't have any clue, I'll tell them they'd have no clue and they should research it themselves using the DMG or XGtE rules based on the campaign I'm running. And even then, the item might just not exist because it doesn't add to my setting.

I don't have goblin lairs with flametounge or kobolds with frostbrands unless I specifically have the lairs dedicated to these rare items. Maybe the wielder was a demigod the goblins worship or something. At the same time, I might not like that idea and never implement it. I may never find the right place for a certain magic item in my world.

That's not to say I don't want my players to have fun, but I personally think it's weak to have a player's every whim in my game just because they might be spoiled.

5e isn't built to rely on magic items, so it's up to my players to realize that they shouldn't rely on them. It also makes the item feel special.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Basically the title.


Also, players: would you be upset that the DM chooses the magic items rather than allow you to choose and introduce them because you asked?

Personally, I like to control the rate magic items appear and which ones appear when. I wouldn't care if my DM didn't give a magic item. It is part of their responsibilities after all.

I figure out with characters what magic items they have, and while some magic item loot is rolled randomly ahead of time and given to NPCs they may fight or otherwise deal with, some of the loot will be things the PCs will want. I also let the PCs craft pretty much whatever they want.

IME, 5e just kinda...doesn't break. In a given campaign, I know how to build encounters for the group, what will challenge them vs what will be easy, tempered by just making the world make sense, and stuff like higher stats from rolling vs lower point buy, bonus level 1 feat or not, lots of magic items vs none/few, long adventuring days vs purely plot driven time constraints and thus many days being fairly "short" in terms of combat, etc, none of it breaks the game.

 

[Tonguez]

I use an influence mechanic IMC which kinda combines wealth score and leadership to determine how much Mana/Influence a PC has.

A PC has to have sufficient Mana to even wield a Magic item and while things like Sowrd +1 might be given to the PCs by a Patron, every other magic item has a story and a former owner who originally infused it with Power - the PC has to prove they are worthy to weild that power, which generally means research and a quest.

I set the story and the quest but if the PCs show interest in purusing it then I assume they are interested in the item. Of course if they dont have sufficient Mana to ptove themselves worthy then the item may fail to work as planned.

 

[Horwath]

well yes, but actually...

To me all common and uncommon magic items should me more or less available in any larger settlement.

As for random drops, they should not be random. Good DM should make encounters with specific loot in mind given the characters that the players are having.

If you have a party full of casters and light armor users, it would be bad design to have +1 fullplate drop every 3rd fight or similar.

Take a look at your PCs character sheet and see what would be useful to them. And if that sits well with the encounter, have that be used by one of the NPCs.

 

[Asisreo]

To sort-of bring the reasoning for the question. In another thread, I talked about how fly was a big boon for a monk and 4-ele was the only way to get it. I was told that a monk is assumed to have a flying magic item already. It was stated that the majority of DM's would put the item into the campaign merely because the DM asked for it. I said it's not practical to assume the DM will just cave to that request.

Personally, I wouldn't specifically because there's a path that you could've chosen if you wanted flight as a monk but you decided against it, making that choice less meaningful. It also puts the burden on me to find somewhere to put such an item, which is unlikely for my frequently low magic item settings where the technique to even craft an item has been long lost in ancient ruined civilizations.

 

[FireLance]

The question is irrelevant since I mostly run adventures published by WotC in 5e. The players get the magic items in the adventure. End of conversation.

 

[Li Shenron]

Yeah. This is supposed to be a cooperative endeavor.

Where does it say that?

I am more than willing to discuss with players what kind of game they want. If they want a monty haul game with lots of magic items, I have no problems. If they want a game where equipment is "planned", as if an extension of character building, heh I am not a fan but I can manage. I can even go as far as bringing back the magic shoppes where everything that's in the book can be bought off the shelves if they really want, even though I have grown to hate the dynamics of that.

But I do not buy that I am "supposed" to do that. It's certainly not the only way to run a game, and a DM has their rights too for a game of their liking. And my own preference is that magic items are like monsters, the PCs can seek to find specific items like they can also seek to fight specific monsters, but they stay beyond their direct control.

 

[S'mon]

Basically the title.


Also, players: would you be upset that the DM chooses the magic items rather than allow you to choose and introduce them because you asked?

Personally, I like to control the rate magic items appear and which ones appear when. I wouldn't care if my DM didn't give a magic item. It is part of their responsibilities after all.

I'm not totally sure what this is asking. I don't do "I want a pony" GMing where the GM has requested items appear in loot drops. But PCs can often make specific items, and they may be able to quest for specific items though that's very rare IME. In most campaigns I have a short list of purchasable items which includes some decent stuff. But normally items either are found adventuring and thus not at all tailored to the PCs, or else gifted as rewards by NPCs in which case they are somewhat tailored in-world.

 

[S'mon]

I don't use 4e's magic item gift set where players could map out their items for the DM or simply grind down items to create another from the remains. Still, I don't really have any restrictions on which items can appear in my game.

I find the 4e Wish Lists 'I want X/Look, it's in the loot drop!' concept quite offensive, OTOH I'm fine with easy item crafting in 4e, including Disenchant & Enchant rituals - though not Transfer Enchantment, which treats magic items too much like spell effects for me. I think it's to do with metagame vs in-world. I don't object to a world where PCs can easily buy or make the items they want, or even ask a friendly NPC to give or make them one, but having Player request item to 'just appear', it just feels wrong.

 

[S'mon]

Asking, "Hey, GM, could we get a longsword in here at some point? You destroyed my last one, and now I can't support my party very well because you keep using monsters that are only vulnerable to magic weapons," seems a reasonable request.

I think it's better if the PC can use their money to buy a longsword (or have the wizard enchant one). Keeps it IC.