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

[R_J_K75]

Sure if a player builds it into their character concept and/or background I will work it into a game but that was generally in pre-4E games. Prior to 4E I usually would roll randomly, or add something I knew would be useful in upcoming adventures. Otherwise they had to search out or make anything they wanted. I tried the magical item Christmas list once or twice in 4E and it just didn't work, seemed too contrived. In 5E I find myself using magical items less and less, and I like to add 1 or 2 really cool items every now and then that the whole party can use rather than a bunch of minor ones. For some reason for the 2 years Ive run my current campaign they seem to end up with lots of explosives and bombs for some reason, which are fun when they go BOOM.

 

[commandercrud]

The PCs can research and quest to locations that may have what they seek. Or they can pay a ton of cash to a famed blacksmith. Or they can take what they find (usually rolled randomly). But they cannot simply browse the DMG and point and say, gimme that!

 

[jasper]

It depends. Give me your wish list. If I laugh at an item it goes. If it is a common, uncommon item, I will either place it or let you buy it in game some how. The rest let us discuss this. And one factor will be how much are you a pill at the game, or how much you help the game run smoothly. This does assume I am playing with my last homebrew group. Which I due to the social contract had to let a goober play.

 

[Fenris-77]

In a game where "character build" matters, it is a bit short of ridiculous.

3e is really the best example here, but the point holds for other editions of the game. 3e had a built-in assumption that the characters would have a certain load-out of magic items, and it was expected that those items would actually help them in fights. But, destruction of items was also not infrequent. So, if you happen to have taken feats investing in a given weapon, for example, and none of that kind of weapon show up in game, your character may be hamstrung.

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 should have been more specific. Characters have lots of options to find items in my games using their own initiative. Magic is for sale, up to a point, and there is lots PCs can do using down time to find items and rumors of items that they specifically want. Crafting is also a viable option, especially for lower level items. So it's not as if that Longsword +1 isn't available, and in the case of something so low key, probably not even with that much work. What I found ridiculous was the idea that the contents of the PCs wish list should just happen to be what the Demi-lich Galroth has packed away in his treasure chests. I'll tailor items found in hordes a little bit sometimes, but not too much. The +1 longsword by itself isn't what I was thinking of - in that case I'd make sure one was available, just probably not in a horde.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Depends what you mean, so I voted maybe.

If a player says "I think it would be really cool if Item X appeared in this campaign at some point", I'll usually note that down. Hell I note down far less direct discussions, where people talk about cool items or the like. Doesn't mean they'll "definitely get it", but it means I'm a lot more likely to add that item specifically.

In 4E, players wrote a "wish list" of items. Again this wasn't prescriptive for the DM. You didn't "have to" give them anything on it, but it often gave you cool ideas for loot to place (or rewards for NPCs to give, or the like). I found that worked really well, myself, and I liked it.

One of the 5E campaigns I'm in, Odyssey of the Dragonlords also allows players to pick a specific magic item (or two) they want to appear in the campaign. When they pick their "Epic Fate" (a setting specific thing), part of that is one or more magic items, usually chosen from a very small list (I think one fate has only one specific item but most have more). That seems like it will work well.

If a player asked for an item as part of an L1 character's backstory, I'd be pretty leery to give it to them unless the item wasn't powerful, and was fun. When creating a new/replacement character? If they want a couple of specific items that would put them on-par with the other PCs, sure, though if they are replacing a dead PC (rather than newly joining) I would keep the number very low unless the dead PC and his items were not recovered by the group.

 

[Iry]

So, I have seen several GM say that, and say that they allow it. But then, they turn around and make all plots time sensitive.

I tend to use time-sensitive plots, but my players came up with a good trick. They make it sound like finding a legendary item is necessary to stop the BBEG, like how critical role went after Star Razor.

I never said a peep about the item being necessary, they just decided it was part of their quest to defeat the bad guy.

 

[NaturalZero]

One thing I'd like to try once I get in the DM's chair again is to focus more on temporary consumables in the vein of the Witcher. Need a special weapon to harm undead? There's an oil with a shelf life of one week that you can craft with local herbs. Need to kill demons? There's an incense you can carry in a burner that removes their resistance within a radius. Players get to research and prepare for enemies but don't have to rely solely on pumped up magic gear to get the job done.

 

[Ringtail]

Mostly no but I'm open to suggestion. I like the idea of a magic item wish-list.

I'd ask each player to make a (short) list of items they would like to see. I'll use most or all of them spread out over the whole campaign. Some might be hard to get. I'm also open to magic items if they are part of your character concept.

For example, my cleric has a sword that belonged to a legendary saint, though it is non-magical. I explained to my DM that I didn't want to replace the sword as soon as I find a +1 Insert Weapon Here as its important to my character. He agreed and created some plans for me to power up/enchant the sword.

Or once my brother played a Cavalier and near the start of the campaign mentioned he wanted a flying mount. I expressed some doubt as I was currently awestruck over his lance damage at full gallop but eventually dropped him a Figurine of Wondrous Power that turns into a Griffon near the end of the campaign. (Griffon also allowed them to escape an almost TPK.)

Though these days, I'm more and more interested in the OSR style magic items. Which are random and do specific things instead of applying generic stat bonuses. In this case even I roll randomly, and simply asking for these items defeats the purpose.

 

[jmartkdr2]

In 5e, I haven't seen a lot of games where players feel they need a specific set of items like in 3.5 or 4e. As a DM though, I almost never ever ever roll random magic items anymore because I know what it's like to be a player at a table where the DM throws nothing but useless items at the group. I remember a game where I was running a greatweapon barbarian and the DM was confused as to why I wanted to just sell off the special magical dagger he gave me.

I'm recalling a monk I had in a 3e game who was carrying three magic longswords. Never used them, just carried them. Partially because the wizard already had five so she couldn't carry anymore.

There were no spell scrolls in the campaign, which ended at level 20.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah. This is supposed to be a cooperative endeavor. The 4e wishlist approach gives the GM some idea of the direction the player wants to go in. It isn't a promise, it isn't binding, but it is helpful in knowing what the player wants to see.

I'm playing in a 5e game. My gnomish artificer has had one of his two infused items tied up as a Bag of Holding for the entire campaign. Half of one of my character signature abilities is tied up as a narrative convenience for everyone, including the GM. There's only so long I should do that - at some point, if he wants the convenience, the GM maybe ought to support it, yeah?

IMC, you’d be able to make the bag permanent buy spending you rests working on it, and then finishing the work in a day or two of downtime, if the story didn’t call for weeks of downtime being reasonable.

I also allow magic items to be made early with a simple enchant, and upgrade over time to the full version.
So a +1 “Longspear“ (glaive) that does lightning damage, is thrown with extended range, and returns to your hand, and x/day does a lightning bolt effect when thrown, would be given to the character or crafted or whatever early on as a glaive with the thrown and returning property, and 1d4 lightning damage on a hit.
Over levels, the PC would either find stuff to upgrade it (if they crafted it) or unlock more of its power (if an heirloom item).

My PC who woulda been an artificer if that had been an option 3 years ago has a magic “Dueling spear“ (rapier) made of owl bear bone and an obsidian blade, that has charges and can cast absorb elements, Counterspell, and dispel magic, (Counterspell has to be against a spell that targets me or lands or originates within my reach) and can sometimes burn a single charge to allow an arcana check to disable a simple magical effect like Alarm. It’s called Spell-Eater, and it originally just cast absorb elements 3/day.