Magic items in campaign books.

I’m excited to return to DnD and running my friends through the Phandelver and below campaign setting.  

The party composition is an artificer, cleric, fighter and rouge. 
I feel like most of the magic items the players will acquire through the campaign are useful enough but I am open to suggestions on maybe replacing a few?  

For example they will get a +1 long sword fairly early in the game from the Redbrand hideout, and then later a +1 battle axe from the Thundertree side quest.   I feel like the fighter will be loading up on items fairly quick and want to spread the wealth around to other party members. 

At the most boring level you could consider swapping one of those weapons out for a +1 Rapier or a +1 shortbow to help the Rogue out, or a +1 Wand of the War Mage would boost the Artificer's spell output. If you're worried about defence consider swapping them for +1 armour in a style that would be useable by someone or a Cloak of Protection would give +1 AC to anyone. An Immoveable Rod is absolutely lethal in the hands of creative players and really encourages problem solving, and a Bag of Tricks would let them summon a random animal ranging from a rat to a bear which always goes down well. A Bag of Holding is also a useful starter magic item but I tend to give one of those out in addition to everything else.

All of these are in the free rules so you'll definitely have access to them without buying anything extra besides Phandelver and Below. 

Thanks. I think I’ll look into some defensive items.  The artificer already has a one up on the other characters already being able to craft googles of night and a returning javelin. 

As an alternative magic item, you can always see what individuals have already and give them a +1 of that same item.   You can also for defense, see what they could wear and give them a non magical item, but it would still boost their AC.  A thief can be stealthy wearing elven chain shirt and it is a boost from light armor.

But looking at wonderous items is a great leveler on magic.  Usually all can use them be they rings, rods, wands or clothes (above mentioned cloak of protection)

Quote from cpfontaine >>

 

I feel like the fighter will be loading up on items fairly quick and want to spread the wealth around to other party members. 

 
It is important to remember that Lost Mine of Phandelver was written for a party with 2 Fighters, a Cleric, a Rogue and a Wizard. That's the reason so many martial weapons crop up. The spell scrolls that crop up I think were intended for the Wizard to copy into their spell book. Unfortunately, the writers behind the update for Phandelver and Below were pretty lazy about the original adventure and didn't consider the presence of all the new classes, races and suchlike.

For your party here's how I'd look for the magic items to be distributed those in bold to be switched out:

 - Boots of Striding and Springing (All)
 - +1 Longsword from Redbrand Hideout (I suggest Rogue, but fighter can obviously use)
 - Lightbringer (Mace) (Cleric obviously, but all classes can use)
 - 2x Spell scrolls from Iarno @ redbrands (Meant for a wizard spellbook)
 - Staff of defence (Wizard)
 -  Old Owl Well's Spell Scroll (meant for wizard spellbook)
 - Netherese Ring of Protection (Suitable for all classes)
 - +1 Leather Armour from Thundertree (suitable for all)
 - Spell scrolls from Venom Fang
- +1 Battleaxe (Fighter)
 - Cragmaw Castle Spell Scrolls (meant for Wizard)
 - Cloak of Protection (suitable for all)
 - Wand of Magic Missile (All can use, but worth switching out)
 - Gauntlets of Ogre Power (All can use but mean for fighter, maybe cleric?)
 - Spider Staff (None of your classes can use)

Realistically, I'd say your fears are unfounded as long as you remember that Rogues get proficiency for Longswords and Shortswords. The artificer has their infusions so I can't see them being too tempted by the magic items on display here. Maybe you direct the Wand of Magic Missile to them. Ensure that the potions all get spread out evenly, but really you're only looking to substitute two staffs and a few spell scrolls. So if you're really concerned just sub out the spell scroll treasure for magic items aimed more towards the characters in question. If the Rogue has been going all in on their Crossbow, switch out 2 spell scrolls for a shiny case of +1 crossbow bolts. The spider staff and Staff of Defence also need switching out somehow so its an opportunity for your Artificer to maybe get some +1 ammo or a nice new armour piece. The other staff maybe something again for the rogue.

Beyond Wave Echo Cave, the magic items become more useful for your other classes too. Things like a Javelin of Lightning and Bracers of Archery. So I wouldn't worry about swapping any of those out. Sadly, this is all a casualty of a lack of clarity in the very beginning of the book. As I say all that was needed was for the writers either to mix up the available items, or to make a note that the original portion of the adventure assumed you'd have a Fighter/Cleric/Rogue/Wizard party composition. 

In truth though I've run LMoP quite a few times, and frankly have never bothered subbing out any magic items. I make a disclaimer at the top of the call for players. This adventure assumes a certain party composition, if you choose to go for classes other than those expected by the adventure some items, puzzles, and monsters may differ from the intended experience (more or less useful, more or less difficult). Assuming players are happy to proceed with that knowledge, they can choose what they like. Don't worry and don't overthink it.

The players can also always sell the items they don't need or bribe monsters with them, if you feel like they're overloading. You could narrate the Miner's Guild Tiefling eyeing the +1 longsword and extend an offer, or have a hostile NPC demand a spell scroll for passage.

Quote from WolfeCriedPup >>

The players can also always sell the items they don't need

 
I mean, if we're going RAW and we're considering the setting of the adventure I'd advise against this.

Phandalin is a town actively being rebuilt and isn't the weathiest. Halia (the Human) founder of the Miners' Exchange could possible have the money or be interesting in acquiring the item on behalf of the Zhentarim, but I'd suggest that any character having the spare 100-500gp to buy a magic item is very incongruous with the setting. Switching that up does risk players begin to question why the rebuilding is so slow if so many people are so rich (this happened in a few play throughs where I as DM decided to allow sale of magic items).

I don't see any issue selling ordinary items, but magic items are something different. Players attempting to stay alert to changes and inconsistencies within Phandalin will likely respond suspiciously to people with enough coin to by magic items. This goes doubly so with the changes made for the later half of Phandalin and Below.

Quote from martintheactor>> 

 

For your party here's how I'd look for the magic items to be distributed those in bold to be switched

 -
- 2x Spell scrolls from Iarno @ redbrands (Meant for a wizard spellbook)
 - Staff of defence (Wizard)
 (
 - Spider Staff (None of your classes can use)

See this is where I get confused.  I see your suggestion of removing the two staves since no one in the party can attune to them, but at the same time there is a dnd beyond article suggesting the staff of defense as a top artificer item.  Do they mean this suggestion for lvl14 artificers.  It seems to me that artificer can not attune to wizard specific items till lvl14,  am i interpreting this rule correctly?

I try to provide an item that they will occasionally find perfectly tailored for one of them. I attempt to do this throughout the campaign so everyone gets a thing. Some items I give knowing that no one can use them, but they can trade/sell them (I lean into bartering, crafting, strongholds and marketplaces a lot when it fits to give gold more of a purpose than adding more zeroes).

My last campaign I went through each character's backstory and created a unique item out of something they already had. This item would level up with the character and get more powerful. Each of these had to be attuned. There was a dwarf cleric whose holy symbol was a tankard of Clangeddon. He had a brief description, so I made the home-brew and after they gained so many levels I would add things to it.

Here is what the Tankard currently can do at the end of that Saltmarsh/homebrew campaign.

A tankard of exquisite craftsmanship.  Twin battle axes adorn it.

• Liquid Courage:  The tankard fills with a smooth lager bar that you must chug which will cast heroism on yourself (1/day).
• Hold My Holy Symbol:  Gain advantage on fear saves, strength and charisma checks.  Have disadvantage on charm saves, intelligence and wisdom checks (1/day, 1 hour duration).
• Half-Full:  When the tankard is close to half empty it re-fills with it's current non-magical beverage (1/short rest).
• Half-Empty: You can re-fill someone else's non-magical drink that is half-empty from your tankard. This liquid matches what they are already drinking (1/short rest).
• Beer Goggles. The tankard fills with a stout beer that you must chug giving you the effect of the blur spell (1/day).

Quote from cpfontaine >>

Quote from martintheactor>> 

 

 

 

See this is where I get confused.  I see your suggestion of removing the two staves since no one in the party can attune to them, but at the same time there is a dnd beyond article suggesting the staff of defense as a top artificer item.  Do they mean this suggestion for lvl14 artificers.  It seems to me that artificer can not attune to wizard specific items till lvl14,  am i interpreting this rule correctly?

 
So, sadly the custodians of 5e as a system have never been the most consistent in their 'sage advice' or reprinting of materials. They're pretty lax on proofing text historically. The Staff of Defense from Lost Mine is not restricted by class, it can be attuned by anyone. In the Phandelver and Below version of the Staff of Defense, it carries limitations to Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. Mind bogglingly the Staff of Defence never actually made it into the Dungeon Master's Guide.

The question then is why was the change made for Phandelver and below? I can see two potential options. There's no errata, so one must assume that this wasn't a mistake.

1. In play, or player feedback the Staff of Defense from Lost Mine was considered too powerful for some classes to get their hands on, so needed to be restricted to certain classes. There might well have been a broken build or synergy out there which allowed that +1 to AC to be particularly powerful...Monks immediately jump to mind here. Perhaps the writers were concerned about OP monks if they could use the staff? Who knows?
2. The original printing of Lost Mines happened before even the Player's Handbook of 5e. It's entirely possible that the original was misprinted and was intended to be limited to begin with. (This is why I dislike Errata, it discourages more thorough testing, proofing and QA).

RAW you're interpreting things correctly though in my opinion, when using the Phandelver and Below version of the Staff the Artificer needs the feature 'Magic Item Savant' to use the staff. You however are the DM, which means you could choose to give the Lost Mines version of the staff, or you could just choose to ignore the attunement requirements. And whatever conclusion you come to from your reading of the rules is the correct one. If the rule or item doesn't seem to work, throw it out or change it up. That's entirely reasonable to do.

As far as the articles are concerned you're referring to the Artificer 201. That list references the Lost Mines version of the Staff of Defense specifically if I remember correctly.