I recently acquired and read Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, and in it, the author recommended giving the players a magic item every session. This seemed like too often to me. How often do you give your players magic items and what rarities do you give?
I've been meaning to read that book; but yeah that goes against what I've been doing. For instance Party of six is about halfway to level 5 and there are only 3 magic items among the group, one of them actually being a one use item and another being a sort of plot device that's a whole lotta trouble on top of the benefits it brings.
I'm forgetting about Potions of Healing. While not "stocked up on" they're not terribly difficult to come by in my game, but the party is fairly decent on healing resources currently especially using the 5e rest system. I may change that up as they're going to start plane hopping so I might have alternates to rest and healing rules in some of the more hostile environments.
Most major villains are gonna have at least a couple permanent items. But to me, “major villains” aren’t always combative, and some are more “situation” then “creature.” Consumables are a little easier to come by.
I usually starve them of more than a basic healing potion until 3rdish level, so the first 3-4 sessions. Then they start getting stuff until everyone has gotten something cool (major uncommon/minor rare) by 5th-7th and then onward from there as needed. But by tier-3, they’ll all typically have 3/5 various magic items.
I just kinda reward magic items when I feel like it. There's no constraint of sessions in which I stand to rewards things which may progress the story. Even in pre-written campaigns when they suggest items to give at certain times or after certain tasks and deeds, I'll toss in the odd bit here and there before and/or after. Sometimes without any real thought to the matter; I roll d100's a lot for this kind of things and deal with the consequences later because it's more fun that way and at the very least you end up with a variety of shite.
I try not to continuously give the same type of magic items too often, however. Aside from your potions, scrolls, and +1/+2/+3 weapons/armor, there's plenty of stuff out there to give the players. My main DM does this to me a lot, and I end up with really similar items even if I strongly hint or say things like, "Yo I'd like my character to find/buy/craft X-item" and then it just never comes to term. It gets really stale watching other players end up with neat stuff they "Find" and somehow, miraculously, I usually just end up nabbing a typical +1 weapon/armor and maybe a few potions.
In an honor to not be like that, I keep an open ear without allowing "Wish Lists".
I recently acquired and read Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, and in it, the author recommended giving the players a magic item every session. This seemed like too often to me. How often do you give your players magic items and what rarities do you give?
I've got no hard and fast rule on it. I'll usually have some in a big treasure hoard, but not every big enemy has a hoard. There are also occasional opportunities for them to buy magic items, but they're expensive. It might average out to something close to one per session, or one every two sessions, but in practice it's more like they get nothing for a few sessions, then a score a small haul of them
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Magic items are, in my games, special, rare, powerful items. Each one has a name and a (limited) history. I'd never consider giving out a magic item once per session, unless the magic item in question is a healing potion. Even then generally not once per session.
I just kinda reward magic items when I feel like it.
This is where I'm at. I enjoy giving out magic items, but I'm not just going to toss one in a room because the party hasn't found one in a while. They're part of the story and part of the world. A found item will be linked to a discovery about it's lost makers or the evil motivations of it's previous owner or an important conflict in the campaign. Sometimes I'll have an end-of-Star-Wars scene where everyone gets an item as a part of a themed set, which wrecks my average and probably puts me roughly in the "every other session" group overall.
Overall, my goal is that a year from now, every player will be able to say exactly where they got X item and why it was a significant find.
When it's thematically or narratively appropriate. Combat is rare in my intrigue campaign, so things like magic weapons and healing potions aren't as helpful. Instead, I hand out a lot of inspiration, in-game favors/influence, and have awarded free feats at critical junctures that were in line with character development. Right now, the party is in the middle of a dungeon crawl arc though, so they have magic items out the wazoo.
I also have a Forge Cleric, two tinkerers, and a MacGuffin in the party that turned certain mundane objects magical when in close proximity, so the players have created their own items to suit their needs and compensate for the relatively stingy distribution of glowy power stuff in previous arcs.
Is Lazy DM coming from the point of view (that's not altogether wrong) that most campaigns tend to end around level 10 anyway? If so, I could see DM advice with that mindset to advocate putting the gas down on magic items, the up armoring and arming thereby allowing the PCs to do more "epic things" in the timeframe the game is likely to actually entertain.
Also, I have to ask @scatterbraind:
Sometimes I'll have an end-of-Star-Wars scene where everyone gets an item as a part of a themed set,
So are you talking like one person gets some sort of expansion of arcane power, and most everyone gets a trophy except that one dude? Or is more like the Deck of Many Things ending of Empire where "You get a cybernetic hand after fighting an avatar of your death and destiny" and "After experiencing Ruin by losing your gas mining operation, you get the clothes and starship that belonged to the guy who got Donjon'd" and "Guy who didn't get anything last session? You get to sick next to the guy who got all your partner's stuff after your partner got Donjon'd."
Star Wars rewards are a lot like 5e, Han could never buy himself out of the death mark because plot despite belonging and being a valued member of an organization with the resources to field a Starfleet that was doing a fairly decent job of harassing the Empire (I mean squandering all that craft on Scariff didn't seem to really hamper the run on Endor, someone with deep pockets was giving them an infinite runway). Money's as useless in the Galaxy Long Ago and Far Away as it is the Forgotten Realms.
As an overall guideline, one item per session for a party of four isn't that unreasonable. Roughly speaking, that means everyone gets a magical item on the way to level 3 and one more for every level after that. Just remember that not every magical item is permanent and not every item is intended for combat. Also, that doesn't mean that every session you have to hand out items, just that you hand out roughly as many items as you play sessions.
As an overall guideline, one item per session for a party of four isn't that unreasonable. Roughly speaking, that means everyone gets a magical item on the way to level 3 and one more for every level after that. Just remember that not every magical item is permanent and not every item is intended for combat. Also, that doesn't mean that every session you have to hand out items, just that you hand out roughly as many items as you play sessions.
My campaign is actually a duet- so there are only two player characters played by the same person. There are some NPCs accompanying them as well who will definitely not receive magic items.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I'm a scrooge when it comes to magic items as I'm afraid I'll overpower the party. That said I've used the XgtE rules Chapter 2: Awarding Magic Items as a guideline of what type of magic items should be awarded and when. It has not failed me yet and I like having official rules to follow.
I give magic items when it makes sense narratively, usually when the PCs do something that advances the plot significantly. So this can be as often as every session, though often it's closer to every other session.
At very random times. Sometimes they just get a very powerful magic item out of nowhere, sometimes they work really hard to get some pretty useless magic stuff, sometimes they just don't get any. But my campaign's meant to be weird and chaotic, and they're going to need all the magic items they can get to survive some of the stuff I'm going to throw at them.
Something that adds to this is the fact that one of the very first magic items they got is my homebrew item, The Bagel Printer, which is capable of creating other magic items (sometimes powerful, other times useless). Though it has a much higher chance of giving them something absolutely useless.
I am very generous with magic items, not much on the frequency that I give them - generally on the transition from tier 1 to 2 is where I try to have everyone with at least one uncommon magic item - but I like to, sometimes, give really OP items to change completely the balance of the game - My last campaign I gave the Paladin a Holy Avenger at Lv 6. This leads for a very different kind of game, where Characters can become real glass canons, which allows for some very fun encounters - but it requires A LOT of work to balance encounters.
At Lv 9, that party had a three way fight with a Adult Dracolich, 2 Devas and a Pit Fiend, that was pretty fun. But it's easier said than done, it's like playing Tier 4, but with player being absurdly more fragile.
My style is randomized loot, I find it exciting as a DM to hand out random loot to the players and see how they put it to the best possible use. So when you find a "Chest" (or other treasure intermission of some sort) it comes with a pile of coins that ranges from small to large, could have a gem or art object or both or neither, could have 0-2 consumables like scrolls or potions, and 0-1 permanent items rolling randomly as weapon/armor/ring/staff/wand/rod/wondrous item etc.....
I do control the rarity, so from player lvls 1-5 the drops are uncommon, 6-10 rare, 11-15 Very rare, 16-20 legendary (a little more complicated but essentially that) as well as the size of the coin piles and value of the gems and art objects scaling in a similar manner.
There are typically 3-4 of these loot piles around the dungeon, one is a given when you complete the main objective (beat the boss or whatever) while the others could be hidden or guarded by some optional monsters that are typically powerful or locked behind puzzles, challenges, or traps of some sort.
Certain shops and powerful NPCs like kings, wizards and high priests will sparingly sell or trade them too, so you can acquire them that way.
So yea , it really does depend on luck and skill. I went with "1 every other session".. Every session is we count consumables. Seems about right statistically speaking.
In my current campaign I've given out magic items very slowly (about 1 permanent and another temporary per 5 sessions), but that will speed up, low levels get very few.
It's funny, I never do random loot. Maybe I just like making homebrew items too much
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
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I recently acquired and read Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, and in it, the author recommended giving the players a magic item every session. This seemed like too often to me. How often do you give your players magic items and what rarities do you give?
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I've been meaning to read that book; but yeah that goes against what I've been doing. For instance Party of six is about halfway to level 5 and there are only 3 magic items among the group, one of them actually being a one use item and another being a sort of plot device that's a whole lotta trouble on top of the benefits it brings.
I'm forgetting about Potions of Healing. While not "stocked up on" they're not terribly difficult to come by in my game, but the party is fairly decent on healing resources currently especially using the 5e rest system. I may change that up as they're going to start plane hopping so I might have alternates to rest and healing rules in some of the more hostile environments.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Most major villains are gonna have at least a couple permanent items. But to me, “major villains” aren’t always combative, and some are more “situation” then “creature.” Consumables are a little easier to come by.
I usually starve them of more than a basic healing potion until 3rdish level, so the first 3-4 sessions. Then they start getting stuff until everyone has gotten something cool (major uncommon/minor rare) by 5th-7th and then onward from there as needed. But by tier-3, they’ll all typically have 3/5 various magic items.
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Honestly...
I just kinda reward magic items when I feel like it. There's no constraint of sessions in which I stand to rewards things which may progress the story. Even in pre-written campaigns when they suggest items to give at certain times or after certain tasks and deeds, I'll toss in the odd bit here and there before and/or after. Sometimes without any real thought to the matter; I roll d100's a lot for this kind of things and deal with the consequences later because it's more fun that way and at the very least you end up with a variety of shite.
I try not to continuously give the same type of magic items too often, however. Aside from your potions, scrolls, and +1/+2/+3 weapons/armor, there's plenty of stuff out there to give the players. My main DM does this to me a lot, and I end up with really similar items even if I strongly hint or say things like, "Yo I'd like my character to find/buy/craft X-item" and then it just never comes to term. It gets really stale watching other players end up with neat stuff they "Find" and somehow, miraculously, I usually just end up nabbing a typical +1 weapon/armor and maybe a few potions.
In an honor to not be like that, I keep an open ear without allowing "Wish Lists".
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I've got no hard and fast rule on it. I'll usually have some in a big treasure hoard, but not every big enemy has a hoard. There are also occasional opportunities for them to buy magic items, but they're expensive. It might average out to something close to one per session, or one every two sessions, but in practice it's more like they get nothing for a few sessions, then a score a small haul of them
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Very rarely and certainly not on a schedule.
Magic items are, in my games, special, rare, powerful items. Each one has a name and a (limited) history. I'd never consider giving out a magic item once per session, unless the magic item in question is a healing potion. Even then generally not once per session.
This is where I'm at. I enjoy giving out magic items, but I'm not just going to toss one in a room because the party hasn't found one in a while. They're part of the story and part of the world. A found item will be linked to a discovery about it's lost makers or the evil motivations of it's previous owner or an important conflict in the campaign. Sometimes I'll have an end-of-Star-Wars scene where everyone gets an item as a part of a themed set, which wrecks my average and probably puts me roughly in the "every other session" group overall.
Overall, my goal is that a year from now, every player will be able to say exactly where they got X item and why it was a significant find.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
When it's thematically or narratively appropriate. Combat is rare in my intrigue campaign, so things like magic weapons and healing potions aren't as helpful. Instead, I hand out a lot of inspiration, in-game favors/influence, and have awarded free feats at critical junctures that were in line with character development. Right now, the party is in the middle of a dungeon crawl arc though, so they have magic items out the wazoo.
I also have a Forge Cleric, two tinkerers, and a MacGuffin in the party that turned certain mundane objects magical when in close proximity, so the players have created their own items to suit their needs and compensate for the relatively stingy distribution of glowy power stuff in previous arcs.
Is Lazy DM coming from the point of view (that's not altogether wrong) that most campaigns tend to end around level 10 anyway? If so, I could see DM advice with that mindset to advocate putting the gas down on magic items, the up armoring and arming thereby allowing the PCs to do more "epic things" in the timeframe the game is likely to actually entertain.
Also, I have to ask @scatterbraind:
So are you talking like one person gets some sort of expansion of arcane power, and most everyone gets a trophy except that one dude? Or is more like the Deck of Many Things ending of Empire where "You get a cybernetic hand after fighting an avatar of your death and destiny" and "After experiencing Ruin by losing your gas mining operation, you get the clothes and starship that belonged to the guy who got Donjon'd" and "Guy who didn't get anything last session? You get to sick next to the guy who got all your partner's stuff after your partner got Donjon'd."
Star Wars rewards are a lot like 5e, Han could never buy himself out of the death mark because plot despite belonging and being a valued member of an organization with the resources to field a Starfleet that was doing a fairly decent job of harassing the Empire (I mean squandering all that craft on Scariff didn't seem to really hamper the run on Endor, someone with deep pockets was giving them an infinite runway). Money's as useless in the Galaxy Long Ago and Far Away as it is the Forgotten Realms.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
As an overall guideline, one item per session for a party of four isn't that unreasonable. Roughly speaking, that means everyone gets a magical item on the way to level 3 and one more for every level after that. Just remember that not every magical item is permanent and not every item is intended for combat. Also, that doesn't mean that every session you have to hand out items, just that you hand out roughly as many items as you play sessions.
My campaign is actually a duet- so there are only two player characters played by the same person. There are some NPCs accompanying them as well who will definitely not receive magic items.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
regarding sly's magic item policy this article may be of interest relics
personally I think the "magic item every session" very much includes one use potions scrolls relics and such.
Sly's permenant magic item article awarding_magic_items
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I'm a scrooge when it comes to magic items as I'm afraid I'll overpower the party. That said I've used the XgtE rules Chapter 2: Awarding Magic Items as a guideline of what type of magic items should be awarded and when. It has not failed me yet and I like having official rules to follow.
I give magic items when it makes sense narratively, usually when the PCs do something that advances the plot significantly. So this can be as often as every session, though often it's closer to every other session.
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At very random times. Sometimes they just get a very powerful magic item out of nowhere, sometimes they work really hard to get some pretty useless magic stuff, sometimes they just don't get any. But my campaign's meant to be weird and chaotic, and they're going to need all the magic items they can get to survive some of the stuff I'm going to throw at them.
Something that adds to this is the fact that one of the very first magic items they got is my homebrew item, The Bagel Printer, which is capable of creating other magic items (sometimes powerful, other times useless). Though it has a much higher chance of giving them something absolutely useless.
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I am very generous with magic items, not much on the frequency that I give them - generally on the transition from tier 1 to 2 is where I try to have everyone with at least one uncommon magic item - but I like to, sometimes, give really OP items to change completely the balance of the game - My last campaign I gave the Paladin a Holy Avenger at Lv 6.
This leads for a very different kind of game, where Characters can become real glass canons, which allows for some very fun encounters - but it requires A LOT of work to balance encounters.
At Lv 9, that party had a three way fight with a Adult Dracolich, 2 Devas and a Pit Fiend, that was pretty fun. But it's easier said than done, it's like playing Tier 4, but with player being absurdly more fragile.
Definitely not every session and not on any kind of time table. I give them when it feels appropriate.
My style is randomized loot, I find it exciting as a DM to hand out random loot to the players and see how they put it to the best possible use. So when you find a "Chest" (or other treasure intermission of some sort) it comes with a pile of coins that ranges from small to large, could have a gem or art object or both or neither, could have 0-2 consumables like scrolls or potions, and 0-1 permanent items rolling randomly as weapon/armor/ring/staff/wand/rod/wondrous item etc.....
I do control the rarity, so from player lvls 1-5 the drops are uncommon, 6-10 rare, 11-15 Very rare, 16-20 legendary (a little more complicated but essentially that) as well as the size of the coin piles and value of the gems and art objects scaling in a similar manner.
There are typically 3-4 of these loot piles around the dungeon, one is a given when you complete the main objective (beat the boss or whatever) while the others could be hidden or guarded by some optional monsters that are typically powerful or locked behind puzzles, challenges, or traps of some sort.
Certain shops and powerful NPCs like kings, wizards and high priests will sparingly sell or trade them too, so you can acquire them that way.
So yea , it really does depend on luck and skill. I went with "1 every other session".. Every session is we count consumables. Seems about right statistically speaking.
In my current campaign I've given out magic items very slowly (about 1 permanent and another temporary per 5 sessions), but that will speed up, low levels get very few.
It's funny, I never do random loot. Maybe I just like making homebrew items too much
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)