I need some help on planning out what character levels are appropriate for them to obtain magic items/weapons. I have only DM'd twice (1 was a 1 shot and another was a shorter campaign). As a player with a couple different DMs I have little to go off of because they were just very different campaigns (and style of DMing). The player are about hit level 3 and wanted to give some goodies without being to OP or inappropriate scaling. Thoughts?
At level 3 they should be getting uncommon magic items. I like to sprinkle in a few rares every now and then, too, but I make sure they're weaker rares so that it isn't unbalanced.
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call me Anna or Kerns, (she/her), usually a DM, lgbtq+ friendly
That seems about right. They will hopefully get to atleast level 10 when this is said and done. What should/could they be getting in between or by that point?
Levels 1-4 uncommon. Levels 5-9 rare. Levels 10-15 very rare is how I've usually seen it run. Of course, you can sprinkle in some of the low ends of the next tier without breaking the game. If you have the DMG there's also random tables there which give you randomly generated magic items based on the monsters CR. If you don't like the idea of randomly generated magic items, you could look through the lists and just pick out appropriate items.
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call me Anna or Kerns, (she/her), usually a DM, lgbtq+ friendly
The hardest part is probably deciding how to distribute them to your party. You either need to completely randomize how your party's rewards come out, or decide ahead of time to structure your rewards to your party's specific layout. Do you break immersion and just give everyone weapons at the same time, whether or not it makes sense for specific situations to just give everyone a treasure they can enjoy? Or do you just feed them rewards that seem appropriate and hope that the party doesn't choose to focus the treasures on specific characters? I personally think you're better off catering your magic items to your characters. I was playing a game recently where we found a staff of withering... but nobody in the party used staves and the abilities involved weren't particularly useful for any party member versus just using a stronger weapon, so it just became a thing the DM looked up and didn't get a a chance to use.
My players got some magical weapons at level one. They were custom made items that play into the story. Not too powerful but they liked it. As time went on they found better stuff.
Weapons at great but they don't make the story. They do change combat but that's about it.
Lots of players have well... Played before. So having a simple dagger isn't fun in my eyes. Give them little by little as they grow.
Bear in mind that most items should be consumables at low levels. However, based on the level at which natural weapon attackers get natural magic weapons (A Moon Druid's Primal Strike, a Monk's Ki-Empowered Strikes. a Beastmaster Ranger's Exceptional Training), magic weapons are expected by about level 6.
It depends on what sort of campaign you want to run.
Are you running low magic, high magic or something in between?
If you look at some of the class abilities - monk and druid (wild shape) attacks are considered magical at level 6. A blade pact warlock can have a magic weapon at level 3. Based on that, you might introduce basic magic weapons somewhere between 3 and 6. Also, keep in mind that this is not typically enough to outfit every party member with a class appropriate magical weapon.
As another guideline, Adventurers League limits the number of magic items a player can possess - 1 in tier 1, 3 in tier 2, 6 in tier 3 and 10 in tier 4. They also tend to limit the rarity of magic item that can drop by tier but this guidance to module writers has changed over the years though on average it goes something like tier 1- mostly uncommon, tier 2 - maybe mostly rare with some uncommons depending on when the module was written. Tier 3 - rare and very rare - maybe a very infrequent legendary depending on when the module was written - tier 4 - I think mostly very rare/legendary but there might be more than one magic item in some cases with a different rarity.
Anyway, I would try to avoid having magical gear overshadow the characters ... for example, avoid +3 weapons or +3 armor/shield until late tier 3 or tier 4. They tend to break the concept of bounded accuracy and require more challenging encounters that can be more difficult to balance.
I just started a campaign (as a player) where the DM let me reskinn my Bugbear into a Maned Wolf (long limbs was main draw) and let me reskin my glaive into a war scythe with a hinged blade that can go up and down and stop half-way so it looks like a grim reaper scythe. We started at level 3 and we all received 2 uncommon items or 1 rare item of our choice (with his approval). It turned out to be reeeeally fun. He let me start with a Sun Blade scythe (glaive) as he knew my desire for having the blade be hinged and changeable. I even got to have the blade turn into a dim lantern that hovered over the polearm to serve as the light source out of combat. I haven't obtained another magic item yet an don't anticipate that I will for a while but it made the experience very enjoyable. The combat encounters have still been pretty challenging and the customization made the players feel more immersed in their characters. I really want to provide that kind of environment for my players. We already started, but I have a good idea on what each is looking for.
I think I might take this approach (accept give them 1 uncommon items now) and get them a rare or have an item transform into a rare item when they hit 5-6. If we make it past 10 everyones suggestions have been helpful for staggering the different tier items.
I need some help on planning out what character levels are appropriate for them to obtain magic items/weapons. I have only DM'd twice (1 was a 1 shot and another was a shorter campaign). As a player with a couple different DMs I have little to go off of because they were just very different campaigns (and style of DMing). The player are about hit level 3 and wanted to give some goodies without being to OP or inappropriate scaling. Thoughts?
At level 3 they should be getting uncommon magic items. I like to sprinkle in a few rares every now and then, too, but I make sure they're weaker rares so that it isn't unbalanced.
call me Anna or Kerns, (she/her), usually a DM, lgbtq+ friendly
That seems about right. They will hopefully get to atleast level 10 when this is said and done. What should/could they be getting in between or by that point?
Levels 1-4 uncommon. Levels 5-9 rare. Levels 10-15 very rare is how I've usually seen it run. Of course, you can sprinkle in some of the low ends of the next tier without breaking the game. If you have the DMG there's also random tables there which give you randomly generated magic items based on the monsters CR. If you don't like the idea of randomly generated magic items, you could look through the lists and just pick out appropriate items.
call me Anna or Kerns, (she/her), usually a DM, lgbtq+ friendly
Put your magic item drops into a rarity bracket based on party level. This is my formula:
1-2: no magic
3-5: uncommon
6-8: 50/50 uncommon/rare
9-11: rares
12-14: 50/50 rares/very rare
15-17: very rares
18-20: 50-50 very rares/legendary
The hardest part is probably deciding how to distribute them to your party. You either need to completely randomize how your party's rewards come out, or decide ahead of time to structure your rewards to your party's specific layout. Do you break immersion and just give everyone weapons at the same time, whether or not it makes sense for specific situations to just give everyone a treasure they can enjoy? Or do you just feed them rewards that seem appropriate and hope that the party doesn't choose to focus the treasures on specific characters? I personally think you're better off catering your magic items to your characters. I was playing a game recently where we found a staff of withering... but nobody in the party used staves and the abilities involved weren't particularly useful for any party member versus just using a stronger weapon, so it just became a thing the DM looked up and didn't get a a chance to use.
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My players got some magical weapons at level one. They were custom made items that play into the story. Not too powerful but they liked it. As time went on they found better stuff.
Weapons at great but they don't make the story. They do change combat but that's about it.
Lots of players have well... Played before. So having a simple dagger isn't fun in my eyes. Give them little by little as they grow.
Bear in mind that most items should be consumables at low levels. However, based on the level at which natural weapon attackers get natural magic weapons (A Moon Druid's Primal Strike, a Monk's Ki-Empowered Strikes. a Beastmaster Ranger's Exceptional Training), magic weapons are expected by about level 6.
It depends on what sort of campaign you want to run.
Are you running low magic, high magic or something in between?
If you look at some of the class abilities - monk and druid (wild shape) attacks are considered magical at level 6. A blade pact warlock can have a magic weapon at level 3. Based on that, you might introduce basic magic weapons somewhere between 3 and 6. Also, keep in mind that this is not typically enough to outfit every party member with a class appropriate magical weapon.
As another guideline, Adventurers League limits the number of magic items a player can possess - 1 in tier 1, 3 in tier 2, 6 in tier 3 and 10 in tier 4. They also tend to limit the rarity of magic item that can drop by tier but this guidance to module writers has changed over the years though on average it goes something like tier 1- mostly uncommon, tier 2 - maybe mostly rare with some uncommons depending on when the module was written. Tier 3 - rare and very rare - maybe a very infrequent legendary depending on when the module was written - tier 4 - I think mostly very rare/legendary but there might be more than one magic item in some cases with a different rarity.
Anyway, I would try to avoid having magical gear overshadow the characters ... for example, avoid +3 weapons or +3 armor/shield until late tier 3 or tier 4. They tend to break the concept of bounded accuracy and require more challenging encounters that can be more difficult to balance.
I just started a campaign (as a player) where the DM let me reskinn my Bugbear into a Maned Wolf (long limbs was main draw) and let me reskin my glaive into a war scythe with a hinged blade that can go up and down and stop half-way so it looks like a grim reaper scythe. We started at level 3 and we all received 2 uncommon items or 1 rare item of our choice (with his approval). It turned out to be reeeeally fun. He let me start with a Sun Blade scythe (glaive) as he knew my desire for having the blade be hinged and changeable. I even got to have the blade turn into a dim lantern that hovered over the polearm to serve as the light source out of combat. I haven't obtained another magic item yet an don't anticipate that I will for a while but it made the experience very enjoyable. The combat encounters have still been pretty challenging and the customization made the players feel more immersed in their characters. I really want to provide that kind of environment for my players. We already started, but I have a good idea on what each is looking for.
I think I might take this approach (accept give them 1 uncommon items now) and get them a rare or have an item transform into a rare item when they hit 5-6. If we make it past 10 everyones suggestions have been helpful for staggering the different tier items.