Hi,

I'm a new DM doing a PbP in the forums (In the Darkness, Rot: Sunless Citadel).  I'm looking to get some opinions on how to award treasure.  I would love for the players to roll for it but wondering if this is advisable or not.  I could just roll it up myself but I think that would take the fun out of it.  I am also considering them finding a bag of holding here as well.  They are currently level 1.

The baddies they are about to defeat (hopefully) were some twisted ritualist mongrels with some pet lizards.  Talking The Hills Have Eyes type baddies.  Amateurs though.  They've (the bad guys) have been raiding travelers and sacrificing them and eating them.  Anyways, I've read the DMG and everything but wanted to get some opinions from those who have done this before.

Any feedback is much appreciated. 

Thanks!

Work backwards, think of an item your players would enjoy or would benefit play style.

think of why it’s in the world, who has it.

create an enemy to defeat/quest to complete to get it

Thanks for that. Do you think a bag of holding at 1st level (they are halfway through 1st level - not keeping tally really just ballparking it somewhat) is appropriate? 

Bag of holding won't fundamentally break any adventure, and won't throw combat out of balance unless they're especially creative, but it does feel really nice to have as a PC. I'd probably say go for it. Personally I use a combination of pre-seeded items that are designed specifically for my player characters and random loot tables when handing out magic items- I find that strikes a balance between the difficulties of PCs feeling catered to and PCs feeling disappointed if there's nothing useful to them in the treasure room.

The way I do magic items is I roll them up ahead of time and if they’re something that their opponent can use then their opponent uses the magic item(s) against them. I have designed specific items for specific characters and when I do those items are used against them before they get to use them themselves. 

That has resulted in a consumable item being used up or an item with charges only 1 or 2 charges by the end of the encounter. But that’s realistic. I can’t imagine an intelligent opponent having a Potion of Healing and not using it if they get the chance and they need it!

While generic and brief, I'd suggest keeping reward values low. Unless you plan on selling magic items in shops, magic items are supposed to be rare in 5e, to the point that monsters are often tailored to an average party without any magic items.

With that, I'd agree with sticking to consumables for quite a while, to 4th or 5th level before introducing anything significant, including bags of holding.

That said, a holdover from older editions is the expectation to get magic items. Some might even be a bit bugged by not having access to a bag of holding. To which I make a smug smile, like, you chose to have 8 STR, Mr. Min Max, with no guarantees that you would even see such a thing.

Just let players know what you have in mind.

I'm a new GM and the advice here from everyone is very helpful, thank you!

I use the Donjon Random Treasure generator to give me a starting point and tailor it from there: https://donjon.bin.sh/d20/treasure/index.cgi

But I also see if there is an appropriate magic item that may help the party out.  For example I hid some Goggles of Night in a well in a recent session since the human rogue was the only character who didn't have darkvision.  The party didn't end up exploring the well so they missed out.