A cap of water breathing, a ring of mind shielding, a driftglobe. Plenty of magic items found in Dungeons & Dragons books are only situationally useful, and rightfully so. But gold-strapped players might overlook such items during the perennial shopping session, opting for magic items their characters are sure to use in the adventures ahead.

If you want to encourage your players to explore new kinds of magic items or even drop hints of challenges to come, you can offer magic item rentals. Here's how.

What if my campaign is in a low-magic setting?

If you don't permit magic items in your campaign or the adventure takes place in a low-magic setting, magic item rentals can feel out of place or go against the mythos you've established. In these cases, consider renting out unique equipment or even vehicles. Characters embarking on a cross-country adventure could be thrilled to learn that they can rent out a lavish carriage outfitted with a workspace and plush bedding. You could also offer clothing rentals that help the characters better express themselves or influence certain non-player characters (NPCs), such as at a local lord's event.

How to implement magic item rentals

Allowing the characters to rent out magic items takes some upfront work on your part as the Dungeon Master. Follow these steps to get started.

1. Decide who is offering the service

As you construct your magic item rental system, consider any previous shopkeeps, organizations, or powerful NPCs the party has had a positive experience with that could benefit from renting out magic items. Perhaps a shop owner has begun renting out his less-popular merchandise or a retired adventurer rents out his old gear to fund their lavish lifestyle. The characters are powerful adventurers whose fame will only grow over time, so anyone seeking to establish themselves in the magic item business would do well to work out a deal with the party.

However, you might not need to look any further than the characters' own employer. In a previous adventure I ran, the characters were part of the Realm Guard, a homebrew faction. They were responsible for investigating mysterious portals to the Shadowfell that were appearing along the Sword Coast. The characters were sent on all manner of quests in different locations. They spent whole sessions in Baldur's Gate and ventured into the Forest of Wyrms, for example. Although the faction supported the party, it did not have the funds to simply gift magic items to the characters. Instead, it allowed them to rent out magic items from a small collection. This allowed the Realm Guard to raise funds for their operations.

2. Determine which magic items can be rented

The Realm Guard's rental system was simple. At its base in Baldur's Gate, the characters could peruse a curated selection of around a dozen magic items. After each quest, the list of magic items would update, reflecting the fact that other faction members were renting out and returning magic items. I specifically chose magic items that I hadn't seen my players' characters use in previous campaigns, that encouraged roleplay, or that I just wanted to see in action. In one case, I included a saddle of the cavalier, a wink to the fact that the characters would soon obtain mounts.

I only included magic items that wouldn't make my life harder as the DM. (Sorry, helm of teleportation.) That means I only included common and uncommon magic items. Because I'm already generous with loot, I abstained from popular options as well, like cloaks of protection and winged boots. I offer such magic items during major story beats and challenging combat encounters. For high-level parties, however, you might include some rare magic items.

To help you brainstorm magic items to rent out, here's a list of the rentals I offered my group of low-level adventurers:

Offering a rent-to-own program

If your players' characters are hoping to one day own a staff of fire or similarly expensive magic item, you could implement a rent-to-own program. With this type of program, the characters' rental payments are counted toward the magic item's purchase price. So, if that dragon scale mail costs a whopping 10,000 gold, a character could take it on their adventures and eventually come to own it. This allows the players to enjoy rarer and more powerful magic items long before their characters could normally afford them. Just make sure that permitting the characters to acquire such magic items doesn't make balancing encounters impossible for you.

3. Set the cost for the magic items

The Dungeon Master's Guide assigns general gold values for magic items based on their rarity. To make your job of determining rental prices easy, you could make the rental cost of a magic item equal to 10% of its average value. For example, a rare magic item is typically valued at 501 to 5,000 gold, so it would cost about 275 gold per rental period. You could then adjust this amount according to the following factors:

• How long the character will have the magic item
• How powerful you perceive the magic item to be
• The demand for such a magic item

Because my party didn't have a lot of gold and I stuck to common and uncommon magic items that were only situationally powerful, I charged the characters 5 to 25 gold per rental. Keep in mind that I'm generous with magic items and the characters only had the magic items for about three sessions at a time. You might have to toy with pricing and the selection of magic items before you hit that sweet spot — where the characters are willing to spend their hard-earned gold to rent magic items but planning encounters isn't any more difficult for you than usual.

If you're concerned about the party stocking up on tons of magic items at once, set a hard limit on how many magic items they can rent. A vendor might be excited to see that their stock of magic items has driven a lot of interest but still refuse to rent out more than one magic item per character in order to limit their risk. Adventurers do have a nasty habit of dying, after all.

4. Establish how and when magic items should be returned

In my adventure, the characters quested in and around Baldur's Gate. They had free lodging at the Realm Guard's base, so it was fitting that they were asked to return any rented magic items after each debriefing. However, you might need to get clever if your adventurers will be traveling far on their quests or be gone for long periods of time.

Consider these ways that a rented magic item could be returned:

• A courier service employs quicklings and specializes in the delivery of magic items. The delivery fee is included in the rental price.
• The magic item is teleported back to its owner on the seventh dawn after it was rented.
• The magic item can be returned at any number of (well-guarded) dropoff locations.
• The character is provided a magical chest that can be used to return the magic item.

5. Include penalties for late returns and thievery

To ensure the characters promptly return magic items, establish a penalty for late returns. For each day a rental is late, the character is charged a fee equal to 1% of the magic item's rental cost, for example. You could also stipulate that a rented magic item is considered stolen 14 days after its due date. This would ensure the characters make it a priority to return their magic items, or at least lead to a hilarious roleplay moment where they suddenly find themselves getting arrested for thievery. 

If the characters do have sticky fingers, have a failsafe so that they don't run off with hundreds or thousands of gold worth of magic items. For example, if a magic item is not returned on time, it could lose its magic until returned or impart a curse on whoever has it. If you wish to prevent the characters from selling stolen goods, each magic item could bear a script that designates it as a rental.

Play with new magic items 

A magic item rental system is a low-risk way for you and the party to experience a wide variety of magic items. If you rent out a magic item but find that it creates an imbalance, you can rest assured that the character will only have the magic item for a short while. On the flip side, you might find that your players enjoy testing out magic items that they'd otherwise look over. One of my players rented a ring of jumping on a whim and had so much fun that he asked to purchase it from the faction. I was ecstatic to hear him say that he'd been sleeping on the magic item.

I think that's the real strength of this type of system: it encourages the players to experiment and it won't empty their characters' pockets. I hope you try it out and love it!

Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his husband. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dog, Quentin.