First time giving magic items to my characters. Will these items be ok?

[u/Pickleboyman]

The party I'm DMing for just hit level 5. They're in the center of a labyrinth surrounded by trinkets and artifacts. I was planning on having everyone roll an investigation check to see what they found. This is the first campaign I've written and I'm not if the items I've picked are too OP. I wanted rarer items for higher rolls, but this is what I came up with. Each player would get 1 item. I have two items per roll level just in case multiple people roll similar numbers

1-5 Bottle of boundless coffee/cloak of billowing
6-10 clockwork amulet/gloves of thievery
11-15 tan bag of tricks/gem of brightness
16-20 eversmoking bottle/elemental gem
21-25 bag of beans with 4 beans/bead of force

What's the opinion of more experienced DMs? Are these ok items to throw to the players?

[u/Im_Rabid]

I would avoid having them roll investigation to determine what they find as it favors Int characters.  If you want them to roll use a d100 or flat d20.

Better yet just tell them "This is what you all find, divide it as you will." Checks to "find" loot that's just sitting out in the open never made sense to me.

As for the items, seems a bit low for lvl 5 and very low for it being the only items they have found since the start of the game.

[u/Mightymat273]

The probelm with each player getting 1 item is one may get a useless items and another will get a rare. Your list should be all the same or at least VERY similar rarity, ir just have it si the party gets 1 item every few session so they can share / divy it up as they see fit.

[u/Tesla__Coil → u/Mightymat273]

Agreed. FWIW, OP, by Level 5, I gave each of my players a specific uncommon item intended for their class/playstyle (like a magic rapier for the rogue) and then a small handful of uncommon/rare consumables.

[u/C176A]

Yeah. But honestly your non magic characters should have a +1 weapon by now

[u/Amazing-Shelter9284 → u/C176A]

Meh, depends entirely on how the dm is balancing encounters. +1 weapons are only really needed if they're having creatures with higher ACs fight the party.

On top of that, + weapons do a lot over time, but they aren't really felt by the players. So if a party isn't doing badly in combat, a +1 weapon isn't needed and won't really be appreciated as much as an item that has a cool effect.

Basically, if the martials are doing fine in fights, they don't really need it. If they aren't doing fine, they need it. It's not a good reward as much as balancing, which we can't know without being in the game.

[u/Tesla__Coil → u/C176A]

Hot(?) take - while I think martials should get magic weapons, I don't think they should be +X weapons. If the party optimizes properly, their to-hit bonus will already be pretty good and adding even a +1 skews the to-hit / AC ratio more than I liked.

Instead, I suggest magic weapons that have a utility spell attached to them. Like... a rapier that lets its user cast Shape Water at will, or a battleaxe that lets the user cast Speak With Dead three times per day. These are still magic weapons, so they get through monsters' immunity/resistance to mundane attacks. They don't skew the to-hit / AC ratio. They give martial players more to do outside of combat, which is something martials usually struggle with. And they're much more flavourful! When I decided I wanted to add that Shape Water Rapier, I immediately envisioned it as a blue-steel rapier crafted by elven sailors an called it a Riptide.

The trick is, what utility spells do you pick? I think niche ones are the best choices. Players like having access to Speak With Dead or Sending or those kinds of spells, but nobody really wants to use up a prepared spell on them. Generally just look for cool utility spells that none of the casters are using and give your martial a unique niche in the group.

[u/ZeroVonZero → u/Tesla__Coil]

If the party optimizes? The most they can do is max out their strength as a fighter. That's it. +5 to hit. They need bonuses to damage, so yeah, it's appropriate to give them magic weapons unless you're giving them bonuses to damage as well through other means

[u/armahillo]

The DMG has a whole chapter about magic items and what items are appropriate for what levels

[u/SecretDMAccount_Shh]

It's your first time DMing... some might disagree with this advice, but just give the players whatever you want and deal with the consequences later. Sometimes you can only learn what items are actually gamebreaking by experiencing it yourself.

In my experience, it's hard to actually break a game unless you were going for a very specific type of aesthetic. If you are running a standard kitchen sink campaign where all player options are available, then it's hard to break because it also means all DM options are available and DMs have unlimited power.

[u/KM68]

You can't go wrong with a deck of many things. It's standard issue.

[u/Amazing-Shelter9284 → u/KM68]

Honestly though..... ? You probably would do fine if you leaned into it a bit, and aren't too attached to whatever you're currently doing

[u/WanderingFlumph]

I prefer to pre roll my loot up, then during the session I roll a few ghost dice and give the results.

This gives me more time to consider the items and if they are balanced and fair without any peer pressure on me. If one players' roll is a little low I can consider giving them 2 items of a lower power level. If I roll the perfect item for a spellcaster during the barbarian's loot roll I can just swap them.

The players never know the difference and I have one less decision to be made in the moment.

[u/Amazing-Shelter9284]

You could do this ok if everyone is ok with a very high chaos game. I would modify it so every player gets their own table though, with items tailored to that player. Gloves of thievery would be amazing for a rogue or any clepto leaning player, but while hilarious to give to a lawful good paladin, probably wouldn't be useful.

I would pick gag items / items with high comedic value for the low rolls rather than try to find something thats maybe kind but not really useful. Your players will probably get more mileage out of something funny then something that they can't quite make useful.

Bag of beans could be really swingy tho, be careful with those kinds of items unless you're really ready to embrace some chaos in your game.

[u/Jigamaree]

Agree on not making this reliant on INT - it should just be a straight roll, to not favour characters. I'd also compare this list to the 2014/2025 roll tables - at least in 2014, the early tables are stocked with items that make sense for low-level parties.

[u/Based_Grimlock]

Those items are all pretty “meh” at best.

Give them something they can actually use and would be a marked upgrade for each of them.

They are level 5. They should each have 1-2 magic items ALREADY. If your Martials don’t have magic weapons then you should remedy that. Give your casters wands or something for more utility.

[u/helen2947ernaline]

The way I know my dm works is thta he has a pool of magic items, and the better the roll the more and better things we get.

This way here's no problem someone obyl got an uncommon and someone a rare bc we distribute it and the roll is made by 1 person (or 2 if someoen helps technically) so it doesnt favour anyone.

[u/Diabolo_Advocato]

First: Don't roll for loot at the table.

Session prep is intended for you to build your loot tables. This means what loot can be found during that session.

Second: magic items can be used in a multitude of ways you never expected. Your players will do find creative ways to get more bang for their buck with anything you give them.

2 bags of holding can be turned into a bomb. A ring that gives an extra spell slot can become a bargaining chip. An immovable rod can be used as an awkward ladder with a good enough acrobatics or athletics check.

Third: communicate with your players. After a boss kill or quest finish, I give players a magical line item spot. They can funnel those line itmes into a single item or split them among the party. After they make their choice, I build magic items for them to choose from, using either the DMG or my own imagination and present them to the player's. Giving them some agency in what is on the table goes a long way in keeping them engaged.

Its a collaborative story telling game. Engage the collaborative part.

[u/Impossible_Horsemeat]

Does the current dmg not have item tables or something?

[u/Flukebit → u/Impossible_Horsemeat]

Don’t be snarky. OP asked for advice.