Wha ñ whatís going on guys? Weíre sick and tired of this bullcrap thatís
what! Yeah, Mr. Dungeon Master, ìSIRî, youíre
giving us the shaft on magic items. Indeed, the rate of magic item distribution
is well below the standard deviation curve used by OTHER dungeon masters. But, uh, you guys all have buckets of magic
items back at your base that you never even use. Thatís because youíre screwing us over! Yeah, you just need to keep giving us more
magic items. Just ñ just keep them flowing. Welcome to the DM Lair. Iím Luke Hart, and Iíve been a dungeon master
since high school. On this channel I give practical dungeon master
advice that you can implement at your table. Today in the Lair, weíre going to be discussing
magic items. Specifically, Iím going to talk about the
pros and cons of giving out too many magic items to your D&D players and of giving out
too few. Then Iíll touch on what I think is the right
balance of magic items to give your players. Finally, Iíll go over a few different ways
you can go about giving magic items out. But first I want to thank my awesome patrons
and members for helping choose the topic for this video. In particular, mad props to t. You all rock. If youíd like to help support the channel
and the content we create around here ñ and get some cool added perks like monthly hangouts
ñ you can do so by clicking the JOIN button next to the subscribe button, or by visiting
my Patreon page linked in the description. Okay, back to magic items. Do you know whatís one of the most common
problems I hear dungeon masters complaining about? It basically has to do with the DM having
given out too many magic items to their players, who are then way overpowered, and now the
dungeon master doesnít know what to do. Believe me, this problem has come up time
and time again, and it really has a simple solution: donít give magic items out like
theyíre candy! You know? Now, I get, I get it, believe me. You finally convinced your friends to play
D&D with you, and youíre super excited. You see all these cool magic items in the
DMG, and itís hard to pick which ones to give out. And you also want your players to have fun,
so you think ìGee, Iíll just give them lots of magic items. That will make the game more fun!î
Gee, Iíll just give them lots of magic items. That will make the game more fun! And you might also be thinking, ìThe last
time I ran a D&D game, it only lasted for a few months, so I had better get some magic
items into play fast. Otherwise, weíll never get to use them.î
The last time I ran a D&D game, it only lasted for a few months, so I had better get some
magic items into play fast. Otherwise, weíll never get to use them. Okay, so there might be some validity there,
but Iím not sure that planning for your groups to fail is the right state of mind for dungeon
masters to have. I would much rather you get better at keeping
your groups together and the game running for years at a stretch. In fact, Iím thinking about doing a video
about the top reasons D&D groups fall apart and how DMs can stop that. Let me know if that sounds useful. Because the thing is that when you give out
too many magic items too fast in the game, a few things happen. First, your players become more powerful,
forcing you to ratchet everything up. Now thatís not a big deal if you do homebrew
and are good at increasing the challenge rating of encounters, something 5e doesnít make
easy due to the bonked challenge rating mechanics. However, if youíre running a module, do you
REALLY want to have to adjust all of the encounter sin the entire book? I donít know about you, but the last time
I checked, I by modules to make my job as a DM EASIER, not harder. The other thing with giving out too many magic
items is that ñ yes they are cool at first ñ but eventually they cease to feel special. I mean, Mr. Dungeon Master, how many magical
axes do you think I need? Am I really that bad at this game? Okay, so what about giving out too few magic
items? There are a couple problems with that, too. First of all, youíd be neglecting a really
cool part of the game. Magic items are an integral part of Dungeons
& Dragons. Things like the Deck of Many Things and Bags
of Holding and Vorpal Swords and Rods That Have Many Parts are classic traditions in
the game. Thereís part of me that feels like a game
that doesnít feature magic items just isnít really D&D anymore. Now running a low-magic campaign is a thing,
but once you start taking out magic items and spellcasting ñ well, at that point what
really distinguishes the game from any other medieval roleplaying game without magic and
magic items? My point here is NOT to say ìIf you donít
use enough magic items, youíre not playing D&D.î Iím just saying that magic items are
a really cool part of the game, and if you donít use them very much, you might be missing
out. Next, getting magic items is an exciting thing
for players. I had a player once who LIVED for magic items. I mean, thatís all this guy really wanted. He was always trying to buy magic items in
the game, hunt them down, make bargains with evil liches for them ñ anything he could
possibly do to get his hand on magic items. Now, this also had to do with the fact that
he was a power gamerÖ But the point remains that most players like
magic items. So when you give them out, you are making
the game more enjoyable for your players. Finally, Iím no game designer, but Iíd be
willing to bet a tacklebox full of miniatures that the folks who made D&D accounted for
players having magic items in game design. That is, challenge ratings and the difficulty
of encounters in published modules assume that as players level up, they will have magic
items to help them out. And if they donít have that bit of increased
power that comes from magic items, >>slitting throat sound<< [draw thumb across throat]. So how many magic items should I give to my
players then? Finding the right balance of magic items to
give your players isnít the same for every dungeon master, I feel. Iím going to tell you how Iíve been doing
it that seems to work well for me. First, I roll from the loot tables in the
Dungeon Master Guide. I know they are random tables, but they seem
to average out fairly well. So basically, my players get the magic items
that I roll from the tables. Now, they arenít always perfectly useful
to them ñ whatís a group with no bard going to do with an Instrument of the Bards? ñ but this method is actually realistic AND
it forces your players to stretch their imaginations and creativity. There have been many times that Iíve given
out a magic item thinking it was a piece of junk ñ the Eversmoking Bottle and Decanter
of Endless Water both come to mind ñ only to find my players coming up with ingenious
uses for them. And then what I do is every so often, Iíll
take a survey of all the magic items my players have to see how itís going. If it seems like theyíve been getting the
shaft, Iíll throw in a few extra over the next adventure or two. Or if it looks like Grist the min-maxed OP
hobgoblin ranger/rogue doesnít really have any magic items that are super useful for
him, Iíll place one in the next adventure that is hand-picked just for him. So basically I use the random loot tables
as a starting point, and then adjust based on how things are going. Iíve found this system to work just fine
for me over the years of running D&D 5th edition. Another way you could award magic items is
by using the guidelines in Xanatharís Guide to Everything on page 135. It tells you EXACTLY how many magic items
of which rarity and which power ñ minor or major ñ to give your players. According to Xanatharís, using that system
will result in the same effect as rolling from the tables in the Dungeon Masterís Guide. However, my major gripe with Xanatharís system
is that magic items are not clearly identified as minor and major in the Dungeon Masterís
Guide. Instead, weíre told to refer to the magic
items listed on the tables A through E as minor and those on tables F through I as major. Iím sorry, thatís just kind of a pain in
the butt, and ignores the typical use case of a dungeon master perusing the magic items
in the DMG. But I get it, you made the DMG first, and
then did Xanatharís a few years later. But would it have been so hard to put a handy
list of major and minor magic items in Xanatharís? I mean, the book is already a slim 191 pages
considering its $50 price tag. A handy list would have helped you pad those
pages out with minor effort on your part. Woups, slipped into a rant there. Maybe we should just move onÖ
Oh, and I also just noticed that there is an interesting sidebar on page 136 of Xanatharís
stating that magic items are NOT necessary in a game. That is, the game mechanics allow for characters
and monsters to face each other without the use of magic items. So, it looks like I just lost that tacklebox
of minis I was betting. But I also found the topic for another brief
rant! Why ñ oh why, wasnít that information included
in the Dungeon Master Guide? You wait several years before telling dungeon
masters that they donít NEED to include magic items to make sure their players are strong
enough to confront monsters and challenges in the game? I mean, come on, guys, you know, I mean, hello? HELLO? Holy crap, the next thing you know theyíll
be including a 2nd level healing spell in the game that is so powerful, only the 9th
level spell Mass Heal can top it. Anyway, regardless of which system you use
to reward magic items, my ultimate recommendation is that you err on the side of giving too
few magic items, see how things are going, and then give more as needed. And the reason for this is simple: itís easier
to give out more if you gave your players too few than it is to either adjust your entire
game or ask your players to give some of their magic items back. Players usually donít like that as it plays
upon a psychological principle known as loss aversion. How to Reward Magic Items
Okay, now Iím going to pound through a quick list of ways you can include magic items in
your game. First, the enemies are using them. I love having the bad guys use magic items
against the characters. Not only is it super cool from a gameplay
perspective, but it also lets me have fun with them too. And then when the players defeat the bad guys,
they get their magic items as rewards. Next, I sometimes have NPC quest givers reward
the players with magic items. For instance, after the Sword Coast Guard
successfully defended Waterdeep from a fiendish invasion, the Lords of Waterdeep gifted them
with several magic items. You can also use entire adventures that revolve
around retrieving magic items. This works particularly well when your players
want particular items, but you want them to have to earn them. Another great way is to simply have magic
items hidden in out of the way or hard to get to places in dungeons. This serves to reward players for exploring
and poking around. And finally, the dungeon master can always
say, ìYou know guys, I have been a little stingy about magic items. Just use whatever you want in the DMG.î
You know guys, I have been a little stingy about magic items. Just use whatever you want in the DMG. [passes
DMG over screen] Let me know how you reward your players with
magic items. Next week Iíll tell you about the time my
players encounter an Intellect Devourer at level 1. But until then click here to learn about 15
non-magic item loot ideas for your D&D game. And until next timeÖ Letís play D&D!
