I'm curious what rule variants or rules people have set up in their own 5th edition games. So far my group has been playing it mostly by the Player's Handbook, that that will change likely as next game hits and we work out what rules people would like to try. Here are the rules likely the games will most often be using.
Right now there is a strong call to use the flanking rules just because flanking it a think the group likes to reward.
Potion miscibility will likely get requested as yet another option for various players to roll on tables.
When I'm running I'll probably use side initiative just to keep initiative simpler for myself and hopefully keep combat moving faster and smoother. Since we have a rotating DM, someone actually taking the Alert feat would put a damper on this. If that does happen, I would probably run with the rule that character would act first in initiative during every combat barring extraordinary circumstances.
The one non-DMG house rule I plan to establish is removing the weapon restriction on rogue sneak attacks. Since the group tends to prefer characters with more unique weapon combinations, no one seemed particularly excited by the Dexterity weapon limitation on sneak attacks especially for the player with the rouge who would certainly like to do things like sneak attack with chairs given the opportunity.
I'm quite likely to use some variant to the healing rules. (5 minute short rests and 1 hour long rests and so forth - though probably not that generous).
I like breaking ties between initiative in such a way as to alternate actions between PCs and monsters. I think that helps create a feeling of ebbs and flows during combat.
My next campaign is likely to be Curse of the Crimson Throne, so I'll be importing some rules systems from pathfinder - chase mechanics and the AP tie-in with Harrow cards for sure and probably some disease stuff too.
Don't master the system enough to houserule it yet, but there are two things I'm considering.
1) creating a "wounded" condition which would allow players to gain only a portion of their hp after a long rest until their are healed.
2) looking into making grapple (and some other attacks) a check vs save instead of contest. I wonder why it wasn't made that way, giving saves more use other than vs spells (and incidentally give some use to Strength and Intelligence saves)
There has to be reason why 2) was not implemented, but I'd be curious to know why.
I'm also considering a very simple encumbrance system along the line of your strength score (not bonus) = the number of encumbrance points you can carry before being encumbered. That's a houserule I used in 3.5 that can be ported easily.
Armour encumbers most, followed by heavy weapons and kits. Most weapons and items (or packaged of the same sort such as arrows, torches and rations) would be a single point. Characters quickly become encumbered, especially those in heavy armour. Pack mules and horses get useful again, rather than just a liability and/or owlbear fodder.
I just got the Player's Handbook yesterday and probably won't be DMing any 5E anytime soon, but I really do not like the Hit Dice healing, healing to max HP after a long rest and "recharging" abilities via short rest mechanics at all. I'm not quite sure what I would do to those three aspects of the game but they really get my jimmies ruffled.
You could put the "recharge on short rest" abilities be a certain number per day, as there is no real "per day" mechanic in 5th edition. I understand the perceived reasons behind the Hit Dice healing (since no one likes to play healer-ish types), but I am also not a fan of that mechanic.
It should be easy enough to remove the Hit Dice healing and full heal after long rest all together and not change much, though adding in a ritual healing spell that can heal everyone for a certain amount might be a good idea.
I see one drawback of the ability recharge: the spell slots per day seem to be tied to being able to recharge a number of them.
You could put the "recharge on short rest" abilities be a certain number per day, as there is no real "per day" mechanic in 5th edition. I understand the perceived reasons behind the Hit Dice healing (since no one likes to play healer-ish types), but I am also not a fan of that mechanic.
It should be easy enough to remove the Hit Dice healing and full heal after long rest all together and not change much, though adding in a ritual healing spell that can heal everyone for a certain amount might be a good idea.
I see one drawback of the ability recharge: the spell slots per day seem to be tied to being able to recharge a number of them.
I've never understood this "hate" for playing Clerics. I've always just considered them an essential element of any adventuring party just like a fighter, thief or magic-user. Completely baffling to me.
You could put the "recharge on short rest" abilities be a certain number per day, as there is no real "per day" mechanic in 5th edition. I understand the perceived reasons behind the Hit Dice healing (since no one likes to play healer-ish types), but I am also not a fan of that mechanic.
It should be easy enough to remove the Hit Dice healing and full heal after long rest all together and not change much, though adding in a ritual healing spell that can heal everyone for a certain amount might be a good idea.
I see one drawback of the ability recharge: the spell slots per day seem to be tied to being able to recharge a number of them.
I considered limiting a group to no more than 1 short rest per day.
Regarding eliminating healing Hit Dice and heal to max HP on long rest, I wonder if that would have too great an impact on the game. Did WotC create their monsters stats and abilities based on the assumption that people would be playing RAW for the healing stuff I dislike? If so, would players be at too great a disadvantage if those mechanics were lifted out? I guess I need to actually play some 5E with those unpalatable healing rules to get a better idea...
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I've never understood this "hate" for playing Clerics. I've always just considered them an essential element of any adventuring party just like a fighter, thief or magic-user. Completely baffling to me.
It's not hate for playing a cleric, it's hate for the rest of the group considering your main role to be on-demand-healer.
I've never understood this "hate" for playing Clerics. I've always just considered them an essential element of any adventuring party just like a fighter, thief or magic-user. Completely baffling to me.You could put the "recharge on short rest" abilities be a certain number per day, as there is no real "per day" mechanic in 5th edition. I understand the perceived reasons behind the Hit Dice healing (since no one likes to play healer-ish types), but I am also not a fan of that mechanic.
It should be easy enough to remove the Hit Dice healing and full heal after long rest all together and not change much, though adding in a ritual healing spell that can heal everyone for a certain amount might be a good idea.
I see one drawback of the ability recharge: the spell slots per day seem to be tied to being able to recharge a number of them.
Like Kthulhu said, people have no problem playing a cleric. It is doing any sort of healing that people hate to do. Using their "precious spell slots" for something as demeaning as healing when they could be used to kill everything in front of them, whether that's by buffing themselves (typically) or their party members, or debuffing the enemy, or dealing direct damage with spell or weapon.
People end up feeling useless (or viewing someone else as useless) in a support role, such as healing. Those who choose buff and debuff spells are typically built for melee or ranged weapon damage. Giving clerics spontaneous access to heal spells helps, but you still get people hating on using those spell slots for healing. "I could have used that to harm an enemy!" The only time I have seen Channel Energy used is just before ending an in-game day to boost everyone to full health.
As for your other post, I honestly don't know if the monsters were created with Hit Dice healing and full heals on a long rest in mind. Same with ability recharge on a short rest. I know there are different rule modifications to change some of that in the DMG, according to a post on the WotC forums. What they actually are and actually do, I have no idea.
Clerics get some pretty cool spells and abilities now.
As far as monsters go I'd say they are tougher than 3x monsters. Hitting more often and doing more damage. Almost had a TPK using plain goblins against an experienced group of roleplayers. The cleric was the last man standing. He managed to kill the last two goblins in one round using a war cleric ability and then save another player with a healing potion. One other player made their death saves successfully but two failed.
You could put the "recharge on short rest" abilities be a certain number per day, as there is no real "per day" mechanic in 5th edition. I understand the perceived reasons behind the Hit Dice healing (since no one likes to play healer-ish types), but I am also not a fan of that mechanic.
It should be easy enough to remove the Hit Dice healing and full heal after long rest all together and not change much, though adding in a ritual healing spell that can heal everyone for a certain amount might be a good idea.
I see one drawback of the ability recharge: the spell slots per day seem to be tied to being able to recharge a number of them.
I considered limiting a group to no more than 1 short rest per day.
Regarding eliminating healing Hit Dice and heal to max HP on long rest, I wonder if that would have too great an impact on the game. Did WotC create their monsters stats and abilities based on the assumption that people would be playing RAW for the healing stuff I dislike? If so, would players be at too great a disadvantage if those mechanics were lifted out? I guess I need to actually play some 5E with those unpalatable healing rules to get a better idea...
I wouldn't say that WotC created monsters that require the hit dice healing, but as a DM you would have to account for that in their daily set of encounters.
There are some more harsher healing rules in the DMG as well. I've loaned that out to a friend though so I can't check that out just yet.
For short rests, it is important difference from 4th edition that by default short rests take an hour to complete. With this, depending on how you run the adventure, you can somewhat control how often they can take a short rest by having monsters that search for and put pressure on a resting party relying heavily on short rests or they can react by reinforcing and preparing following the previous encounters.
I'm curious what rule variants or rules people have set up in their own 5th edition games. So far my group has been playing it mostly by the Player's Handbook, that that will change likely as next game hits and we work out what rules people would like to try. Here are the rules likely the games will most often be using.
Jettison Hit Dice rules.
Short Rest ~15-20 minutes; Recover up to 1/4 hit point total
Long Rest ~6 hours; Recover up to 1/2 hit point total
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Like Kthulhu said, people have no problem playing a cleric. It is doing any sort of healing that people hate to do. Using their "precious spell slots" for something as demeaning as healing when they could be used to kill everything in front of them, whether that's by buffing themselves (typically) or their party members, or debuffing the enemy, or dealing direct damage with spell or weapon.People end up feeling useless (or viewing someone else as useless) in a support role, such as healing. Those who choose buff and debuff spells are typically built for melee or ranged weapon damage. Giving clerics spontaneous access to heal spells helps, but you still get people hating on using those spell slots for healing. "I could have used that to harm an enemy!" The only time I have seen Channel Energy used is just before ending an in-game day to boost everyone to full health.
I think this is one of the biggest divides between modern gaming style and "old skool" gaming style. The (almost) exclusive focus by gamers in modern games is on optimizing their DPR and combat effectiveness. No one wants to be a "weak" support role, they ALL want to be Rambo-like bada@@es tearing up foes in combat. Back in the day (as the kids say nowadays) only fighters and their subclasses were expected to shine in combat; clerics, thieves and magic-users played their part in combat but were really expected to assist in other areas of the adventure. The game felt far more party-centric and less focused on the accomplishments of the disparate individuals. No one felt like they were left out or not "pulling their weight" simply because they were not a juggernaut of destruction in combat.
/end old-man rant and thread derail
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I can't recall having arguments about who would be "stuck" playing the healing role at our table but I haven't played regularly for over 20 years and my recollection may be faulty.
In my experience, clerics were the second best combatants in 1E after the warrior classes with their superior hit points (back when clerics got 1d8, thieves got 1d6 and magic-users 1d4), better armor capabilities and better combat advancement on the attack tables. Getting to heal and turn/destroy undead was just a nice bonus that made up for being a little bit weaker in combat than warriors.
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Here are the house rules I am going with - they are mostly to help create the kind of gritty campaign I want. Still haven't seen the DMG, so these might change.
Nat 20’s are crits – crits are always Max damage + extra die roll. Ex. Greataxe crit is 12+d12+(str mod x1.5)
Nat 1’s are fumbles…something bad happens…GM’s discretion.
Ranged Attacks (bows) do d8+strength mod. Crossbows do die+0 for hand, die+1 light, or die+2 for heavy (have to have a strength of 10 to crank heavy). Thrown weapons do damage dice+strength mod.
If you use a finessable weapon, and you are using it as a finesse weapon, and if you are wearing armor that grants stealth disadvantage, your weapon attacks have disadvantage.
Lances do 2d12+Strx1.5 damage when couched on a mounted charge, but have a 25% chance of breaking. Otherwise, they have disadvantage when attacking, unless you are using two hands.
Unhorsing can be done with a successful hit and then opposed strength check, then defender makes a dex save 15. Mounted Combat feat also grants the ability to Joust – if a mounted opponent tries to unhorse you, you automatically get to respond – if the defender wins the opposed strength check, the attacker must make a dex save or be unhorsed.
Heavy weapons do Str x1.5 damage.
Shields can be used to block with an action giving disadvantage to attackers and +2 cover.
All reach weapons have disadvantage when attacking within 5 feet or when in an area with limited room to move.
If you ready for a charging (more than 10’) attack from a specific target or direction, the longer weapon or reach gets the attack. If defender, gets advantage and stops the attacker from attacking upon successful hit. If reaches are the same, both get an attack, defenders resolving first.
Any spell can be cast as a ritual, if the class has the Ritual Spellcasting feature. Wizards can cast any spell in their spellbook as ritual, sorcerers and warlocks any spell they know, clerics any spell have memorized. It takes 20 minutes per spell level, unless designated “ritual” then it takes 10 minutes flat.
Determine “marching order” – front rank, back rank, middle rank if available. Back rank has no chance to spot traps and hidden things ahead, middle has -5 on perception checks.
Magical ammunition can be reused if retrieved. It is heartier than normal ammunition.
There are two types of monsters/characters: Martial Elites and Commons. Commons are instantly killed with a critical hit. PCs are elites. Typically, martial training grants elite status for NPCs.
HPs can be increased for all creatures, including animals, with training, up to the level of the trainer. Also, HPs can be higher than normal for any creature to reflect general heartiness, for example, a big farmer with a pitchfork who, while not martially trained and a commoner, still might be a force to be reckoned with (Until you roll a crit and chop his head off.)
Called shot - +2 or +4 to AC and disadvantage to attacker.
Some checks can’t be done if you have under the att required. Ex. 16 strength to push a boulder.
Spear has a variant – Longspear, simple weapon, reach, no thrown, d8
One group I play in is going to up the number of Inspiration points we can get to 3. We keep hoarding it when we only have 1.
I'm thinking of running a group where you get a number of Inspiration points equal to your Proficiency bonus.
I also want to introduce a feature called Knacks. Similar to the traits in Pathfinder, each PC would get one Knack at 1st level. A Knack would be approximately half a feat, such as a bonus save or skill proficiency.
The one thing I really found disappointing in 5th Edition is the lack of customization at 1st level. Race/Class/Background and ability scores are all that seems to distinguish 1st level PCs, and the way the point buy works, pretty much everyone has the same Attack bonus and Save DCs if they optimize even a little bit. I think adding Knacks would increase customization.
I have yet to make many house rules as I am still learning the system.
The only small changes are that I requested all players to take the average HP when they level up, and expanded the things players can due (like extending the hours on watch) during a short or long rest.
I like the idea of Critical Hit damage, I might borrow it. :)
Some of the stuff I've incorporated:
• Starting HP = Constitution score. Hit Die + Con modifier at every level thereafter.
• Ported over 4E's Melee Training feat, which now grants a +1 bonus to one Ability score of your choice (without going over 20) and you now use that particular score's modifier when rolling for weapon attacks. You only deal half the modifier's number in damage (rounded down). So a Cleric who choose Melee Training (Wisdom) gets +1 to his/her Wisdom score and say they now have a Wisdom 17 (+3), they would add +1 to weapon damage rolls.
• Daggers are more deadly when used in close combat such as grappling, increasing their damage die to d8.
• I'll probably also convert more 4E powers into maneuvers for the Battle Master to pick, as well as anyone who grabs the maneuver-based feat.
• Figuring out a homebrew for the Warlord as well.
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So I am getting ready to DM a 5E game shortly...I ran one for my kids for a short while but this will be the first one as a serious test where I am running.
I have been in a game for 7 months or so where when I started the group a dude said he would like to run....he has been tossing in on-the-fly houserules ever since. Wanna attack someone? You are a dwarf with a human standing between you and the target so make a perception check to see if you can see the target. Wanna move up into combat? Passing through a friendly player's space requires a Dex check by yourself and the person whose spot you are going through...fail and fall prone.
Basically a ton of houserules to make life difficult and bog down the game. None expressed before hand and none open to discussion (and I tried, siting that we just want to test out the true 5e rules and how they run without a bunch of houserules).
That's why I and half the group are splintering off to run a new game.
To me you add houserules to a game in order to address a problem in the ruleset or add a certain style or flavor to the campaign world. You don't add them in because "I just think that looking at a fight when you are behind a guy is harder" or "I just think that Dragonborn are over-powered so I am eliminating them, so what if I never saw one in play or heard anything negative about them and you guys wanna test out the game".
I currently don't see much I would think of houseruling, although I haven't quite figured out how grappling works if you want to choke someone during it, or stab someone, or what types of weapons are usable in one. I am gonna have to look into that more but I really don't see much that needs attention. The game runs smoothly when we aren't succumbing to DM imposed extra dice rolling not within the rules.
I look forward to seeing the game run as close to RAW as possible and can't wait to give the players that experience also. If something rears it's head I will raise it to the player's attention and we can decide how to fix it or even if it needs fixing.
It's not my game it is OUR game. I don't force MY agenda on the group, we all should decide what goes on in our game to make it fun for all of us.
In my game, we have few house rules;
- Tielfling, Dragonborn and Warlock were not allowed at character creation as their not part of my setting (yet).
- You don't get full HP after a long rest. You can use HD to get HP back as with short rest and you still get back half your HD used (but not the one used during long rest). So far the only difference is that the party use more potions but not that much since we are running the first book of Kingmaker and encounters happens to be quite far apart.
- Inspiration is awarded by the players at the end of a game night.
- We tried the flanking rules, but dropped it when my players realized that it favors more pack of enemies than themselves.
I included a few of the optional rules from the DMG in the game I am running. We are using the following:
- Flanking (with the stipulation that if it gets out of hand, it will be dropped. So far, it hasn't.)
- Diagonals (basically making diagonal movement similar to Pathfinder instead of 4th edition)
- Healer's Kit Dependency + Slow Natural Healing (using hit dice for healing requires the use of a healer's kit, and no full heal at the end of a long rest, but they can spend hit dice to heal)
- the extra action options presented in the DMG minus the Mark.
Firearms (renaissance level) are available, but no one has yet to take one. Also, no multiclassing.
This is for a 4th edition adventure I have attempted to convert to 5th edition (Elder Elemental Eye) that will lead into Princes of the Apocalypse. There may be changes to these whenever I end up doing campaigns set in my homebrew world.
I've been playtesting this, but it hasn't come often enough to be very conclusive yet.
51% to 100% hp = a bit out of breath but unscathed.
1% to 50% hp = a bit bruised and banged-up but uninjured
receiving a critical hit or failing a Dexterity saving throw causing damage = wounded. Wounded character must be treated with Medicine check or magical healing > damage taken or wounded character heals only 50% hp overnight and do not recuperate hit dice.
I've been converting my Pathfinder Overland Action Houserule to 5e D&D
Small update on my Overland Actions houserule for 5e. Still a few loose ends to tie-up, stealth is a bit messy...
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I use the wounds table from the DMG but I roll 2d20 and take the highest. That makes the chance of a minor wound much greater than getting an eye put out.
Also, I allow players to negate a possible wound by taking a temporary -1 to AC if they are wearing armor appropriate to the wound (like the armor got dented or something). They can remove the penalty with a short rest (like they bang out the dents).
Interesting.
I am using the following house rules for D&D 5th edition, some pretty similar to the posts in this thread:
- Bonus ability at creation: +1 to one ability score, or 1 skill proficiency, or 1 proficiency save, or 1 feat.
- In addition to the ability increase, characters gain 1 feat every 3 levels.
- Reduced HP recovery from resting: 1HP per level + Con mod for short rest, 1 HD (up to max 1 HD per proficiency bonus) + Con score for long rest.
- Adjusted AC from armors: 12/leather, 13/studded, 15/chainmail, etc. Basically the original armor values from 3.5/Pathfinder. I don't know why they lowered these.
- Flanking (as per D&D3.5 or Pathfinder).
- Inspirations: Up to 1 inspiration per proficiency bonus or Cha modifier, whichever higher.
- I am also considering increasing the ability score bonus from subraces to +2, instead of +1.
What do you think?
More magic items? Not really. I think the limitations of 3 attuned magic items is a good idea to limit the excess.
As for the challenge for monsters, I often play them as "advanced", with little things here and there. So they should be fine.
This being said, I didn't really test some of these houserules. But it seems to me it should work fine.
Interesting.
I am using the following house rules for D&D 5th edition, some pretty similar to the posts in this thread:- Bonus ability at creation: +1 to one ability score, or 1 skill proficiency, or 1 proficiency save, or 1 feat.
- In addition to the ability increase, characters gain 1 feat every 3 levels.
- Reduced HP recovery from resting: 1HP per level + Con mod for short rest, 1 HD (up to max 1 HD per proficiency bonus) + Con score for long rest.
- Adjusted AC from armors: 12/leather, 13/studded, 15/chainmail, etc. Basically the original armor values from 3.5/Pathfinder. I don't know why they lowered these.
- Flanking (as per D&D3.5 or Pathfinder).
- Inspirations: Up to 1 inspiration per proficiency bonus or Cha modifier, whichever higher.
- I am also considering increasing the ability score bonus from subraces to +2, instead of +1.
What do you think?
Most crucial thing to remember is that 5e is a different game.
I think a major point of 5e limiting feats and making them have greater effect was to follow the principal of giving characters less stuff but making it bigger so a feat is special. It would not be unusual for characters will reach 12th level before even taking a feat. I think giving them all these extra feats works against that intention.
The reason the AC is what it is has to do with bounded accuracy, if you in essence just give all armour wearers +1 AC you simply increase the defence of all characters except those that don't wear armour. The biggest difference this will make is to the heavy armour, shield using defence based fighter who will gain a fair bit from it, and monks, wizards etc who will lose. The reason they lowered them was because 5e is a different game.
I considered flanking but favoured ditching the +2 bonuses for simplicity. With the reduced attacks of opportunity it's easy to flank. My players appreciated not having to gang up in the right squares to get a bonus.
I allowed a max of 2 inspirations - no one ever got there. I still don't have a handle on giving them out.
As for the stat bonuses an extra 1 point won't make a difference - except to humans I guess. I made my players roll up their characters (stats in order, no rearrange) because I wanted that old school feel. Initially they were grumpy about but after about 30 hours of play and 1 death (new character rolled up) they like it.
I think I would allow a number of attuned items equal to your Proficiency Bonus. Just like I would grant a number of Inspirations equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
And grant a number of bonus proficiencies equal to your Proficiency Bonus OR a background. I think there should be a way to customize and grow as a character. The proficiencies could be languages, skills, tools, or weapons, maybe armor or shields, possibly saving throws--or half proficiency to a save?
I want to give out more customization options, but I don't want to step on the racial abilities of the humans and half-elves.
I also have a couple ideas for feats.
One would be Exotic Weapon Training. You would select a number of weapons equal to your Proficiency bonus, and gain special abilities depending on the weapon, such as gaining the Versatile damage when wielding a longsword one-handed, or adding the Finesse weapon quality to the handaxe.
Another would be Greater Shield Mastery, with Shield Mastery as its prerequisite. You would increase the bonus to your AC from using a shield to be equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
Yeah, like, Col. Mustard almost never collects $200 for passing Go whenever I play Clue. ;-)
I think I would allow a number of attuned items equal to your Proficiency Bonus. Just like I would grant a number of Inspirations equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
That will result in really powerful characters.
From what has been said, 5e isn't balanced around the assumption that your characters will have magic items. As a result a +1 swords is a really fairly big boost about the base assumptions.
You might find it is more useful to keep it to three attuneable itemS per character in the entire campaign, and a smattering of other magic items, but really put the work in on making each of them awesome in flavour.
We're doing a conversion of the Rune Lords right now, and it's been really hit or miss with the magic items. We have a ton of magic weapons, but only the relatively new barbarian is using them. The eldritch knight uses battle axes, and we don't have any of those. The ranger and arcane trickster share the magic arrows and bow, and the wizard has gotten a few trinkets. My cleric has a petrifying mask and a cloak that increases one save by 1.
We recently looted a dragon's lair, so there is some more stuff, but it seems to have been placed by random.
If the treasure was more focused, then we would need less of it. But if it's going to be general or not usable or even just suboptimal, then more might be needed.
It doesn't sound like you need more slots, it sounds like the treasure needs to be adjusted to fit your party a little better.
We really haven't sold a lot. We've done barter and trade, like giving away a +1 longsword and a bunch of gold so the eldritch knight could get a +1 battle axe. The rogue keeps a bunch of stuff in a bag of holding...
But we don't have a ton of magic items.
At least my dwarf cleric doesn't. At 10th level, I have a +1 Con Saving Throw cloak, a mask that give me advantage on saves dealing with visual effects & petrify 1/day, and a Ring of Swimming. Well, after we raided a dragon hoard, I picked up a warhammer +1 and am "holding on to" a Belt of Frost Giant Strength for the barbarian and/or fighter.
But clerics aren't very gear-oriented in 5th Edition. No wands of cure light wounds, no headbands of Wisdom needed (mostly because of the 20 max in ability scores).
The wizard has a couple wands, I think, the arcane trickster has a really nice elven cloak (Advantage on Stealth checks + Expertise (Stealth) + Cunning Action (Hide) = effective greater invisibility!), the hunter ranger has a magic bow, the archers share a bunch of magic arrows, and the barbarian isn't as picky as the eldritch knight when it comes to weapons, so he has a defending greatclub of haste, some kind of polearm, and something else no one else can use.
I think the druid has no gear, but he's just a placeholder tank for when the fighter and barbarian can't make it AND the druid's player isn't away at school.
The One Ring (Cubicle 7's Tolkien Middle Earth RPG) has an interesting take on magic items (and the handling of).
It differs from typical Fantasy RPG in that extraordinary items, including magical treasure, are purchased with XP rather that bought with gold or "owed" to the player based on its level, but it does have a "magical items are rare and cannot be bought" philosophy.
Basically, the Loremaster (game master) decides what type of magic/wondrous items the players will have, based on rarity. He/she is free to readjust the list anytime, but that's what the players are going to get regardless if their characters find them in a troll hoard, receive them as gift or heirloom from one of the Great or pry them from the grip of a barrow-wight. In a way the character was meant to have that item instead of another.
As much as I enjoy a bit of magical treasure randomness once in a while, I intend to use these guidelines in my next 5e game. I just need to find the right 'trigger' since getting one of these items is the equivalent of spending an ASI in TOR.
Oh yeah!
I need to get me some magic armor. I really want to try out the bane spell, too, since it gives enemies -1d4 to attacks and saving throws, but first they need to fail a Charisma save, and I usually have bless up anyways.
I wish there was a way to Concentrate on 2 spells at once!
The One Ring (Cubicle 7's Tolkien Middle Earth RPG) has an interesting take on magic items (and the handling of).
It differs from typical Fantasy RPG in that extraordinary items, including magical treasure, are purchased with XP rather that bought with gold or "owed" to the player based on its level, but it does have a "magical items are rare and cannot be bought" philosophy.
Basically, the Loremaster (game master) decides what type of magic/wondrous items the players will have, based on rarity. He/she is free to readjust the list anytime, but that's what the players are going to get regardless if their characters find them in a troll hoard, receive them as gift or heirloom from one of the Great or pry them from the grip of a barrow-wight. In a way the character was meant to have that item instead of another.
As much as I enjoy a bit of magical treasure randomness once in a while, I intend to use these guidelines in my next 5e game. I just need to find the right 'trigger' since getting one of these items is the equivalent of spending an ASI in TOR.
The One Ring has an awesome approach to magic items.
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But we don't have a ton of magic items.
At least my dwarf cleric doesn't. At 10th level, I have a +1 Con Saving Throw cloak, a mask that give me advantage on saves dealing with visual effects & petrify 1/day, and a Ring of Swimming. Well, after we raided a dragon hoard, I picked up a warhammer +1 and am "holding on to" a Belt of Frost Giant Strength for the barbarian and/or fighter.
But clerics aren't very gear-oriented in 5th Edition. No wands of cure light wounds, no headbands of Wisdom needed (mostly because of the 20 max in ability scores).
The wizard has a couple wands, I think, the arcane trickster has a really nice elven cloak (Advantage on Stealth checks + Expertise (Stealth) + Cunning Action (Hide) = effective greater invisibility!), the hunter ranger has a magic bow, the archers share a bunch of magic arrows, and the barbarian isn't as picky as the eldritch knight when it comes to weapons, so he has a defending greatclub of haste, some kind of polearm, and something else no one else can use.
I think the druid has no gear, but he's just a placeholder tank for when the fighter and barbarian can't make it AND the druid's player isn't away at school.
So have you run any modules or adventures, or doing it all home brew? I have been trying to weigh the various adventures and the treasure that they give vs the needs of my players.
My ultimate solution has been to give out lots of minor magical items that don't have an impact on combat or travel, such as gloves that let you handle fire... interesting, and useful, but not immediately game changing, and as a bonus they encourage creative thinking.
We're doing Rise of the Rune Lords.
I'm a big fan of trinkets and "trump card" items, and 5th Edition doesn't require the "Xmas Tree" effect like 3.5 and PF. But magic is pretty rare, so it's hard to get customized magic items. Our eldritch knight wields dual battle axes (it's really important to his character concept), and just getting one of them magicked was kind of a hassle.
I think the magic items should be customized to the players, otherwise, they're just fancy conglomerations of gold pieces.