In my latest video, I talk about how in any setting, the easier magic is to get, the less special magic will be.

[video=youtube_share;NwnK1ed2T3E]https://youtu.be/NwnK1ed2T3E[/youtube]

That has allways been an issue and various editions have approached it differently. WOTC seems to have embraced Monty Haul until 5e when they reigned it in a fair bit. Items are less common and do not drop from minion types.

I never found restricting magic items made them either more interesting nor more valued by the players. A +1 sword only affects the outcome of an attack roll 1 time out of 20. That's a pretty meh item even if it were the only magical sword in all of existence.

Quote from: Omega;1108770WOTC seems to have embraced Monty Haul until 5e when they reigned it in a fair bit.

3e had a chart that limited the total number and power level of the PC's magic items. Is this chart in 5e?

I was thinking about using a similar chart in my OD&D game but it's not as necessary as in AD&D as in OD&D, the magic items are already restricted by the XP charts (in a roundabout way).

Ultimately, only the items you actually use matter.  Having a lot of choices isn't a problem.  

Players latch on to a particular item for any number of reasons.  The best thing you can do as a GM is be ready to describe each item in a little detail; pattern, material, artistry.  Sometimes a player won't care what an item DOES as much as they care how it LOOKS.  

If you can deck yourself like a Christmas tree, that's a problem.  So having a few items you can use at a given time is probably for the best.  Having a domain plan where you can start passing magical items down to cohorts and minions is also good.  Knowing that your prior sword is going to make your retainers more powerful helps keep it special, even when you have something BETTER.

Here's a write-up re: magic shops from one of the early D&D playtest rules:

Smallest places have nothing, middle-sized places will have fair probabilities of having standard mounts, magic swords and arrows, and standard-type mounts. The same is true of gems for sale. Walled towns will have all standard items for sale, some unusual ones, and a dragon market in which to sell your catch.

Quote from: hedgehobbit;1108773A +1 sword only affects the outcome of an attack roll 1 time out of 20. That's a pretty meh item even if it were the only magical sword in all of existence.

That view completely ignores the vast numbers of creatures that are resistant to damage from non-magical weapons.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1108793That view completely ignores the vast numbers of creatures that are resistant to damage from non-magical weapons.

This is similar to the Thief problem. Traps exist in the dungeon just to give thieves something to use their skills on. Before the Thief class was added, you didn't see the large number of mechanical traps in dungeons. Likewise, monsters resistant to non-magical weapons exist only because magic swords exist. IOW, if there weren't magic swords all over the treasure charts, you wouldn't see a bunch of monsters that could only be hit by magic weapons.

I'm not giving them too many. If anything, I'm erring a little on the stingy side.  My last session had 7 characters ranging from levels 7 to 9.  They had a +1 Trident between them, as far as magic weapon go, though the Monk's abilities also counted.  They've had the Trident for months (real time) and still don't know that it has a few other special abilities.  Though in fairness, since they avoided a near party wipe in that session, they'll probably pick up another item in the next.

Mainly, I want consumable items to get used.  This group of players is notorious for stockpiling potions and scrolls for an emergency that never comes if they've got lots of other toys.  That hasn't been a problem in this campaign.

I have similar views on roleplaying. It seems to me that Pundit likes his fantasy games gritty and low-powered. More Game of Thrones than Lord of the Rings. The weird thing is I always saw D&D as being similar to high fantasy with all the pc's being Swiss army knives and having a spell or ability for everything. The typical low fantasy, gritty playstyle that Pundit advocates and thinks is synonymous with D&D, I never saw that in D&D but I always thought that was Warhammer. Or maybe Runequest. But we have similar views. This stacking of magic spells and items (and too much combat) is what drove me away from fantasy rpg's and started playing World of Darkness, because I like that style of playing better. Weirdly enough the way the WoD books are written didn't click with me, but that's another story.

This is one of the reasons I like weapon quality to be a thing. Much more interesting to have the low level special items (+1 / +2 swords and such) be better because they are well crafted, then the actual magic weapons can be saved for truly superior weapons gaining the bonus for good craftsmanship (because what kind of fool wastes magic enchantments on a Harbor Freight sword) further improved with magic.

Every little town and hamlet having a magic shop is just silly, but you do see it in some published adventures, because at times that has just been the way it is.

Quote from: hedgehobbit;1108773I never found restricting magic items made them either more interesting nor more valued by the players. A +1 sword only affects the outcome of an attack roll 1 time out of 20. That's a pretty meh item even if it were the only magical sword in all of existence.

In older editions (I'm specifically thinking 2E), a +1 to hit and damage was the realm of characters with 17 or higher Str scores; so it DID really matter. 1st level characters having a 20 STR with +5 to hit and damage didn't exist.

I like how in my Princes of the Apocalypse game the 8th level Barbarian treasures the +1 greataxe he took from a dead orc warchief. The player even had his mini printed in steel, great axe and all! Thinking of having it level up with him when he hits 11th.

I allowed a bunch of free purchase items in my 5e games, probably more from legacy 3e/4e type thinking, but I am coming round to the idea that maybe only healing potions (in limited numbers) and a few common consumables should be available in a typical setting, and it works well to have items be unique to certain named vendors you have to maintain a relationship with, like the Perfumier in my Thule game who sells Perfume of Bewitchment to favoured customers.

For me, D&D is about finding lots of magic items.

Not RPGs in general, but "D&D as Diablo" is good by me.

In stark contrast, magic items in my Warhammer games are like magic items found a Cthulhu Mythos game. If it isn't a tool of Chaos, it's a tool of Law that comes with its own price, or its some crazy Elf magic that permanently alters the user's reality.

In my Mazes & Minotaurs game, magic items are unique and tied to the gods, mostly as gifts. So they are both rare and come with an attachment to a higher power.

One concept from Earthdawn that I really liked was that magical weapons and items were imbued with power from legends, ie: the deeds that were accomplished with them in the past.  The more you "attuned" yourself to the item the more you could tap into that power.  The process of attuning yourself required that you learned the history of the deeds done with the item and, in some form, re-enacted those deeds.  Earthdawn being a high-magic system/setting there were plenty of low level "enhancement" type magic trinkets laying around, but any item granting serious bonuses was more than just a powerful widget, it was also a quest generating narrative device.  

For example, if you found a rusted rune covered sword, you might detect a faint magical aura.  You'd then have to decipher the runes to learn the name of the weapon.  This would lead you to the great Dwarven library or something.  Of course, the Dwarves aren't just going to let a bunch of scruffy adventurers access their most sacred treasure - the accumulated knowledge of millennium.   But per-adventure you may come to learn that the sword was once used to slay a great evil, and legend says.. etc... etc...      

The specific implementation in Earthdawn would easily drift into a kind of "meta-gamey" point system if the GM wasn't careful, but I thought the concept was really neat.

The City State of the Invincible Overlord had the Sorceror's Supply House in 1980 and since then I always had magic item shops.

There is no intrinsic reason for magic items to be "special" anymore than casting spells need to "special". If you want it to be special then you got some work do with classic D&D and you will wind up in a similar place as Adventures in Middle Earth compared to D&D 5e.

There is nothing wrong with that. It a dial out many to make setting interesting for a campaign. Both extremes have been made to work as well as in-between options.

As for me I treat magic items as luxury items with a trade similar to that of spice and other rare items. Most of the trade is done by commission. Either to make or to find. Wealthy individuals make private arrangement to get what they want.

The following is the price list I have been working with for my Majestic Wilderlands campaign using Swords & Wizardry.

Magic Item Creation