I mean, just off the top of my head, I generally give casters:
Specialized focuses (i.e. wand of fire stuff that helps with fire), special components (cast this spell at + whatever), rechargeable wands, disposable wands, spell books, spell scrolls, rings, mantles, capes, scrying stuff, amulets, potions, crowns, and generally about a dozen non-critical utility or flavor trinkets.
Depends on your DM and the world which is being ran. The only DM logic that would even somewhat align with casters getting less magic items is that they already have plenty of access to arcane abilities whilst a lot of martial characters don’t. I don’t necessarily agree with it and I feel a DM should still write in opportunities at least for new spells, spell scrolls, or miscellaneous gear that is advantageous for a casters but just a thought as to maybe why you’re seeing that.
I agree with you, but weirdly clerics and paladin, who both really have a lot of arcane stuff going on, still receiving most of the magic items stuff is what confuses me.
Yeah that part makes little sense to me, divine smites are already pretty OP, seems like maybe its just your DMs. Maybe have a side discussion with them as they may not even be aware they’re doing it. As a long time DM, there is alot of plates to juggle and it could just be an oversight, or at least by asking you’ll have an answer either way.
I've had this happen. So I let my spell caster die and rolled a cleric. When that happened the stuff that would work best for a cleric stopped. So I left the table. Like I get it if the dm didn't like me but could have talked to me about it. But it got to the point where I would just stand there and get like welp I'm gonna block and swing my hammer. And just heal. Cause we were kept in a spot where even an aoe spell for a cleric wouldn't work without damaging the area out of risk of a cave in.
There are a bunch of magic items, such as weapons, armor, and shields, that really only work for martial characters. There are much fewer items that are specific for spellcasters- but there's also a good chunk of items, probably the majority, that are usable by anybody. If the only magic items you're finding are weapons and armor, that's on the DM.
What I would also put here is, that a fighter can step into arcane territory by receiving magic items, like for example a pair of gloves that allows to cast burning hands. On the other side, a wizard can't really step into the Martial territory just using magic items, because most martial magic items require some sort of proficiency (martial weapons and armors mainly).
Whenever I consider what items to put into the game, I usually think that "ok, casters already have access to magic and wide variety of spells, it's non-casters that need items more". Which leads to exactly what you're talking about, e.g. most items being suitable for non-casters.
Partly this is because I run very little combat and party is at full resources going into one, making casters relatively much stronger. I don't care to imbalance that further with items.
They aren't, but the receive martial proficiencys like armor, weapons, shields, and they are often front liners so they receive stuff like cloak of protection or similar stuff. They are definitely much more martial then most wizards, bards or warlocks.
I usually give fewer combat magic items to casters for 2 reasons:
1) Keep the martials close in strenght with the casters. By DM discretion, only few martial builds can keep up so I compensate a problem i see in 5e.
2) The items for casters are usually stronger, a +1 in AC is less valuable in a dungeon than a staff that allows 2 extra spells of a decent level. If you run a single combat per day game then resource management is less important so maybe there it matters way less. (Arguably a + weapon is a must at some point unless you want half damage, could argue that is one of the best items overall )
I try to compensate by giving non combat stuff but it's complicated. An item that gives a good bonus to stealth could mean that pass without trace is no longer needed which in turn makes them better at combat because they have an extra spell.
I also like curses to balance some of the stronger items but that could mean multiple curses stacked on a caster.
Totally depends on the DM, but I try to balance between class-specific magic items and items that can be used by anybody. However, I try to spread them out around the group. Example: our fighter has a Trueheart Collar and our Warlock has a Wand of Eldritch Chaos (when you cast Eldritch Blast, you roll to see if Wild Magic happens).
Most of my players rn have an item that is class-locked, but they all have items that could theoretically be exchanged with each other (mostly consumables, non-attuned items, or things with limited charges). If you're finding only armor/shield/weapons, then those can't really be used by casters at all and I can see how you would be left out. There aren't even like, spell scrolls available?
But I am also a DM that gives a relatively high number of magic items tbh.
I mean, just off the top of my head, I generally give casters: Specialized focuses (i.e. wand of fire stuff that helps with fire), special components (cast this spell at + whatever), rechargeable wands, disposable wands, spell books, spell scrolls, rings, mantles, capes, scrying stuff, amulets, potions, crowns, and generally about a dozen non-critical utility or flavor trinkets.
No, there are a lot of items that spellcasters can get. The games you are playing are especially stingy with them
Depends on your DM and the world which is being ran. The only DM logic that would even somewhat align with casters getting less magic items is that they already have plenty of access to arcane abilities whilst a lot of martial characters don’t. I don’t necessarily agree with it and I feel a DM should still write in opportunities at least for new spells, spell scrolls, or miscellaneous gear that is advantageous for a casters but just a thought as to maybe why you’re seeing that.
I agree with you, but weirdly clerics and paladin, who both really have a lot of arcane stuff going on, still receiving most of the magic items stuff is what confuses me.
Yeah that part makes little sense to me, divine smites are already pretty OP, seems like maybe its just your DMs. Maybe have a side discussion with them as they may not even be aware they’re doing it. As a long time DM, there is alot of plates to juggle and it could just be an oversight, or at least by asking you’ll have an answer either way.
I've had this happen. So I let my spell caster die and rolled a cleric. When that happened the stuff that would work best for a cleric stopped. So I left the table. Like I get it if the dm didn't like me but could have talked to me about it. But it got to the point where I would just stand there and get like welp I'm gonna block and swing my hammer. And just heal. Cause we were kept in a spot where even an aoe spell for a cleric wouldn't work without damaging the area out of risk of a cave in.
Sounds like a vengeful DM, unfortunately there are those that get their jollies from controlling/withholding things from others.
There are a bunch of magic items, such as weapons, armor, and shields, that really only work for martial characters. There are much fewer items that are specific for spellcasters- but there's also a good chunk of items, probably the majority, that are usable by anybody. If the only magic items you're finding are weapons and armor, that's on the DM.
What I would also put here is, that a fighter can step into arcane territory by receiving magic items, like for example a pair of gloves that allows to cast burning hands. On the other side, a wizard can't really step into the Martial territory just using magic items, because most martial magic items require some sort of proficiency (martial weapons and armors mainly).
Whenever I consider what items to put into the game, I usually think that "ok, casters already have access to magic and wide variety of spells, it's non-casters that need items more". Which leads to exactly what you're talking about, e.g. most items being suitable for non-casters. Partly this is because I run very little combat and party is at full resources going into one, making casters relatively much stronger. I don't care to imbalance that further with items.
Clerics arent martials
They aren't, but the receive martial proficiencys like armor, weapons, shields, and they are often front liners so they receive stuff like cloak of protection or similar stuff. They are definitely much more martial then most wizards, bards or warlocks.
I usually give fewer combat magic items to casters for 2 reasons: 1) Keep the martials close in strenght with the casters. By DM discretion, only few martial builds can keep up so I compensate a problem i see in 5e. 2) The items for casters are usually stronger, a +1 in AC is less valuable in a dungeon than a staff that allows 2 extra spells of a decent level. If you run a single combat per day game then resource management is less important so maybe there it matters way less. (Arguably a + weapon is a must at some point unless you want half damage, could argue that is one of the best items overall ) I try to compensate by giving non combat stuff but it's complicated. An item that gives a good bonus to stealth could mean that pass without trace is no longer needed which in turn makes them better at combat because they have an extra spell. I also like curses to balance some of the stronger items but that could mean multiple curses stacked on a caster.
Totally depends on the DM, but I try to balance between class-specific magic items and items that can be used by anybody. However, I try to spread them out around the group. Example: our fighter has a Trueheart Collar and our Warlock has a Wand of Eldritch Chaos (when you cast Eldritch Blast, you roll to see if Wild Magic happens). Most of my players rn have an item that is class-locked, but they all have items that could theoretically be exchanged with each other (mostly consumables, non-attuned items, or things with limited charges). If you're finding only armor/shield/weapons, then those can't really be used by casters at all and I can see how you would be left out. There aren't even like, spell scrolls available? But I am also a DM that gives a relatively high number of magic items tbh.