So I asked my group if they would be happy with more magic items. I was thinking it'd be more fun but I wanted their input and it was a resounding "Yes!" We are doing Lost Mines of Phandelver and have only cleared the goblin cave and they have just reached The Ruins of Thundertree. Also I told them no magic weapons as those are much more rare, and all agreed. 
1. When a player gets a magic item do you describe it right away? For example if I have hem find some Keoghtom's Ointment after chasing off the Cultist's do you normal tell them outright what it is? Have them do a DC 10 Arcana check? Or find an alchemist/mage to ask about it?
2. I'm thinking about one of the items I'll string about in the world is a Ring of lightning. What I'm thinking is I'll use the Shocking Grasp cantrip as it's charged spell. Should it recharge every 24 hours? Should it have to be attuned during a storm?
3. Does attunement mean no one else can use it? Only attuned to one at a time?
4. Any good/fun items I should throw at them?
Thanks for your any suggestions.
1. I give a physical description immediate, such as keogtom's ointment I would describe the container's appearance and any color, texture or smell of the ointment inside, and nothing at all about what the stuff does. Learning what it does requires one character (doesn't matter what class, race, or background) to study the item during a short rest and that grants the knowledge of what it does.
The only exceptions are that some items don't reveal what properties attuning grants beyond those that simply using the item would grant, and potions or scrolls can be identified simply by a quick taste or read respectively.
There is never a check, and it never requires an NPC.
2. Rings are supposed to be powerful, so I'd actually have a couple of lightning themed spells possible for varying charge costs - such as shocking grasp for 1 charge, and lightning bolt for 3 charges - and would follow the general procedure of charged items in 5e, which is to give a number of charges and a time of day when a die roll of charges are restored to the item, with a d20 roll being made whenever the last charge of the item is spent with a result of a 1 meaning the item was destroyed. This ring I would give 7 charges and have 1d6+1 used charges restored to it every dawn.
Attunement should definitely be required so that the ring can't be tossed from person to person to get multiple uses from it per round, and I think requiring attunement during a storm is awesome for flavor.
3. Only one person can be attuned to a particular item at a time, but a person can be attuned to up to 3 items.
4. Only you know your group well enough to know what items they will find to be fun. I'm personally found of a low saturation of permanent magic items, so I favor things like magic ammunition, potions with interesting effects, and low-impact items like a bag of holding or a map which can show you the current location of any creature whose blood has touched its parchment.
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
CFK wrote:
mikelzap wrote:
CFK wrote:
Interestingly enough, I read a blog post about identify recently: Angry Rants - The Identify Spell
iserith wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
I'm in the opposite camp. Even as a player I *liked* the identify process. I remember times we would find a sword (or ring) and not know what it did..... so we took the risk and used it. The mystery made it more fun... it was *magic* after all, not something I ordered from a vending machine. I have no problem with magic having mystery.
And 'delayed gratification' is also known as 'anticipation' and 'something to look forward to', you *know* you found a magical shortsword, which is already great news. Now you get to anticipate what it can do.... maybe even try some things out to see if they work.
Sometimes the items had clues, sometimess they were obvious... othertimes it would take some effort. Heck, sometimes you only had 1 identify spell and 3 items... which one was most important....???
I prefer this much more than having every magical item tagged with a card saying what it is and how it works.
I think the point is that you can maintain the mystery of a magic items in some other manner than what has traditionally been prescribed by the D&D rules. Maybe we should look beyond what we're familiar with and come up with something better.
iserith wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
iserith wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
IIRC identify doesn't reveal an item's secret properties, so it's still possible to throw some surprises into the mix.
I personally love the trial and error approach (both as a DM and a player), but I know plenty other experienced players who've been burned by cursed items one too many times.
pukunui wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote: