Are you tired of seeing your players with the same starting gear every game? Luckily, Dungeon Masters can call the shots.Dungeons & Dragonshas an absurd number of magic items at its disposal, and that’s not even mentioning how you can create your own, from weapons to armor, rings, or miscellaneous objects.
Theoretically, players don’t start with any of them, but nothing stops you from handing out magical items right out the gate or at least placing some of these items in the first dungeon, so they can prepare themselves properly. You don’t want to give them something too overpowered at first, though, as it’ll break the game. What items can fill this specific role, then?
10+1 Weapon
Just Make Sure It’s A Weapon That Fits Your Players' Builds
Let’s start with something easy to do and balance. you’re able to simply check which weapon your players are using and transform it into a +1 weapon, which essentially means the weapon will have a bonus of one on their Attack and Damage Rolls. Just beware that the weapon damage will become magical, which may unexpectedly make some fights easier,like Wererats.
This particular buff is especially nice for characters who won’t cause high levels of damage immediately, though everyone will benefit from a five percent higher chance of hitting their targets in a fight.
9Ring Or Cloak Of Protection
Because Not Getting Hit Is Fun
These two items do the same thing, so it only depends on the aesthetic you or your players want. They are another +1 item, but they enhance your defense instead of improving your damage. They’ll give you a bonus to your AC (Armor Class) and all your Saving Throws.
In a low-level group, this +1 to AC can really help squishy targets, as well as the Saving Throw bonuses, since it also applies to Death Saving Throws, and squishy characters can often fall until they get a few levels.
8Bracers Of Defense
Because Not Getting Hit Is Fun, Part 2
The Bracers of Defense are similar to the ring and the cloak, being better at one part and worse at another. It gives its user a +2 to their AC instead of just one, but it doesn’t provide any bonus to their Saving Throws.
There’s also the fact these bracers won’t work on characters that are wearing armor or wielding a shield. It’s overall useful for characters who are better without armor, like Barbarians and Monks, or characters who can’t wear armor, like Wizards and Sorcerers.
7Stone Of Good Luck
More Bonuses For The Character
We have another +1 bonus recommendation here, but this one won’t be useful for combat — well, only a little bit. Luckstones, as they are called sometimes, will give a +1 bonus to Saving Throws, too, but also Ability Checks.
Instead of just helping the character receive less damage in dire moments, it’ll let them use their skills with a slightly higher chance of success. Oh, and don’t forget: Initiative rolls are Ability Checks.
6Bag Of Holding
Screw Encumbrance
Not every group is a fan of inventory management or coming up with a viable excuse as to how they are carrying all the things they found in the dungeon. A Bag of Holding is an excellent way to give them a free pass to most objects and let them focus on the game.
Still, be careful if you give everyone their own bag; some wild things can happen when messing withtwo Bags of Holding.Still, you can give it to one specific character or leave one in their first dungeon, so they can all share — there’s enough space for everyone’s gear here.
5Sending Stones
Communication Is Key
This situation may not even come up early, but it’s still a nice thing to have. You have these couple of stones, which should stay one with each player, allowing them to cast the spell Sending towards one another.
This will allow them to talk from afar in situations of need, as they’ll only be able to send a message each per day, so don’t worry; you’re not giving your player characters a free telephone to use whenever.
4Goggles Of Night
To Whoever Is Still Playing As A Human
By this point, almost every playable species inD&D has Darkvision,as players love to remind us every time they enter a dark area. However, there is a minority of characters who just can’t see in the dark.
Sure, there are ways to mitigate that, with torches or light cantrips, but with these goggles, they’ll be able to keep up without ruining stealth opportunities with light. These goggles also double the range of a creature’s Darkvision if they already have it in the first place.
3Moon-Touched Sword
Fumbling In The Dark
Another way to deal with the lack of Darkvision is this magnificent sword that also works as a light source (yes, we know the one in the picture is a Moonblade; there are no images of Moon-Touched Swords). This sword of your choice will have a 15ft radius of bright light and another 15ft of dim light.
While it’ll ruin your stealth, it’ll help in dark places without the need to hold torches or similar. Still, the Light cantrip can make this innate light useless, but the damage will still be magical for the sake of ignoring certain damage resistances.
2Sentinel Shield
For The Party’s Tank
If the party has a heavy-armor character that will likely pick a shield to be the ultimate tank, the Sentinel Shield is a nice boost without giving something too strong to the player right away.
It gives its wielder an advantage in Perception and Initiative Checks. Perception is always useful, and since this type of character tends to have a low Dexterity bonus, advantages on Initiative rolls can prevent them from being the last one all the time.
1Imbued Wood Focus
For The Spellcasters
This wood focus works as a spellcasting focus and has many variations. Each version gives a +1 on damage rolls of a specific damage type. For example, Fernian Ash Focus gives a +1 to fire damage spells, while Irian Rosewood gives it to radiant damage spells, and so on.
Since a spell’s damage doesn’t have any sort of bonus, you may at least prevent players from causing only one hit point of damage with their key element, but this item will also get obsolete when they reach higher levels, making it perfect for starters.
