I'm currently creating my first completely homebrew campaign and I'm planning on using the the DMG treasure tables (p.136 – 149) to generate treasure in my campaign.
I want the world to feel organic and alive outside of their campaign – rather than just created for their exact needs. So rolling treasure randomly really appeals to me. That way the items they find won't always be obviously suited for one party member specifically, or maybe for any party member at all. While some rolled items will be exactly what the party need/want others may prompt difficult decisions about who would benefit most from using them or
whether they should simply be sold for coin or traded away for potions.
Most of the rolls on the treasure tables generate specific items, however, there a number of items that are a bit vaguer:
- Ammunition, +1, +2, or +3
- Armour, +1, +2, or +3
- Spell scrolls (cantrip or levelled spell)
- Weapon, +1, +2, or +3
None of these rolls refer to specific items. When I roll any of these items on the treasure tables, how should I decide what to assign to my party?
Is there any official guidance that I've missed? Have any other tables been published that I can roll on to assign these things randomly (i.e. a table that includes all weapon types – if I've rolled a weapon, or all 2nd level spells – if I've rolled a second level spell scroll).
If there isn't anything like this, then what techniques for assigning these sorts of items have you found to work well in your own game?
Taking +X Weapons, as an example. I don't want to only hand the party weapons that they're predisposed to using but I also don't want everything I give them to be useless. There also shouldn't be a completely flat distribution of weapon types – in any typical fantasy world you'd expect to find more magic daggers and shortswords than flails or tridents. Just making the decision myself about what they find, however, feels quite arbitrary.
Best Answer
First, answering the question as posed: No, there are no rules (actually guidelines) about it, at least I couldn't find any in either the DMG or XGtE, where most of the general guidelines are found.
This is not a problem, though, because when you are DMing, you have two major options: Either you are running a premade campaign or you are running a homebrew campaign. In both cases, you problem can be solved.
Premade Campaign
Most published adventures state the magic item itself, rarely telling you to roll for it. Usually you won't have a problem there. If you do, handle it the same as the homebrew campaign below.
Homebrew Campaign
This is your world. When you wrote this:
IMO this is just wrong. You are the world designer. Deciding what monster will be there, how they behave and what treasures the PCs will be rewarded is part of your job, or, if you prefer, is part of your powers. You might think it's arbitrary if you don't put too much thought into it, though, which leads us to...
Give life to the magic items
The DMG has some suggestions on how to create magic items. Check p. 141 for my point.
But don't stop there: Why is the item here? Why is that +1 Longsword, that now we know it's actually the sword of Percival, the Holy Knight of the Kingdom, which was blessed by the High Priest 300 years ago, lost in a freaking Orc Cave? Did they raid Camelot recently and got it as a spoil? The feeling of "arbitrary decision of putting it here" will be nothing to you or your players when you can put a background there, when the item has a plot and simply makes sense for it to be there. That lore can be created before the characters, so you are actually unbiased and not making a world tailored for them.
Obviously be careful with this line so you don't give them too many useless items (for them). But this shouldn't happen in a fairly balanced party - someone will be able to use that staff, dagger and sword.