Unless there’s a real compelling need to alter a magic item from 1e/2e, I just use them as is. There are a few minor things, like saving throws and DCs, and I’d probably knock a +5 down to a +3, unless it was against one creature. Even the Rod of Cancellation is fine. If there’s a really powerful magic item that it important to keep, them make a quest to restore it.
Actually, I often change a lot of the 5e items back. And I do have out a fair amount of magic items, but most are consumable. And things with charges have a fixed number of charges, most don’t regain them every night.
They’ve worked for me for 35+ years, why change them?
For this conversion, I make mostly phrasing and formatting changes to 2e magic items. I made a checklist to use when editing and formatting the 2e magic items. It’s a work in progress: please feel free to critique.
Please note: I am unable to use small capitals with the forum tools. The example magic item is the Trident of Fish Command (
DMG 5e 209).
MAGIC ITEM CREATION CHECKLIST
1. Name the item using small capitals.
Example: TRIDENT OF FISH COMMAND
2. Underneath the name, define the item type: armor, potion, ring, rod, scroll, staff, wand, weapon, or wondrous item (
DMG 5e 139-40).
3. Indicate the rarity of the item: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very rare, or Legendary (
DMG 5e 135).
If the item requires attunement, state so in parentheses. Italicize the whole line, including parentheses.
Example: Weapon (trident), uncommon (requires attunement)
4. Briefly describe the item. If the item has charges, list the number of charges.
Example: The trident is a magic weapon. It has 3 charges.
5. Use the second-person pronoun "you" to describe how to use, or otherwise activate, the item.
Example: While you carry it, you can use an action and expend 1 charge to cast
dominate beast (DC 15) from it on a beast that has an innate swimming speed.
6. Italicize the names of spells, and include their difficulty classes or saving throws.
Use the DCs for spells cast from scrolls, or specify that the caster can use its own DC or that a predetermined DC applies.
7. Use the final sentence to state how the item regains charges, if applicable.
The trident regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.