Legendary Magic Items - your experiences?

[AkaKageWarrior]

Hello,

I just browsed the DM's guide again and just for the fun of it was dreaming about my paladin having one (or more!) legendary items one day... (far away, if ever, now we are level 4).

As I also DM, my "DM-side" thought: "I'd never gave this one out!" when looking at some items.
For example almost all the stuff my paladin would like to have:
Holy Avenger, Belt of Giant Strength, Armor +3 or Invulnerabilty, ...

Some items seem more artifact or epic like, which I would possibly hand out only in some special epic "kill-archfiend-save-universe" adventure / campaign.
Come on, a belt of storm giant strength is effin' hilarious, str 29?

So what is your experience in actual game play with legendary items?
The 5e campaigns I DM'd ended at level 12 / is at level 5, the one I'm playing in are at about level 5, so far away from -err- almost any magic item right now...

 

[tglassy]

I once DMd a game where I handed out at least one legendary item to everyone at level 6. The difficulty of the game was insane, and I just wanted to see these things used.

Yeah, the Champion Fighter killed the Dracolich. Twice. On the first hit. I’d given him a Vorpal Sword. Dracolich dies, comes back in another body as per the lore, they find his phylactery, fight him again, and on the second round one banished the phylactery for one minute to another plane as the champion fighter, who is under the affects of dragon fear and has disadvantage, proceeds to roll two crits for his disadvantaged Attack. Cuts off his head. No phylactery. Dead Dracolich. At level...I think they were 7 at the time.

I had a Rogue Thief at level 17 who got ahold of a Staff of the Magi. He proceeded to pretend he was an Archmage from that day forward. I think he’s my favorite character so far.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I've had a couple of players at my table who had the Belt of Storm Giant's Strength. Potent, there's no melee class that wouldn't want it. It seems broken but generally by the time the players can get it you can adjust the game to modify that item.

I have a fighter PC with an Iron Flask. That thing can break encounters. Run into a powerful demon? Trap them, release them and command them to destroy their minions. Yikes. Still, it's pretty fun because no one expects a Dwarven Fighter to do such a thing. The main thing that's broke RAW is that there's no limit to the number of times it's power can be used in a day.

 

[The Thrasson]

When a legendary item comes up through random rolls, I try to use it as an opportunity for a new storyline or plot twist. I sometimes change an overpowered item and use it as a first edition artifact. I use tough side effects to limit the time the item can be used. Another option is to have a prior/original owner come hunting for the item. The publicity of owning an item of such great power bringing them out of the woodwork. Maybe the item's creator, now a lich, thinks the character undeserving.

I've said it before, using a random die roll as an opportunity and inspiration for a unique campaign, is one of the best aspects of D&D and similar RPSs.

 

[Eltab]

White Plume Mountain (in Tales from the Yawning Portal) includes an artifact-level item that is going to attract the Dwarf characters in your group, like magnets attract iron.
My group found it, and we gave it to the dwarf because he could best use its properties. He suddenly wanted to be in the front row in every fight "so he could get more use out of it."

When we finished the dungeon and went back to Civilization again, we had to return the Powerful Magic Items we had located. Both the dwarf's player and I were out for that session, but I was later told that the rest of the group hand-waved it: "We give back the Powerful Magic Items to their previous owners." I can see where that other player might feel like the group had hosed him.
My character is a Trickery Cleric and I was thinking about building a copy (preferred) or a substitute or a down-powered version or an illusion (last choice) of the real thing, to hand over.

P.S. If you look in Princes of the Apocalypse, there are two similar items involved in side quests - and four more prominently featured in the main plot.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Legendary items are cool as hell.

Look, the DM can throw unlimited monsters of any CR at the party. The DMG encounter guidelines are not a gun held to your head. There is no way to "break" the game by handing out legendary items. The only consequence is ... you are now expected to do legendary things. And that frickin' rocks. Sing, oh muse, of the deeds of Achilles! Tell us now, of the labors of Hercules!

It's just about managing player expectations, running the game people want to play, and being fair between and among your players. Legendary items can be a problem if the players want to be Aragorn instead of Hercules, or if they want gritty noir instead of legendary myth, or if you give two legendary items to one player and he makes all the other players stand in the shade. But those are problems with game management, not problems with the items per se.

One thing I like to do with legendary items is every NPC reacts to them. You're not just some schlub adventurer now. You're the wielder of Excalibur. That means something. There are prophecies about this. Kings will know fear. The oppressed will know hope. The Rogues Guilds will see opportunities. Stuff happens.

If you've ever read The Wheel of Time, a legendary items is an excuse for the DM to treat the players like ta'veren.

 

[Tormyr]

There were lots of great magic items in my 5e Age of Worms campaign especially as the party was approaching level 20.

* The wizard had a staff of the magi from Dragotha's hoard. He enjoyed it immensely until he was temporarily killed by another dragon and it was taken from his body. The staff was given to the dragon's CR20 rogue lieutenant. The party had great difficulty with an opponent who could go invisible and then bonus action hide. This was followed up by a triple move and a then a fireball from behind. After they finally figured out they could find her location with locate object, she revealed herself at the top of the stairs, waiting. When the wizard flew up to meet her, she broke the staff over her knee. Thankfully, he was merely knocked unconscious while she was vaporized.

* The party assembled the rod of 7 parts at the end of a personal sidequest for the rogue/monk. The monk used it from that point on and helped in several cases to keep people alive.

* The rogue/monk made good use of several items including a shortsword version of a sunblade.

* The paladin had a holy avenger in the last chapter that was put to good use against the undead hordes.

* The Champion fighter had a Defender greatsword that turned her into a crazy damage dealer with GWM.

All of these powerful items worked well with the PCs, and I was able to adjust difficulty easily enough and provide situations where the items were useful.

 

[Eltab]

I'm kicking around an idea where the PCs can retrieve a legendary Sword of Fiend-Bane.
The biggest problem I have right now is figuring out how to let the PCs know its power (and its limitations) without running somebody's character for one fight.

Sure, it sounds fun to say, "OK, fighter, you draw the sword; it gets a look at that tough nasty over there, lets out a battle cry, and CHARGES across the battlefield. You are drug along for the ride."
"Man, I was gonna stab this monster in front of me who is trying to eat my squishy friend."

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I dig this. It’s a great opportunity to expand the horizons of a game.

There’ve been two Legendary items in my campaigns so far – both swords: Dawnbringer from Out of the Abyss and Hazirawn from Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Neither one broke the metaphorical bank. Now that I think about it, both ended up in the hands of paladins, too. Weird.

Back in the day, I put a few artifacts into play, even, and the only time they created a problem was when the characters tried killing each other for them.

The only consequence is ... you are now expected to do legendary things. And that frickin' rocks. Sing, oh muse, of the deeds of Achilles! Tell us now, of the labors of Hercules!

 

[Satyrn]

I'm kicking around an idea where the PCs can retrieve a legendary Sword of Fiend-Bane.
The biggest problem I have right now is figuring out how to let the PCs know its power (and its limitations) without running somebody's character for one fight.

Sure, it sounds fun to say, "OK, fighter, you draw the sword; it gets a look at that tough nasty over there, lets out a battle cry, and CHARGES across the battlefield. You are drug along for the ride."
"Man, I was gonna stab this monster in front of me who is trying to eat my squishy friend."

I'd try to do that during a fight that I knew was gonna be easy for the players to handle, and then make the whole encounter outlandish in other ways on top of a magic sword dragging its wielder across the battlefield.