Among the most important rewards for heroes in an adventure is the magic items they might find. Make the determining of those items more fun by making them more random and not just something you hand out. Determining such rewards yourself feels like playing mother-may-I: the warrior would like a magic sword; the thief would like a magic ring; will you indulge their wishes? Determining it randomly right in front of them feels like gambling.

Finding Them Randomly

At low levels, your heroes should find their first magic items in a treasure hoard. As I’ve recommended before, let them roll randomly for them sometimes. They won’t be able to blame you for giving them something they don’t want. Actually, if they don’t have much in the way of magic items already, they’ll probably be happy to get just about anything. Keep most items low power and/or consumable.

Recovering Them from Enemies

Starting around 4th level, the heroes should be facing opponents who have magic arms and armor. Now magic items are their reward for defeating more powerful opponents. They only get what you give the bad guys, so be judicious—and sometimes make the items of little use to the heroes due to an evil nature or the fact that they’re disruptive to allies (radiates silence or darkness; has its own battlecry; requires calling upon an evil god to work).

Finding Them on Purpose

By 5th level, the heroes should still should also be getting rumors of specific magic items that might be recovered on an adventure. This is a great motivator and will often be the deciding factor in the players’ decision to take one adventure over another. Don’t be overly specific.

“Magic sword? Why yes, I’ve heard of one wielded by the evil knight Carbonar. And another was entombed with the paladin Saint Heronimus in what is now the Black Swamp. I know nothing of their specific properties, however….”

Getting Them as Rewards

At 8th level or so, you can start having NPCs offer magic items as rewards for a job well done. The heroes can decide whether or not to take a job based on the specific reward. Of course, a powerful NPC might have two or three items to choose from (semi-random).

Crafting Them

Around the same time, you can start allowing the heroes to find mythril ingots. Take one to an archwizard along with a chest of gold, and one adventure later you can have a fine enchanted weapon or suit of armor.

Of course, you have to know an archwizard first to even have a chance of getting something crafted. And knowing an archwizard probably means you’ve taken on some adventure for him or her; maybe that was even how you got the mythril.

Become One

Perhaps a weird machine in a tower chamber or a hideous idol in a temple or the item itself has a peculiar ability: capture the spirit of an intelligent creature and bind it with an item or weapon of fine or magical ability. The wielder may have a choice (since no one wants an opponent to harangue them after defeat), but it may be a way for a PC to live on despite feeling the cold touch of Death.

Such a being is able to talk from the item and retains his or her 1st-level abilities, including spellcasting and knowledge (for skill checks). You may rule that certain things can still destroy the item. So a 5th-level wizard would still be a 1st-level wizard as a magic sword, allowing the wielder—not the wizard character—to cast the spells he or she first started with at 1st level. A fighter would, in my campaigns, be able to recognize certain monsters with monster lore skill. And so on.