Phoenix Downing: Item Hoarding

You are nearing the end of an adventure with your party. They have in their possession a staff of immense power, which they gained at the beginning of their quest. Until now, they have not used it at all. The final boss battle comes, and you are certain they will wield it. The fight comes, and you cannot wait to see the item in action. But the fight comes and goes and they still have not used the item. What happened?

But I Might Need it Later

Often, players will hold on to items longer than you expect or intend. The scroll or weapon you created for an adventure sits in their possession, unused. Sometimes this can lead to an item never being used at all, and just forever being an item at the bottom of the Bag of Holding. I call this occurrence “Phoenix Downing” since I would do this while playing the Final Fantasy games. I would get an amazing but limited use item and then hold on to it. Sometimes I would use it, but often I would complete most of the game without having time to use it.

Phoenix Downing can affect how adventures play out. At the least, your players will not get the chance to use the magic item that you created for the adventure. When preparing for an adventure, you will often put thought and intent behind the items you offer. A scroll that lets the druid show off their powers, a staff the wizard can wield to eradicate the enemies, or a mighty sword which can give the barbarian an edge. All can make for really epic experiences. When your players hold on to these items, they will end up reducing the amount of in game chances they get to really shine with the item.

When a party postpones using an item, it can increase the difficulty of adventures, sometimes in ways you did not expect. A magic item can be the difference between a manageable encounter and an impossible one. Especially at the lower levels, an additional source of magic damage can double the effective damage a player puts out. In some situations, such as if the party has to deal with werewolves, it can mean the difference between doing damage and doing nothing at all. When you assume the party will use the item throughout an adventure, it means that you will compensate to avoid trivializing an encounter. You have given your party the tools to handle magical resistance, so you increase the amount of monsters. Maybe you alter the monster to strengthen it up, or add traps or hazards to provide an interesting alternate source of damage. These additions assume that the party will have everything at their disposal. When the party does not use that item, then those additional challenges will make it even more difficult.

Phoenix Downing can also have a long-term effect, increasing the power the party has. All games assume a certain amount of power available at different levels. The Dungeon Master’s Guide even suggests what a party should have at a given level. When your party does not use an item, they are essentially banking it for later. That scroll you intended to get used on the cultist leader at level 5 might sit for 2 or 3 levels until the party uses it. While this will not trivialize an encounter by itself, it can cause a snowball effect. As your party continues to Phoenix Down, their pool of resources will grow deeper and deeper, deviating from where it should be and what you expect. This can have huge consequences down the road, and potentially trivialize an encounter because the party dumps their backpack out on a BBEG.

Why Does this Happen?

A few different factors can cause your players to Phoenix Down. The first is that they might want to hold off using an item until a key moment arises in order to make the experience as cool as possible. This especially occurs with limited use items (like spell scrolls), since they have a finite amount of uses before disappearing entirely. No player wants to waste an awesome spell or ability on minions or random encounters when they can use it to blast the boss down instead. While some times that can make sense and be your intention, that is not always your intent. You may have intended for that spell or item to help the party get to the boss more quickly or easily, and now that is not happening.

This fear also has a mechanical side to it. Players may worry that if they use their item too soon they will waste it, and then not have it when they really need it. In those video games I mentioned before, I would often stockpile items I thought would make an enormous difference in combat. Very often, it was Phoenix Downs, since they would bring a party member back from the dead. I would always assume that during the rest of the game, this situation was not nearly as bad as if I needed to resurrect characters during a pivotal boss battle. While having extra resources to fight the boss was useful, I would stockpile those items to ridiculous degrees. While it would be helpful to have some Phoenix Downs, I did not need to have 40 of them saved up. Other times, I would just never use the item when following this mindset. Every Pokemon game I play, I almost use none of the items that restore Power Points, the resource spent when making an attack. Without fail, I will end the game with almost all of them in my bag untouched. At that point, it would not make a difference if I squandered them early, since I never really ran out of them. This shines true for players. I have seen many instances where a party will refuse to use healing potions, for fear that they will be without them when they really need them.

Finally, your party might just forget about the item. As a GM, it’s easy to forget how we perceive the table much differently than our players. While we know what is important and needs focus, and what does not, the party will take in all that information to decide what is useful and what is not. Sometimes useful information ends up being lost in that process. Real life, specifically the time that passes between sessions, can make that even worse. If you have to cancel a few sessions, returning to Dungeons & Dragons might be tricky. Sometimes remembering what you were doing can be half the battle when you return. In all of that chaos, remembering magic items that are saved for a rainy day might be the last thing your players try to do, if it even makes the list.

Solutions

As the saying goes, knowing is half the battle. Making yourself aware of this situation and keeping it on your mind can help to minimize and avoid Phoenix Downing at your table. I have a few tips I have developed through trial and error that help make this occurrence much more manageable.

Communication

Good advice for almost all situations, clear and consistent communication can help to avoid items going unused. This communication can take place in a few different ways. The easiest but most subtle way is to communicate in the game, through hints and clues that will keep your players in mind of their magical items. If you gave your party an item that would help in a tough combat, for example, you can remind them about it as you describe the monster, noting that the tough hide seems to deflect all normal attacks, but maybe a magical source could find purchase. NPCs can also mention the item in question. Perhaps an ally sees a magic sword strapped to the back of the barbarian, one that they (in real life) have forgotten about. These ways can be subtle hints to prod the party towards remembering (and hopefully using) that missing item, all while staying in game.

If subtle hints do not work, the next option is to communicate it out of character. This can be as simple as a quick conversation with the party or as involved as a Session 0-2, where you pause the campaign in order to talk about the state of the game. Taking this step can be especially useful if the clutter has grown beyond one or two items, since it can allow you to catch all of them at once. This is also a good place to deal with any of the other clutter, like if your party has a slowly growing list of unfinished quests. I have used Session 0-2s regularly in my most recent campaign, and find that they help to make sure everyone agrees.

Modify your Magic Items

Reminders can be useful, but somewhat limited in their effectiveness. If you keep having to remind your players of the items they have available, then it might make sense to alter your magic items in order to better solve the problem of Phoenix Downing. How you adjust your item will depend on why your party specifically forgets about them, but I have a few different methods that I have found to be useful.

Extra Uses for a Cost

If your party holds on to items until the very last moment in fear of using them up too early, it may make sense to offer the party a way to gain more charges, at a cost. Giving them a way to take one of their other resources and turning it into another helps give the players more freedom without disrupting the balance of their Resource Pools. It can also create narratively exciting moments

Imagine you give your party a magic item that can deal radiant damage. Maybe it is a focus for a magic user, or a holy weapon. This could be the key to defeating an army of undead in a dungeon. However, your players might worry that they need to save it until the final battle, just in case that boss is especially hard. That might be the most prudent choice, it can end up making the adventure unbalanced, and not as fun. Instead, we can let the party recharge the staff, but at a cost. A PC will have to pour out their own vitality, sacrificing hit dice for charges on the staff. While is no longer finite, it has a significant cost involved to extend its use. This can give enough wiggle room to a party to make them more comfortable using the weapon early on, and not squirreling it away. As a bonus, this can lead to some exciting moments at the table as they get to act out the trading of resources. What player has not wanted to boost their damage with their own life force, making a sacrifice in order to take down the BBEG?

Don’t Forget Me

Sometimes the reason an item never gets used is that your party stores it for safekeeping and then just… forgets about it. It happens to everyone, both at the table and in real life. Something that gets used often at my house is the “Find My Phone” feature. A tool that allows me to remember where I last placed my misplaced phone is incredibly useful. Wouldn’t it be nice to do that with your magic items? Cursed items do a good job of that. 

Imagine that your party received a magical battleaxe. It can cleave through the hardest armor and burn with a magical flame. As the game master, you know there will be a dungeon or two coming up that this would be especially useful. But your party already has their weapons of choice, and this trinket gets put into someone’s equipment and forgotten as sessions go by. The adventuring party reaches the dungeon, a mine taken over by ice elementals, and works through it the hard way. The magic item remains forgotten at the bottom of their bag.

However, imagine if this battleaxe came with a curse. When attuned, this battleaxe must taste blood daily, either through combat or sacrifice of the owner. Now the party will use this weapon daily, making it harder to forget. The downside to this method, however, is that it might push the party to get rid of the weapon prematurely. If the curse seems like too much, they may look to replace it at the first opportunity. In that case, it may make more sense to pick a less detrimental curse. It could be as mundane as granting disadvantage to any attacks made with any other weapon. What this does, however, is give a mechanical reason for your player to be constantly aware of the item, which makes them less likely to forget it.

Limited Time Offer

Sometimes parties just accumulate magic items for the sake of amassing power. They would rather take the more tough approach in order to save the item for later. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, sometimes this is not what we want to have happened, especially when a magic item is crafted for a specific adventure. Giving items a time limit, and having them become mundane or disappear entirely, can help stop players from accumulating items and not using them.

Your party has met with the local witch of the woods looking for help in vanquishing a dark force that has entered a nearby village. The witch offers her help as a magical knife. This magical knife harnesses the power of the dawn and can cut through any darkness the creature can create. Such an item, however, cannot last for long. The party has until the stroke of midnight to use the dagger before its powers fade and it becomes mundane once again. Now you have a thematic reason a party needs to use an item.

Conclusion

Phoenix Downing can happen at just about any table, for a variety of reasons. Players might see a powerful item and decide that they are better off saving it for later, which affects the balance of your encounter. They might also fear that wasting such an item on low-level enemies will reduce the inherent “cool factor”, so they hold on to them until, narratively, it would make the most impact. Items might also just get forgotten between all the information in the game and passaging time in real life. Whatever the cause, it can lead to problems with the game.

Despite these issues, there are a lot of ways to handle this problem. Communication is always a good option, especially here. You can leave clues in the game through description or NPC mentions to make sure the party knows of the weapons and how they can help. If that does not work, you can always take the conversation out of the game to make sure the players really know what they are leaving in their bag unused. On the design side, you can bake in some elements to your magic items in order to minimize Phoenix Downing from occurring. You can reduce the fear of using up an item by providing some way for the players to get back charges in emergencies, allowing them to trade one of their resources, such as hit dice, for another. You can also have an inherent curse built into your item that keeps your players aware, though that can also make it a less desired item for the party to carry. Finally, you can have a time limit on the item. Like a carriage turning into a pumpkin at midnight, your magic items can have their abilities temporarily, making your party use it or lose it.

This has been a powerful tool for me to keep my players using all the cool items I give them. Do you run into this problem at the table? How do you handle it? I would love to know in the comments below!

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