gns hit 17th level, when characters begin stumbling upon them, according to

the Dungeon Master’s Guide. But DMs don’t need to follow that guidance. It’s your
game, after all.

Still, a 1st-level barbarian touting 29 Strength with a belt of storm giant strength can
turn any band of goblins into minced meat with one hand behind their back. So, how
do you balance legendary magic items for lower-tier campaigns? Let’s explore some
options:

 Why Give Low-Level Characters Legendary Magic Items?

 Fakes That Break
 Chance of Failure or Mishap
 Limited Time and Limited Use
 Oops! They’re Cursed
 Goodbye, Attunement Slots
 Magic Items That Level With You
 Sharing Is Caring
 Legendary Magic Items Mean Legendary Enemies

Why Give Low-Level Characters Legendary Magic

Items?

Your party is a bunch of fresh-faced adventurers who have barely managed to take
down giant rats in their days. They’re still learning how to cast spells and even land a
bullseye at their local tavern’s dartboard. So why hand them a vorpal sword, or any
magic item beyond their power level?

It can be exciting going off script, especially when your players least expect it.
Powerful magic items switch up the experience of playing low-level characters, and
give your players more opportunities for antics or to just feel like badasses right out
the gate.

These items can also be at the center of your adventure. The well of many worlds is
the perfect fit for a plane-hopping campaign. And the deck of many things can set off
all manner of side quests on its own, ala the Donjon, The Fates, and The Void cards.
On the subject of the deck of many things, though, be prepared for things to go
massively off the rails when it shows up.

But you don’t really need a reason to introduce magic items packing this much
punch, especially if you’re running a one-shot adventure. You just need a plan for
handling them, and get your players onboard, too. I’d bet some coin they won’t mind,
though.

Fakes That Break

Wherever there’s coin to be made, scammers run amuck. When the characters first
loot a legendary magic item, have them make an Intelligence (Investigation) check,
with a success revealing that the loot is a cheap knock-off of the real thing. Sure,
that ring of djinni summoning works, but it has a knack for summoning djinni that are
already injured, say at a quarter of their normal hit points. That change puts the ring
at a higher risk of losing its luster.

Alternatively, a fake holy avenger could have a 5% chance of breaking each time a

successful attack roll is made with it. And the chance of breaking increases by 5%
for each subsequent hit. If rolling percentile die turn after turn is tedious for your
players, you can make these rolls in secret ahead of time, so you know how many
hits the holy avenger has before turning to dust.

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything includes a table with magic item purchase

complications. These offer some alternative scenarios when the party is picking
through artifacts in some old dusty bin.

Chance of Failure or Mishap

You know how in Pokémon games when you have a Pokémon that’s too high of a
level for your badges it’ll start ignoring your commands? Do that with magic items. 

While the characters are below a certain level, their legendary magic items may
prohibit attunement. At dawn, each character attuned to a legendary magic item rolls
a Charisma check. On a failure, their attunement to the magic item immediately ends
and they cannot attune to it again until the next dawn. This mechanic adds just
enough unpredictability that the party will need to be prepared enough on their
adventures to handle obstacles without the use of their most powerful items.

Alternatively, consider this: A wizard at a magic academy discovers their staff got
mixed up with the dean’s staff of the magi. The wizard has a decent education under
their belt. Heck, they can cast burning hands at 2nd level! But, as they soon discover,
the staff contains magic far beyond their comprehension, and casting spells out of it
isn’t as simple as a flick of the wrist. Each time they expend a charge to cast a spell
using the staff of the magi, they must roll on the Scroll Mishap table or the Wild
Magic Surge table (your choice). 

Limited Time and Limited Use