I am quite fond of the downtime activities in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and I have used them extensively in my Monday night campaign (the Weekend Adventurers game). However, there are a few points where I have found them lacking.

In particular, the way that you purchase magic items.

I never allow the players to select an item and just buy it. It’s always a random selection on offer. However, the way that the tables are arranged, it shows something of a lack of thought on the part of the designers.

Make a Charisma (Persuasion) check, with modifiers. On a 0+, Random common Consumable. 5+, uncommon consumable, 10+, rare consumable, 15+, very rare consumable, 20+ mythic consumable, 25+, common permanent, 30+, uncommon permanent, etc.

This doesn’t make that much sense. The really powerful consumables (which include 8^th and 9^th level spell scrolls) come before the most basic of permanent items? Nah, this wasn’t for me.

Instead, I’m working on a modified table. I haven’t got it all the way yet, but I’m considering something like the following:

As I’m using Roll20, Beyond20 and D&D Beyond, it’s simple to make rolls on the tables to discover what items are available. I might slim things down over time, but I definitely want the players to feel that it isn’t a wasted activity – especially as the costs of magic items can be quite high.

As for the costs of magic items, for those I’m going back to AD&D, and I’m using the tables in Unearthed Arcana for the buying price (which in AD&D would only be used for selling items).

These make the items expensive. In the campaign I am running, in which I award a few older school treasures of great sums of gold – for instance 7,000 gp in an ettin’s lair last session, the items are certainly not out of reach!

Here’s an example set of treasures on sale from the last session of the Monday Nighters (this didn’t quite use the table as presented above, as it’s getting modified all the time):

Persuasion roll: 22.

Table F (3): Eversmoking Bottle for 2000 gp, +1 Longword for 2000 gp, Gloves of Swimming and Climbing for 10,000 gp
Table G (2): Dagger of Venom for 3000 gp, Helm of Teleportation for 30,000 gp.

We shall see how this works – I’m becoming happier with more magic items in the game, though I’ll try to limit magical armours and shields (as they are most likely to break things!)