Some magic items, such as the Circlet of Blasting or the Eyes of Charming, allow you to cast a spell, but specify the attack bonus or save DC. Other magic items, such as the Robe of the Archmagi and the Artificer's Enhanced Arcane Focus increase your spell attack bonus and/or save DC. Do the latter kind of items increase the fixed values of the former kind?
1 Answer
They do not interact
As you’ve already stated in your question, items such as Robe of the Archmagi have the effect of increasing your spell save DC:
(…) Your spell save DC and spell Attack bonus each increase by 2.
When casting a spell through an item like Eyes of the Charming you are not using your spell save DC, you are using a fixed value that’s provided by the item and can neither be increased nor decreased:
(…)While wearing them, you can expend 1 charge as an Action to cast the Charm Person spell (save DC 13) (…)
Your spell save DC is a term with mechanical meaning in 5E, generally only spellcasting characters have it and the equation for it is given in your Spellcasting feature.
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3\$\begingroup\$ By disanalogy, however, the Artificer's "Enhanced Arcane Focus" says "While holding this item, a creature gains +1 bonus to spell attack rolls." Because it does not say "your spell attack bonus," does that mean that the Circlet of Blasting would go from +5 to +6? \$\endgroup\$– KyleAug 7, 2022 at 22:10
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4\$\begingroup\$ @Kyle No, you are still using the fixed value that the item description gives, the bonus comes from the item itself, not from you. Enhance Arcane Focus states "a creature gains the bonus", not "any item the creature uses gains it too". If the item says something like "you use your spellcasting ability for the spell cast in this way" or something similar, then you get to add it. \$\endgroup\$– AnnaAGAug 8, 2022 at 8:04
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\$\begingroup\$ @AnnaAG That's a very useful clarification, I think it is worth mentioning in another paragraph at the bottom of your answer. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 8, 2022 at 20:00
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\$\begingroup\$ @AnnaAG Whether the creature makes the spell attack with their own spell attack bonus or using the item's bonus, the creature is still making a spell attack roll. To me, it doesn't look like Enhanced Arcane Focus cares where you are getting the bonus, it just adds a straight +1 (or +2) to the roll. \$\endgroup\$– smbaileyAug 9, 2022 at 15:34