Questions tagged [magic-items]
For questions about items imbued with magic in some way, usually beneficial but occasionally detrimental, such as a cloak which renders the wearer invisible or a hammer which returns to its wielder when thrown.
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Without a magic item economy, what is gold for?
PHB page 144, Equipment, Wealth, Selling Treasure
Magic Items. Selling magic items is problematic. Finding someone to buy a potion or a scroll isn’t too hard, but other items are out of the realm ...
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Is there a maximum attainable beard thickness?
This other question asks if attuning to a Belt of Dwarvenkind grants the following benefit (and literally nothing else):
you have a 50 percent chance each day at dawn of growing a full beard
if ...
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What can I do when I accidentally gave out an overpowered item?
In our last game, the players worked their way through a series of fiendish traps into a high security vault, where they recovered a Staff of the Magi. After the game I looked at the stats, and ...
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PC ate a necklace of fireballs bead. How dead should they be?
So one of my loony players found a necklace of fireballs. He is a suicidally over-confidant Tiefling sorcerer.
Against all logic and reason, and probably just to prove that he could, he ate one of ...
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What happens when an Immovable Rod is activated while in a vehicle?
The Red Bandits have boarded the train, hidden among the other passengers. They wait an hour or two - to be sure the train is far from any city - then, on the boss's signal, they all pull out their ...
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2
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Who can use magic scrolls?
I'm confused about who can use scrolls in 5e. In the DMG, p139 under Magic Item Categories: Scrolls, it states that:
Any creature that can understand a written language can read the
arcane script ...
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12
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I gave my players far too much wealth and they have far too much power. What do I do to get things back on track?
Very recently I made a huge miscalculation during my D&D campaign.
The players in my D&D campaign were chasing after several pieces of a broken magical item. They had been spending their ...
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Why is mayo in the alchemy jug?
The 5e Alchemy Jug (on page 150 of the Dungeon Master's Guide) has several uses. Some are common and useful, like water, poison, acid. Some are natural ingredients and liquids, like honey, vinegar, ...
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Can you milk an Ivory Goat?
The Figurine of Wondrous Power (Ivory Goats) Magic item can produce Giant Goats.
Having recently acquired this item, I was wondering if you could obtain goat milk from the magically produced Giant ...
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What can I do to encourage my players to use their consumables?
Frequently when I DM I will give my players consumables (i.e. potions and scrolls) in loot drops in place of gold. My intention is to give them more flexibility in strategy during exploration and ...
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Does casting a spell from an item allow you to apply class abilities that are used when casting a spell?
This question is updated to request additional answers and details in light of information now available in the Dungeon Master's Guide.
In the released DM basic rules, Lost Mine of Phandelver, Hoard ...
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How do I know if an ability is magical?
Often confusion arises when the Antimagic Field spell is used, an Armor of Invulnerability is worn, or the Beholder's anti-magic ray is employed, whether a given character's ability will still ...
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The power level of the Sword of Sharpness doesn't justify its very rare rating - am I missing something?
After asking this question about the Sword of Sharpness, I was presented with this answer which distinguishes between the two main features of the Sword of Sharpness:
Feature 1 (emphasis mine):
When ...
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8
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Handy Haversack vs. Bag of Holding
The Bag of Holding (DMG pg.153) is an uncommon magic item and has a significantly greater volume than any of the pouches (or even all combined) of Heward's Handy Haversack (DMG pg.174), which is rare.
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Why is this uncommon magic item better than this rare magic item?
From what I understand, uncommon magic items are less valuable than rare items in terms of functional power and monetary value. From the DMG (pg. 135), uncommon items are worth 101–500 gp while rare ...
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How can I reward a character that doesn't want magic items?
So I've got a campaign where one of the characters, a fighter, severely distrusts magical items. The party level is 6+, and it seems difficult to figure out a way to compensate this character in non-...
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What is the easiest way a Wizard can copy-protect the scrolls he makes?
I'm trying to come up with a way for a greedy NPC Wizard who sells spell scrolls exclusively to be used as consumables to prevent the buyers from copying the spell into their own spellbooks.
For ...
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How do I explain to an AD&D player that items that increase Armor Class in D&D 5e are overpowered?
Context:
I have recently started a campaign with a new player that comes from an AD&D background. He wishes to convert and import his character to the campaign. We did this once, and I helped him ...
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Which item gets your soul first, Blackrazor or a Ring of Mind Shielding?
I was running White Plume Mountain for a group as a one shot. (5e, out of Tales from the Yawning Portal.) With the group starting at 8th level, I let them pick an uncommon magic item. Our Goliath ...
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Does every magic rod, wand, crystal, orb, and staff count as an arcane focus?
The various magic rods, wands, staves, etc. in the DMG all have certain abilities. But do they also count as arcane foci for the purpose of not needing material components for all your other spells?
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What is a "spellcaster" for the purpose of magic item attunement?
Several wands and other magic items in the DMG cite "spellcaster" as an attunement requirement, specifically "requires attunement by a spellcaster" while others list multiple ...
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What would happen if you opened a Bag of Holding underwater?
I'm in a naval campaign where some of the game could take place underwater, and I could reasonably acquire a Bag of Holding soon, so it would be nice to know before I try to grab an item underwater ...
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47
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What happens when you put a Portable Hole inside a Bag of Holding while on the Astral plane?
What would happen if someone were to place a Portable Hole within a Bag of Holding while being within the Astral Plane? Would it be the reverse effect?
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Can multiple Bags of Holding banish Tiamat?
In my campaign, my players were very close to accidentally freeing Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells (long story). However, they ended up averting disaster and not summoning her.
However, ...
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46
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2
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If a spell cast from a Spell Scroll is Counterspelled, is the scroll consumed?
A spell scroll allows someone (with that spell on their class's spell list) to cast a spell. DMG p. 200:
If the spell is on your class's spell list, you can use an action to read the scroll and ...
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Do magic items really cost at least as much to create as they do to purchase?
The table on page 129 of the DMG lists the costs to craft an item.
Taking as an example a Common magic items, such as a level 1 spell scroll, the cost is listed as 100 gp. The crafter can only make ...
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Does a Mundane Arrow Fired From a Magical Bow Count as a Magical Weapon Attack?
I've seen this question asked in previous editions, but I want to ask this question specifically for D&D 5e. Apparently there is still some debate about this. If I am a fighter with a +2 bow and I ...
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Mathematically, is a +2 bonus to AC better than attackers having disadvantage?
Mathematically speaking, I'm trying to determine if Bracers of Defense (AC+2) is better than a Cloak of Displacement, which causes all attackers to have disadvantage on attack rolls against you.
If ...
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44
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Can I use Two Immovable Rods as an infinite ladder or monkey bars?
There are already several questions concerning immovable rods, but I thought I'd add this to the list.
Consider a stealthy and inventive assassin. She's on a mission to infiltrate the castle and ...
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Does a Bag of Holding look full?
You have a Bag of Holding, which you would like to store inside a small wooden chest. Can you fill the bag with various items, then fold it as if it were empty and put it into the chest? Or does it ...
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I gave a too powerful magic item at too low level for a bad reason, what to do?
When a paladin in the game I run went into the local store ran by an ex adventurer, he went to the back to see the fancy swords, and asked if any looked like his holy symbol. The god he follows is ...
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Sentinel Raven uses too much awesome magic
The Raven Queen Warlock in my group got a Sentinel Raven, as per the Lvl1 Class Feature. This raven is now attuned to a magic ring and wields a magic wand. The wand is not that big of a problem, but ...
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How can an aristocracy be perpetuated between creatures that can't interbreed?
The 25-year-old human prince of a 50-year-old small nation (total population maybe 100,000 spread out in a rather large valley among settlements no larger than 5,000 creatures each) is looking to ...
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Can an Immovable Rod be carried in a Bag of Holding?
If an Immovable Rod is made to stay still, and a Bag of Holding is placed around it such that the Rod is closed entirely in the nondimensional space, does the Bag hang on the Rod, or does the Rod move ...
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How are pluses on vanilla weapons and armour different than previous editions?
How are pluses on vanilla weapons and armour different in 5e than in previous editions? I have noticed old editions are capped at +5 and 5e is capped at +3. What, if anything, would change if higher ...
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Can a Bag of Holding be opened from the inside?
The party rogue found a suit of armor that happened to have an evil soul bound to it. He unwittingly stuffed it into his bag of holding to sell the suit of armor later. The animated suit of armor does ...
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How often do I need to hand out spell scrolls as the DM in order to balance the Wizard's spell list with the Cleric's?
I'm running a campaign for a party that includes two casters: one Necromancy Wizard, and one Cleric. The party hit level 5 last session, and while the Wizard was consulting with me about what new ...
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What happens when you non-lethally attack with a vorpal weapon but roll a 20 on the die?
This silly scenario just popped in my head, and I wanted to verify what would happen:
Let's say Bob the Redemption Paladin doesn't like to kill his foes (so he attacks non-lethally), but for some ...
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39
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Potion of Longevity and a 9 year old character
Due to some wild magic fun, one of my characters is now 9 years old. To be a nice, kind DM, I decided it would not impact any of his combat stats, only affect social situations [mostly for the sake ...
- 3,065
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Do you suffer fall damage while inside a Bag of Holding?
You take your gnomish friend and cram him in a Bag of Holding. You then throw that same bag off a 120 foot cliff. The bag lands on dirt ground.
What happens to the bag, and the gnome?
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Can I increase an ability score above 30?
Can I increase an ability score over 30 with an item such as a Manual of Bodily Health?
[After reading] this book... your Constitution score increases by 2, as does your maximum for that score.
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Can a character wear two magical items on their neck?
A character in our game ended up with two neck items. One Periapt of something and a the other an amulet of something (ie, they're different items). Can a character wear two magic items around their ...
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How do I balance a very-low magic campaign?
Recently, my players and I got kind of bored with the fact that Pathfinder relies heavily on magic items than martial prowess for fighting classes. I realize and accept the fact that spellcasters are ...
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How much should a "button of Cure Light Wounds" cost (should it be available at all?)
My fellow players would like to have a command-word or use-activated "button" of Cure Light Wounds at will, i.e. unlimited uses/day.
How much should this cost (if it should be available at all?)
...
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What benefits do you get from the Belt of Dwarvenkind without attuning to it?
The description of the Belt of Dwarvenkind (DMG, pg. 155) says the following:
Belt of Dwarvenkind
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
While wearing this belt, you gain the following benefits:
...
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What is the history behind the "single-use spell scroll"?
The concept of a spell being stored on a scroll, which can be used once and then vanishes, shows up in numerous tabletop and video game RPGs. From a game design perspective, the idea of a one-use ...
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Can two creatures, each with a Staff of the Magi, charge them up for free?
A Staff of the Magi has the Spell Absorption trait (emphasis mine):
While holding the staff, you have advantage on saving throws against spells. In addition, you can use your reaction when another ...
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Does the DM have to give me magical weapons?
In the Legend and Lore articles where Mike Mearls explains the design goals of D&D 5e, he mentions in one of them that there will be no assumption that character acquire magical weapons and armor. ...
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What happens when you bring a creature down to 0 HP entirely by a "Sword of Wounding", but choose to deal nonlethal damage?
The Situation:
The Sword of Wounding has the following magic effect:
Hit points lost to this weapon's damage can be regained only through a short or long rest, rather than by regeneration, magic, or ...
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What inspired the Ioun Stone?
While looking over the rules for Ioun Stones a question came to mind. What inspired the Ioun Stone?
It is present in nearly all editions of D&D, and also made it into Pathfinder. This ...
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