Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Curse the wizard that created the first robe of the archmage! Now any whelp of a hedge conjurer or witless apprentice that finds one considers himself an archmage. Then these fools seek magic far above their station or grasp at power as if donning a robe made them royalty. What a blasted nuisance. I hesitate to count the number of "archmages" I've reduced to dust. Still, I've found that for wizards worthy of the title, a robe of the archmage can be a useful item.
-Mordenkainen, from his secret master copy of the Magnificent Emporium before he burned its pages and then disintegrated the ash
With the release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, players have been drooling over some of the amazing magic items that it details. But with the good must also come the bad. Therefore, the purpose of this guide is rate magic items to help players decide what are the stars and what are the dogs.
The criteria for rating an item will be three-fold:
1.) How does an item stack up to similar magic items (eg. this shield vs. other shields)?
2.) What is the rarity? What’s the likelihood of selling it or being able to trade for it?
3.) Does it require attunement or not?
In regards to point 2, trading items is an AL play concern. Unfortunately, most of the items in the DMG are NOT legal to use in the current season. With that being said, it is important to note that players can only trade like-rarity items for other like-rarity items. So players can only trade a rare item for a rare item or a uncommon item for an uncommon item (ect, ect.) So if you find a legendary magic item, you're probably holding on to it for a while.
If you are playing in an a home campaign, and your DM allows you to sell magic items, depending on how rare the item is, you might not be able to find someone to sell the item to, which is problematic (DMG pg.129). Though in all honesty, if you find a rare magic item that does not require attunement, you’re not gonna want to sell it. You have what is known as a quality problem.
As far as point three, this is a serious concern for adventurers. In 5e, characters can only have three magic items attuned at a time (DMG pg 138). Therefore, unlike 4e, the number of magic item slots available to characters are very limited and magic items must be carefully considered. Naturally, items that are good and do not require attunement will be given greater consideration.
Important notes about attunement:
1.)
If a player has just found a magic item and can't cast the identify spell, they must spend a short rest to determine what the magic item is. Potions are an exception, just a little taste of the potion is enough to tell you what the potion does.
2.) In order to attune an item a player must spend a short rest focusing only on that item to attune themselves to the item (it can’t be the same short rest used to learn the item’s properties). Whatever that means for your game depends on the DM. Some DMs may allow you to do other things while attuning, other DMs may not.
3.) A creatures attunement ends if the item has been more than 100 feet away from the creature for 24 hours, the creature dies, or another creature attunes the item. A creature can also voluntarily end attunement by spending another short rest focused on the item, unless the item is cursed.
The source materials used for this guide are abbreviated as follows:
DMG- D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide 5e
HotDQ- D&D Hoard of the Dragon Queen
LMoP- D&D Lost Mines of Phandelver
PHB- D&D Player’s Handbook 5e
RoT- D&D Rise of Tiamat
Any item that’s not in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, or in multiple sources, will be annotated as such in the item description. Otherwise, you can assume all items are in the DMG.
This guide will use the following color coding system:
Red- This is a trap. Don’t take this. There’s a better option or it isn’t worth the investment.
Purple- Is a substandard choice. It might be useful in corner-case situations, but overall it's not worth the investment.
Black- This item will not actively hurt your character, but there is probably a better option.
Green- Difficult to classify. Often used for utility instead of combat or is dependant on your character concept.
Blue- Good choice. You can’t really go wrong with taking this. Correct in the majority of cases.
Sky Blue- Indicates a fantastic choice, an option you should strongly consider against most others.
Gold- A rare rating. The best option out there hands down. This is mandatory to call yourself optimized.
without further ado….
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Swords of Light, Luck, and Life stealing: Weapons of Heroes
Attunement Items
Weapons
[sblock]Berserker Axe- As far as cursed items go, this one isn’t bad. As long as you are a melee character and stay in the fray, this item may be usable. With all that being said, there are better weapon choices out there. [Rare]
Dancing Sword- This is an interesting item. It is great for characters who don’t make use of their bonus action. And It gives melee characters a better ranged option. [Very Rare]
Defender- Any +3 magic sword is ok in my book, but this lets you alter your AC for fights when you think need a bump. [Legendary]
Dwarven Thrower- Its hard to go wrong with +3 magic weapons . But this one gives a better ranged option for martial characters. Non-dwarves needn’t apply. [Very Rare]
Flame Tongue- I like the concept and it looks cool as hell, but it just doesn’t measure up against other swords. It doesn’t get a +1 bump , its rare, it requires attunement, and it uses fire (one of the more common resistances). The extra 2d6 is something though. [Rare]
Frost Brand- Similar to the flame tongue with it’s problems. It does grant fire resistance which is nice. Still not as good as other sword options though. [Very Rare]
Holy Avenger- Suck it fiends or undead. The paladin is back in town. Oh and he brought some friends who are also stronger thanks to him. [Legendary]
Luck Blade- Wish on a stick?! This item would be amazing if just for that property. But It also has the luck property, which lets you reroll an attack, saving throw or ability check. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s also a +1 magic weapon which gives you +1 to saving throws! If there were a rating higher than gold i’d give it to this.
Platinum maybe? [Legendary]
Mace of Disruption- Not having a +1 bump hurts this item. But all considered, this definitely can put a hurt on undead. You can also leave that lantern at home. [Rare]
Mace of Terror- Compared to other magic maces this stinks. No +1 bump, requires attunement, frightened which they get to save against end of turn. [Rare]
Nine Lives Stealer- Definitely strong. To bad the life stealing property doesn't recharge and it requires attunement. [Very Rare]
Oathbow- When I first read this item I was ready to rate it gold. But after reading it more closely, I realized that the sworn enemy feature only recharges once per day, at the next dawn. So the whole premise of the bow is kinda shot. You can only use its feature for one big fight per day. Don’t get me wrong, its still strong. Just not as strong as if the the sworn enemy feature would recharge after you killed each creature. Also doesn’t provide a +1. [Very Rare]
Scimitar of Speed- Getting a free bonus action attack every turn with a +2 weapon is nice, but most characters are already using their bonus actions. [Very Rare]
Sun Blade- Swords made of light that pop out of a bare hilt seem fun to me. It has the finesse property, deals radiant damage, and has an adjustable light source. The only downside is that it’s only a +2 weapon. [Rare]
Sword of Answering- A +3 weapon with an enhanced reaction attack that ignores resistance and immunity. Extra attacks are always nice. [Legendary]
Sword of Life Stealing- On a crit you get some extra damage and temporary hit points. Seems underwhelming. [Rare]
Sword of Sharpness- There is no bonus to hit, but if you start rolling crits it gets interesting. You also save some money on torches. [Very Rare]
Sword of Vengeance- It’s a +1 weapon with a drawback that you have to attune. It can be fixed though. [Uncommon]
Sword of Wounding- A cumulative d4 of necrotic damage is nice, but most enemies will have a good constitution score, so it’s not quite as good as it could be. [Rare]
Trident of Fish Command- Everyone want’s to be Aquaman right? Right? Well, if you’re near water a lot this can be pretty handy. [Uncommon]
Vorpal Sword- A +3 weapon that ignores resistance is really good. Having the chance to instantly decapitate your target or deal an extra 6d8 damage is a pretty sweet effect. Slashing weapons don’t get much better than this. [Legendary]
Weapon of Warning- Say goodbye to being surprised and sleeping through a fight for you and your whole party, unless you really spread out at night, and there’s advantage to your initiative rolls. Did I mention that you don’t even need to have this item equipped for all of these nice bonuses? Make sure someone has one of these before you leave home. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Weapons
[sblock]Dagger of Venom (DMG, HotDQ)- Another underwhelming item. It’s rare, so theres a mark against it. And as a dagger it only deals 1d4 of damage. You can do better than that. Also, the poison utility can only be used once per day, making it worse. The only thing keeping this item from being red, is that it doesn’t require attunement. I guess it’s ok to keep in the back pocket if you need a magic weapon. [Rare]
Dragon Slayer- Not bad if you are in the market for +1 weapons. It doesn’t require attunement and it can really mess up a dragon. [Rare]
Dragontooth Dagger (RoT)- A +1 dagger with a little extra poison is nice, but unless you're betraying your party it's still just a solid dagger. [Rare]
Giant Slayer- Not bad. A +1 magic item that doesn’t require attunement. It’s sucks the save is Strength. Giants tend to excel at those. [Rare]
Hammer of Thunderbolts- At first blush it seems powerful and lets be honest, badass. But it has a lot of critical flaws. The most obvious of which is the giant’s bane. You must have both the Gauntlets of Ogre Power and the Belt of Giant Strength. So unless you have a particularly generous DM, you're not gonna get both items. Secondly, it's only a +1. Thats a huge investment for only a +1. Maybe a +2 would have been more reasonable. Granted you get an ASI, which effectively works out to a +3; but I expect more from my legendary items. Lastly, Thunderclap stuns every creature, even your allies. And although stunning is sweet, we can all agree that stunning your teammates is not sweet. [Legendary]
Javelin of Lightning- Great for all the strength-based characters who use javelins. A strong magic weapon back-up option, which doesn’t require attunement. [Uncommon]
Mace of Smiting- Not bad, but its no +3 magic weapon….unless you're in a campaign with alot of constructs. Then this
becomes amazing.
[Rare]
Vicious Weapon- If you’ve got no other options it’s worth using, but there’s better magic items. Actually, almost every other magic item is better. [Rare]
Weapon +1, +2, +3- Hitting more often for more damage is always nice. [Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Staves of Power, Rods of Might, Wands of Fear: Foci for the Feared
Attunement Items
Foci
[sblock]Instrument of the Bards (Anstruth harp, Canaith mandolin, Cli lyre, Doss lute, Fochlucan bandore, Mac-Fuirmidh cittern, Ollamh harp)- I usually hesitate to give items a gold rating, but all of these instruments earn it. Right off the bat you get fly, invisibility, levitate, and protection from good and evil. All of which are useful. But then each item gives the user even MORE spells which don’t require use of spell slots. Granted some spells are situational, but hey, they’re free. And to top it all off, the item imposes disadvantage on charmed saving throws. Bards. Start serenading your DMs to convince them to give you these items. [Very Rare, Rare, Rare, Uncommon, Uncommon, Uncommon, Legendary]
Pipes of the Sewers- I feel like this should summon an Italian plumber or a bunch of turtles, but rats will have to do. The usefulness of the pipes will be directly linked to the number of cats in the area though, so hopefully you don’t find yourself in ancient egypt. [Uncommon]
Rod of Alertness- Perception and initiative are both important checks, and having all the detection spells is nice too. You can even give you and your allies a boost to AC and saving throws once a day. If you've got it, use it. [Very Rare]
Rod of Lordly Might- This might be the master of versatility. There's piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage, a ladder, a flametongue, and a few powerful daily effects with a decent DC. It's too bad there's no button for it to throw a kitchen sink. [Legendary]
Rod of the Pact Keeper, +1, +2, +3- Better attack rolls and DCs on your spells is a strong effect, and getting back spell slots as well makes for quite a powerful combination. The potentail to stack this with a Wand of the War Mage makes it a very appealing option. [Uncommon, Rare, or Very Rare]
Rod of Resurrection- Strong healing and resurrection on a stick is powerful, just make sure you bring people back sparingly, unless you want to risk trading it in for a pile of dust. [Legendary]
Rod of Rulership- Once a day you get to a mass charm for everyone you can see within 120 feet. If you got to use it more often it'd be much better, but it's still no slouch. [Rare]
Spider Staff (LMoP)- Adding 1d6 poison damage to melee attacks is good, but as there are a lot of creatures that are immune or resistant to poison it’s usefulness will be campaign dependent. It is adamantine, which gets around non-magical resistance, and there are some spells in it too. Spider climb and web can be useful, so it’s got a little something for everyone. [Rare]
Staff of Charming- Charm person, command, and comprehend languages are nice effects and, in addition to scaling with your spell save DC, it lets you succeed a save that may be turned against your opponent. Enchantments are almost useless against you now, except for multi target ones. [Rare]
Staff of Defense (LMoP)- Having another static modifier to add to your defence is nice, and having shield casts on a stick is very nice. With the right AC you could be almost unhittable. The only downside is needing to have the spell on your class’s spell list and attuning it. [Rare]
Staff of Fire (DMG, HotDQ)- Fire resistance is good, and being able to cast fireball three times a day is a nice bonus. Ten charges is a bit limiting though, and the value of the spells will go down as you level up, the exception being your ability to decimate large groups of kobolds. [Very Rare]
Staff of Frost- Resistance and cone of cold are a great combination, ice storm isn’t too bad either. It’d be great if there was a few more charges, but you can still get both of the better spells off in one day, so it’s still pretty strong. [Very Rare]
Staff of Healing- Extra healing is nice to have, and mass healing on a stick is a great tool to have access to. There aren’t a lot of charges on this, but it gains most back each day. [Rare]
Staff of Power- This has got a lot of options. You get a +2 bonus to AC, saving throws, spell attack rolls, attack rolls and damage rolls while getting the ability to cast spells and expend charges to deal extra damage while you’re swinging with it. Just be careful of domination effects, as you may end up breaking it and taking a few points of damage. [Very Rare]
Staff of Striking- If you’ve always wanted a staff without spells to hit people with and you can’t hold the staff of power, look no further. It even lets you throw a bit of damage on top of each hit. [Very Rare]
Staff of Swarming Insects- Being able to cast two decent spells is nice, but you only get one casting of insect plague with no risk per day. [Rare]
Staff of the Adder- If you want a non-magical staff to attack with this is a decent option, but the staff can be attacked and destroyed relatively easily. [Uncommon]
Staff of the Magi- If you’re able to use this staff you want to use it. It doesn’t disintegrate if the charges are expended, it can absorb spells to regain charges and negate single target effects. There’s 50 charges to use with over a dozen different spells. You even get advantage on spell saves and +2 to attack, damage and spell attack rolls. If you overcharge it, or decide to break it, there is a bit of fallout, but it’s pretty easy to avoid that. [Legendary]
Staff of the Python- Snakes are interesting creatures, but they are a bit fragile. It can be fun to intimidate people with, or have a mount on demand though. [Uncommon]
Staff of the Woodlands- Magic quarterstaffs that can be disguised as trees are hard to come by, and it comes with some interesting spells built in. Crazy hermits pretty much need one. [Rare]
Staff of Thunder and Lightning- A +2 weapon is nice and there’s a bonus spell once a day. Seems like a good choice. [Very Rare]
Staff of Withering- A magic quarterstaff with a little extra kick is nice. Although it’s not as good for those who already have shillelagh. [Rare]
Talisman of Pure Good- This is the ultimate talisman for good clerics and paladins and there are a couple chances to eliminate a few bad apples. [Legendary]
Talisman of Ultimate Evil- This is the ultimate talisman for evil clerics and paladins and there are a couple chances to eliminate a few good apples. [Legendary]
Tentacle Rod- Hentai jokes aside, this can be useful to someone who wants to take down a tough enemy. [Rare]
Wand of Binding- Hold person and hold monster are both great spells, but there aren’t many castings available per day. The bonus to avoid being grappled, restrained, or paralyzed is nice but it does cost a charge. [Rare]
Wand of Enemy Detection- Having a variation on the paladin class feature is interesting, but is this really something you want to attune? [Rare]
Wand of Fear- Limited use of command is good, and a mass fear effect is nice, but it’s no wand of fireballs. [Rare]
Wand of Fireballs- Know what’s better than fireball? Extra castings of fireball for free. [Rare]
Wand of Lightning Bolts- Lightning bolt is a good spell, but there are better options for wands. [Rare]
Wand of Paralysis- If only there was a DC for this. It makes sense that it would be 15, but it does depend on your DM as it stands. Spell save aside, one minute of paralysis is very strong. [Rare]
Wand of Polymorph- Polymorph is one of the best spells in the game, and this lets you cast it for free. Sign me up. [Very rare]
Wand of the War Mage +1, +2, +3- Spellcasters like landing their attack spells, and this is a great way to make sure that happens. If you’re a Warlock this becomes even better as you can stack it with Rod of the Pact Keeper. [Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
Wand of Web- Extra spells per day are always nice to have, but there may be a limit to the number of times that web will be useful in a day, maybe. [Uncommon]
Wand of Wonder- Is the wild magic sorcerer making you jealous with all his random magical effects? Are you a wild magic sorcerer who really wants to randomly cast a fireball that isn’t centered on you? Do you just like rolling percentile dice? If you said yes to any of these questions you’ve found your wand. If not, you can just pass on this. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Foci
[sblock]Immovable Rod- This item requires a lot of creativity by the player, and a lot of leeway from the DM. Here are a few ideas for those non-creative types out there:
[url]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?175587-1001-Uses-for-an-Immovable-Rod[/URL] [Uncommon]
Pipes of Haunting- Mass fear effects are good, and friendly ones are hard to come by. [Uncommon]
Rod of Security- When you really need a rest for you and 199 of your friends this can't be beat. [Very Rare]
Wand of Magic Detection- Apparently unlimited use of detect magic was too powerful, so this toned down version is the wand we get. It does give detect magic to the masses, for the parties who refuse to have it prepared. [Uncommon]
Wand of Magic Missiles (DMG, LMoP)- Magic missile never misses, and this doesn’t require attunement. Did I mention it’s uncommon? [Uncommon]
Wand of Secrets- It’s uncommon, doesn’t require attunement, and can be drained dry without disintegrating. It also does the same thing that as a perception check. Pass. [Uncommon]
Wand of Winter (HotDQ)- If this item weren’t rare, it would eek out a blue rating. But as it stands, Wand of Winter is not awesome. It casts subpar spells: ray of frost, ice storm, and
sleet storm. Honestly, you should be doing better things on your turn. The only thing that keeps Wand of Winter so highly rated, is that it doesn’t require attunement. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Plates of Adamantine, Chains of Mithral: Armors of the Protected
Attunement Items
Armor
[sblock]Armor of Invulnerability- Non-magical damage resistance is pretty good. Damage immunity is great, but it can only be used once a day, and it requires attunement. [Legendary]
Armor of Resistance- This one is similar to the armor of invulnerability, but having no immunity effect and only resisting one damage type make it worse. [Rare]
Armor of Vulnerability- No thanks, I’ll pass on the cursed magic item. Same problems as above. And its rare too, so you can’t even trade it away. Did I mentioned it’s cursed? [Rare]
Demon Armor- The extra language is ok and I like the concept, but this armor doesn’t do much for characters who'd use it. At first the +1 to bump to AC looks ok, until you consider you can get +3 platemail that doesn’t require attunement. Then, the magical weapon properties of unarmed strikes sounds good, but you realize that monks and druids don’t wear armor, so it stinks. Then, you find out its cursed, so you can’t even take the darn thing off. All considered, its a trap. [Very Rare]
Dragon Scale Mail (DMG, HotDQ)- Kind of the same problem as the Demon Armor. Usually, you can get better than a +1 with other magical armor, which won’t require attunement. The resistance to typed damage is nice, but normally, by the time you start finding magic items, you want a better armor option than scale mail (i.e platemail). Unless of course you are a medium armor user then this is better. I suppose if you really must find that dragon, this item could be useful. [Very Rare]
Efreeti Chain- +3 armor is good and fire damage is a common damage type. The extra language and walking on lava are plus. Attunement holds this item back. [Legendary]
Plate Armor of Etherealness- Who says guys in plate can’t be sneaky? This isn’t quite as good as it could be since you can’t barge in with your whole team in tow, but there are plenty of creative uses to make this worth it. [Legendary]
Plate Armor of Lightning Resistance (RoT)- Damage resistance is nice, and if you’re tired of wearing so many rings this could be a nice change of pace. Armor should be giving you more defence for an attunement slot though. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Armor
[sblock]Adamantine Armor - This armor is not awful. And it does provide protection against critical hits. However, this seems kind of narrow, and you’ll usually want your armor slot to do more for you. Also, it does not apply a +1 or +2 bonus, which is another check against it. The only real upshot is that it doesn’t require attunement. [Uncommon]
Armor, +1 +2, or +3- Its hard to go wrong with non-attunement magic items, especially ones that bump your AC. [Rare, Very Rare, or Legendary]
Dwarven Plate- Really great armor option that doesn’t require attunement and gives a +2 bump. The forced movement negation is just gravy. [Very Rare]
Elven Chain- Non-attunement ways to bump your AC are good. Normally, chain shirt armor is just a stopover before breastplate. But this one is usable for any character even if they lack proficiency with medium armor. Also, most DMs will allow you to wear this in addition to your normal armor, since that seemed to be the precedent set by previous editions.Then again some may not. Ask your DM. [Rare]
Glamoured Studded Leather- For those of you that need to feel fabulous. +1 bump, no attunement. Sign me up sister. [Rare]
Mariner’s Armor- Hey. It doesn’t require attunement and underwater fights can happen. [Uncommon]
Mithral Armor- For subtle, stealthy, heavy armor users. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Bulwarks and Bracers: Wrist Guards of the Vanguard
Attunement Items
Bracers and Shields
[sblock]Animated
Shield- This shield is ok, but it doesn’t really stack up to other shields IMO. It requires attunement and it requires a bonus action to animate. Compared to a +1 magic shield, which doesn’t require attunement, it just seems worse to me. The main reason characters might want it is if they need both hands free to cast spells or heavy-weapon fight. [Very Rare]
Arrow Catching Shield- This is ok for those ranged characters who use shields. If you do happen to be one, this is an option. +2 is nothing to scoff at. The downside is that it requires attunement and it only applies to ranged attacks. Also, the strange defender-esque reaction is a little out of line, if you are staying in back, trying to AVOID getting shot. [Rare]
Bracers of Archery- Extra damage is always good. If you are a bow archetype, you probably want these. Too bad they require attunement. [Uncommon]
Bracers of Defense- Oh hi there Monks, Barbarians, and spellcasters. You thought we forgot about you. We didn’t. These are for you. [Rare]
Shield of Missile Attraction- Damage resistance is nice, but having to take all the ranged attacks might make that a bit less useful. If you've got a way to make your AC high enough this could be the best kind of curse. [Rare]
Spellguard Shield- Protection from those pesky mages is always nice, especially when even their attack rolls have disadvantage against you. [Very rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Bracers and Shields
[sblock]Sentinel Shield- Advantage on initiative and perception is great. If you want to be first and not surprised this is a no brainer. [Uncommon]
Shield, +1, +2, or +3- Higher defenses are always nice, and the amount of damage prevented at higher levels can be staggering. [Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Shawls Weaved with Stars: Capes, Cloaks, Robes
Attunement Items
Capes, Cloaks, and Robes
[sblock]Cloak of Arachina- Poison is a common damage type. And free web spells are nice. But overall I think there are better things to do with attunement slots. [Very Rare]
Cloak of Displacement- I like this! Enemies take disadvantage to attack you. “If you take damage, this property ceases to function until the start of your next turn.” So what!? If you are a ranged character you shouldn’t be on the front lines anyway. And even if you are on the front lines, this is still pretty strong. Ostensibly this is a +5 to AC. [Very Rare]
Cloak of Elvenkind- Essentially this is a poor man's Cloak of invisibility, since as long as you successfully make your stealth check, you are hidden anyway. Unfortunately it takes an action to hide, so it has limited usefulness in combat, unless you are a rogue with cunning action or something like that. Also, since it takes an action to put your hood up, you should simply keep your hood on all the time. It looks more badass anyway. [Uncommon]
Cloak of Invisibility- This item is for all you rogues out there. Invisibility: check. Advantage on attack rolls: check. Carte blanche to steal mercilessly: check. [Legendary]
Cloak of Protection- This item is very similar to it’s ring counterpart. Just as good too. [Uncommon]
Cloak of the Bat- Advantage on stealth checks, a fly speed in dim light and darkness, and the ability to polymorph into a bat while retaining your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma once a day. This is pretty great. If you can cast darkness on yourself you have a poor man’s fly spell. Also, you can now start becoming the hero that the realms need. [Rare]
Mantle of Spell Resistance- This has the potential to stop a lot of damage. Always make Dex throws. Resist dominating Wis save effects. [Rare]
Robe of Eyes- If you want to look like a strange Dali painting and have a great field of vision this is for you. Just make sure nobody you face can cast light or daylight. [Rare]
Robe of Scintillating Colors- Making yourself hard to hit with a multi stun effect is hard to beat, until you consider the fact that your allies will be stunned as well. If you’re in a place where your allies can’t see you, or are more than thirty feet away when you activate it this robe can be very good. [Very Rare]
Robe of Stars- Tactical retreats, magic missiles, and a bonus to saving throws. This is great for the adventurer who needs to make well timed trips to the astral sea a lot, and for everyone else, it's decent. [Very Rare]
Robe of the Archmagi- A bump to spell save DCs, advantage saves against magic, and a better AC. Finally you don’t have to waste a spell slot on mage armor. [Legendary]
Wings of Flying- An hour of 60 ft fly speed is good and the refractory period isn’t too long, but there is the issue of plummeting back to the ground at the end of an hour which holds this item back a bit. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Capes, Cloaks, and Robes
[sblock]Cape of Mountebank- This is an awesome item. For an action, a free teleport once a day. It also lightly obscures wherever you are teleporting to. Great for those times you are surrounded and can’t move. Everyone wants one. Also, depending on your DM you may be
allowed to wear more than one cloak. [Rare]
Cloak of the Manta Ray- This is similar to the Cap of Water Breathing, but better since it gives you a swim speed. No attunement. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Headbands for the Brilliant, Helmets for the Brave: The Headwear to Wear
Attunement Items
Hats, Helms, Goggles, and Glasses
[sblock]Eyes of Charming- Charmed is a powerful condition to impose, but you have to waste valuable attunement slot and it scales poorly (DC 13). Weak.
At lower levels its not so bad, But as you get more powerful, sell it. [Uncommon]
Eyes of the Eagle- Perceptions checks are really important, but having to keep this item attuned is a drag. [Uncommon]
Hat of Disguise- I’ve always thought this was a cool item in any edition. Great for social interactions. It’s a little worse, since you have to keep it attuned. Really depends on your campaign how broken it is. [Uncommon]
Headband of Intellect- A 19 intelligence can help anyone become a more knowledgeable investigator, but wizards will only want this for a handful of levels. For eldritch knights and arcane tricksters this becomes even better. [Uncommon]
Helm of Telepathy- I know how much you wanted to be Charles Xavier, but this isn’t the way. First, the helm has a pretty low spell save DC and it requires an action to those cast spells. Second, in order use suggestion, your enemy has to fail two spell saves instead of one. Third, you gotta keep this helm attuned. Frankly, there are better head slot items out there. [Uncommon]
Helm of Teleportation- Tactical teleportation when you need it. You can also use it to teleport a troublesome item away. [Rare]
The Dragon Masks (Black, Blue, Green, Red, White)- This is a fantastic item. It gives you: resistance/immunity, improved breath weapon, darkvision, underwater breathing, an AC bump, the ability to speak draconic, and an autosuccess on any saving throw once per day! If you’re some sort of charisma-based, dragonborn, barbarian/monk, consider this gold. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Hats, Helms, Goggles, and Glasses
[sblock]Cap of Water Breathing- If you plan on taking a swim, bring this with you. No real drawback, unless you already have a helm on, in which case you must take the time to doff the helmet. But if you are interested in non-attunement swimming items, you should be looking at the Cloak of the Manta Ray. [Uncommon]
Circlet of Blasting- Basically you get to cast scorching ray once per day for free. I'm almost inclined to rate it sky blue since it doesn’t require attunement. However, that depends on if your DM rules you can wear more than one head slot item (DMG pg.141). [Uncommon]
Eyes of Minute Seeing- Free advantage on investigation checks. Just remember to take your glasses off before you get into a brawl. [Uncommon]
Goggles of Night- Darkvision is nice to have, considering that the world is dark and full of dangers, it's nice to be able to see them coming. This is mostly for the races without darkvision, but an extra 60 feet of vision isn't bad for everyone else. [Uncommon]
Helm of Comprehending Languages- DM: “What languages do you know?”
You: *chuckles* “All of them.” [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Talismans of the Ancients: Amulets and Necklaces
Attunement Items
Amulets and Necklaces
[sblock]Amulet of Health-This item is phenomenal! Every character wants this. Constitution is such a vital stat. It will raise your max hit points and improve your con saving throws. If you get this item never take it off. [Rare]
Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location- If being detected by divination magic is your biggest problem you’ve got some interesting challenges. Hopefully your DM will allow this to keep you off the radar. [Uncommon]
Amulet of the Planes- This item is not horrible, but you certainly have better things to do with valuable attunement slots (see above). With that being said, I don’t see any reason a character can’t keep it in their back pocket, just be able to cast plane shift out of combat. Just roll a 61 or higher. Also, it is important to note that you still must pay the component costs for casting plane shift. Moreover, there is a gold component cost which you cannot use your focus to pay for. [Very Rare]
Medallion of Thoughts- A worse version of the Helm of Telepathy. Pass. [Uncommon]
Necklace of Adaptation- Very narrow item that you have to keep attuned. Eh. [Uncommon]
Periapt of Wound Closure- There are some spots where this can be useful, and they mostly coincide with a potion of vitality. Short of a combination of items this won’t be great, and it eats an attunement slot. [Uncommon]
Talisman of the Sphere- Having better control over a sphere of annihilation is nice, but finding one might be a bit tough. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Amulets and Necklaces
[sblock]Periapt Of Health- Now you can enjoy dockside bars with impunity. Just make sure you keep this on if you’ve made some questionable decisions earlier in your adventuring career. [Uncommon]
Periapt of Proof Against Poison- Immunity to poisonous effects, the poisoned condition, and poison damage is a pretty nice combination. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Bands of Platinum and Wishes: Rings of Legend
Attunement Items
Rings
[sblock]Ring of Djinni Summoning- Djinn are pretty strong, and this allows you to summon one without any risk of it turning on you. Just don’t let it die, or you’ll only have a nice piece of jewelry. [Legendary]
Ring of Elemental Command- If you spend a lot of time on the elemental planes the variations of this ring are very nice to have, if not, it can be a bit lackluster. [Legendary]
Ring of Evasion- Being able to auto save dexterity saves is nice, but it is limited to a few uses per day. The original version was amazing, but this toned down version is still a handy item to have, and gets better if you have the evasion class ability. [Rare]
Ring of Feather Falling- If you ever find yourself on an airship or a flying castle this will let you make a very impressive exit, but the rest of your party may be up a creek without a paddle. Hopefully you can grapple them all and become the party parachute. [Rare]
Ring of Free Action- At first glance this seems pretty weak, but not being paralyzed or restrained is nice. Feel free to walk through webs and laugh at the surprised look on all eight eyes. [Rare]
Ring of Invisibility- Being invisible is nice, but the cloak is better since you can’t cast spells or attack with the ring and stay invisible. [Legendary]
Ring of Jumping- Now everyone can have the warlock evocation for jump. [Uncommon]
Ring of Mind Shielding- Finally a tinfoil hat you can wear without looking crazy, but it will only be as useful as the amount of Mindflayers you encounter. [Uncommon]
Ring of Protection- Increased defenses and saving throws is always nice when you're trying to prevent yourself from getting trounced by team monster, or the local authorities, depending on how you decide to interact with the townsfolk. [Rare]
Ring of Regeneration- Regeneration is awesome and this let’s you gain between 144 and 864 hit points in a 24 hour period. It even regrows body parts. [Very Rare]
Ring of Resistance- Damage resistance is good, but these are rare, require attunement, and only give you one damage type. [Rare]
Ring of Shooting Stars- Faerie fire is good, but the ball lightning and shooting star effects aren’t that great. [Very Rare]
Ring of Spell Storing- Five slots worth of stored spells is nice, and it can be refreshed whenever you want. [Rare]
Ring of Spell Turning- Advantage on only single target spells is decent, but being able to reflect spells on a natural 20 is pretty nice. [Legendary]
Ring of Telekinesis- Now moving treasure out of a vault is as easy as putting on your jewelry. [Very Rare]
Ring of the Ram- Great for when you want to push someone into something, and it can provide you with a distraction sometimes. [Very Rare]
Ring of Warmth- Enduring the elements is a nice effect, but wouldn't it be easier to just make a campfire? That being said, resistance on an uncommon item is nice. [Uncommon]
Ring of X-ray Vision- This may or may not irradiate whatever you’re looking at, but like some super people, lead is just too good to see through. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Rings
[sblock]Ring of Animal Influence- How else are you going to keep a wise talking dog around on your adventures? [Rare]
Ring of Swimming- If you’re near a lot of water this could be nice, but how often are you going to be swimming laps around the rest of your party? [Uncommon]
Ring of Water Walking- For when you want to impress your friends or walk the plank with impunity. The real question is how often will this come up? [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Gloves of Swimming, Snaring, and Stealing: Gauntlets and Gloves
Attunement Items
Gloves, and Gauntlets
[sblock]Gauntlets of Ogre Power (DMG, LMoP)- Setting your strength to 19 is a strong effect, especially for casters that want to wade in the fray. This would be rated more highly if it weren't outclassed by several belts. [Uncommon]
Gloves of Missile Snaring- For ranged characters I guess these are ok, but overall there better gloves out there. [Uncommon]
Gloves of Swimming and Climbing- These seem really narrow and don’t have much combat utility. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Gloves, and Gauntlets
[sblock]Gloves of Thievery- If you’re a rogue you really want these. And even if you arent, you can still probability make use of them. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Cinctures of Strength: How to keep your pants up like a dwarf
Attunement Items
Belts
[sblock]Belt of Dwarvenkind- Definitely a solid item. And who doesn't want a badass beard? The con bump alone is great, but it also gives you darkvision, resistance to poison, and another language. Pity it requires attunement. [Rare]
Belt of Giant Strength- First off, if your strength score is already 21 or higher, you are either doing something very wrong, or very right. Secondly, WOW! This item is nuts. if you are a strength based character, you dream about this item every night. And even if you aren’t, you still kind of want it. Regardless of which type you find, it’s amazing. Use it. Love it. Never take it off. [Rare, Very Rare, Very Rare, Legendary, Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Belts
[sblock]none yet.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Footwear for Springing and Striding: Boots of the Rugged
Attunement Items
Boots
[sblock]Boots of Levitation- I like flying at-will. Keep in mind that levitate does have component costs, so bring a focus if you use them. Requires attunement. [Rare]
Boots of Speed- These don’t blow my skirt up. Requires attunement and rare. They do force enemies disadvantage on opportunity attacks and they double your speed, which is nice. Altogether though, I think there are better feet slot items. [Rare]
Boots of
Striding and Springing- These aren’t awful. If you are a small creature you might want to look at these. No encumbrance is nice, as is the jumping boost. [Uncommon]
Boots of the Winterland- Somewhat campaign dependant, but resistance is always nice.They could be amazing or they could be decent. [Uncommon]
Slippers of Spider Climbing- If you're a thief, or want to recreate spiderpig-like skills, these are for you, just watch out for slick surfaces. [Uncommon]
Winged Boots- A fly speed from an uncommon item is tempting, and when there’s a built in feather fall effect it becomes downright great. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Boots
[sblock]Boots of Elvenkind- Non-attunement boots that give you advantage on stealth checks. Everyone wants these. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Attunement Items
Miscellaneous Wonderous Items
[sblock]Brooch of Shielding- This is very narrow and there are better uses for your attunement slots. [Uncommon]
Candle of Invocation- This is a really hard item to rate. Depending on the circumstances it could be
amazing or awful. Therefore, I’m simply gonna list some pros and cons for consideration.
Pros
Proper alignment allows advantage on attack rolls, saving throws and ability checks, Druids and Clerics get to cast spells for without expending spell slots, gate is a very powerful spell, it provides a light source
Cons
Not everyone in the party may be the correct alignment, it requires an action to light, you may find the wrong type of candle, you must pay the component costs for Gate, the DM has a lot of fiat over how effective your gate spell functions, takes 4 hours to burn down
[Very Rare]
Crystal Ball- This item comes in 3 types, all of which do different utility based things: read minds, communicate telepathically or spy on people. Seems ok. Attunement makes it a little more unwieldy. [Very Rare or Legendary]
Cube of Force- Basically a portable barrier generator. The barrier is centered on you, moves with you, and lasts for 1 minute. It also takes an action to activate each face. 2-5 actions is a huge investment in a fight. If your DM lets you press the faces before the fight breaks out, it moves up to blue, otherwise its red. [Rare]
Gem of Seeing- Invisible creatures giving you a hard time? Shapeshifters constantly messing with you? Want to automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them? Or maybe you just want to see into the Ethereal Plane? Well look no further (pun intended). [Rare]
Ioun Stone (Absorption, Agility,
Awareness, Fortitude, Greater
Absorption,
Insight, Intellect, Leadership,
Mastery, Protection,
Regeneration, Reserve, Strength, Sustenance)- Absorption-
Free counterspells are pretty powerful. The only things holding this item back are that it uses your reaction to counter the spell and that the spell must target only you. Also it gets a little worse at higher levels. [Very Rare]
Agility- Dexterity bumps are hard to come by. Rogues would kill for this (pun intended). [Very Rare]
Awareness- I always hated getting surprised. Out of all the stones, this is one of the worst. [Rare]
Fortitude- Yes I would like more hit points and better con saves. [Very Rare]
Greater Absorption- The absorptions stone’s bigger, stronger brother. Wouldn’t want to run into this guy on the playground. A little better since it hits spells of almost every level. [Legendary]
Insight- Clerics pray the the goddess Ioun for this. [Very Rare]
Intellect- Wizards your research is done, you’ve found the droids you're looking for. [Very Rare]
Leadership- Warlocks would sell their soul for this. And honestly, so would Paladins and Bards. [Very Rare]
Mastery- Do you like to hit more consistently? Or maybe you like to do more damage? Or maybe you’re a skill monkey? Whatever the case, you want this item. [Legendary]
Protection- Not exactly as good as the Ring of Protection, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. [Rare]
Regeneration- “What are hit dice? I just use this floating stone here.” But seriously, this has the potential to regain 360 hit points per day. You don't even need to rest. Just walk around and heal for free. [Legendary]
Reserve- For the layperson you can store 3 first level spells, 1 second level spell, or 1 third level spell. Other spellcasters can store their spells in the stone for you to use, but you must have a free spell slot of the equivalent level for you to cast that spell. So load it up with extra castings of shield. [Rare]
Strength- This would also be rated more highly if not for certain belts. But its still good. [Very Rare]
Sustenance- This IS the worst of the Ioun stones. I've never played in a campaign where the DM worries about your character’s meal plan. [Rare]
Pearl of Power- Extra spells each day are very useful, and having the ability to choose which one you get is great. One use a day and attunement hold this item back a bit though. [Uncommon]
Stone of Good Luck (Luckstone)- Bonuses to saving throws and ability checks is always nice, and you don’t even have to hold it. [Uncommon]
Tome of the Stilled Tongue- Free slotless spellcasting is good, and spells as bonus actions is even better. You can also erase all your spells, if you feel like being secretive. The only downside, if you can call it that, is Vecna spying on you and leaving you messages. Isn’t Vecna always spying on important adventurers? If you use a spellbook it doesn’t get much better than this. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Miscellaneous Wonderous Items
[sblock]Alchemy Jug- This is a strange utility based item. It doesn’t require attunement which is great, however, it is somewhat unwieldy. This can be used in combat. It can be used to make acid or poison, but this seems to have limited utility. You’ll need something to put the acid in if your gonna throw it (used potion of healing vials ahem). And if you want to poison your weapon/ammo it takes an action to apply poison (do it before the fight). As a side note, this is also, the first time in D&D history that mayonnaise has been officially printed. Finally, characters can enjoy sandwiches. [Uncommon]
Apparatus of Kwalsh- Congratulations, you just found a tank. And a swimming tank no less. Just bring along some allies to help you pilot it. [Legendary]
Bag of Devouring- Don’t ever put your stuff in this bag. ITS A TRAP! With that being said, you may be able to use this in combat to capture enemies. [Very Rare]
Bag of Holding- Now this is the bag you want. Mandatory if you plan of carrying alot of loot. Just don’t put a bag of holding inside a bag of holding. Or do, and watch insanity ensue. [Uncommon]
Bag of
Tricks- Definitely, a neat item and slotless! It comes in three flavors: Grey, Rust, and Tan. Each one better than the last. It takes an action to pull out a creature and throw it (but you did that before combat right?) and a bonus action to tell the creature what to do. Alternatively, you could just throw one adjacent to an enemy and watch them get mauled, letting the animal do its thing, without using a bonus action. I’m all about having three tigers attack my enemy. Or if you need a mount, just reach into your pocket and roll the dice. [Uncommon]
Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals- A solid pickup. Nothing wrong with CR 4 monsters beating up baddies once per day. No attunement! [Rare]
Brazier of Commanding Fire Elements- If you are cool with carrying around a brazier everywhere you go, you have a solid item. Weighs about the same as the Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals and is functionally the same item. [Rare]
Broom of Flying- This a great item. As long as you don’t mind looking silly riding a broom, it provides permanent flying with no drawbacks. [Uncommon]
Carpet of Flying- This item is very similar to the broom of flying (but much more badass IMO). It comes in 4 sizes. The smaller the size, the faster it can fly, but the less weight it can carry. No attunement! [Very Rare]
Censer of Controlling Air Elementals- Really!? Another way to cast conjure elemental spell? Someone at WOC really wanted ensure people would conjure elementals. See Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals. [Rare]
Cubic Gate- Definitely a strong item. You can use it cast gate to jump around the multiverse or to plane shift enemies into hell. Still gotta pay the component costs. No attunement! [Legendary]
Daern’s Instant Fortress- A portable fortress that does damage and is immune to knock. Cool. [Rare]
Decanter of Endless Water- Never worry about being thirsty again. This item doesn’t really have any drawbacks (outside of organized play). That being said, I've never played in a game where the DM tracks how much water is in your waterskin. Also, for style points, consider flooding a dungeon or building an engine with your decanter of endless water:
www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?236190-Physics-help-Catgirl-Killers-needed-Decanter-of-Endless-Water-engines
[Uncommon]
Dimensional Shackles- Normally when fighting someone strong enough to teleport away, I just kill them, but thats me. However, I suppose there are those rare instances when prisoners need to be taken. [Rare]
Draakhorn (RoT)- If you want to alert every Dragon within two thousand miles, you've found your item, just hope you've got a couple other people who want to eliminate the element of surprise as well. [Unique]
Driftglobe- This only casts situational spells. But you can keep it in your pocket as a flashlight. [Uncommon]
Eversmoking Bottle- I could see rogues who are trying to hide making use of this. Unfortunately it takes an action to open, and usually the advantage you would gain will be negated from the disadvantage imposed by not being able to see your target. [Uncommon]
Figurine of Wondrous Power- (Bronze Griffon, Ebony Fly, Golden Lions, Ivory Goats, Marble Elephant, Obsidian Steed, Onyx Dog, Serpentine Owl, Silver Raven)
Some of these are more powerful than the others and some are better in combat, such as the Bronze Griffon or Ivory Goats. The fly as a mount is ok but its fragile. The lions are overrated. The owl has flyby and is a great option to grant you the help action in combat. The steed is very hearty but won't do anything other than defend itself. And the raven has limited utility as does the dog. [Rare, Rare, Rare, Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Rare, Rare, Uncommon]
Folding Boat- “A boats a boat, but a mystery box could be anything, even a boat. You know how much we’ve always wanted one of those”- Peter Griffin [Rare]
Heward’s Handy Haversack- Extra storage is always nice, and now you can finally sell your old backpack for the deluxe model. [Rare]
Horn of Blasting- This doesn't scale at all. But hey, can’t complain about freebies. Much better at lower levels. [Rare]
Horn of Valhalla (Silver, Brass,
Bronze, Iron)- Having more allies is always great. The more the merrier. Just remember to have your Fighter do the summoning. [Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Legendary]
Horseshoes of a Zephyr- What kind of Zephyr doesn’t fly? I feel cheated. I guess there is utility overall. But everything about this item seems vanilla. [Very Rare]
Horseshoes of Speed- Eh. These don’t get my rocks off. [Rare]
Iron Bands of Bilarro- Restraining a creature is awesome and it sets them up for the beating of their lifetime. However, as soon as any creature succeeds on a Strength check to break out, the item is destroyed. Thats right. Destroyed. So much for that rare wondrous item. I guess there is nothing wrong with having your rogue hold onto to these. And while he’s at it, see if he can clean off some of that rust. [Rare]
Iron Flask- This item depends on what, if anything, you find in the flask. If you don’t find a creature, the flask has limited utility. Generally, if you do get a creature, it will be powerful and a lot of help. It also, depends on how mean your DM is. Just keep in mind that the creature only obeys you for 1 hour. After that, you’re probably gonna have to fight it. Good luck! [Legendary]
Lantern of Revealing- Good for finding filthy little hobbitses who are trying to steal our precious. [Uncommon]
Manual of Bodily Health- Extra hit points and better con saves are great. All you have to do is some reading, probably on ways to lower your cholesterol. [Very Rare]
Manual of Gainful Exercise- Before there were bodybuilding forums there was the manual of bodily health. Who wouldn't want to be stronger? [Very Rare]
Manual of Quickness of Action- Being quicker and more flexible is just a few chapters away. You can read while stretching, right? [Very Rare]
Mirror of Life Trapping- This is a lair item which doesn’t work in combat, since it has to be on a vertical surface to activate it. Note to self, be wary of mirrors. [Very Rare]
Portable Hole- When you want to bring all the loot, but don’t want to worry about the weight this is what you want to have in your back pocket. [Rare]
Quiver of Ehlonna- If you’re not strong enough to carry a ton of items in your regular pack this may be right up your alley. Make sure you have plenty of items in all three holes. [Uncommon]
Rope of Climbing- This is what you get for Christmas when Santa is out of coal. [Uncommon]
Rope of Entanglement- Oh, look...some rope. [Rare]
Saddle of the Cavalier- For the adventurer who can't afford to fall off a mount and doesn't want to invest in mounted combat, especially those flying mounts. [Uncommon]
Sending Stones- Walkie-talkies had to start somewhere, but I'd rather not be there for the early stages of development. [Uncommon]
Sphere of Annihilation- Hopefully you're the smartest guy in the room, or there may be some issues in your near future. This may be tough to take with you as well, considering that it doesn't play nice with portable hole. [Legendary]
Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals- Earth elementals are good summoned creatures and you only have to touch the ground to summon one. [Rare]
Tome of Clear Thought- So reading books can increase your Intelligence. Libraries are relevant again. [Very Rare]
Tome of Leadership and Influence- Who doesn’t like a permanent bonus to their charisma that can increase their maximum score? Elves may get a couple uses out of it. [Very Rare]
Tome of Understanding- Wisdom increases are hard to come by, and this is a permanent boost that increases your maximum score. It may take a while to read, but it’s worth the wait. While you’re waiting, if you have a hundred years to spare, you can use it again. Nice. [Very Rare]
Well of Many Worlds- Instant travel is always nice, but it is very dm dependent. Use with compliments, perhaps bribes. [Legendary]
Wind Fan- A risk free casting of gust of wind every day is nice, and it doesn’t require attunement, but how many fog clouds do you really need to disperse? [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Magical Scrolls and Brews: Consumable items
Attunement Items
Consumable Items
[sblock]Helm of Brilliance- Fantastic item. You get more fireballs, a slew of other spells, and it makes your weapon more powerful. Sadly, the helm is consumable. But playing with the same item your entire career would be boring right? [Very Rare]
Necklace of Prayer Beads- Overall, unimpressive. You can get: planar ally, branding smite, bless, cure wounds, lesser restoration, greater restoration, and windwalk. This would be a lot better if it didn’t require attunement. But all considered, the spells just aren’t powerful enough to warrant an attunement slot. This becomes worse if your DM is a dick, since he controls how many, and what type of beads you get. [Rare]
Scarab of Protection- Autosaves are nice, and advantage on spell saves is a pretty good backup. Only having autosaves against undead and necromancy is a bit limiting, but it could be amazing in the right campaign. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Consumable Items
[sblock]Ammunition, +1, +2, or +3- These are awesome if you can get your hands on them. No reason not to have them. However, they’re not gold because as magic items, they’re not easily accessible. Sadly, once you use them they are not magical anymore. [Uncommon, Rare, or Very Rare]
Arrow of Slaying- For those monsters that absolutely, positively, need to die, look no further. Sadly, since its very rare, you will probably never see one. But if you do, and you find yourself fighting the BBG, whip this out of your quiver to ruin his day. [Very Rare]
Bag of Beans- This is really an item for the DM to create plot hooks. Characters who like to survive should avoid using this item. Let the DM think of ways to kill you without your help. [Rare]
Bead of Force- Great item, to bad it’s rare. If you need to take some enemies out of the fight, just throw one of these bad boys. Slotless! [Rare]
Chime of Opening- This item is for parties who can’t cast knock. It does pretty much the same thing, except it can only be used 10 times. [Rare]
Deck of Illusions- I just don't see a use for this item when there are magical ways to actually summon creatures, not just illusions. You can only throw it 30 ft and it takes an action to use. Pass. [Uncommon]
Deck of Many Things- Nope. Not gonna comment on the Deck of Many Things. There’s just too many things. [Legendary]
Dust of Disappearance- Sadly, you lose invisibility as soon as you attack or cast a spell, and its consumable. Its not great in combat, but for skill checks this could be useful. [Uncommon]
Dust of Dryness- Honestly, besides fighting water elementals, I can't think of a use for this item. [Uncommon]
Dust of Sneezing and Choking- This item is for DM’s who like to mess with their players. At first a PC thinks this item is Dust of Disappearance, but as soon as they employ it, they become incapacitated. Unfortunately, there is not real way to figure out what the powder is.
But if a crafty PC somehow could...
[Uncommon]
Efreeti Bottle- It takes an action to open the bottle, but you have a 90 percent chance of having a strong effect. I think the possibility of getting three free wishes, at a level when you normally wouldn’t have access to it, makes this item powerful. [Very Rare]
Elemental Gem- I’m getting sick of rating ways to use the conjure elemental spell. This one is pretty much identical, aside from it’s consumable nature. [Uncommon]
Elixir of Health- Not bad, similar to the effects of the lesser restoration spell. [Rare]
Gem of Brightness- You can leave those torches at home for a while. Blinded is a good condition to impose and a DC 15 is nothing to scoff at. But then again, its probably just better to kill the creature instead. [Uncommon]
Keoghtom’s Ointment- This is a better potion of healing, but it does count against your magic item total until you use it up. [Uncommon]
Manual of Golems- And my mom always said I couldn’t make friends locked away in my room. This would be a lot better if you could use it to make more than one golem, but as it stands, the book is destroyed as soon as you make one. Also, the DM chooses which golem type you get to make. [Very Rare]
Necklace of Fireballs- Free castings of fireball. No attunement. I’m not seeing a drawback. [Rare]
Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments- Not a lot of combat utility here. I guess if you had 10 minutes to set up a trap, you could paint a pit or something. [Very Rare]
Oil of Etherealness- Walking right into a vault or the lair of a powerful enemy undetected is stylish and powerful considering you can pre-buff yourself. [Rare]
Oil of Sharpness- As far as temporary buffs go this is one of the best. Hopefully you find a warehouse full of these. [Very Rare]
Oil of Slipperiness- If your character is a greco-roman wrestler you’ve found your ideal oil. Grease yourself up and get ready to go to town, for more oil. [Uncommon]
Philter of Love- Charming is a nice effect, and who wouldn’t want to live like some amorous french skunk. [Uncommon]
Potion of Animal Friendship- If you’re in a forest, jungle, or a zoo, this can be great. Raising a squirrel army never seemed so attainable. [Uncommon]
Potion of Clairvoyance- Never walk into an ambush again, once. Hopefully you find a jug of this. [Rare]
Potion of Climbing- Now you can scale tall buildings at a very reasonable pace, and impress all your friends with your rock climbing prowess. [Common]
Potion of Diminution- Make sure you replace the label on this to say enlarge, or just hide your pocket sized gnome wizard in your backpack. [Rare]
Potion of Fire Breath- This may be what happens when you eat ghost peppers. It’s not a lot of damage, but it is a bonus action for a few good tries. [Uncommon]
Potion of Flying- Fly is a great spell to have in your back pocket when you need it, just remember to take the potion out of your back pocket before sitting down. [Very Rare]
Potion of Gaseous Form- If you want to sneak in through the vents this can be good, just make sure there isn’t a strong breeze blowing. [Very Rare]
Potion of Giant Strength (Hill Giant, Frost/stone Giant, Fire Giant, Cloud Giant, Storm Giant)- These remind me of gummi berry juice from the Gummi Bears cartoon. If that show taught me anything it’s that superhuman strength is great, but you don't want to be holding a boulder over your head when the effects wear off. [Uncommon, Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Legendary]
Potion of Growth- This gets better if you mainly try to grapple your enemies, or if you are small and would like to make a mount of your owl. [Uncommon]
Potion of Healing (Healing, Greater Healing, Superior Healing, Supreme Healing)- Healing in a vial is always nice to have around when your healing kits run dry and your spell slots dry up. [Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
Potion of Heroism- Concentration free bless and 10 temporary hit points is a helpful combination. If the hit points weren’t extremely temporary it would be a bit better. [Rare]
Potion of Invisibility- For when you need to sneak or make a subtle retreat this is pretty sweet. [Very Rare]
Potion of Invulnerability- Resistance to all damage is hard to come by. It’s too bad this only gives you a minute of protection. [Rare]
Potion of Longevity- This is what people in power have been chasing for since the dawn of time. Find a way to barter with this, or just use it to really sell your false identity. [Very Rare]
Potion of Mind Reading- DC 13 is not very high, but detect thoughts can be very useful in the right situations. [Rare]
Potion of Poison- If you can get your enemies to drink it, this is quite handy. If you have a particularly tricky DM you may want to check your potion supply. [Uncommon]
Potion of Resistance- Resistance is always nice, and if you find a potion that grants it you may need it soon. [Uncommon]
Potion of Speed- Haste is great, and concentration free haste is even better. This is what energy drinks want to be. [Very Rare]
Potion of Vitality- The usefulness of this will be very dependent on your campaign, but it can be invaluable if you’re in a pinch for time and trying to push your character to the limit. [Very Rare]
Potion of Water Breathing- This can be useful in a pinch, but it's entirely dependent on how often your DM has you in the water. [Uncommon]
Quaal’s Feather Token- These tokens can be interesting, but none of the effects are particularly strong. [Rare]
Ring of Three Wishes- The only issue is if your DM will let you wish for more wishes. [Legendary]
Robe of Useful Items- The homeless vagrant's dream coat. You may be better off just buying the items rather than modifying your patchwork cloak. [Uncommon]
Scroll of Protection- Protecting yourself from an entire type of enemy is nice, but a DC 15 charisma check may be easy to overcome depending on the monster. If you have hex on a creature, or another way to increase the chances of maintaining your protection this gets better.
[Rare]
Sovereign Glue- If you've ever had to go to the emergency room because you glued yourself to something you should have a good idea about the kinds of fun you can have with this. [Legendary]
Spell Scroll (varies)- These are as useful as the spell on them and your character makes them. Wizards might like them a bit more, but they may end up with a pile of useless paper if their arcana check goes poorly. [Common, Common, Uncommon, Uncommon, Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Very Rare, Very Rare, Legendary]
Universal Solvent- For when you get into a sticky situation. How often does that happen to you anyway? [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Souls of the Ageless: Sentient weapons
Attunement Items
Sentient Items
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
Hazirawn (HotDQ)- Even if you aren’t attuned you get the +1, which is great for just about anyone. But if you are able to attune it, you get another d6 of damage dice and it becomes a +2 weapon. Not to mention free spells and the wounding property. Mandatory for evil great weapon masters. [Legendary]
*As a side note about Hazirawn, I think there is a typo in the item description. It says:
“Even if you aren’t attuned to the sword, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls made with this weapon. If you are attuned to Hazirawn, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage when you hit with the weapon.”
Then it goes on the discuss the increased potency of having it attuned. Specifically:
“ While you are attuned to this weapon, its bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls increases to +2, and a hit deals an extra 2d6 necrotic damage (instead of 1d6).”
To me, this implies that WOC intended to have Hazirawn deal the extra 1d6 even while un- attuned.
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Sentient Items
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Weapons Long-forgotten: Artifacts
Attunement Items
Artifacts
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Artifacts
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Gifts from the Gods: Boons
Attunement Items
Boons
[sblock]None. Yet...
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Boons
[sblock]Boon of Combat Prowess- This is very solid, turn a miss into an auto hit. This combos nicely with the contagion spell. But realistically, you want to hit every time.
Boon of Dimensional Travel- Free misty steps are nice, but honestly, at this level, second level spell slots are easily expendable. Really, if I’m getting a boon, I’d expect a little more bang for my buck.
Boon of Fate- Not only does this stack with advantage and the lucky feat, but it also recharges on a short rest. Not to mention, this helps with both your saving throws and hinders enemies saving throws.
Boon of Fortitude- hard to argue with 40 more hit points.
Boon of High Magic-
More wishes per day? Yes. Just yes.
Boon of Immortality- Dying from old age is the least of an adventurer’s concerns.
Boon of Invincibility- About to die? Not anymore. Try killing me again after I take a short rest. Oh wait…
Boon of Irresistible Offense- No longer will damage for fireball be resisted. This is also works well for underwater combat.
Boon of Luck- This is essentially the warlock 6 class feature Dark One’s Own Luck, except this lets you add to attack rolls as well.
Boon of Magic Resistance- A souped-up Mantle of Spell Resistance sans attunement that protects you from dragon breath attacks. Sign me up.
Boon of Peerless Aim- As before, works well the the contagion spell. Just don’t go shooting an apples off of peoples’ heads.
Boon of Perfect Health- This can protect adventurers from whatever diseases they may catch by hanging out in so many seedy bars. Poison immunity and advantage on Con saves is nice as well.
Boon of Planar Travel- You can’t even bring your party. It’s no fun traveling alone. I guess this would be a hilarious FU for when that god-fight gets a little too hairy-- “Peace guys. I’m gonna go get a beer. Good luck.” It’s also important to note that it’s a one way ticket. So you better teleport to a hospitable place where its easy to get a short rest.
Boon of Quick Casting- This would be better if it negated the limitation on casting more than one spell per turn. But it does not. Still though, you get to attack and cast a good spell as a bonus action *ahem bless*
Boon of Recovery-
A solid in-combat heal. This reminds me of the Epic destiny death save features from 4e.
Boon of Resilience- Considering the majority of damage is from bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing, this boon is awesome. Barbarians should start weeping in shame, as this is better than their core class feature.
Boon of Skill Proficiency- This boon is for all the skill monkeys out there. Looking at you bards…
Boon of Speed- As the legendary, fictional, professional, race car driver, Ricky Bobby, Once said-- “I wanna go fast.” Amen brother. Not quite the mobility feat and not quite the rogue’s cunning action feature, this boon provides awesome movement coupled with the disengage option.
Boon of Spell Mastery- You know all those spell slots you had to burn on shield? Well not anymore.
Boon of Spell Recall- This is pretty great. How many times have you needed to cast a spell, but didn’t have prepared? And it doesn't require a spell slot to boot.
Boon of Fire Soul- Fire resistance is fine, but again, i’d rather be able to cast more wishes instead of burning hands. At this level, with a DC 15 save, burning hands
is hot garbage.
Boon of the Night Spirit- All things considered, I’d prefer Greater Invisibility. But hey beggars can’t be choosers. Fortunately there is no time limit on the invisibility, so it’s not bad out of combat.
Boon of the Stormborn-
Similar to the boon of the fire soul. But marginally better, since it grants two resistances, and thunderwave is a slightly better spell. I’m assuming that since the save is DC 15, and it says at-will, you must cast thuderwave as a level one spell and thus, you can’t upcast it. Which makes the boon a little worse. Also, keep in mind that thunderwave is LOUD, so don’t spam it when you are trying to sneak around.
Boon of the Unfettered-
maybe it’s just me, but I don’t get grappled that often. Not bad for RPing, when you get captured.
Boon of Truesight- Truesight is the best vision option available.
Boon of Undetectability- As if stealthy characters didn’t have enough ways to become undetectable at this level. However, most villains have truesight, so stealth and invisibility doesn’t do much. Being hidden from scrying sounds nice, but it only protects you. So unless the whole party has this boon, anyone who wants to find you could just look for your compadres.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Reserved
Originally posted by Yunru:
goldenrod and deepskyblue are better values.Rod of the Pact Keeper and Wand of the War Mage stack.
Flood dungeons with a Decanter of Endless Water.
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Good call. I updated the guide.
Originally posted by IxidorRS:
Armor of Resistance as red and Plate Armor of Lightning Resistance as black seems contradictory. Aren't they really the same item with one set to only one type for the theme of the campaign?
Originally posted by IxidorRS:
I'd also like to thank you for writing this guide. I've linked to your guide in my Conjuration guide and instead of me rating all the items, I've just discussed there what is most important to that playstyle.
Originally posted by Yunru:
Bag of Devowering is better if you've access to Polymorph. Hello Dragon, hello Frog. Bag, meet Frog. Frog, Bag.
Originally posted by HermanTheWize:
What would you rate a +1 weapon f you had to attune to it?
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Originally posted by FallingIcicle:
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Some Weapon notes:
Attuned Weapons:
Dancing Sword - Sky Blue because there are a number of classes that don't get bonus action attacks and it is functionally a ranged bonus action attack. i.e. Barbarians and Fighters.
Dwarven Thrower - cool item, but requiring one to be a Dwarf makes it purple for most
Flame Tongue - +7 damage on average to everything should be higher.
Mace of Disruption - +7 damage to some very specific opponents, limited weapon choice, should be lower
Mace of Terror - don't think of it as a weapon. Think about it as an item that potentially makes all enemies in a 30' radius both lose their turns and provoke reactions up to 3 times in a day...
Sun Blade - feels more dark blue to me. The always on light source when weapon is activated can cause some action economy issues. And a glowing finesse weapon...
Sword of Answering - I'd ding it down to dark blue given the lack of feats for longswords.
Sword of Life Stealing - I'd give it purple. Someone who swings consistently with Advantage and/or has lots of attacks might be able to use it.
Sword of Sharpness - I'd give it purple. Functionally, 95% of the time, it is roughly the same as a Sword of Life Stealing - slightly more damage, but no temps.
Sword of Vengeance - Red. Not worth the trouble.
Sword of Wounding - Purple. Maybe Red. +2.5 damage later roughly equals +2 damage now and that's ignoring the +2 weapon's no need for attunement or that it gives a +2 to hit.
Vorpal Sword - I'd argue this is gold. A fighter with 3 attacks and advantage has a 26% chance of lopping off a target's head each round...
Weapon of Warning - wouldn't necessarily consider this a weapon. Every party should have one, though.
Non-attuned Weapons:
Dragon Slayer - would almost never take this over a +2 weapon. Should be purple ala am I playing Dragonlance
Giant Slayer - ditto. Am I going through the G series?
Hammer of Thunderbolts - adding +4 Str in effect makes it a +3 weapon that adds +2 to str checks. Also, you don't need to attune the gauntlets, just be wearing them. It isn't great, but not red. I'd call it black - probably want the +3 weapon instead, but the +4 Strength on top of a lesser Belt of Giant Strength in combo with the ranged stunning makes it interesting.
Mace of Smiting - I'd call it purple for roughly the same reasons as several others. Not needing to use a mace and having a +2 weapon is almost certainly a better rare option.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Some Implement Notes:
Rod of Lordly Might - basically a +3 weapon with a variety of options. I'd only call it Sky Blue.
Staff of Power - Gold. +2 to AC, spell attack rolls and saves when holding it in your off-hand?
Staff of the Adder - yuck - get to spend a bonus action to get a non-magical weapon that does some extra damage on a save? Seems more Purple.
Staff of the Magi - Gold. Adv on spell saves alone is worth a lot.
Wand of Secrets - automatic is good, especially if you're not good at perception checks...
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Some Armor/Shield/Bracers/Cloak/Robe Notes:
Psychic Armor of Resistance covers the Bear Barbarian weak spot - i.e. resist everything, non-magical or magical, when raging.
Efreeti Armor is Chainmail +3, which is functionally Platemail +1.
Animated Shield needs a bonus action, which creates action economy issues.
Shield of Missile Attraction works against your allies, too. Can really gum up the party's archer choice of targets.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Continuing(very good guide btw, I'm not in disagreement with many ratings)
Hats, Helms, Goggles:
I'd put Helm of Brilliance here rather than under consumables. No rational player uses up the last gems of each category.
Helm of Telepathy - I think this should be rated much higher. It has a lot of very strong non-combat uses based on Detect Thoughts being at-will. Gagged, captured enemies will eventually fail that DC13 saving throw - "Where did you hide your treasure...Who are your allies...Where are they? What are your plans...what does this complex look like..." A non-caster(such as a Rogue) can cast Detect Thoughts and communicate with an ally without talking. Note the combo - Rogue KOs a guard, brings him back to consciousness, and then repeatedly casts Detect Thoughts to get the location of all the guards, where treasure is hidden, etc...and the guard can't even yell for help.
Necklaces:
Necklace of Adaptation = breathing underwater, too. I'd rate it as black given that it is basically a cap of water breathing with some extras, but attunement.
Periapt of Wound Closure = double the benefit of hit dice.
Necklace of Prayer Beads. Not a consumable. Also, note that the spells are bonus action. Most people are typically going to get a bonus action bless spell out of the necklace. That's really good.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Continuing to Rings, Belts(no comments), Boots, Consumables...
Rings of Elemental Command. If you don't kill an elemental at some point, they're not that good. But...fly at will? Move through solid rock? Immune to fire damage? Plus spells on charges? Air Elemental Command in particular ought to be Sky Blue for the fly at-will+hover.
Ring of Animal Influence. I'd rate this as Purple. Needs an action/charge to speak with animals and that only lasts 10 minutes? And this somehow made it to Item Table G? Yuck.
Boots of Levitation - spells cast from items requires no components unless the item's description says otherwise as per DMG 141
Boots of Speed - there are some PCs for whom this is crazy good, such as Monks. Moving 90' in a round and stunning multiple targets.
Slippers of Spider Climbing - I'd give this a Dark Blue. There are a lot of times that melee PCs are going to want to climb a cliff or ranged PCs want to duck out of range of a melee enemy coming after them.
Brooch of Shielding is a resist item.
Candle of Invocation does not spend components when casting Gate
Cube of Force - I'd rate it Blue. There are a number of ways to use it to negate a creature's action if they're in the right location, or make things really difficult. Example - boss caster, you're a saving throw specialist, and you move up next to him and then click face 5. Or you're facing a melee enemy in a party of casters or a caster in a party of archers.
Tome of the Stilled Tongue. Bonus Action Wish. Sigh...
Broom/Carpet of Flying - you can be knocked off of them
Cubic Gate - no components
Driftglobe - found on charts other than F-I, so I'd rate it Black or Green.
Horn of Blasting - um, it blows up 20% of the time...
Iron Bands of Bilarro - Hexed creatures are at disadvantage to one ability check...
Iron Flask - at-will take an extraplanar creature out of a fight? Then make them fight for you in the next combat(s)? That's Sky Blue, especially if you can somehow capture a creature without knocking its hit points down, then repeatedly try to force them into the Flask. Especially at the point where you're likely to find such an item.
Rope of Climbing - on magic item table B. I'd call it green.
Rope of Entanglement - DC 15 at-will isn't that bad. Purple.
Sphere of Annihilation - I'd call it Green or Red. DC 13 Legendary item isn't going to result in a lot of things happening.
Scarab of Protection - wouldn't really call this a consumable.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Sentinent Items/Artifacts - I'd consider many of these unratable as conflict or the detrimental effects can really have some wacky effects for many PCs. Disadvantage on all spell saving throws? Vulnerability to all damage? Changing alignment?
Boons - I'd consider most of these unratable as well as they really only take effect at the end of a campaign.
Anyway, again, great job on the list. Thanks for doing this!
Originally posted by QwertyAzerty:
great work. ButI think you underestimate the spellcaster item.
But Robe of the Archmagi and staff of the Magi should be Gold.
together they offer +4 to your spell DC (this is insane)
together they give +4 to spell attack (also very powerfull)
advantage against all spell? thank you very much, defense against one of the few thing actually able to kill a well build/play mage at high level
Absorb thsoe spell to fuel that staff and cast more spell... Fireball being castable more often then your own cantrip? hell yes no question about it.
Same goes for the boon of high magic, a second spell levle 9, slot level 9 can be uses for wish, but it also can be uses for a scorching ray lvl 9 (average of 140 damage for fire dragon sorcerer and evocator wizard and 175 damage if they diped 1 warlock level for Hex? this is golden just because platinium is not an real rating
Skyblue on those item for a arcane caster (wizard, sorcerer, warlock) is an insult, it like calling the holy avenger a toothpick in front of a paladin
Pearl of Power do not require to argu with your DM that you can have more then one, they don't require attunement and give you extra spell level 3. Once you get the staff og Magi this become obsolete, but untill you get the staff, you should be collecting them, put them on a string and cast fireball like cantrips.
About Hazirawn, yes it's s typo and it have been confirm by Cawford ( I believe). Also has the weapon is written it's lacking a personallity and a goal, so it's not "sentient", but DM are welcom to create stats and goals for the sword making it sentient. and even non-evil greatsword master can use it very well. I talked with the sword during my first short rest and explained to it that if it didn't help me in my mission, it would become a dragon toothpick or even worse, collect rust in Tiamat treasure hoard. and if he decide to betray me, the Harper will be more then happy to lock the sword away and study it, or I'm sure a volcanic bath would help him msee the error of his way. So my CG caracter and Hazirawn workd in team to defeat Tiamat and we dealt around 300damage in a single round to that dragon.
Horn of blasting should be RED, no red is too good for that item, if we create the new platinium rating, maybe we shoudl create a new rating to illustrate how bad this item is.. Seriously, an item alerting the entire dungeon of your presence? and you have 1/5 chance (20%) that it will blow in your face. at low level this explosion might very well KILL you (not just unconsious but kill you by bringing you to negative max HP) Go get a necklace of fire ball if you want AoE damage on demand. This item does not even have the excuse of being cursed.
Then for Adventure League player, because of the rule saying the player with the least magical item get priority, and because you can never lose a permanent item (you can trade them, for item of the same rarity, but who will trade an leather armor +1 in exchange of a usefull item?), an leather armor +1 should be red (so does padded +2, splintmail+1 etc...), since a mundane armor (a padded armor +2 and a leather amor +1 offer the same bonus as a mundane studded armor)will offer the same AC but won't make it harder to get the interesting magical item that he will find. Yes I know rust monster can eat your full plate, but cannot eat a splintmail+1, but I never saw many rust monster up to now, so I am willing to risk a mundane armor to a monster that is rarely encounter, rather then loosing my chance to roll on a usefull item that I will encounter in the next few week for sure.
Then item that can break easily (like a horn of blasting) even after it explose keep counting against your permanent magic item count, making thsoe item even worse then in home games. the staff and wand, yes they can be broken and they will still count, but to break them it require the player to be willing to risk loosing it (it's hard to use that last charge unwillingly, and even if you do you only have 5% chance to break the item, compare to the horn where you get 20% every time you use it. But in AL, I consider staff to only hold 9 charge instead of 10 and wand to hold 6 instead of 7, making them still very usefull, compare to a horn of blasting which have 20% chacne to break on it's first use AND alert the entire dungeon, AND still count as a magical item even once broken. In Adventure League the Horn of Blasting is what I call a real trap AND a griefing item. A Player who want to grief his group can simply use that item at a bad time and force the DM to cause a TPK ( or the DM can fudge everything and remove any danger from the adventure, making the adventure loose it's challenge, loose the thrill of danger, since we now know we can do anything and we won'T have consequences.
Originally posted by FunkySpunk:
Awesome guide! Good work!
Originally posted by robsonline:
Originally posted by Tempest_Stormwind:
In earlier editions, they had special stacking rules, such as bonus types and rules like "bonuses of the same type don't stack". All of this is absent in 5e - assuming you're able to wield or wear the items, they all stack.
In fact, to really sell it, the word "stack" is itself a relic of older ediitons. It appears exactly once in the Player's Basic Rules ("...and stack the deck...") and exactly once in the Dungeon Master's Basic Rules ("...stacks of empty crates..."). In this sense, there's no "stacking" at all in 5e!
In this case, you hold the rod in one hand and the wand in the other, and use either one of them (traditionally the rod) as a focus to replace any material/somatic components. If the spell has an attack roll (let's say Eldritch Blast), and you've got a +1 Rod and a +1 Wand, then the blast's attack roll increases by +1+1.... or +2.
Originally posted by HermanTheWize:
Would you rather have a displacer cloak or a claok of protection as a Half-Orc Barbarian.
Stats:
Str - 16
Dex - 14
Con - 16
Int - 8
Wis - 12
Cha - 8
Curse the wizard that created the first robe of the archmage! Now any whelp of a hedge conjurer or witless apprentice that finds one considers himself an archmage. Then these fools seek magic far above their station or grasp at power as if donning a robe made them royalty. What a blasted nuisance. I hesitate to count the number of "archmages" I've reduced to dust. Still, I've found that for wizards worthy of the title, a robe of the archmage can be a useful item.
-Mordenkainen, from his secret master copy of the Magnificent Emporium before he burned its pages and then disintegrated the ash
With the release of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, players have been drooling over some of the amazing magic items that it details. But with the good must also come the bad. Therefore, the purpose of this guide is rate magic items to help players decide what are the stars and what are the dogs.
The criteria for rating an item will be three-fold:
1.) How does an item stack up to similar magic items (eg. this shield vs. other shields)?
2.) What is the rarity? What’s the likelihood of selling it or being able to trade for it?
3.) Does it require attunement or not?
In regards to point 2, trading items is an AL play concern. Unfortunately, most of the items in the DMG are NOT legal to use in the current season. With that being said, it is important to note that players can only trade like-rarity items for other like-rarity items. So players can only trade a rare item for a rare item or a uncommon item for an uncommon item (ect, ect.) So if you find a legendary magic item, you're probably holding on to it for a while.
If you are playing in an a home campaign, and your DM allows you to sell magic items, depending on how rare the item is, you might not be able to find someone to sell the item to, which is problematic (DMG pg.129). Though in all honesty, if you find a rare magic item that does not require attunement, you’re not gonna want to sell it. You have what is known as a quality problem.
As far as point three, this is a serious concern for adventurers. In 5e, characters can only have three magic items attuned at a time (DMG pg 138). Therefore, unlike 4e, the number of magic item slots available to characters are very limited and magic items must be carefully considered. Naturally, items that are good and do not require attunement will be given greater consideration.
Important notes about attunement:
1.)
If a player has just found a magic item and can't cast the identify spell, they must spend a short rest to determine what the magic item is. Potions are an exception, just a little taste of the potion is enough to tell you what the potion does.
2.) In order to attune an item a player must spend a short rest focusing only on that item to attune themselves to the item (it can’t be the same short rest used to learn the item’s properties). Whatever that means for your game depends on the DM. Some DMs may allow you to do other things while attuning, other DMs may not.
3.) A creatures attunement ends if the item has been more than 100 feet away from the creature for 24 hours, the creature dies, or another creature attunes the item. A creature can also voluntarily end attunement by spending another short rest focused on the item, unless the item is cursed.
The source materials used for this guide are abbreviated as follows:
DMG- D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide 5e
HotDQ- D&D Hoard of the Dragon Queen
LMoP- D&D Lost Mines of Phandelver
PHB- D&D Player’s Handbook 5e
RoT- D&D Rise of Tiamat
Any item that’s not in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, or in multiple sources, will be annotated as such in the item description. Otherwise, you can assume all items are in the DMG.
This guide will use the following color coding system:
Red- This is a trap. Don’t take this. There’s a better option or it isn’t worth the investment.
Purple- Is a substandard choice. It might be useful in corner-case situations, but overall it's not worth the investment.
Black- This item will not actively hurt your character, but there is probably a better option.
Green- Difficult to classify. Often used for utility instead of combat or is dependant on your character concept.
Blue- Good choice. You can’t really go wrong with taking this. Correct in the majority of cases.
Sky Blue- Indicates a fantastic choice, an option you should strongly consider against most others.
Gold- A rare rating. The best option out there hands down. This is mandatory to call yourself optimized.
without further ado….
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Swords of Light, Luck, and Life stealing: Weapons of Heroes
Attunement Items
Weapons
[sblock]Berserker Axe- As far as cursed items go, this one isn’t bad. As long as you are a melee character and stay in the fray, this item may be usable. With all that being said, there are better weapon choices out there. [Rare]
Dancing Sword- This is an interesting item. It is great for characters who don’t make use of their bonus action. And It gives melee characters a better ranged option. [Very Rare]
Defender- Any +3 magic sword is ok in my book, but this lets you alter your AC for fights when you think need a bump. [Legendary]
Dwarven Thrower- Its hard to go wrong with +3 magic weapons . But this one gives a better ranged option for martial characters. Non-dwarves needn’t apply. [Very Rare]
Flame Tongue- I like the concept and it looks cool as hell, but it just doesn’t measure up against other swords. It doesn’t get a +1 bump , its rare, it requires attunement, and it uses fire (one of the more common resistances). The extra 2d6 is something though. [Rare]
Frost Brand- Similar to the flame tongue with it’s problems. It does grant fire resistance which is nice. Still not as good as other sword options though. [Very Rare]
Holy Avenger- Suck it fiends or undead. The paladin is back in town. Oh and he brought some friends who are also stronger thanks to him. [Legendary]
Luck Blade- Wish on a stick?! This item would be amazing if just for that property. But It also has the luck property, which lets you reroll an attack, saving throw or ability check. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s also a +1 magic weapon which gives you +1 to saving throws! If there were a rating higher than gold i’d give it to this.
Platinum maybe? [Legendary]
Mace of Disruption- Not having a +1 bump hurts this item. But all considered, this definitely can put a hurt on undead. You can also leave that lantern at home. [Rare]
Mace of Terror- Compared to other magic maces this stinks. No +1 bump, requires attunement, frightened which they get to save against end of turn. [Rare]
Nine Lives Stealer- Definitely strong. To bad the life stealing property doesn't recharge and it requires attunement. [Very Rare]
Oathbow- When I first read this item I was ready to rate it gold. But after reading it more closely, I realized that the sworn enemy feature only recharges once per day, at the next dawn. So the whole premise of the bow is kinda shot. You can only use its feature for one big fight per day. Don’t get me wrong, its still strong. Just not as strong as if the the sworn enemy feature would recharge after you killed each creature. Also doesn’t provide a +1. [Very Rare]
Scimitar of Speed- Getting a free bonus action attack every turn with a +2 weapon is nice, but most characters are already using their bonus actions. [Very Rare]
Sun Blade- Swords made of light that pop out of a bare hilt seem fun to me. It has the finesse property, deals radiant damage, and has an adjustable light source. The only downside is that it’s only a +2 weapon. [Rare]
Sword of Answering- A +3 weapon with an enhanced reaction attack that ignores resistance and immunity. Extra attacks are always nice. [Legendary]
Sword of Life Stealing- On a crit you get some extra damage and temporary hit points. Seems underwhelming. [Rare]
Sword of Sharpness- There is no bonus to hit, but if you start rolling crits it gets interesting. You also save some money on torches. [Very Rare]
Sword of Vengeance- It’s a +1 weapon with a drawback that you have to attune. It can be fixed though. [Uncommon]
Sword of Wounding- A cumulative d4 of necrotic damage is nice, but most enemies will have a good constitution score, so it’s not quite as good as it could be. [Rare]
Trident of Fish Command- Everyone want’s to be Aquaman right? Right? Well, if you’re near water a lot this can be pretty handy. [Uncommon]
Vorpal Sword- A +3 weapon that ignores resistance is really good. Having the chance to instantly decapitate your target or deal an extra 6d8 damage is a pretty sweet effect. Slashing weapons don’t get much better than this. [Legendary]
Weapon of Warning- Say goodbye to being surprised and sleeping through a fight for you and your whole party, unless you really spread out at night, and there’s advantage to your initiative rolls. Did I mention that you don’t even need to have this item equipped for all of these nice bonuses? Make sure someone has one of these before you leave home. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Weapons
[sblock]Dagger of Venom (DMG, HotDQ)- Another underwhelming item. It’s rare, so theres a mark against it. And as a dagger it only deals 1d4 of damage. You can do better than that. Also, the poison utility can only be used once per day, making it worse. The only thing keeping this item from being red, is that it doesn’t require attunement. I guess it’s ok to keep in the back pocket if you need a magic weapon. [Rare]
Dragon Slayer- Not bad if you are in the market for +1 weapons. It doesn’t require attunement and it can really mess up a dragon. [Rare]
Dragontooth Dagger (RoT)- A +1 dagger with a little extra poison is nice, but unless you're betraying your party it's still just a solid dagger. [Rare]
Giant Slayer- Not bad. A +1 magic item that doesn’t require attunement. It’s sucks the save is Strength. Giants tend to excel at those. [Rare]
Hammer of Thunderbolts- At first blush it seems powerful and lets be honest, badass. But it has a lot of critical flaws. The most obvious of which is the giant’s bane. You must have both the Gauntlets of Ogre Power and the Belt of Giant Strength. So unless you have a particularly generous DM, you're not gonna get both items. Secondly, it's only a +1. Thats a huge investment for only a +1. Maybe a +2 would have been more reasonable. Granted you get an ASI, which effectively works out to a +3; but I expect more from my legendary items. Lastly, Thunderclap stuns every creature, even your allies. And although stunning is sweet, we can all agree that stunning your teammates is not sweet. [Legendary]
Javelin of Lightning- Great for all the strength-based characters who use javelins. A strong magic weapon back-up option, which doesn’t require attunement. [Uncommon]
Mace of Smiting- Not bad, but its no +3 magic weapon….unless you're in a campaign with alot of constructs. Then this
becomes amazing.
[Rare]
Vicious Weapon- If you’ve got no other options it’s worth using, but there’s better magic items. Actually, almost every other magic item is better. [Rare]
Weapon +1, +2, +3- Hitting more often for more damage is always nice. [Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Staves of Power, Rods of Might, Wands of Fear: Foci for the Feared
Attunement Items
Foci
[sblock]Instrument of the Bards (Anstruth harp, Canaith mandolin, Cli lyre, Doss lute, Fochlucan bandore, Mac-Fuirmidh cittern, Ollamh harp)- I usually hesitate to give items a gold rating, but all of these instruments earn it. Right off the bat you get fly, invisibility, levitate, and protection from good and evil. All of which are useful. But then each item gives the user even MORE spells which don’t require use of spell slots. Granted some spells are situational, but hey, they’re free. And to top it all off, the item imposes disadvantage on charmed saving throws. Bards. Start serenading your DMs to convince them to give you these items. [Very Rare, Rare, Rare, Uncommon, Uncommon, Uncommon, Legendary]
Pipes of the Sewers- I feel like this should summon an Italian plumber or a bunch of turtles, but rats will have to do. The usefulness of the pipes will be directly linked to the number of cats in the area though, so hopefully you don’t find yourself in ancient egypt. [Uncommon]
Rod of Alertness- Perception and initiative are both important checks, and having all the detection spells is nice too. You can even give you and your allies a boost to AC and saving throws once a day. If you've got it, use it. [Very Rare]
Rod of Lordly Might- This might be the master of versatility. There's piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage, a ladder, a flametongue, and a few powerful daily effects with a decent DC. It's too bad there's no button for it to throw a kitchen sink. [Legendary]
Rod of the Pact Keeper, +1, +2, +3- Better attack rolls and DCs on your spells is a strong effect, and getting back spell slots as well makes for quite a powerful combination. The potentail to stack this with a Wand of the War Mage makes it a very appealing option. [Uncommon, Rare, or Very Rare]
Rod of Resurrection- Strong healing and resurrection on a stick is powerful, just make sure you bring people back sparingly, unless you want to risk trading it in for a pile of dust. [Legendary]
Rod of Rulership- Once a day you get to a mass charm for everyone you can see within 120 feet. If you got to use it more often it'd be much better, but it's still no slouch. [Rare]
Spider Staff (LMoP)- Adding 1d6 poison damage to melee attacks is good, but as there are a lot of creatures that are immune or resistant to poison it’s usefulness will be campaign dependent. It is adamantine, which gets around non-magical resistance, and there are some spells in it too. Spider climb and web can be useful, so it’s got a little something for everyone. [Rare]
Staff of Charming- Charm person, command, and comprehend languages are nice effects and, in addition to scaling with your spell save DC, it lets you succeed a save that may be turned against your opponent. Enchantments are almost useless against you now, except for multi target ones. [Rare]
Staff of Defense (LMoP)- Having another static modifier to add to your defence is nice, and having shield casts on a stick is very nice. With the right AC you could be almost unhittable. The only downside is needing to have the spell on your class’s spell list and attuning it. [Rare]
Staff of Fire (DMG, HotDQ)- Fire resistance is good, and being able to cast fireball three times a day is a nice bonus. Ten charges is a bit limiting though, and the value of the spells will go down as you level up, the exception being your ability to decimate large groups of kobolds. [Very Rare]
Staff of Frost- Resistance and cone of cold are a great combination, ice storm isn’t too bad either. It’d be great if there was a few more charges, but you can still get both of the better spells off in one day, so it’s still pretty strong. [Very Rare]
Staff of Healing- Extra healing is nice to have, and mass healing on a stick is a great tool to have access to. There aren’t a lot of charges on this, but it gains most back each day. [Rare]
Staff of Power- This has got a lot of options. You get a +2 bonus to AC, saving throws, spell attack rolls, attack rolls and damage rolls while getting the ability to cast spells and expend charges to deal extra damage while you’re swinging with it. Just be careful of domination effects, as you may end up breaking it and taking a few points of damage. [Very Rare]
Staff of Striking- If you’ve always wanted a staff without spells to hit people with and you can’t hold the staff of power, look no further. It even lets you throw a bit of damage on top of each hit. [Very Rare]
Staff of Swarming Insects- Being able to cast two decent spells is nice, but you only get one casting of insect plague with no risk per day. [Rare]
Staff of the Adder- If you want a non-magical staff to attack with this is a decent option, but the staff can be attacked and destroyed relatively easily. [Uncommon]
Staff of the Magi- If you’re able to use this staff you want to use it. It doesn’t disintegrate if the charges are expended, it can absorb spells to regain charges and negate single target effects. There’s 50 charges to use with over a dozen different spells. You even get advantage on spell saves and +2 to attack, damage and spell attack rolls. If you overcharge it, or decide to break it, there is a bit of fallout, but it’s pretty easy to avoid that. [Legendary]
Staff of the Python- Snakes are interesting creatures, but they are a bit fragile. It can be fun to intimidate people with, or have a mount on demand though. [Uncommon]
Staff of the Woodlands- Magic quarterstaffs that can be disguised as trees are hard to come by, and it comes with some interesting spells built in. Crazy hermits pretty much need one. [Rare]
Staff of Thunder and Lightning- A +2 weapon is nice and there’s a bonus spell once a day. Seems like a good choice. [Very Rare]
Staff of Withering- A magic quarterstaff with a little extra kick is nice. Although it’s not as good for those who already have shillelagh. [Rare]
Talisman of Pure Good- This is the ultimate talisman for good clerics and paladins and there are a couple chances to eliminate a few bad apples. [Legendary]
Talisman of Ultimate Evil- This is the ultimate talisman for evil clerics and paladins and there are a couple chances to eliminate a few good apples. [Legendary]
Tentacle Rod- Hentai jokes aside, this can be useful to someone who wants to take down a tough enemy. [Rare]
Wand of Binding- Hold person and hold monster are both great spells, but there aren’t many castings available per day. The bonus to avoid being grappled, restrained, or paralyzed is nice but it does cost a charge. [Rare]
Wand of Enemy Detection- Having a variation on the paladin class feature is interesting, but is this really something you want to attune? [Rare]
Wand of Fear- Limited use of command is good, and a mass fear effect is nice, but it’s no wand of fireballs. [Rare]
Wand of Fireballs- Know what’s better than fireball? Extra castings of fireball for free. [Rare]
Wand of Lightning Bolts- Lightning bolt is a good spell, but there are better options for wands. [Rare]
Wand of Paralysis- If only there was a DC for this. It makes sense that it would be 15, but it does depend on your DM as it stands. Spell save aside, one minute of paralysis is very strong. [Rare]
Wand of Polymorph- Polymorph is one of the best spells in the game, and this lets you cast it for free. Sign me up. [Very rare]
Wand of the War Mage +1, +2, +3- Spellcasters like landing their attack spells, and this is a great way to make sure that happens. If you’re a Warlock this becomes even better as you can stack it with Rod of the Pact Keeper. [Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
Wand of Web- Extra spells per day are always nice to have, but there may be a limit to the number of times that web will be useful in a day, maybe. [Uncommon]
Wand of Wonder- Is the wild magic sorcerer making you jealous with all his random magical effects? Are you a wild magic sorcerer who really wants to randomly cast a fireball that isn’t centered on you? Do you just like rolling percentile dice? If you said yes to any of these questions you’ve found your wand. If not, you can just pass on this. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Foci
[sblock]Immovable Rod- This item requires a lot of creativity by the player, and a lot of leeway from the DM. Here are a few ideas for those non-creative types out there:
[url]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?175587-1001-Uses-for-an-Immovable-Rod[/URL] [Uncommon]
Pipes of Haunting- Mass fear effects are good, and friendly ones are hard to come by. [Uncommon]
Rod of Security- When you really need a rest for you and 199 of your friends this can't be beat. [Very Rare]
Wand of Magic Detection- Apparently unlimited use of detect magic was too powerful, so this toned down version is the wand we get. It does give detect magic to the masses, for the parties who refuse to have it prepared. [Uncommon]
Wand of Magic Missiles (DMG, LMoP)- Magic missile never misses, and this doesn’t require attunement. Did I mention it’s uncommon? [Uncommon]
Wand of Secrets- It’s uncommon, doesn’t require attunement, and can be drained dry without disintegrating. It also does the same thing that as a perception check. Pass. [Uncommon]
Wand of Winter (HotDQ)- If this item weren’t rare, it would eek out a blue rating. But as it stands, Wand of Winter is not awesome. It casts subpar spells: ray of frost, ice storm, and
sleet storm. Honestly, you should be doing better things on your turn. The only thing that keeps Wand of Winter so highly rated, is that it doesn’t require attunement. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Plates of Adamantine, Chains of Mithral: Armors of the Protected
Attunement Items
Armor
[sblock]Armor of Invulnerability- Non-magical damage resistance is pretty good. Damage immunity is great, but it can only be used once a day, and it requires attunement. [Legendary]
Armor of Resistance- This one is similar to the armor of invulnerability, but having no immunity effect and only resisting one damage type make it worse. [Rare]
Armor of Vulnerability- No thanks, I’ll pass on the cursed magic item. Same problems as above. And its rare too, so you can’t even trade it away. Did I mentioned it’s cursed? [Rare]
Demon Armor- The extra language is ok and I like the concept, but this armor doesn’t do much for characters who'd use it. At first the +1 to bump to AC looks ok, until you consider you can get +3 platemail that doesn’t require attunement. Then, the magical weapon properties of unarmed strikes sounds good, but you realize that monks and druids don’t wear armor, so it stinks. Then, you find out its cursed, so you can’t even take the darn thing off. All considered, its a trap. [Very Rare]
Dragon Scale Mail (DMG, HotDQ)- Kind of the same problem as the Demon Armor. Usually, you can get better than a +1 with other magical armor, which won’t require attunement. The resistance to typed damage is nice, but normally, by the time you start finding magic items, you want a better armor option than scale mail (i.e platemail). Unless of course you are a medium armor user then this is better. I suppose if you really must find that dragon, this item could be useful. [Very Rare]
Efreeti Chain- +3 armor is good and fire damage is a common damage type. The extra language and walking on lava are plus. Attunement holds this item back. [Legendary]
Plate Armor of Etherealness- Who says guys in plate can’t be sneaky? This isn’t quite as good as it could be since you can’t barge in with your whole team in tow, but there are plenty of creative uses to make this worth it. [Legendary]
Plate Armor of Lightning Resistance (RoT)- Damage resistance is nice, and if you’re tired of wearing so many rings this could be a nice change of pace. Armor should be giving you more defence for an attunement slot though. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Armor
[sblock]Adamantine Armor - This armor is not awful. And it does provide protection against critical hits. However, this seems kind of narrow, and you’ll usually want your armor slot to do more for you. Also, it does not apply a +1 or +2 bonus, which is another check against it. The only real upshot is that it doesn’t require attunement. [Uncommon]
Armor, +1 +2, or +3- Its hard to go wrong with non-attunement magic items, especially ones that bump your AC. [Rare, Very Rare, or Legendary]
Dwarven Plate- Really great armor option that doesn’t require attunement and gives a +2 bump. The forced movement negation is just gravy. [Very Rare]
Elven Chain- Non-attunement ways to bump your AC are good. Normally, chain shirt armor is just a stopover before breastplate. But this one is usable for any character even if they lack proficiency with medium armor. Also, most DMs will allow you to wear this in addition to your normal armor, since that seemed to be the precedent set by previous editions.Then again some may not. Ask your DM. [Rare]
Glamoured Studded Leather- For those of you that need to feel fabulous. +1 bump, no attunement. Sign me up sister. [Rare]
Mariner’s Armor- Hey. It doesn’t require attunement and underwater fights can happen. [Uncommon]
Mithral Armor- For subtle, stealthy, heavy armor users. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Bulwarks and Bracers: Wrist Guards of the Vanguard
Attunement Items
Bracers and Shields
[sblock]Animated
Shield- This shield is ok, but it doesn’t really stack up to other shields IMO. It requires attunement and it requires a bonus action to animate. Compared to a +1 magic shield, which doesn’t require attunement, it just seems worse to me. The main reason characters might want it is if they need both hands free to cast spells or heavy-weapon fight. [Very Rare]
Arrow Catching Shield- This is ok for those ranged characters who use shields. If you do happen to be one, this is an option. +2 is nothing to scoff at. The downside is that it requires attunement and it only applies to ranged attacks. Also, the strange defender-esque reaction is a little out of line, if you are staying in back, trying to AVOID getting shot. [Rare]
Bracers of Archery- Extra damage is always good. If you are a bow archetype, you probably want these. Too bad they require attunement. [Uncommon]
Bracers of Defense- Oh hi there Monks, Barbarians, and spellcasters. You thought we forgot about you. We didn’t. These are for you. [Rare]
Shield of Missile Attraction- Damage resistance is nice, but having to take all the ranged attacks might make that a bit less useful. If you've got a way to make your AC high enough this could be the best kind of curse. [Rare]
Spellguard Shield- Protection from those pesky mages is always nice, especially when even their attack rolls have disadvantage against you. [Very rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Bracers and Shields
[sblock]Sentinel Shield- Advantage on initiative and perception is great. If you want to be first and not surprised this is a no brainer. [Uncommon]
Shield, +1, +2, or +3- Higher defenses are always nice, and the amount of damage prevented at higher levels can be staggering. [Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Shawls Weaved with Stars: Capes, Cloaks, Robes
Attunement Items
Capes, Cloaks, and Robes
[sblock]Cloak of Arachina- Poison is a common damage type. And free web spells are nice. But overall I think there are better things to do with attunement slots. [Very Rare]
Cloak of Displacement- I like this! Enemies take disadvantage to attack you. “If you take damage, this property ceases to function until the start of your next turn.” So what!? If you are a ranged character you shouldn’t be on the front lines anyway. And even if you are on the front lines, this is still pretty strong. Ostensibly this is a +5 to AC. [Very Rare]
Cloak of Elvenkind- Essentially this is a poor man's Cloak of invisibility, since as long as you successfully make your stealth check, you are hidden anyway. Unfortunately it takes an action to hide, so it has limited usefulness in combat, unless you are a rogue with cunning action or something like that. Also, since it takes an action to put your hood up, you should simply keep your hood on all the time. It looks more badass anyway. [Uncommon]
Cloak of Invisibility- This item is for all you rogues out there. Invisibility: check. Advantage on attack rolls: check. Carte blanche to steal mercilessly: check. [Legendary]
Cloak of Protection- This item is very similar to it’s ring counterpart. Just as good too. [Uncommon]
Cloak of the Bat- Advantage on stealth checks, a fly speed in dim light and darkness, and the ability to polymorph into a bat while retaining your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma once a day. This is pretty great. If you can cast darkness on yourself you have a poor man’s fly spell. Also, you can now start becoming the hero that the realms need. [Rare]
Mantle of Spell Resistance- This has the potential to stop a lot of damage. Always make Dex throws. Resist dominating Wis save effects. [Rare]
Robe of Eyes- If you want to look like a strange Dali painting and have a great field of vision this is for you. Just make sure nobody you face can cast light or daylight. [Rare]
Robe of Scintillating Colors- Making yourself hard to hit with a multi stun effect is hard to beat, until you consider the fact that your allies will be stunned as well. If you’re in a place where your allies can’t see you, or are more than thirty feet away when you activate it this robe can be very good. [Very Rare]
Robe of Stars- Tactical retreats, magic missiles, and a bonus to saving throws. This is great for the adventurer who needs to make well timed trips to the astral sea a lot, and for everyone else, it's decent. [Very Rare]
Robe of the Archmagi- A bump to spell save DCs, advantage saves against magic, and a better AC. Finally you don’t have to waste a spell slot on mage armor. [Legendary]
Wings of Flying- An hour of 60 ft fly speed is good and the refractory period isn’t too long, but there is the issue of plummeting back to the ground at the end of an hour which holds this item back a bit. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Capes, Cloaks, and Robes
[sblock]Cape of Mountebank- This is an awesome item. For an action, a free teleport once a day. It also lightly obscures wherever you are teleporting to. Great for those times you are surrounded and can’t move. Everyone wants one. Also, depending on your DM you may be
allowed to wear more than one cloak. [Rare]
Cloak of the Manta Ray- This is similar to the Cap of Water Breathing, but better since it gives you a swim speed. No attunement. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Headbands for the Brilliant, Helmets for the Brave: The Headwear to Wear
Attunement Items
Hats, Helms, Goggles, and Glasses
[sblock]Eyes of Charming- Charmed is a powerful condition to impose, but you have to waste valuable attunement slot and it scales poorly (DC 13). Weak.
At lower levels its not so bad, But as you get more powerful, sell it. [Uncommon]
Eyes of the Eagle- Perceptions checks are really important, but having to keep this item attuned is a drag. [Uncommon]
Hat of Disguise- I’ve always thought this was a cool item in any edition. Great for social interactions. It’s a little worse, since you have to keep it attuned. Really depends on your campaign how broken it is. [Uncommon]
Headband of Intellect- A 19 intelligence can help anyone become a more knowledgeable investigator, but wizards will only want this for a handful of levels. For eldritch knights and arcane tricksters this becomes even better. [Uncommon]
Helm of Telepathy- I know how much you wanted to be Charles Xavier, but this isn’t the way. First, the helm has a pretty low spell save DC and it requires an action to those cast spells. Second, in order use suggestion, your enemy has to fail two spell saves instead of one. Third, you gotta keep this helm attuned. Frankly, there are better head slot items out there. [Uncommon]
Helm of Teleportation- Tactical teleportation when you need it. You can also use it to teleport a troublesome item away. [Rare]
The Dragon Masks (Black, Blue, Green, Red, White)- This is a fantastic item. It gives you: resistance/immunity, improved breath weapon, darkvision, underwater breathing, an AC bump, the ability to speak draconic, and an autosuccess on any saving throw once per day! If you’re some sort of charisma-based, dragonborn, barbarian/monk, consider this gold. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Hats, Helms, Goggles, and Glasses
[sblock]Cap of Water Breathing- If you plan on taking a swim, bring this with you. No real drawback, unless you already have a helm on, in which case you must take the time to doff the helmet. But if you are interested in non-attunement swimming items, you should be looking at the Cloak of the Manta Ray. [Uncommon]
Circlet of Blasting- Basically you get to cast scorching ray once per day for free. I'm almost inclined to rate it sky blue since it doesn’t require attunement. However, that depends on if your DM rules you can wear more than one head slot item (DMG pg.141). [Uncommon]
Eyes of Minute Seeing- Free advantage on investigation checks. Just remember to take your glasses off before you get into a brawl. [Uncommon]
Goggles of Night- Darkvision is nice to have, considering that the world is dark and full of dangers, it's nice to be able to see them coming. This is mostly for the races without darkvision, but an extra 60 feet of vision isn't bad for everyone else. [Uncommon]
Helm of Comprehending Languages- DM: “What languages do you know?”
You: *chuckles* “All of them.” [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Talismans of the Ancients: Amulets and Necklaces
Attunement Items
Amulets and Necklaces
[sblock]Amulet of Health-This item is phenomenal! Every character wants this. Constitution is such a vital stat. It will raise your max hit points and improve your con saving throws. If you get this item never take it off. [Rare]
Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location- If being detected by divination magic is your biggest problem you’ve got some interesting challenges. Hopefully your DM will allow this to keep you off the radar. [Uncommon]
Amulet of the Planes- This item is not horrible, but you certainly have better things to do with valuable attunement slots (see above). With that being said, I don’t see any reason a character can’t keep it in their back pocket, just be able to cast plane shift out of combat. Just roll a 61 or higher. Also, it is important to note that you still must pay the component costs for casting plane shift. Moreover, there is a gold component cost which you cannot use your focus to pay for. [Very Rare]
Medallion of Thoughts- A worse version of the Helm of Telepathy. Pass. [Uncommon]
Necklace of Adaptation- Very narrow item that you have to keep attuned. Eh. [Uncommon]
Periapt of Wound Closure- There are some spots where this can be useful, and they mostly coincide with a potion of vitality. Short of a combination of items this won’t be great, and it eats an attunement slot. [Uncommon]
Talisman of the Sphere- Having better control over a sphere of annihilation is nice, but finding one might be a bit tough. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Amulets and Necklaces
[sblock]Periapt Of Health- Now you can enjoy dockside bars with impunity. Just make sure you keep this on if you’ve made some questionable decisions earlier in your adventuring career. [Uncommon]
Periapt of Proof Against Poison- Immunity to poisonous effects, the poisoned condition, and poison damage is a pretty nice combination. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Bands of Platinum and Wishes: Rings of Legend
Attunement Items
Rings
[sblock]Ring of Djinni Summoning- Djinn are pretty strong, and this allows you to summon one without any risk of it turning on you. Just don’t let it die, or you’ll only have a nice piece of jewelry. [Legendary]
Ring of Elemental Command- If you spend a lot of time on the elemental planes the variations of this ring are very nice to have, if not, it can be a bit lackluster. [Legendary]
Ring of Evasion- Being able to auto save dexterity saves is nice, but it is limited to a few uses per day. The original version was amazing, but this toned down version is still a handy item to have, and gets better if you have the evasion class ability. [Rare]
Ring of Feather Falling- If you ever find yourself on an airship or a flying castle this will let you make a very impressive exit, but the rest of your party may be up a creek without a paddle. Hopefully you can grapple them all and become the party parachute. [Rare]
Ring of Free Action- At first glance this seems pretty weak, but not being paralyzed or restrained is nice. Feel free to walk through webs and laugh at the surprised look on all eight eyes. [Rare]
Ring of Invisibility- Being invisible is nice, but the cloak is better since you can’t cast spells or attack with the ring and stay invisible. [Legendary]
Ring of Jumping- Now everyone can have the warlock evocation for jump. [Uncommon]
Ring of Mind Shielding- Finally a tinfoil hat you can wear without looking crazy, but it will only be as useful as the amount of Mindflayers you encounter. [Uncommon]
Ring of Protection- Increased defenses and saving throws is always nice when you're trying to prevent yourself from getting trounced by team monster, or the local authorities, depending on how you decide to interact with the townsfolk. [Rare]
Ring of Regeneration- Regeneration is awesome and this let’s you gain between 144 and 864 hit points in a 24 hour period. It even regrows body parts. [Very Rare]
Ring of Resistance- Damage resistance is good, but these are rare, require attunement, and only give you one damage type. [Rare]
Ring of Shooting Stars- Faerie fire is good, but the ball lightning and shooting star effects aren’t that great. [Very Rare]
Ring of Spell Storing- Five slots worth of stored spells is nice, and it can be refreshed whenever you want. [Rare]
Ring of Spell Turning- Advantage on only single target spells is decent, but being able to reflect spells on a natural 20 is pretty nice. [Legendary]
Ring of Telekinesis- Now moving treasure out of a vault is as easy as putting on your jewelry. [Very Rare]
Ring of the Ram- Great for when you want to push someone into something, and it can provide you with a distraction sometimes. [Very Rare]
Ring of Warmth- Enduring the elements is a nice effect, but wouldn't it be easier to just make a campfire? That being said, resistance on an uncommon item is nice. [Uncommon]
Ring of X-ray Vision- This may or may not irradiate whatever you’re looking at, but like some super people, lead is just too good to see through. [Rare]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Rings
[sblock]Ring of Animal Influence- How else are you going to keep a wise talking dog around on your adventures? [Rare]
Ring of Swimming- If you’re near a lot of water this could be nice, but how often are you going to be swimming laps around the rest of your party? [Uncommon]
Ring of Water Walking- For when you want to impress your friends or walk the plank with impunity. The real question is how often will this come up? [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Gloves of Swimming, Snaring, and Stealing: Gauntlets and Gloves
Attunement Items
Gloves, and Gauntlets
[sblock]Gauntlets of Ogre Power (DMG, LMoP)- Setting your strength to 19 is a strong effect, especially for casters that want to wade in the fray. This would be rated more highly if it weren't outclassed by several belts. [Uncommon]
Gloves of Missile Snaring- For ranged characters I guess these are ok, but overall there better gloves out there. [Uncommon]
Gloves of Swimming and Climbing- These seem really narrow and don’t have much combat utility. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Gloves, and Gauntlets
[sblock]Gloves of Thievery- If you’re a rogue you really want these. And even if you arent, you can still probability make use of them. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Cinctures of Strength: How to keep your pants up like a dwarf
Attunement Items
Belts
[sblock]Belt of Dwarvenkind- Definitely a solid item. And who doesn't want a badass beard? The con bump alone is great, but it also gives you darkvision, resistance to poison, and another language. Pity it requires attunement. [Rare]
Belt of Giant Strength- First off, if your strength score is already 21 or higher, you are either doing something very wrong, or very right. Secondly, WOW! This item is nuts. if you are a strength based character, you dream about this item every night. And even if you aren’t, you still kind of want it. Regardless of which type you find, it’s amazing. Use it. Love it. Never take it off. [Rare, Very Rare, Very Rare, Legendary, Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Belts
[sblock]none yet.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Footwear for Springing and Striding: Boots of the Rugged
Attunement Items
Boots
[sblock]Boots of Levitation- I like flying at-will. Keep in mind that levitate does have component costs, so bring a focus if you use them. Requires attunement. [Rare]
Boots of Speed- These don’t blow my skirt up. Requires attunement and rare. They do force enemies disadvantage on opportunity attacks and they double your speed, which is nice. Altogether though, I think there are better feet slot items. [Rare]
Boots of
Striding and Springing- These aren’t awful. If you are a small creature you might want to look at these. No encumbrance is nice, as is the jumping boost. [Uncommon]
Boots of the Winterland- Somewhat campaign dependant, but resistance is always nice.They could be amazing or they could be decent. [Uncommon]
Slippers of Spider Climbing- If you're a thief, or want to recreate spiderpig-like skills, these are for you, just watch out for slick surfaces. [Uncommon]
Winged Boots- A fly speed from an uncommon item is tempting, and when there’s a built in feather fall effect it becomes downright great. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Boots
[sblock]Boots of Elvenkind- Non-attunement boots that give you advantage on stealth checks. Everyone wants these. [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Attunement Items
Miscellaneous Wonderous Items
[sblock]Brooch of Shielding- This is very narrow and there are better uses for your attunement slots. [Uncommon]
Candle of Invocation- This is a really hard item to rate. Depending on the circumstances it could be
amazing or awful. Therefore, I’m simply gonna list some pros and cons for consideration.
Pros
Proper alignment allows advantage on attack rolls, saving throws and ability checks, Druids and Clerics get to cast spells for without expending spell slots, gate is a very powerful spell, it provides a light source
Cons
Not everyone in the party may be the correct alignment, it requires an action to light, you may find the wrong type of candle, you must pay the component costs for Gate, the DM has a lot of fiat over how effective your gate spell functions, takes 4 hours to burn down
[Very Rare]
Crystal Ball- This item comes in 3 types, all of which do different utility based things: read minds, communicate telepathically or spy on people. Seems ok. Attunement makes it a little more unwieldy. [Very Rare or Legendary]
Cube of Force- Basically a portable barrier generator. The barrier is centered on you, moves with you, and lasts for 1 minute. It also takes an action to activate each face. 2-5 actions is a huge investment in a fight. If your DM lets you press the faces before the fight breaks out, it moves up to blue, otherwise its red. [Rare]
Gem of Seeing- Invisible creatures giving you a hard time? Shapeshifters constantly messing with you? Want to automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them? Or maybe you just want to see into the Ethereal Plane? Well look no further (pun intended). [Rare]
Ioun Stone (Absorption, Agility,
Awareness, Fortitude, Greater
Absorption,
Insight, Intellect, Leadership,
Mastery, Protection,
Regeneration, Reserve, Strength, Sustenance)- Absorption-
Free counterspells are pretty powerful. The only things holding this item back are that it uses your reaction to counter the spell and that the spell must target only you. Also it gets a little worse at higher levels. [Very Rare]
Agility- Dexterity bumps are hard to come by. Rogues would kill for this (pun intended). [Very Rare]
Awareness- I always hated getting surprised. Out of all the stones, this is one of the worst. [Rare]
Fortitude- Yes I would like more hit points and better con saves. [Very Rare]
Greater Absorption- The absorptions stone’s bigger, stronger brother. Wouldn’t want to run into this guy on the playground. A little better since it hits spells of almost every level. [Legendary]
Insight- Clerics pray the the goddess Ioun for this. [Very Rare]
Intellect- Wizards your research is done, you’ve found the droids you're looking for. [Very Rare]
Leadership- Warlocks would sell their soul for this. And honestly, so would Paladins and Bards. [Very Rare]
Mastery- Do you like to hit more consistently? Or maybe you like to do more damage? Or maybe you’re a skill monkey? Whatever the case, you want this item. [Legendary]
Protection- Not exactly as good as the Ring of Protection, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. [Rare]
Regeneration- “What are hit dice? I just use this floating stone here.” But seriously, this has the potential to regain 360 hit points per day. You don't even need to rest. Just walk around and heal for free. [Legendary]
Reserve- For the layperson you can store 3 first level spells, 1 second level spell, or 1 third level spell. Other spellcasters can store their spells in the stone for you to use, but you must have a free spell slot of the equivalent level for you to cast that spell. So load it up with extra castings of shield. [Rare]
Strength- This would also be rated more highly if not for certain belts. But its still good. [Very Rare]
Sustenance- This IS the worst of the Ioun stones. I've never played in a campaign where the DM worries about your character’s meal plan. [Rare]
Pearl of Power- Extra spells each day are very useful, and having the ability to choose which one you get is great. One use a day and attunement hold this item back a bit though. [Uncommon]
Stone of Good Luck (Luckstone)- Bonuses to saving throws and ability checks is always nice, and you don’t even have to hold it. [Uncommon]
Tome of the Stilled Tongue- Free slotless spellcasting is good, and spells as bonus actions is even better. You can also erase all your spells, if you feel like being secretive. The only downside, if you can call it that, is Vecna spying on you and leaving you messages. Isn’t Vecna always spying on important adventurers? If you use a spellbook it doesn’t get much better than this. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Miscellaneous Wonderous Items
[sblock]Alchemy Jug- This is a strange utility based item. It doesn’t require attunement which is great, however, it is somewhat unwieldy. This can be used in combat. It can be used to make acid or poison, but this seems to have limited utility. You’ll need something to put the acid in if your gonna throw it (used potion of healing vials ahem). And if you want to poison your weapon/ammo it takes an action to apply poison (do it before the fight). As a side note, this is also, the first time in D&D history that mayonnaise has been officially printed. Finally, characters can enjoy sandwiches. [Uncommon]
Apparatus of Kwalsh- Congratulations, you just found a tank. And a swimming tank no less. Just bring along some allies to help you pilot it. [Legendary]
Bag of Devouring- Don’t ever put your stuff in this bag. ITS A TRAP! With that being said, you may be able to use this in combat to capture enemies. [Very Rare]
Bag of Holding- Now this is the bag you want. Mandatory if you plan of carrying alot of loot. Just don’t put a bag of holding inside a bag of holding. Or do, and watch insanity ensue. [Uncommon]
Bag of
Tricks- Definitely, a neat item and slotless! It comes in three flavors: Grey, Rust, and Tan. Each one better than the last. It takes an action to pull out a creature and throw it (but you did that before combat right?) and a bonus action to tell the creature what to do. Alternatively, you could just throw one adjacent to an enemy and watch them get mauled, letting the animal do its thing, without using a bonus action. I’m all about having three tigers attack my enemy. Or if you need a mount, just reach into your pocket and roll the dice. [Uncommon]
Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals- A solid pickup. Nothing wrong with CR 4 monsters beating up baddies once per day. No attunement! [Rare]
Brazier of Commanding Fire Elements- If you are cool with carrying around a brazier everywhere you go, you have a solid item. Weighs about the same as the Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals and is functionally the same item. [Rare]
Broom of Flying- This a great item. As long as you don’t mind looking silly riding a broom, it provides permanent flying with no drawbacks. [Uncommon]
Carpet of Flying- This item is very similar to the broom of flying (but much more badass IMO). It comes in 4 sizes. The smaller the size, the faster it can fly, but the less weight it can carry. No attunement! [Very Rare]
Censer of Controlling Air Elementals- Really!? Another way to cast conjure elemental spell? Someone at WOC really wanted ensure people would conjure elementals. See Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals. [Rare]
Cubic Gate- Definitely a strong item. You can use it cast gate to jump around the multiverse or to plane shift enemies into hell. Still gotta pay the component costs. No attunement! [Legendary]
Daern’s Instant Fortress- A portable fortress that does damage and is immune to knock. Cool. [Rare]
Decanter of Endless Water- Never worry about being thirsty again. This item doesn’t really have any drawbacks (outside of organized play). That being said, I've never played in a game where the DM tracks how much water is in your waterskin. Also, for style points, consider flooding a dungeon or building an engine with your decanter of endless water:
www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?236190-Physics-help-Catgirl-Killers-needed-Decanter-of-Endless-Water-engines
[Uncommon]
Dimensional Shackles- Normally when fighting someone strong enough to teleport away, I just kill them, but thats me. However, I suppose there are those rare instances when prisoners need to be taken. [Rare]
Draakhorn (RoT)- If you want to alert every Dragon within two thousand miles, you've found your item, just hope you've got a couple other people who want to eliminate the element of surprise as well. [Unique]
Driftglobe- This only casts situational spells. But you can keep it in your pocket as a flashlight. [Uncommon]
Eversmoking Bottle- I could see rogues who are trying to hide making use of this. Unfortunately it takes an action to open, and usually the advantage you would gain will be negated from the disadvantage imposed by not being able to see your target. [Uncommon]
Figurine of Wondrous Power- (Bronze Griffon, Ebony Fly, Golden Lions, Ivory Goats, Marble Elephant, Obsidian Steed, Onyx Dog, Serpentine Owl, Silver Raven)
Some of these are more powerful than the others and some are better in combat, such as the Bronze Griffon or Ivory Goats. The fly as a mount is ok but its fragile. The lions are overrated. The owl has flyby and is a great option to grant you the help action in combat. The steed is very hearty but won't do anything other than defend itself. And the raven has limited utility as does the dog. [Rare, Rare, Rare, Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Rare, Rare, Uncommon]
Folding Boat- “A boats a boat, but a mystery box could be anything, even a boat. You know how much we’ve always wanted one of those”- Peter Griffin [Rare]
Heward’s Handy Haversack- Extra storage is always nice, and now you can finally sell your old backpack for the deluxe model. [Rare]
Horn of Blasting- This doesn't scale at all. But hey, can’t complain about freebies. Much better at lower levels. [Rare]
Horn of Valhalla (Silver, Brass,
Bronze, Iron)- Having more allies is always great. The more the merrier. Just remember to have your Fighter do the summoning. [Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Legendary]
Horseshoes of a Zephyr- What kind of Zephyr doesn’t fly? I feel cheated. I guess there is utility overall. But everything about this item seems vanilla. [Very Rare]
Horseshoes of Speed- Eh. These don’t get my rocks off. [Rare]
Iron Bands of Bilarro- Restraining a creature is awesome and it sets them up for the beating of their lifetime. However, as soon as any creature succeeds on a Strength check to break out, the item is destroyed. Thats right. Destroyed. So much for that rare wondrous item. I guess there is nothing wrong with having your rogue hold onto to these. And while he’s at it, see if he can clean off some of that rust. [Rare]
Iron Flask- This item depends on what, if anything, you find in the flask. If you don’t find a creature, the flask has limited utility. Generally, if you do get a creature, it will be powerful and a lot of help. It also, depends on how mean your DM is. Just keep in mind that the creature only obeys you for 1 hour. After that, you’re probably gonna have to fight it. Good luck! [Legendary]
Lantern of Revealing- Good for finding filthy little hobbitses who are trying to steal our precious. [Uncommon]
Manual of Bodily Health- Extra hit points and better con saves are great. All you have to do is some reading, probably on ways to lower your cholesterol. [Very Rare]
Manual of Gainful Exercise- Before there were bodybuilding forums there was the manual of bodily health. Who wouldn't want to be stronger? [Very Rare]
Manual of Quickness of Action- Being quicker and more flexible is just a few chapters away. You can read while stretching, right? [Very Rare]
Mirror of Life Trapping- This is a lair item which doesn’t work in combat, since it has to be on a vertical surface to activate it. Note to self, be wary of mirrors. [Very Rare]
Portable Hole- When you want to bring all the loot, but don’t want to worry about the weight this is what you want to have in your back pocket. [Rare]
Quiver of Ehlonna- If you’re not strong enough to carry a ton of items in your regular pack this may be right up your alley. Make sure you have plenty of items in all three holes. [Uncommon]
Rope of Climbing- This is what you get for Christmas when Santa is out of coal. [Uncommon]
Rope of Entanglement- Oh, look...some rope. [Rare]
Saddle of the Cavalier- For the adventurer who can't afford to fall off a mount and doesn't want to invest in mounted combat, especially those flying mounts. [Uncommon]
Sending Stones- Walkie-talkies had to start somewhere, but I'd rather not be there for the early stages of development. [Uncommon]
Sphere of Annihilation- Hopefully you're the smartest guy in the room, or there may be some issues in your near future. This may be tough to take with you as well, considering that it doesn't play nice with portable hole. [Legendary]
Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals- Earth elementals are good summoned creatures and you only have to touch the ground to summon one. [Rare]
Tome of Clear Thought- So reading books can increase your Intelligence. Libraries are relevant again. [Very Rare]
Tome of Leadership and Influence- Who doesn’t like a permanent bonus to their charisma that can increase their maximum score? Elves may get a couple uses out of it. [Very Rare]
Tome of Understanding- Wisdom increases are hard to come by, and this is a permanent boost that increases your maximum score. It may take a while to read, but it’s worth the wait. While you’re waiting, if you have a hundred years to spare, you can use it again. Nice. [Very Rare]
Well of Many Worlds- Instant travel is always nice, but it is very dm dependent. Use with compliments, perhaps bribes. [Legendary]
Wind Fan- A risk free casting of gust of wind every day is nice, and it doesn’t require attunement, but how many fog clouds do you really need to disperse? [Uncommon]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Magical Scrolls and Brews: Consumable items
Attunement Items
Consumable Items
[sblock]Helm of Brilliance- Fantastic item. You get more fireballs, a slew of other spells, and it makes your weapon more powerful. Sadly, the helm is consumable. But playing with the same item your entire career would be boring right? [Very Rare]
Necklace of Prayer Beads- Overall, unimpressive. You can get: planar ally, branding smite, bless, cure wounds, lesser restoration, greater restoration, and windwalk. This would be a lot better if it didn’t require attunement. But all considered, the spells just aren’t powerful enough to warrant an attunement slot. This becomes worse if your DM is a dick, since he controls how many, and what type of beads you get. [Rare]
Scarab of Protection- Autosaves are nice, and advantage on spell saves is a pretty good backup. Only having autosaves against undead and necromancy is a bit limiting, but it could be amazing in the right campaign. [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Consumable Items
[sblock]Ammunition, +1, +2, or +3- These are awesome if you can get your hands on them. No reason not to have them. However, they’re not gold because as magic items, they’re not easily accessible. Sadly, once you use them they are not magical anymore. [Uncommon, Rare, or Very Rare]
Arrow of Slaying- For those monsters that absolutely, positively, need to die, look no further. Sadly, since its very rare, you will probably never see one. But if you do, and you find yourself fighting the BBG, whip this out of your quiver to ruin his day. [Very Rare]
Bag of Beans- This is really an item for the DM to create plot hooks. Characters who like to survive should avoid using this item. Let the DM think of ways to kill you without your help. [Rare]
Bead of Force- Great item, to bad it’s rare. If you need to take some enemies out of the fight, just throw one of these bad boys. Slotless! [Rare]
Chime of Opening- This item is for parties who can’t cast knock. It does pretty much the same thing, except it can only be used 10 times. [Rare]
Deck of Illusions- I just don't see a use for this item when there are magical ways to actually summon creatures, not just illusions. You can only throw it 30 ft and it takes an action to use. Pass. [Uncommon]
Deck of Many Things- Nope. Not gonna comment on the Deck of Many Things. There’s just too many things. [Legendary]
Dust of Disappearance- Sadly, you lose invisibility as soon as you attack or cast a spell, and its consumable. Its not great in combat, but for skill checks this could be useful. [Uncommon]
Dust of Dryness- Honestly, besides fighting water elementals, I can't think of a use for this item. [Uncommon]
Dust of Sneezing and Choking- This item is for DM’s who like to mess with their players. At first a PC thinks this item is Dust of Disappearance, but as soon as they employ it, they become incapacitated. Unfortunately, there is not real way to figure out what the powder is.
But if a crafty PC somehow could...
[Uncommon]
Efreeti Bottle- It takes an action to open the bottle, but you have a 90 percent chance of having a strong effect. I think the possibility of getting three free wishes, at a level when you normally wouldn’t have access to it, makes this item powerful. [Very Rare]
Elemental Gem- I’m getting sick of rating ways to use the conjure elemental spell. This one is pretty much identical, aside from it’s consumable nature. [Uncommon]
Elixir of Health- Not bad, similar to the effects of the lesser restoration spell. [Rare]
Gem of Brightness- You can leave those torches at home for a while. Blinded is a good condition to impose and a DC 15 is nothing to scoff at. But then again, its probably just better to kill the creature instead. [Uncommon]
Keoghtom’s Ointment- This is a better potion of healing, but it does count against your magic item total until you use it up. [Uncommon]
Manual of Golems- And my mom always said I couldn’t make friends locked away in my room. This would be a lot better if you could use it to make more than one golem, but as it stands, the book is destroyed as soon as you make one. Also, the DM chooses which golem type you get to make. [Very Rare]
Necklace of Fireballs- Free castings of fireball. No attunement. I’m not seeing a drawback. [Rare]
Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments- Not a lot of combat utility here. I guess if you had 10 minutes to set up a trap, you could paint a pit or something. [Very Rare]
Oil of Etherealness- Walking right into a vault or the lair of a powerful enemy undetected is stylish and powerful considering you can pre-buff yourself. [Rare]
Oil of Sharpness- As far as temporary buffs go this is one of the best. Hopefully you find a warehouse full of these. [Very Rare]
Oil of Slipperiness- If your character is a greco-roman wrestler you’ve found your ideal oil. Grease yourself up and get ready to go to town, for more oil. [Uncommon]
Philter of Love- Charming is a nice effect, and who wouldn’t want to live like some amorous french skunk. [Uncommon]
Potion of Animal Friendship- If you’re in a forest, jungle, or a zoo, this can be great. Raising a squirrel army never seemed so attainable. [Uncommon]
Potion of Clairvoyance- Never walk into an ambush again, once. Hopefully you find a jug of this. [Rare]
Potion of Climbing- Now you can scale tall buildings at a very reasonable pace, and impress all your friends with your rock climbing prowess. [Common]
Potion of Diminution- Make sure you replace the label on this to say enlarge, or just hide your pocket sized gnome wizard in your backpack. [Rare]
Potion of Fire Breath- This may be what happens when you eat ghost peppers. It’s not a lot of damage, but it is a bonus action for a few good tries. [Uncommon]
Potion of Flying- Fly is a great spell to have in your back pocket when you need it, just remember to take the potion out of your back pocket before sitting down. [Very Rare]
Potion of Gaseous Form- If you want to sneak in through the vents this can be good, just make sure there isn’t a strong breeze blowing. [Very Rare]
Potion of Giant Strength (Hill Giant, Frost/stone Giant, Fire Giant, Cloud Giant, Storm Giant)- These remind me of gummi berry juice from the Gummi Bears cartoon. If that show taught me anything it’s that superhuman strength is great, but you don't want to be holding a boulder over your head when the effects wear off. [Uncommon, Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Legendary]
Potion of Growth- This gets better if you mainly try to grapple your enemies, or if you are small and would like to make a mount of your owl. [Uncommon]
Potion of Healing (Healing, Greater Healing, Superior Healing, Supreme Healing)- Healing in a vial is always nice to have around when your healing kits run dry and your spell slots dry up. [Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare]
Potion of Heroism- Concentration free bless and 10 temporary hit points is a helpful combination. If the hit points weren’t extremely temporary it would be a bit better. [Rare]
Potion of Invisibility- For when you need to sneak or make a subtle retreat this is pretty sweet. [Very Rare]
Potion of Invulnerability- Resistance to all damage is hard to come by. It’s too bad this only gives you a minute of protection. [Rare]
Potion of Longevity- This is what people in power have been chasing for since the dawn of time. Find a way to barter with this, or just use it to really sell your false identity. [Very Rare]
Potion of Mind Reading- DC 13 is not very high, but detect thoughts can be very useful in the right situations. [Rare]
Potion of Poison- If you can get your enemies to drink it, this is quite handy. If you have a particularly tricky DM you may want to check your potion supply. [Uncommon]
Potion of Resistance- Resistance is always nice, and if you find a potion that grants it you may need it soon. [Uncommon]
Potion of Speed- Haste is great, and concentration free haste is even better. This is what energy drinks want to be. [Very Rare]
Potion of Vitality- The usefulness of this will be very dependent on your campaign, but it can be invaluable if you’re in a pinch for time and trying to push your character to the limit. [Very Rare]
Potion of Water Breathing- This can be useful in a pinch, but it's entirely dependent on how often your DM has you in the water. [Uncommon]
Quaal’s Feather Token- These tokens can be interesting, but none of the effects are particularly strong. [Rare]
Ring of Three Wishes- The only issue is if your DM will let you wish for more wishes. [Legendary]
Robe of Useful Items- The homeless vagrant's dream coat. You may be better off just buying the items rather than modifying your patchwork cloak. [Uncommon]
Scroll of Protection- Protecting yourself from an entire type of enemy is nice, but a DC 15 charisma check may be easy to overcome depending on the monster. If you have hex on a creature, or another way to increase the chances of maintaining your protection this gets better.
[Rare]
Sovereign Glue- If you've ever had to go to the emergency room because you glued yourself to something you should have a good idea about the kinds of fun you can have with this. [Legendary]
Spell Scroll (varies)- These are as useful as the spell on them and your character makes them. Wizards might like them a bit more, but they may end up with a pile of useless paper if their arcana check goes poorly. [Common, Common, Uncommon, Uncommon, Rare, Rare, Very Rare, Very Rare, Very Rare, Legendary]
Universal Solvent- For when you get into a sticky situation. How often does that happen to you anyway? [Legendary]
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Souls of the Ageless: Sentient weapons
Attunement Items
Sentient Items
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
Hazirawn (HotDQ)- Even if you aren’t attuned you get the +1, which is great for just about anyone. But if you are able to attune it, you get another d6 of damage dice and it becomes a +2 weapon. Not to mention free spells and the wounding property. Mandatory for evil great weapon masters. [Legendary]
*As a side note about Hazirawn, I think there is a typo in the item description. It says:
“Even if you aren’t attuned to the sword, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls made with this weapon. If you are attuned to Hazirawn, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage when you hit with the weapon.”
Then it goes on the discuss the increased potency of having it attuned. Specifically:
“ While you are attuned to this weapon, its bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls increases to +2, and a hit deals an extra 2d6 necrotic damage (instead of 1d6).”
To me, this implies that WOC intended to have Hazirawn deal the extra 1d6 even while un- attuned.
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Sentient Items
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Weapons Long-forgotten: Artifacts
Attunement Items
Artifacts
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Artifacts
[sblock]There are no items here that are less than sky blue or gold.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Gifts from the Gods: Boons
Attunement Items
Boons
[sblock]None. Yet...
[/sblock]
Non Attunement Items
Boons
[sblock]Boon of Combat Prowess- This is very solid, turn a miss into an auto hit. This combos nicely with the contagion spell. But realistically, you want to hit every time.
Boon of Dimensional Travel- Free misty steps are nice, but honestly, at this level, second level spell slots are easily expendable. Really, if I’m getting a boon, I’d expect a little more bang for my buck.
Boon of Fate- Not only does this stack with advantage and the lucky feat, but it also recharges on a short rest. Not to mention, this helps with both your saving throws and hinders enemies saving throws.
Boon of Fortitude- hard to argue with 40 more hit points.
Boon of High Magic-
More wishes per day? Yes. Just yes.
Boon of Immortality- Dying from old age is the least of an adventurer’s concerns.
Boon of Invincibility- About to die? Not anymore. Try killing me again after I take a short rest. Oh wait…
Boon of Irresistible Offense- No longer will damage for fireball be resisted. This is also works well for underwater combat.
Boon of Luck- This is essentially the warlock 6 class feature Dark One’s Own Luck, except this lets you add to attack rolls as well.
Boon of Magic Resistance- A souped-up Mantle of Spell Resistance sans attunement that protects you from dragon breath attacks. Sign me up.
Boon of Peerless Aim- As before, works well the the contagion spell. Just don’t go shooting an apples off of peoples’ heads.
Boon of Perfect Health- This can protect adventurers from whatever diseases they may catch by hanging out in so many seedy bars. Poison immunity and advantage on Con saves is nice as well.
Boon of Planar Travel- You can’t even bring your party. It’s no fun traveling alone. I guess this would be a hilarious FU for when that god-fight gets a little too hairy-- “Peace guys. I’m gonna go get a beer. Good luck.” It’s also important to note that it’s a one way ticket. So you better teleport to a hospitable place where its easy to get a short rest.
Boon of Quick Casting- This would be better if it negated the limitation on casting more than one spell per turn. But it does not. Still though, you get to attack and cast a good spell as a bonus action *ahem bless*
Boon of Recovery-
A solid in-combat heal. This reminds me of the Epic destiny death save features from 4e.
Boon of Resilience- Considering the majority of damage is from bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing, this boon is awesome. Barbarians should start weeping in shame, as this is better than their core class feature.
Boon of Skill Proficiency- This boon is for all the skill monkeys out there. Looking at you bards…
Boon of Speed- As the legendary, fictional, professional, race car driver, Ricky Bobby, Once said-- “I wanna go fast.” Amen brother. Not quite the mobility feat and not quite the rogue’s cunning action feature, this boon provides awesome movement coupled with the disengage option.
Boon of Spell Mastery- You know all those spell slots you had to burn on shield? Well not anymore.
Boon of Spell Recall- This is pretty great. How many times have you needed to cast a spell, but didn’t have prepared? And it doesn't require a spell slot to boot.
Boon of Fire Soul- Fire resistance is fine, but again, i’d rather be able to cast more wishes instead of burning hands. At this level, with a DC 15 save, burning hands
is hot garbage.
Boon of the Night Spirit- All things considered, I’d prefer Greater Invisibility. But hey beggars can’t be choosers. Fortunately there is no time limit on the invisibility, so it’s not bad out of combat.
Boon of the Stormborn-
Similar to the boon of the fire soul. But marginally better, since it grants two resistances, and thunderwave is a slightly better spell. I’m assuming that since the save is DC 15, and it says at-will, you must cast thuderwave as a level one spell and thus, you can’t upcast it. Which makes the boon a little worse. Also, keep in mind that thunderwave is LOUD, so don’t spam it when you are trying to sneak around.
Boon of the Unfettered-
maybe it’s just me, but I don’t get grappled that often. Not bad for RPing, when you get captured.
Boon of Truesight- Truesight is the best vision option available.
Boon of Undetectability- As if stealthy characters didn’t have enough ways to become undetectable at this level. However, most villains have truesight, so stealth and invisibility doesn’t do much. Being hidden from scrying sounds nice, but it only protects you. So unless the whole party has this boon, anyone who wants to find you could just look for your compadres.
[/sblock]
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Reserved
Originally posted by Yunru:
goldenrod and deepskyblue are better values.Rod of the Pact Keeper and Wand of the War Mage stack.
Flood dungeons with a Decanter of Endless Water.
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Good call. I updated the guide.
Originally posted by IxidorRS:
Armor of Resistance as red and Plate Armor of Lightning Resistance as black seems contradictory. Aren't they really the same item with one set to only one type for the theme of the campaign?
Originally posted by IxidorRS:
I'd also like to thank you for writing this guide. I've linked to your guide in my Conjuration guide and instead of me rating all the items, I've just discussed there what is most important to that playstyle.
Originally posted by Yunru:
Bag of Devowering is better if you've access to Polymorph. Hello Dragon, hello Frog. Bag, meet Frog. Frog, Bag.
Originally posted by HermanTheWize:
What would you rate a +1 weapon f you had to attune to it?
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Good catch. I'll fix the inconsistency.
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
Good catch. I'll fix the inconsistency.
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
That does seem pretty powerful, but their legendary resistance may negate that strategy.
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
It would depend on what other effects and abilities the weapon had, but if it was just a vanilla +1 weapon that required attunement I'd rate it as a trap option in red.
Originally posted by FallingIcicle:
LOL! I am totally stealing this.
Originally posted by MasterNamer:
It wouldn't kill the dragon, but it should send it to the Astral Plane, which is still pretty good.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Some Weapon notes:
Attuned Weapons:
Dancing Sword - Sky Blue because there are a number of classes that don't get bonus action attacks and it is functionally a ranged bonus action attack. i.e. Barbarians and Fighters.
Dwarven Thrower - cool item, but requiring one to be a Dwarf makes it purple for most
Flame Tongue - +7 damage on average to everything should be higher.
Mace of Disruption - +7 damage to some very specific opponents, limited weapon choice, should be lower
Mace of Terror - don't think of it as a weapon. Think about it as an item that potentially makes all enemies in a 30' radius both lose their turns and provoke reactions up to 3 times in a day...
Sun Blade - feels more dark blue to me. The always on light source when weapon is activated can cause some action economy issues. And a glowing finesse weapon...
Sword of Answering - I'd ding it down to dark blue given the lack of feats for longswords.
Sword of Life Stealing - I'd give it purple. Someone who swings consistently with Advantage and/or has lots of attacks might be able to use it.
Sword of Sharpness - I'd give it purple. Functionally, 95% of the time, it is roughly the same as a Sword of Life Stealing - slightly more damage, but no temps.
Sword of Vengeance - Red. Not worth the trouble.
Sword of Wounding - Purple. Maybe Red. +2.5 damage later roughly equals +2 damage now and that's ignoring the +2 weapon's no need for attunement or that it gives a +2 to hit.
Vorpal Sword - I'd argue this is gold. A fighter with 3 attacks and advantage has a 26% chance of lopping off a target's head each round...
Weapon of Warning - wouldn't necessarily consider this a weapon. Every party should have one, though.
Non-attuned Weapons:
Dragon Slayer - would almost never take this over a +2 weapon. Should be purple ala am I playing Dragonlance
Giant Slayer - ditto. Am I going through the G series?
Hammer of Thunderbolts - adding +4 Str in effect makes it a +3 weapon that adds +2 to str checks. Also, you don't need to attune the gauntlets, just be wearing them. It isn't great, but not red. I'd call it black - probably want the +3 weapon instead, but the +4 Strength on top of a lesser Belt of Giant Strength in combo with the ranged stunning makes it interesting.
Mace of Smiting - I'd call it purple for roughly the same reasons as several others. Not needing to use a mace and having a +2 weapon is almost certainly a better rare option.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Some Implement Notes:
Rod of Lordly Might - basically a +3 weapon with a variety of options. I'd only call it Sky Blue.
Staff of Power - Gold. +2 to AC, spell attack rolls and saves when holding it in your off-hand?
Staff of the Adder - yuck - get to spend a bonus action to get a non-magical weapon that does some extra damage on a save? Seems more Purple.
Staff of the Magi - Gold. Adv on spell saves alone is worth a lot.
Wand of Secrets - automatic is good, especially if you're not good at perception checks...
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Some Armor/Shield/Bracers/Cloak/Robe Notes:
Psychic Armor of Resistance covers the Bear Barbarian weak spot - i.e. resist everything, non-magical or magical, when raging.
Efreeti Armor is Chainmail +3, which is functionally Platemail +1.
Animated Shield needs a bonus action, which creates action economy issues.
Shield of Missile Attraction works against your allies, too. Can really gum up the party's archer choice of targets.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Continuing(very good guide btw, I'm not in disagreement with many ratings)
Hats, Helms, Goggles:
I'd put Helm of Brilliance here rather than under consumables. No rational player uses up the last gems of each category.
Helm of Telepathy - I think this should be rated much higher. It has a lot of very strong non-combat uses based on Detect Thoughts being at-will. Gagged, captured enemies will eventually fail that DC13 saving throw - "Where did you hide your treasure...Who are your allies...Where are they? What are your plans...what does this complex look like..." A non-caster(such as a Rogue) can cast Detect Thoughts and communicate with an ally without talking. Note the combo - Rogue KOs a guard, brings him back to consciousness, and then repeatedly casts Detect Thoughts to get the location of all the guards, where treasure is hidden, etc...and the guard can't even yell for help.
Necklaces:
Necklace of Adaptation = breathing underwater, too. I'd rate it as black given that it is basically a cap of water breathing with some extras, but attunement.
Periapt of Wound Closure = double the benefit of hit dice.
Necklace of Prayer Beads. Not a consumable. Also, note that the spells are bonus action. Most people are typically going to get a bonus action bless spell out of the necklace. That's really good.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Continuing to Rings, Belts(no comments), Boots, Consumables...
Rings of Elemental Command. If you don't kill an elemental at some point, they're not that good. But...fly at will? Move through solid rock? Immune to fire damage? Plus spells on charges? Air Elemental Command in particular ought to be Sky Blue for the fly at-will+hover.
Ring of Animal Influence. I'd rate this as Purple. Needs an action/charge to speak with animals and that only lasts 10 minutes? And this somehow made it to Item Table G? Yuck.
Boots of Levitation - spells cast from items requires no components unless the item's description says otherwise as per DMG 141
Boots of Speed - there are some PCs for whom this is crazy good, such as Monks. Moving 90' in a round and stunning multiple targets.
Slippers of Spider Climbing - I'd give this a Dark Blue. There are a lot of times that melee PCs are going to want to climb a cliff or ranged PCs want to duck out of range of a melee enemy coming after them.
Brooch of Shielding is a resist item.
Candle of Invocation does not spend components when casting Gate
Cube of Force - I'd rate it Blue. There are a number of ways to use it to negate a creature's action if they're in the right location, or make things really difficult. Example - boss caster, you're a saving throw specialist, and you move up next to him and then click face 5. Or you're facing a melee enemy in a party of casters or a caster in a party of archers.
Tome of the Stilled Tongue. Bonus Action Wish. Sigh...
Broom/Carpet of Flying - you can be knocked off of them
Cubic Gate - no components
Driftglobe - found on charts other than F-I, so I'd rate it Black or Green.
Horn of Blasting - um, it blows up 20% of the time...
Iron Bands of Bilarro - Hexed creatures are at disadvantage to one ability check...
Iron Flask - at-will take an extraplanar creature out of a fight? Then make them fight for you in the next combat(s)? That's Sky Blue, especially if you can somehow capture a creature without knocking its hit points down, then repeatedly try to force them into the Flask. Especially at the point where you're likely to find such an item.
Rope of Climbing - on magic item table B. I'd call it green.
Rope of Entanglement - DC 15 at-will isn't that bad. Purple.
Sphere of Annihilation - I'd call it Green or Red. DC 13 Legendary item isn't going to result in a lot of things happening.
Scarab of Protection - wouldn't really call this a consumable.
Originally posted by Mommy_was_an_Orc:
Sentinent Items/Artifacts - I'd consider many of these unratable as conflict or the detrimental effects can really have some wacky effects for many PCs. Disadvantage on all spell saving throws? Vulnerability to all damage? Changing alignment?
Boons - I'd consider most of these unratable as well as they really only take effect at the end of a campaign.
Anyway, again, great job on the list. Thanks for doing this!
Originally posted by QwertyAzerty:
great work. ButI think you underestimate the spellcaster item.
But Robe of the Archmagi and staff of the Magi should be Gold.
together they offer +4 to your spell DC (this is insane)
together they give +4 to spell attack (also very powerfull)
advantage against all spell? thank you very much, defense against one of the few thing actually able to kill a well build/play mage at high level
Absorb thsoe spell to fuel that staff and cast more spell... Fireball being castable more often then your own cantrip? hell yes no question about it.
Same goes for the boon of high magic, a second spell levle 9, slot level 9 can be uses for wish, but it also can be uses for a scorching ray lvl 9 (average of 140 damage for fire dragon sorcerer and evocator wizard and 175 damage if they diped 1 warlock level for Hex? this is golden just because platinium is not an real rating
Skyblue on those item for a arcane caster (wizard, sorcerer, warlock) is an insult, it like calling the holy avenger a toothpick in front of a paladin
Pearl of Power do not require to argu with your DM that you can have more then one, they don't require attunement and give you extra spell level 3. Once you get the staff og Magi this become obsolete, but untill you get the staff, you should be collecting them, put them on a string and cast fireball like cantrips.
About Hazirawn, yes it's s typo and it have been confirm by Cawford ( I believe). Also has the weapon is written it's lacking a personallity and a goal, so it's not "sentient", but DM are welcom to create stats and goals for the sword making it sentient. and even non-evil greatsword master can use it very well. I talked with the sword during my first short rest and explained to it that if it didn't help me in my mission, it would become a dragon toothpick or even worse, collect rust in Tiamat treasure hoard. and if he decide to betray me, the Harper will be more then happy to lock the sword away and study it, or I'm sure a volcanic bath would help him msee the error of his way. So my CG caracter and Hazirawn workd in team to defeat Tiamat and we dealt around 300damage in a single round to that dragon.
Horn of blasting should be RED, no red is too good for that item, if we create the new platinium rating, maybe we shoudl create a new rating to illustrate how bad this item is.. Seriously, an item alerting the entire dungeon of your presence? and you have 1/5 chance (20%) that it will blow in your face. at low level this explosion might very well KILL you (not just unconsious but kill you by bringing you to negative max HP) Go get a necklace of fire ball if you want AoE damage on demand. This item does not even have the excuse of being cursed.
Then for Adventure League player, because of the rule saying the player with the least magical item get priority, and because you can never lose a permanent item (you can trade them, for item of the same rarity, but who will trade an leather armor +1 in exchange of a usefull item?), an leather armor +1 should be red (so does padded +2, splintmail+1 etc...), since a mundane armor (a padded armor +2 and a leather amor +1 offer the same bonus as a mundane studded armor)will offer the same AC but won't make it harder to get the interesting magical item that he will find. Yes I know rust monster can eat your full plate, but cannot eat a splintmail+1, but I never saw many rust monster up to now, so I am willing to risk a mundane armor to a monster that is rarely encounter, rather then loosing my chance to roll on a usefull item that I will encounter in the next few week for sure.
Then item that can break easily (like a horn of blasting) even after it explose keep counting against your permanent magic item count, making thsoe item even worse then in home games. the staff and wand, yes they can be broken and they will still count, but to break them it require the player to be willing to risk loosing it (it's hard to use that last charge unwillingly, and even if you do you only have 5% chance to break the item, compare to the horn where you get 20% every time you use it. But in AL, I consider staff to only hold 9 charge instead of 10 and wand to hold 6 instead of 7, making them still very usefull, compare to a horn of blasting which have 20% chacne to break on it's first use AND alert the entire dungeon, AND still count as a magical item even once broken. In Adventure League the Horn of Blasting is what I call a real trap AND a griefing item. A Player who want to grief his group can simply use that item at a bad time and force the DM to cause a TPK ( or the DM can fudge everything and remove any danger from the adventure, making the adventure loose it's challenge, loose the thrill of danger, since we now know we can do anything and we won'T have consequences.
Originally posted by FunkySpunk:
Awesome guide! Good work!
Originally posted by robsonline:
Can some explain why the Rod of the Pact Keeper and Wand of the War Mage stack? My DM will need an explanation and pages in the PHB or DMG that show it will stack, or I will not be able to use them. Also, will the Rod of the Pact Keeper stack with the staff of power? Thanks!
Originally posted by Tempest_Stormwind:
Your DM's rules are absolute, but here's a better question: Where, anywhere in 5e's rules, does it suggest that 2+2 does not equal 4?
In earlier editions, they had special stacking rules, such as bonus types and rules like "bonuses of the same type don't stack". All of this is absent in 5e - assuming you're able to wield or wear the items, they all stack.
In fact, to really sell it, the word "stack" is itself a relic of older ediitons. It appears exactly once in the Player's Basic Rules ("...and stack the deck...") and exactly once in the Dungeon Master's Basic Rules ("...stacks of empty crates..."). In this sense, there's no "stacking" at all in 5e!
In this case, you hold the rod in one hand and the wand in the other, and use either one of them (traditionally the rod) as a focus to replace any material/somatic components. If the spell has an attack roll (let's say Eldritch Blast), and you've got a +1 Rod and a +1 Wand, then the blast's attack roll increases by +1+1.... or +2.
Originally posted by HermanTheWize:
Would you rather have a displacer cloak or a claok of protection as a Half-Orc Barbarian.
Stats:
Str - 16
Dex - 14
Con - 16
Int - 8
Wis - 12
Cha - 8
