D&D 5E Preview 3: Rings

[Chimpy]

If you can't see the magic item you want to give out in the game you're DMing, just make it up, as long as it's not too powerful That's what I do. I flavour them for the monster that owns them, or for the place they are found in.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I really like those rings. Powerful and exciting, the sort of thing that you'd love to find at the bottom of a hoard. I'm really looking forward to the DMG, which should hopefully arrive just as I'm ready to start giving out the shinies to my players.

I'll also echo @SilverfireSage and say that I love that little part of the Shooting Stars ring. I'm keen to see weapons that can only be attuned in a fireplace or something, the sort of stuff that you can turn into a really memorable moment for the players.

 

[KarinsDad]

Has anybody else noticed the recharge rate on the ring of shooting stars. 1d6. Use your charges wisely, you may only get one charge tomorrow if you use all six today. I like that you have that as a recharge.

It's the same basic rule as many wands and staves.


It does bring up the interesting question for DMs whether to hide the recharge for a given day from the player or not. Technically, one should need to cast the Identify spell to know the number of charges, and part of the fun for a player would be in not knowing and taking a chance.

There is also an issue of keeping track of all of this. If there are 4 rings/wands/staves in the party that have charges, the DM will need to write this stuff down each time a charge is used. Alternatively, each player could use up "safe charges" and only tell the DM when they are using "unsafe charges". For example, the ring has 6 charges on day 1 and I use up 4 charges and have 2 left. On day 2, it now has anywhere from 3 to 6 charges since it recharges 1 to 6 and it is safe to use 3 charges. Once that is done, the DM does have to figure out how many charges are remaining.

So to make it easy, a DM might just let the players roll the recharge and know the number of charges at all times. Personally, I like the mystery of not knowing.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I predict martial classes with rings of spell storing that their caster buddies filled up on.

 

[KarinsDad]

I predict martial classes with rings of spell storing that their caster buddies filled up on.

After reading for six months here about how 5E no longer requires magic items and magic items should be handed out sparingly, etc. etc., etc., I suspect that very few martial PCs will actually ever get Rings of Spell Storing. The players might want them, but there might be 50 items in the DMG that players of martial PCs might want.

 

[Sacrosanct]

After reading for six months here about how 5E no longer requires magic items and magic items should be handed out sparingly, etc. etc., etc., I suspect that very few martial PCs will actually ever get Rings of Spell Storing. The players might want them, but there might be 50 items in the DMG that players of martial PCs might want.

FWIW, I agree with you. I certainly wouldn't be handing them out like candy.

That said, we do have a demographic of gamers who prefer the magic shop/christmas tree style of play. Nothing wrong with that of course; I just hope those same people don't start threads complaining how the barbarian is way overpowered because with a ring of spell storing with shield spells stored in make up the difference for things like reckless attack. (just an example off the top of my head; I'm sure someone can figure out a combination more game breaking than that).

 

[Paraxis]

I predict martial classes with rings of spell storing that their caster buddies filled up on.

That is nothing new, exactly how it was in 2e and 3e.

 

[stinkomandx]

That is nothing new, exactly how it was in 2e and 3e.

Yep--still great!

 

[ranger69]

It's the same basic rule as many wands and staves.


It does bring up the interesting question for DMs whether to hide the recharge for a given day from the player or not. Technically, one should need to cast the Identify spell to know the number of charges, and part of the fun for a player would be in not knowing and taking a chance.

There is also an issue of keeping track of all of this. If there are 4 rings/wands/staves in the party that have charges, the DM will need to write this stuff down each time a charge is used. Alternatively, each player could use up "safe charges" and only tell the DM when they are using "unsafe charges". For example, the ring has 6 charges on day 1 and I use up 4 charges and have 2 left. On day 2, it now has anywhere from 3 to 6 charges since it recharges 1 to 6 and it is safe to use 3 charges. Once that is done, the DM does have to figure out how many charges are remaining.

So to make it easy, a DM might just let the players roll the recharge and know the number of charges at all times. Personally, I like the mystery of not knowing.

With my player hat I think I would prefer to know how many charges I had left.
With my DM hat on, even with the extra paper work I would rather keep the players in the dark. Perhaps get on of those "clicker" toys for children. When they try to use an item that has run out of charges click it.

 

[Tormyr]

It's the same basic rule as many wands and staves.


It does bring up the interesting question for DMs whether to hide the recharge for a given day from the player or not. Technically, one should need to cast the Identify spell to know the number of charges, and part of the fun for a player would be in not knowing and taking a chance.

There is also an issue of keeping track of all of this. If there are 4 rings/wands/staves in the party that have charges, the DM will need to write this stuff down each time a charge is used. Alternatively, each player could use up "safe charges" and only tell the DM when they are using "unsafe charges". For example, the ring has 6 charges on day 1 and I use up 4 charges and have 2 left. On day 2, it now has anywhere from 3 to 6 charges since it recharges 1 to 6 and it is safe to use 3 charges. Once that is done, the DM does have to figure out how many charges are remaining.

So to make it easy, a DM might just let the players roll the recharge and know the number of charges at all times. Personally, I like the mystery of not knowing.

I just have my players keep track of charges. Less work for me. If I was the one keeping track, I would keep the number of charges secret. However, I would let the player know the number of charges of any item they are attuned to.