Do You Have An Ioun Stone?

[crystorix]

I play in a home campaign where some of the adventures we did are printed ones and others are completely DM-brewed. My character has a rose (+1 AC), which I think came from one of the printed adventures. He only puts it up when expecting trouble.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Honestly... the whole visual on ioun stones seems a tad dorky. Not to mention it's subtle like a brick to the head - just screams "I'm magical, steal me".

That sums up my thoughts on them. You may as well just put a sign on yourself that says, "Look at me. I'm so rich that I have magical stones floating around my head."

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nyeshet]

Ione stones are amongst the rarest magical items - and often also amongst the most easily "lost." I don't pull punches if the PCs are irresponsible with their items. If they leave them where they can be easily taken, chances are the item will be. Even then, I allow characters - NPCs and PCs to attack to grab them out of the air around PCs / NPCs. Thus, so long as the thief is willing to risk an attack of opportunity, they can with some ease remove a bit of magical aid from their foe. Any magic item that simply wanders around its holder without being firmly attached is simply asking to be taken.

Needless to say, I rarely include them, and those I do tend not to last long (for NPCs or PCs). I tend to use them more for the crazier arcanists - those so close to madness (if not actually mad) that they do not realize the problems that come with such.

 

[Lanefan]

My character has two...or three, I forget (the character sheet's at the DM's house): one that means she doesn't have to eat, and I forget what the other does...improve Spot/Listen, maybe? She also has or had one that jumped her Con. I figure the goal should be to get at least 6, and become your own little solar system...

And they're in near-constant use...with Wisdom 7, who thinks about thieves?

My other characters, more wisely, ignore them.

Lanefan

 

[Dark Psion]

Ioun Stones don't actually fill any item slot, so technically you can use as many as you want.

I have always had this image of an adventurer with thousands them whirling around his head. He would be very powerful, but incapable of seeing where he is going.

 

[freyar]

I got the impression from the 2e FR supplement Lands of Intrigue (details Amn, Tethyr, and Calimshan and available as a free download at WotC) that Ioun stones are kind of rare in Faerun. The court wizard of Tethyr has some, and apparently this is unusual or amusing enough that his brother calls him "gemhead." But, hey, maybe they're a dime-a-dozen in FR, and his brother is just a ninny. Who knows?

 

[Caliban]

About half my characters have the +1 Insight bonus to AC ioun stone - mainly the melee characters.

If an opponent wants to waste an action and suffer an attack from me to lower my AC by one, I'm happy for the trade-off. I just get the stone back off their bodie.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I dont play much but as a DM I tend to give out a lot of Ioun Stones,I have a huge list of my own kinds and decided that in my game they were a common magic item

Ooh! Please share.

None of my characters has ever had an ioun stone, but I've DM'ed about 96.4% of my gaming life.

Even then, I allow characters - NPCs and PCs to attack to grab them out of the air around PCs / NPCs. Thus, so long as the thief is willing to risk an attack of opportunity, they can with some ease remove a bit of magical aid from their foe. Any magic item that simply wanders around its holder without being firmly attached is simply asking to be taken.

What are the mechanics of grabbing an ioun stone from an enemy in the middle of combat?

 

[Drowbane]

I remember using them in 2e and even in 3e... but haven't used one yet in 3.5

 

[Zendragon]

I am DM'ing a group and only the 12th level Rogue has one. The +1 AC one. She "aquired" it from someone she was doing a job for. I didn't even think about it and only added it as a quick addition to the encounter when she said that she was going to try and steal it later. She got the money for the job and the stone, not too bad of a night.