Magic item

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In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, a magic item is any object that has magical powers inherent in it. These may act on their own or be the tools of the character whose hands they fall into. Magic items have been prevalent in the game in every edition and setting, from the original edition in 1974 until the modern fourth edition.^[1] In addition to jewels and gold coins, they form part of the treasure that the players often seek in a dungeon.^[2] Magic items are generally found in treasure hordes, or recovered from fallen opponents; sometimes, a powerful or important magic item is the object of a quest.^[3]

Contents 1 Categories 1.1 Weapons and armor 1.2 Potions 1.3 Rings 1.4 Rods, Staves, and Wands 1.5 Scrolls 1.6 Wondrous items / miscellaneous magic items 2 Intelligent items 3 Cursed items 4 Artifacts 5 Overview of magic items by edition 5.1 3rd and 3.5 editions 5.2 4th edition 6 References

Categories

Within the game of Dungeons & Dragons, magical items are sub-divided into several categories. These are weapons, armor, potions, rings, scrolls and miscellaneous (or wondrous) items. With version 3.5 of the D&D rules, these item categories were associated with particular "feats", or proficiency, that a player character can acquire. Each character belongs to a particular class, and those that allow the preparation and casting of spells will also allow the creation of magic items. Each item is provided a description of its magical properties and how it functions within the game.

Weapons and armor

Weapons (such as magic swords) and armor in the D&D game serve to make characters more effective in combat. Commonly, magical weapons increase both the chances of hitting an opponent, as well as the amount of damage the weapon will deal, while magical armor decreases an opponent's chances of hitting the character. Some magic weapons and armor are outfitted with additional magical properties.

A vorpal sword in an example of a specific magical weapon in the D&D game. The vorpal sword first appeared in Supplement I: Greyhawk (1976), listed as "Vorpal Blade", and later appeared in the original Dungeon Master's Guide (1979), listed as "sword, vorpal weapon". The name of the sword is derived from the vorpal sword mentioned in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", apparently a reference to the boy's decapitation of the Jabberwock. The designers of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game take "vorpal" to mean capable of decapitation, specifically through magical means. "Vorpal swords" exist fictionally in various works, especially in role-playing games and video games, where they are generally based on the Dungeons & Dragons concept. While its statistics have varied through the editions of the game, the weapon has been defined by its magical power to decapitate foes more easily than an ordinary weapon could.

Potions

A potion is a magic liquid that produces its effect upon a character when imbibed. Each type of potion has a specific effect, from turning a character invisible, to curing the character's wounds. Generally, a potion only functions once, when consumed.

Rings

Magic rings bestow magical powers upon a character wearing one. Most will function when activated, though some have a limit on how many times they can be used in one day.

A ring of regeneration is an example of a type of magical ring. This bestows magical ability of regeneration upon its wearer. Because of the way that Dungeons & Dragons handles regeneration, the wearer is essentially immortal.

Regeneration allows successful reattaching of severed limbs or regrowing them. Rings of regeneration can be given different levels of power by the Dungeon Master. The magnitude of their regenerative abilities is given as a numerical value, which represents the number of hit points regained per combat round, or six seconds.

A lesser form of regeneration that does not allow the regrowth of lost limbs is called fast healing.

Rods, Staves, and Wands

Magic rods, staves, and wands are devices that can be used to produce a number of magical effects by a character wielding one. Some of these items reproduce specific magic spells, and can only be wielded by a character proficient in that type of spell.

Scrolls

A magic scroll is a spell or collection of spells that has been stored in written form. Once a spell has been cast off of a scroll, the scroll can no longer be used to cast that spell.

Wondrous items / miscellaneous magic items

Wondrous items, or miscellaneous magic items, are magic items which don't fit into any of the other major categories, and can come as many different types. Some can be worn, and come in the form of cloaks, boots, belts, gloves, and hats. Boots of speed are an example of wondrous items which can be worn: These enable the wearer to run very fast—usually as fast as a galloping horse, or slower if the wearer is heavy. The wearer must usually rest for long periods after use.

Some come in the form of books or tomes, such as the book of vile darkness and book of exalted deeds. Some are magical musical instruments that can cause various effects when played.

Some wondrous items can store other items in extra-dimensional spaces, such as the bag of holding or portable hole.

Ioun stones and the deck of many things are other miscellaneous types of items found in this category. The Ioun Stones (pronounced EYE-oon^[4]) are based on similar artifacts from Jack Vance's Dying Earth series.^[5]

When functioning, they float in a circular pattern around their bearer's head, and grant various benefits based on their color and shape. Two stones of the same type will repel each other, and when drained of power, a stone becomes a dull grey, but still possesses the characteristic floating. While useless to a mage, burned out stones can still yield a single psionic power point to a psionic character in 3rd and 3.5 editions.

In the original Jack Vance stories IOUN stones are highly prized by arch-magicians, and are acquired from a race known as the archveults, who mine them from remnants of dead stars (in his book Rhialto the Marvellous).

In 2E Dungeons & Dragons it had been conjectured in Dragon magazine that Ioun stones instead come from the Positive Material Plane. Dragon #174 featured an article that included many dozens of new types of ioun stone,^[6] as well as an article about an elemental lord who hordes ioun stones on his home plane of radiance.^[7]

Under 3.0/3.5 editions of the rules they are instead manufactured by spellcasters in the same manner as other magical items.

In 4th edition, a deity named Ioun was introduced in the Player's Handbook.

Intelligent items

Some magic items possess an intrinsic intelligence. These items strive for certain goals and are known to dominate their owners to further their agenda.

Cursed items

Some magic items affect the character using them in a negative way, either by design or by accident. The girdle of femininity/masculinity is an example of a magic item designed to have an undesired effect on the character using it.

Artifacts

An artifact is a very powerful magic item in the D&D game. Artifacts are priceless because of their rarity. Examples of artifacts include the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, the Codex of the Infinite Planes, the Eye and Hand of Vecna, Heward's Mystical Organ, the Rod of Seven Parts, the Mace of Cuthbert, and the Sword of Kas.

In 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons, artifacts are classed into major and minor categories. The latter are generally less powerful and exist in numbers, unlike major artifacts where only one of each exists.

Overview of magic items by edition

This section requires expansion with: Coverage of earlier editions.

3rd and 3.5 editions

In 3rd and 3.5 editions, magic items are divided into eight broad categories: armor and shields, weapons, potions and oils, rings, rods, scrolls, staves, wands and wondrous items. They are also divided by body slot, two items worn on the same body slot will not function. Each magic item has a caster level, and normal magic items have a price.

Each suit of non-epic magical armor or magical shield has an enhancement bonus of +1 to +5 (epic armor can exceed the +5 cap), which applies to the wearer or wielder's AC. Magical armor and shields can also have special abilities, each special ability either increases the item's cost directly or increases the armor's effective enhancement bonus for the purpose of cost only, for example a +1 animated shield has the same cost as a +3 shield, but only has a +1 enhancement bonus, non-epic armor and shields cannot have any combination of special abilities which would bring their effective enhancement bonus beyond +10 for the purpose of cost.

Magic weapons, like magic armor and shields, have an enhancement bonus of +1 to +5 (with epic weapons breaking this cap), this enhancement bonus applies to attack and damage rolls. Weapon special abilities which raise the effective enhancement bonus for the purpose of cost only, and, like armor and shields, this is capped at +10 for non-epic weapons, some magical weapons shed light, this glow does not affect cost or count as a special property. Ammunition fired from magical ranged weapons benefit from the weapon's properties, the enhancement bonuses of projectile weapons and their ammunition do not stack with each other, magical ammunition and shuriken are always destroyed when they hit, and have a change of being destroyed when they miss, magical thrown weapons can have the returning special ability, which allows them to return to their thrower.

Rings generally provide continuously active benefits, although some have powers which can be activated with limited frequency, and a few have charges. Potions and oils are single-use items which reproduce the effects of low level spells, such as Cure Light Wounds, Keen Edge or Invisibility, potions' spell effects target the drinker, while oils' spell effects target whichever character or object the oil is applied to.

Wands are magical items which contain charges of a single spell, allowing a spellcaster of an appropriate class to cast that spell using one of the wand's charges. Staves function much like wands, however they contain multiple spells, some of which can cost more than one charge to activate, and a staff wielder can use his or her own caster level when activating a staff if it's higher than the staff's effective caster level, a few types of staves, such as a staff of power, have additional properties. Unlike staves and wands, magical rods generally do not mimic spells or have charges, and can be activated by anyone.

Magical scrolls each store one or more spells, each of which may only be cast from the scroll once. A scroll must be deciphered before it is used, a character of the appropriate class and level can cast a spell from a deciphered scroll without difficulty, a character of the appropriate class but insufficient level can also cast a spell from a scroll, however there is a chance of a failure or mishap.

Wondrous items are magical items which don't fit into another category, the category encompasses all arm, eye, foot, head, hand, neck, shoulder and waist slot items, as well as robes, shirts, vests and vestments, as well as slotless items which don't fit into another category, such as containers, dusts, elixirs, manuals, musical instruments, tools, figurines and Ioun stones. In addition to standard magic items, there are cursed items, intelligent items, minor artifacts and major artifacts.

Artifacts are powerful magic items which cannot normally be created in play. Minor artifacts are non-unique items such as a Deck of Many Things, Sphere of Annihilation or Staff of the Magi. Major artifacts are unique items, such as the Axe of Dwarvish Lords, they cannot be destroyed through mundane means.^[8]

4th edition

In 4th edition, magic items which can be used directly by player characters are divided into 12 broad categories: armor, implements, weapons, rings, consumables, wondrous items, and items which occupy the arms, feet, hands, head, neck and waist slots. Adventurer's Vault introduces companion slot items, which are used by beast companions, and mount slot items, which are used by mounts. Standard magic items have a level from 1 to 30 and a cost in gold pieces. With the exception of consumables, which use a separate cost table, items of the same level have the same cost. Many magic items have powers, which are divided into at-will, encounter, daily, healing surge and consumable powers. At-will, encounter and daily magic item powers are generally weaker than corresponding class powers; each character only has a limited number of daily item power uses per day depending on the character's level. Reaching a milestone provides an additional use. Healing Surge powers function like daily powers; however, they can be recharged by expending a healing surge. Magic items with consumable powers, such as potions, are expended when they are used. Properties are passive, unlimited-use effects of magic items, such the carrying capacity and weight reduction of a bag of holding. Some magic item descriptions also include a special field, detailing additional rules which do not fit into any other category. The four major magic item types (armor, implements, weapons, and neck slot items) have an enhancement bonus from +1 to +6. Many also have powers and/or properties.

Magic armor's enhancement bonus applies to AC. Many types of magic armor also have powers or properties; these armor types are often restricted to specific base armor types (such as cloth, plate mail or light armor). Masterwork armor, such as starweave or wyrmscale armor, has a minimum enhancement bonus and a greater armor bonus than standard armor; some types of masterwork armor also have other traits, such as damage resistance or bonuses to non-AC defenses. Masterwork armor has the same cost as non-masterwork armor with the same enhancement bonus, and armor with a sufficient enhancement bonus is typically masterwork.

Magic weapons have enhancement bonuses which apply to attack and damage rolls. Magic weapons also provide a number of bonus damage dice equal to their enhancement bonus to critical hits; the die size varies depending on the weapon's enchantment. Magic weapons can also have powers and/or properties, some of which are restricted to specific weapon groups such as axes, bows or hammers. Magical thrown weapons automatically return to their wielders, and magic projectile weapons apply their effects to ammunition fired from them. Magic implements (including magic weapons used as implements, such as staves) provide their enhancement bonuses to attack and damage rolls and, like magic weapons, provide bonus dice to critical hits. Implement powers and properties are specific to the implement type. Staves can be enchanted as either implements or weapons. In either case, their enhancement bonus and bonus critical dice apply to both weapon-based and implement-based attacks. Magic wands typically have a daily attack or utility power from a wand-using class such as warlock or wizard as a daily item power; the maximum power level is based on the wand's level.

Neck slot items, such as amulets and cloaks, provide their enhancement bonus to all three non-AC defenses, and often have powers and/or properties. Arms slot items include bracers and shields; they have powers and/or properties, and typically have heroic, paragon and epic tier versions. Characters only have a single slot for these items. Magic rings generally have a daily power which is more effective if activated after reaching a milestone; many rings also have properties. A character can wear and benefit from two magic rings, one per hand. Wondrous items have powers and/or properties, and don't take up item slots. Magic consumables include potions, elixirs, reagents and whetstones.

Artifacts are unique, powerful magic items. Unlike typical magic items, artifacts have tiers (heroic, paragon or epic) rather than levels, don't have costs, cannot be created in play and cannot be disenchanted or destroyed by mundane means. Each artifact is intelligent and has specific goals. An artifact's power depends on its current attitude towards its wielder, represented by the concordance score mechanic. A high concordance score can improve an the artifact's properties or unlock additional powers, while a low concordance score can inflict penalties on the wielder. Another common trait of artifacts is their ability to move on; many artifacts leave a reward for their wielder such as a magic item or residuum if the concordance score is high enough. Some artifacts punish the wielder if they move on with a low concordance score and some, such as the Eye and Hand of Vecna, always harm the wielder when they move on.^[9]

References