With the release of the Magic Item Compendium, an expanded magic item statistics block was introduced, one more descriptive than the old ones in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. It was decided to standardize on the former, so all magic item descriptions in Archive Three-Five will use the Magic Item Compendium format.
Additional magic item types and creation rules, such as those for runestaffs and skins, have been imported from the Magic Item Compendium as well.
The Magic Item Compendium also altered terminology somewhat: what used to be called a “special ability” added to items like magic weapons and armor and shields was now called a “property”. This latter term is now used whenever referring to characteristics that can be enchanted into to a magic item (usually magic weapons, armor, or shields, but not exclusively so). This will hopefully reduce confusion.
Magic items are divided into categories: armor, weapons, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands, and wondrous items. In addition, some magic items are cursed or intelligent. Finally, a few magic items are of such rarity and power that they are considered to belong to a category of their own: artifacts. Artifacts are classified in turn as minor (extremely rare but not one-of-a-kind items) or major (each one unique and extremely potent).
Armor and Shields: Magic armor (including shields) offers improved, magical protection to the wearer. Some of these items confer abilities beyond a benefit to Armor Class.
Weapons: Magic weapons are created with a variety of combat powers and almost always improve the attack and damage rolls of the wielder as well.
Augment Crystals: These removable crystals are attached to armor, shields, or weapons to augment their power in particular ways.
Potions: A potion is an elixir concocted with a spell-like effect that affects only the drinker.
Rings: A ring is a circular metal band worn on the finger (no more than two rings per wearer) that has a spell-like power (often a constant effect that affects the wearer).
Rods: A rod is a scepter-like item with a special power unlike that of any known spell.
Scrolls: A scroll is a spell magically inscribed onto paper or parchment so that it can be used later.
Staffs: A staff has a number of different (but often related) spell effects. A newly created staff has 50 charges, and each use of the staff depletes one or more of those charges.
Runestaffs: These differ from regular staffs in that they are permanent magic items that allow an arcane spellcaster (only) to use a prepared spell or spell slot to activate a spell enchanted into a particular runestaff one to three times daily.
Domain Staffs: These specialized magic staffs allow the daily casting of each spell of a particular clerical domain.
Wands: A wand is a short stick imbued with the power to cast a specific spell. A newly created wand has 50 charges, and each use of the wand depletes one of those charges.
Wondrous Items: These objects include magic jewelry, tools, books, clothing, and much more. It is easily the largest category.
When PCs find magic items as treasure, they need to determine what the items do. The following methods are available to identify magic items.
Skill Checks: Certain skills allow a character to accurately identify an item.
Knowledge (arcana): A character can attempt a DC 30 Knowledge (arcana) check to determine if she remembers reading of an item at one point during her studies. A successful result might give a hint to the item’s function or reveal every detail about it. This method is most appropriate for legendary items or items that have a traditional shape associated with their function.
Search: You might allow close study of an item to provide some information. A command word could be etched in tiny letters on the inside of a ring, or a feathered design might hint that an item allows its wearer to fly. In such a case, a successful DC 15 Search check should reveal the clue. A later user of similar magic items may also have marked each item in some way: a high-level rogue or a warlock with a brace of magic wands will want to be able to select the right wand if hurried.
Spellcraft: A character using the detect magic spell can attempt a Spellcraft check to determine the school of magic associated with the item’s powers. If the character exceeds the DC for this check by 10 or more, the character magically divines the item’s functions, its means of activation, and the number of charges remaining.
A character can also use Spellcraft to identify potions. The DC is 25, the check takes 1 minute, and she cannot retry if she fails.
Use Magic Device: If a character succeeds on a Use Magic Device check to activate a magic item and exceeds the DC by 5 or more, the character magically divines the item’s functions, its means of activation, and the number of charges remaining.
Bardic Knowledge: While not quite as useful as the skills discussed above, a successful bardic knowledge check might reveal the backgrounds, functions, and means of activating legendary or otherwise well-known items. If the item is standard equipment for a well-known faction or person, the DC is 20. If the item is uncommon or ancient, but many items like it are in circulation, the DC is 25. If the item is known only in legend, the DC is 30 or higher. A successful result should reveal something of the item’s history and give at least a hint about the item’s function.
The loremaster prestige class has a lore class ability similar to bardic knowledge. When they gain greater lore, there is no need for that.
Spells: Spells are the most reliable way to identify items.
Detect Magic: Obviously, the easiest way for characters to discern whether an object is magic is to use detect magic. When focused on an item, a character can attempt a Spellcraft check to determine the school (or schools) of the highest-level spell (or spells) involved in the item’s creation, as well as the strength of the item’s aura (based on its caster level). Also, a character making such a check can divine the function of an item by succeeding by 10 or more.
When a character uses detect magic on a magic item, the information you provide often serves as a clue to a smart player for identifying the item.
Identify: The identify spell determines the functions, means of activation, and number of charges remaining for any item of less than artifact power. It takes an hour to cast and has an expensive material component, but it’s also the surest way to identify most magic items.
Analyze Dweomer: This spell functions like identify, but the casting time is shorter, there’s a focus rather than an expensive material component, and the caster can determine the properties of several items with one casting of the spell. This spell is the swiftest and surest way to identify many magic items.
The loremaster true lore class ability can act as an analyze dweomer spell once daily.
Hired Help: The PCs might want to consult bards, sages, or high-level spellcasters (particularly loremasters) to identify items through the means outlined above. Such NPCs might also know some details or rumors about an item’s history. They always want something in return for this information. The prices for spellcasting services are noted here. If an NPC can identify the item without using spells, the character might ask for an amount of gp equivalent to the typical spell cost. Of course, an NPC might instead demand some service or trade instead of money.
DM Explanation: It might be simpler to tell the players what an item is. This approach is particularly useful when the item provides a bonus you must track on actions the PC is already taking. If you have a PC using an unidentified +2 short sword, for example, use this option when it becomes a burden for you to keep mentally adding +2 to all the character’s attack rolls and damage rolls with that unidentified (to him) item.
Trial and Error: The last refuge of desperate characters with an unidentified magic item, this process is often comical, but it can become an annoying waste of time. The trial-and-error process usually entails a PC attempting to use the item. A character hoping that the cloak he’s just found is actually wings of flying might say, “I put the cloak on and jump up and down, flapping my arms.” Previous D&D supplements, including the Dungeon Master’s Guide, have advised rewarding clever characters who pursue this line of inquiry. As long as you and the players find trial and error to be a fun method of learning about magic items, that’s still fine advice. If, however, your players turn it into a tedious checklist of tests (“Now I try to breathe underwater. Now I try to walk up the wall. Now I think about turning invisible. No luck? Maybe it only works for dwarves; Tordek, now you try it.”), it’s time to step in and move the game along. It’s perfectly reasonable to rule that until a character has determined a magic item’s powers, command word, or other secrets in one of the manners noted above, no amount of crazy experimentation will help.
When detect magic identifies a magic item’s school of magic, this information refers to the school of the spell placed within the potion, scroll, or wand, or the prerequisite given for the item. The description of each item provides its aura strength and the school it belongs to.
If more than one spell is given as a prerequisite, use the highest-level spell. If no spells are included in the prerequisites, use the following default guidelines.
| Item Nature | School |
|---|---|
| Armor and protection items | Abjuration |
| Weapons or offensive items | Evocation |
| Bonus to ability score, on skill check, etc. | Transmutation |
To use a magic item, it must be activated, although sometimes activation simply means putting a ring on your finger. Some items, once donned, function constantly. In many cases, using an item requires an action of some kind.
You cannot activate an item that you do not properly possess, hold, or wear. A rod or wand must be held in your hand, a cloak must be worn on your back, and so on. Some items merely require that you carry them on your person but not specifically worn in a slot or carried in a hand (in a backpack, floating around your head, and so on). Each item in this book describes how you must carry it to benefit from its capabilities in the Body Slot entry of its description. A “—” indicates that the item merely needs to be carried on your person.
Single-use items and items with charges (that have no other magic once those charges are used) have their activation methods discussed in their category descriptions. See Potions, Scrolls, and Wands for more information.
Permanent magic items (and many nonpermanent ones) have statistics blocks with an Activation entry that describes the type of action necessary (if any) to activate the item and the means of activation. The action type might be standard, full-round, move, free, swift, or immediate. See Action Types for definitions of these actions.
Following the action type is a parenthetical descriptor that further describes the means of activation; these are described below.
—: A dash on the activation line indicates that the item is always active so long as you wear, wield, or possess it in the proper manner. Simply wearing a cloak of resistance provides you with its bonus; you do not need to activate it. Similarly, a +2 flaming battleaxe grants the benefit of its magic on attacks you make with it without any special action on your part.
Using an item of this type does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Use activation doesn’t mean that if you use an item, you automatically know what it can do. You must know (or at least guess) what the item can do and then use the item in order to activate it, unless the benefit of the item comes automatically, such from drinking a potion or swinging a sword.
[Action Type] (command): Command activation means that a character speaks a command word and the item activates. No other special knowledge is needed. A command word is the key to the item’s lock, as it were. It can be a real word such as “Vibrant,” “Square,” or “Horse,” but when this is the case, the holder of the item runs the risk of activating the item accidentally by speaking the word in normal conversation. More often, the command word is a seemingly nonsensical word, or a word or phrase from an ancient language no longer in common use.
Activating a command word magic item does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You cannot activate a command word item in the area of a silence spell or if you are unable to speak.
Sometimes the command word to activate an item is written right on the item. Occasionally, it might be hidden within a pattern or design engraved on, carved into, or built into the item, or the item might bear a clue to the command word. The Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history) skills might be useful in helping to identify command words or deciphering clues regarding them. A successful check against DC 30 is needed to come up with the word itself. If that check is failed, succeeding on a second check (DC 25) might provide some insight into a clue.
The spells identify and analyze dweomer both reveal command words.
[Action Type] (manipulation): Activating this type of item requires some physical manipulation of it, such as moving an immovable rod or pulling a patch from a robe of useful items. This movement is similar to the somatic component of a spell, in that you need a free hand to perform the action.
Activating a manipulation item provokes attacks of opportunity.
[Action Type] (mental): This type of item merely requires that you will it to function. Activating the item is a purely mental action. You can use the item in the area of a silence spell, while grappled, while paralyzed, and so on, as long as you have control of your own thoughts.
Activating such a magic item does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You cannot use a mentally activated item if you are dominated, unconscious, sleeping, turned to stone, or otherwise incapable of conscious independent thought. (However, someone who dominates you could make you use a mentally activated item or give you free rein to use it within the bounds of his other instructions.)
[Action Type] (spell completion): This is the activation method for scrolls. A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. The preparation is done for the caster, so no preparation time is needed beforehand as with normal spellcasting. All that’s left to do is perform the short, simple, finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on). To use a spell completion item safely, a character must be of high enough level in the right class to cast the spell already. If he can’t already cast the spell, there’s a chance he’ll make a mistake (see Scroll Mishaps for possible consequences).
Activating a spell completion item provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does. You cannot activate a spell completion item if you would normally be prevented from casting the spell (for instance, you’re in the area of a silence spell and the spell has a verbal component).
[Action Type] (spell trigger): Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it’s even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a knowledge of spellcasting and a single word that must be spoken. This means that if a wizard picks up a spell trigger activation item (such as a wand or a staff) and that item stores a wizard spell, she knows how to use it. Specifically, anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell trigger item that stores that spell. (This is the case even for a character who can’t actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin.) The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it.
Activating a spell trigger item does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
— (ammunition): This type of item must be fired from a projectile weapon, such as a bow, crossbow, or sling. It activates in flight or upon reaching its target. Activating magic ammunition requires no special action; such items are activated as part of the action of firing the projectile weapon. Some kinds of magic ammunition can also be activated by throwing them (see below).
[Action Type] (thrown): This type of item must be thrown and is activated upon impact or in flight. It has the same options for targeting as a splash weapon.
Throwing an item is a ranged attack and provokes attacks of opportunity. Unless stated otherwise, a thrown item is destroyed after its effect is resolved, and it cannot then be reused.
Many magic items need to be donned by a character who wants to employ them or benefit from their abilities. It’s possible for a creature with a humanoid-shaped body to wear as many as twelve magic items at the same time. However, each of those items must be worn on (or over) a particular part of the body.
A humanoid-shaped body can be decked out in magic gear consisting of one item from each of the following eleven groups, keyed to which place on the body the item is worn.
Each body slot can accommodate only a single active magic item (except for the rings body slot, which allows two active rings, worn one on each hand or both on the same hand). Additional magic items could be worn in the same body slot, but only the first-worn item confers its magical abilities upon the wearer.
Some body slots are described as a matched pair of body parts (such as arms, feet, or hands). If an item uses one of these body slots, it takes up both “halves” of the body slot even if worn on only one of the pair. For example, a glove of storing takes up the entire hands body slot, even though it’s only one glove. Similarly, items that come in pairs must be worn together in order to function—wearing a single gauntlet of ogre power has no effect.
Some items—particularly those that have a limited number of uses per day—indicate that they must be worn for a certain length of time before they can be used. This attunement period prevents characters from treating them as disposable tools to be donned and stowed repeatedly throughout the day.
Some magic items aren’t worn on the body, but are instead carried or held by the owner to gain their benefit. Such items have one of the following entries on the Body Slot line.
—: The item functions or can be activated as long as it is carried somewhere on your body (but not if it’s stored in an extradimensional or nondimensional storage space, such as a bag of holding). Some rare items in this category might describe a particular manner in which you must carry them for the item to function (such as ioun stones).
— (held): You must hold the item or otherwise manipulate the item with your hand for it to function or be activated. All weapons and shields have this entry, as do many tools. In the case of a shield, simply carrying it isn’t enough—you must wear it properly on your arm.
— ([armor, shield, or weapon] crystal): Augment crystals are magic items that function only when attached to a suit of armor, shield, weapon, or other appropriate item. Like properties, you can only gain an augment crystal’s benefit while you’re wearing or holding the item in the appropriate manner. See Augment Crystals for details.
Properties are part of another item (usually a weapon, shield, or suit of armor), and they function or can be activated as long as the item is worn or held properly. A shield property offers no benefit if the shield is slung over your shoulder, and a weapon (typically) doesn’t offer any benefit if it’s sheathed.
Some properties have elements that work whether the item is equipped or not. For example, blueshine or everbright protects against rust even if the item it is on is lying in the rain or against acid if it is immersed in a pool of it.
Instead of a body slot entry, a property has a property entry, which describes the types of items to which this property can be applied.
A property on a magic item is shown as an adjective in the item’s name. For example, a +1 longsword has no properties. A +1 flaming longsword has the flaming property. Likewise, a +2 improved shadow improved silent moves mithral shirt is a mithral shirt with the improved shadow and improved silent moves properties on it. When the property names get out of hand like this, the DM or player with the item is encouraged to come up with a shorter name. The aforementioned mithral shirt could be named Braugil’s stealthy shirt, if Braugil was the name of the player character or a famous prior owner of the shirt.
As they are part of another magic item, properties have no weight.
Special Abilities vs. Properties: The original rules in the Dungeon’s Master Guide (version 3.5) referred to properties as “special abilities”. The term “property” was first used extensively in Magic Item Compendium. As too many things in D&D refer to special abilities, it was decided to change that term to “property” when referring to a magical item ability that is enchanted into another magic item for purposes of improving it, but that cannot exist by itself. So A35 refers to a special ability for armor, shields, and weapons as a “property” throughout—and, in fact, uses “Property” as a descriptor for such things.
Some item properties include the term [Synergy] after their names. A synergy property has a prerequisite, much as a feat might. Specifically, the item must already possess another particular property before a synergy property can be added to it. Otherwise, synergy properties function the same as any item property.
Despite the requirements for adding synergy abilities to armor and weapons, most adventurers consider them well worth the cost. These properties allow you to upgrade a favored ability of an item over time, rather than paying for it all at once. Synergy properties always replace their prerequisite property. Many synergy properties expand upon or improve the prerequisite property, and others both subsume the prerequisite property and add new abilities.
To determine a synergy item’s effective enhancement bonus (and thus its aura strength and overall gp value), add together the bonus equivalent of the synergy property, the bonus equivalent of the synergy prerequisite property, the item’s enhancement bonus, and any bonus equivalents for other properties the item has. However, after adding a synergy property, the item loses its synergy prerequisite abilities.
For example, +1 greater anchoring full plate has a total effective enhancement bonus of +3 (+1 enhancement + 1 anchoring + 1 greater anchoring), with a value of 9,170 gp and an aura strength equal to that of +3 full plate. However, +1 greater anchoring full plate does not still give its wearer the anchoring property’s +5 bonus on checks to resist being tripped, overrun, or bull rushed. It instead gives the wearer the greater anchoring property’s benefit (a +10 bonus on such checks).
A synergy property still counts as any of its synergy prerequisite properties for the purpose of qualifying an item for still more synergy properties. For example, a +1 acidic burst longsword is still considered a corrosive weapon for the purpose of qualifying to receive the energy surge synergy property.
Most of the time when a magic item is discovered, a character’s size or shape shouldn’t be an issue. As a rule, size should not keep overweight characters, characters of various genders, or characters of various races from using magic items. Players shouldn’t be penalized for choosing a halfling character or deciding that their character is especially tall, so as a rule any magic item automatically adjusts to fit its wearer.
A few exceptions to this rule are given below.
Armor: As long as you’re the same size category and the same general shape as the armor’s original owner, the armor functions normally for you. Halflings can wear armor made for goblins, and centaurs can wear armor made for wemics. However, inappropriately sized or shaped armor can’t be worn. Armor doesn’t resize to fit a wearer of a different size category, nor does armor constructed for a humanoid-shaped creature fit a nonhumanoid-shaped creature. In cases where a nonhumanoid-shaped creature tries to wear armor created for another nonhumanoid, you must use your best judgment. A blink dog could certainly fit into barding crafted for a riding dog or other Medium quadruped, but it probably couldn’t wear armor crafted for a Medium monstrous spider.
Weapons: Weapons don’t change size to match the wielder. You can wield an inappropriately sized weapon with a penalty. Regardless of a weapon’s size, as long as you can hold a weapon you can activate its abilities; for example, a human could still activate the wishes held within a Huge luck blade even though he couldn’t wield it in combat.
Shields: Like weapons, shields don’t change size to match the wielder. Unlike with weapons, you gain no benefit from using an inappropriately sized shield. You can use the following table to determine the size of armor, shields, and weapons found at random. However, it’s usually best to choose the size for an item by determining who in the adventuring group could get the most use out of it.
| d% | Size |
|---|---|
| 01-30 | Small |
| 31-90 | Medium |
| 91-100 | Large or larger (DM’s choice) |
As a default rule, treat creatures of any shape as having all the normal body slots available. Creatures never gain extra body slots for having extra body parts (for example, a marilith still has only one hands body slot and two rings body slots). For unusual cases, here are some guidelines to help a DM particularly dedicated to details:
Amorphous Creatures: Creatures without any shape, such as most oozes and the phasm (in its normal form), have no body slots and can’t wear magic items at all.
Armless Creatures: Creatures without forelimbs, such as snakes, don’t have the arms, hands, or rings body slot (but see multilegged creatures, below). A creature with only a single forelimb retains these body slots, and can wear both of a pair on the same limb (such as both gloves on the same hand, and so on).
Fingerless Creatures: Creatures without flexible digits or extremities, such as horses, lack the rings body slot. A creature need not be able to manipulate objects to wear rings—a hell hound can wear a ring on a toe of its forelimb.
Headless Creatures: Creatures without an identifiable head, such as shambling mounds, lack the face, head, and throat body slots.
Legless Creatures: Creatures without hind limbs, such as lillends, don’t have the feet body slot.
Multilegged Creatures: Creatures with more than two legs can treat their foremost pair of limbs as their arms (allowing them access to the arms, hands, and rings body slots), even if those limbs are used for locomotion rather than for manipulation. Creatures with multiple legs that also have arms (such as centaurs or driders) don’t lack any body slots.
Magic items produce spells or spell-like effects. For a saving throw against a spell or spell-like effect from a magic item, the DC is 10 + the level of the spell or effect + the ability modifier of the minimum ability score needed to cast that level of spell.
Staffs are an exception to the rule. Treat the saving throw as if the wielder cast the spell, including caster level and all modifiers to save DC.
Most item descriptions give saving throw DCs for various effects, particularly when the effect has no exact spell equivalent (making its level otherwise difficult to determine quickly).
A magic item doesn’t need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on his save. Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them—even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save. Magic items use the same saving throw bonus for all saves, no matter what the type (Fortitude, Reflex, or Will). A magic item’s saving throw bonus equals 2 + one-half its caster level (round down). The only exceptions to this are intelligent magic items, which make Will saves based on their own Wisdom scores.
Magic items, unless otherwise noted, take damage as nonmagical items of the same sort. A damaged magic item continues to function, but if it is destroyed, all its magical power is lost.
Some magic items take damage over the course of an adventure. It costs no more to repair a magic item with the Craft skill than it does to repair its nonmagical counterpart. The make whole spell also repairs a damaged—but not completely broken—magic item.
Some magic items, particularly weapons, have an intelligence all their own. Only permanent magic items (as opposed to those with a single use or those with charges) can be intelligent. (This means that potions, scrolls, and wands, among other items, are never intelligent.)
In general, fewer than 1% of magic items have intelligence.
Some items are cursed—incorrectly made, or corrupted by outside forces. Cursed items might be particularly dangerous to the user, or they might be normal items with a minor flaw, an inconvenient requirement, or an unpredictable nature. Randomly generated items are cursed 5% of the time.
Many items, particularly wands and staffs, are limited in power by the number of charges they hold. Normally, charged items have 50 charges at most. If such an item is found as a random part of a treasure, roll d% and divide by 2 to determine the number of charges left (round down, minimum 1). If the item has a maximum number of charges other than 50, roll randomly to determine how many charges are left.
Prices listed are always for fully charged items. (When an item is created, it is fully charged.) For an item that’s worthless when its charges run out (which is the case for almost all charged items), the value of the partially used item is proportional to the number of charges left. For an item that has usefulness in addition to its charges, only part of the item’s value is based on the number of charges left.
Price (Item Level): The purchase price of the item, in gold pieces (gp). If the price is for a magic item and not a magic item property, the item’s level is given in parentheses.
Body Slot: The location where the item is worn on the body (see Body Slots). An entry of — indicates the item need only be carried on the body to function. An entry of — (held) indicates the item must be physically held or manipulated (rather than simply kept in a pocket, pouch, or backpack) for its power to function. Augment crystals have an entry of — (armor crystal), — (shield crystal), or — (weapon crystal).
Property: If a magic item description is that of a magic item property, the body slot entry is replaced with a property entry. This lists the magic item types to which the property may be applied.
Caster Level: The item’s caster level, most often used to determine its resistance to dispel checks and the minimum caster level at which the item may be crafted.
Aura: The item’s aura strength, which is revealed if it is subjected to a detect magic spell, followed by a semicolon. Next, in parentheses, is the Spellcraft DC required to determine the school of magic, followed by the school or schools of magic associated with the item’s aura (usually determined by the spells listed in an item’s prerequisites). If the item requires only universal spells, or if it requires no spells, this reads “no school.”
If multiple spells of different schools are required, the item’s aura is of the school of the highest-level spell. When two spells of different schools are equally high in level, the entry mentions both schools.
Activation: The type of action required to activate the item’s effect, along with what the user must do to activate the item (see Activating Magic Items). An entry of — indicates the item operates continuously, without any need for activation.
Synergy Prerequisite This entry appears only on magic item properties that have a synergy prerequisite.
Weight: Item’s weight, in pounds. An entry of — indicates the item has a negligible weight (less than ½ pound).
A visual description of the item, read by the DM to a player whose character has discovered the item.
A description of the item’s functions, including its effect, duration, range, uses per day, and so on.
Lore: Information about the item that may be learned by making appropriate Knowledge checks. The item’s name and/or functions must be known before Knowledge checks reveal this information.
Prerequisites: The feats, spells, or other prerequisites required of the creator of the item.
Cost to Create: The item’s gp cost, XP cost, and days to create.
This assigns a level rating to each magic item, based on the item’s market price. This is not the same as an item’s caster level. Instead, the level rating of a magic item is a tool for the DM. Whether you’re creating a monster’s treasure hoard, building an NPC opponent, or crafting a player character above 1st level, choosing the appropriate magic items to include is crucial, and each item’s level helps you do exactly that.
Mechanically, an item’s level has no bearing on the game. It doesn’t tell you (except indirectly) how potent the item is, how much damage it deals, or how difficult it is to suppress or dispel its effects.
Currently, the game assigns a budget of gold pieces based on the level of a monster, NPC, or PC to “spend” for that creature’s treasure hoard or personal gear. This system is precise and monetarily efficient—it encourages you to spend every last gp allotted—but it’s also slow. When you need to equip a bunch of NPCs in a hurry, or you just want a playable PC for tonight’s game, you might reasonably choose for speed to take precedence over precision. Even if you’re not choosing items randomly, the random tables in Appendix 2 provide a list of all items in this book and the DMG sorted by item level.
The item level system retains most of the economy of magic items, but replaces the precision of market price with the abstraction of level. A cloak of resistance +1, pipes of the sewers, and a divine scroll of slay living are all 4th-level magic items, even though their market prices are slightly different.
Coincidentally, an item’s level also provides a useful guideline to the DM as to when such an item becomes appropriate for the PCs. In general, PCs should own items of their own character level or lower. Small exceptions to this general guideline exist—a 12th-level magic item is okay in the hands of a 10th-level PC—but straying too far can cause trouble.
Be warned that this system consciously trades precision for speed. It allows you to equip a character quickly, but it doesn’t necessarily spend every last gold piece available, nor does it exactly replicate what you could purchase with the “normal” systems available. When creating an important NPC, building a player character’s equipment list for a long-term campaign, or designing a treasure hoard (see page 265), consider using the normal rules in place of these.
| Item Level | Market Price Range (gp) | Sample Items |
|---|---|---|
| ½ | 1–50 | potion or scroll (1st-level spell), alchemist’s fire |
| 1st | 51–150 | masterwork armor, scroll (2nd-level spell) |
| 2nd | 151–400 | masterwork weapon, potion (2nd-level spell) |
| 3rd | 401–800 | wand (1st-level spell), potion (3rd-level spell) |
| 4th | 801–1,300 | +1 armor |
| 5th | 1,301–1,800 | brooch of shielding, full plate armor |
| 6th | 1,801–2,300 | +1 weapon |
| 7th | 2,301–3,000 | cloak of elvenkind |
| 8th | 3,001–4,000 | +2 armor, gauntlets of ogre power |
| 9th | 4,001–5,000 | wand (2nd-level spell) |
| 10th | 5,001–6,500 | boots of striding and springing |
| 11th | 6,501–8,000 | +2 weapon |
| 12th | 8,001–10,000 | +3 armor |
| 13th | 10,001–13,000 | boots of speed, wand (3rd-level spell) |
| 14th | 13,001–18,000 | +3 weapon, +4 armor, gloves of Dexterity +4 |
| 15th | 18,001–25,000 | +5 armor, wand (4th-level spell) |
| 16th | 25,001–35,000 | +4 weapon |
| 17th | 35,001–48,000 | amulet of health +6 |
| 18th | 48,001–64,000 | +5 weapon |
| 19th | 64,001–80,000 | robe of the archmagi |
| 20th | 80,001–100,000 | amulet of mighty fists +4 |
| 21th | 100,001–120,000 | robe of eyes |
| 22th | 120,001–140,000 | holy avenger |
| 23th | 140,001–160,000 | efreeti bottle |
| 24th | 160,001–180,000 | staff of passage |
| 25th | 180,001–200,000 | +5 vorpal weapon |
| 26th | 200,001–220,000 | staff of power |
| 27th | 220,001–240,000 | ring of elemental immunity {ELH} |
| 28th | 240,001–260,000 | boots of swiftness {ELH} |
| 29th | 260,001–280,000 | staff of mighty force {ELH} |
| 30th | 280,001–300,000 | mantle of epic spell resistance {ELH} |
For items with market prices above 80,000 gp—that is, item levels of 20th and above—the item level can be calculated with the formula below, which follows the progression in the table above:
Where L is the item level, P is the market price, and ceiling() is a function that rounds the quotient up to the nearest integer.
Spell-storing magic items—primarily potions and wands—have names that simply reflect the spell stored within them, such as a wand of fireball or potion of haste. In the game world, these may be replaced by more sophisticated or evocative names. The straightforward names of spell-storing items also distinguish them from more powerful items with more interesting names such as the staff of power, the robe of the archmagi, or a holy avenger sword.
Magic armor is a common but vital item. In general, it protects the wearer to a greater extent than nonmagical armor. Magic armor bonuses are enhancement bonuses, never rise above +5 (unless it is epic armor), and stack with regular armor bonuses (and with shield and magic shield enhancement bonuses). All magic armor is also masterwork armor, reducing armor check penalties by 1.
In addition to an enhancement bonus, armor may have magical properties, such as the ability to resist critical hits or to help the wearer hide. Properties count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of an item, but do not improve AC. A suit of armor with an effective bonus (enhancement plus property bonus equivalents) higher than +10 is considered epic level and usually outside the reach of characters less than 21st level; see Epic Armor for details.
A suit of armor with a magical property must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.
A suit of armor or a shield may be made of an unusual material, such as adamantine or mithral (see Special Materials).
Armor is always created so that even if the type of armor comes with boots or gauntlets, these pieces can be switched for other magic boots or gauntlets.
Caster Level for Armor and Shields: The caster level of a magic shield or magic armor with a property is given in the item description. For an item with only an enhancement bonus, the caster level is three times the enhancement bonus. If an item has both an enhancement bonus and one or more properties, the higher of all of the caster level requirements must be met.
Shields: Shield enhancement bonuses stack with armor enhancement bonuses, so that a +1 heavy steel shield and +1 chainmail grant a total bonus of +9 to AC. Shield enhancement bonuses do not act as attack or damage bonuses when the shield is used in a bash. The bashing property, however, does grant a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls (see the property description). You could, in fact, build a shield that also acted as a magic weapon, but the cost of the enhancement bonus on attack rolls would need to be added into the cost of the shield and its enhancement bonus to AC. For example, a +1 buckler with +1 shield spikes would cost 3,475 gp (15 gp for the basic buckler, 150 to make it masterwork, 1,000 for the +1 bonus to AC, 10 gp for the spikes, 300 to make them masterwork, and 2,000 to make the spikes a +1 weapon).
As with armor, properties built into the shield add to the market value in the form of additions to the bonus of the shield, although they do not improve AC. A shield with an effective bonus (enhancement plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +10 is considered an epic shield; these are usually considered outside the reach of characters less than 21st level.
A shield with a property must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.
Shield Hardness and Hit Points: Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to a shield’s hardness and +10 to its hit points. For example, a +3 heavy steel shield has hardness 16 and 50 hp. (See the Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points table for common shield hardness and hit points.)
Activation: Usually a character benefits from magic armor and shields in exactly the way a character benefits from nonmagical armor and shields—by wearing them. If armor or a shield has a magical property that the user needs to activate (such as with an animated shield), then the user usually needs to utter the command word (a standard action). The property description will tell the exact activation method required.
As magic items go, magic weapons are a staple of all campaigns. Magic weapons have enhancement bonuses ranging from +1 to +5. (Beyond that, they are epic weapons typically only available to 21st level or higher characters.) They apply these bonuses to both attack and damage rolls when used in combat. All magic weapons are also masterwork weapons, but their masterwork bonus on attack rolls does not stack with their enhancement bonus on attack rolls. Weapons come in two basic categories: melee and ranged. Some of the weapons listed as melee weapons (for example, daggers) can also be used as ranged weapons. In this case, their enhancement bonus applies to either type of attack. In addition to an enhancement bonus, weapons may have properties, such as the ability to flame or the ability to attack on their own. Properties count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses (except where specifically noted, as with weapons with the bane property). A single weapon with a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus property bonus equivalents) higher than +10 is considered an epic weapon and generally outside the reach of characters lower than 21st level.
A weapon with a property must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus (to attack and damage rolls).
A weapon or a kind of ammunition may be made of an unusual material to enhance its effectiveness. See Special Materials for details.
Caster Level for Weapons: The caster level of a weapon with a property is given in the property description. For an item with only an enhancement bonus and no other abilities, the caster level is three times the enhancement bonus. If an item has both an enhancement bonus and at least one property, the highest of the caster level requirements must be met.
Additional Damage Dice: Some magic weapons deal additional dice of damage. Unlike other modifiers to damage, additional dice of damage are not multiplied when the attacker scores a critical hit.
Ranged Weapons and Ammunition: The enhancement bonus from a ranged weapon does not stack with the enhancement bonus from ammunition. Only the higher of the two enhancement bonuses applies.
Ammunition fired from a projectile weapon with an enhancement bonus of +1 or higher is treated as a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For example, a sling stone hurled from a +1 sling is treated as a magic weapon. Similarly, ammunition fired from a projectile weapon with an alignment (such as a +1 holy longbow or a masterwork crossbow under the effect of the align weapon spell) gains the alignment of that projectile weapon (in addition to any alignment it may already have). For example, a +1 unholy arrow fired from a +2 anarchic shortbow would be both evil-aligned and chaos-aligned (the former from its own unholy property, the latter from the shortbow).
Magic Ammunition and Breakage: When a magic arrow, crossbow bolt, or sling bullet misses its target, there is a 50% chance it breaks or otherwise is rendered useless. A magic arrow, bolt, or bullet that hits is destroyed.
Light Generation: Fully 30% of magic weapons shed light equivalent to a light spell (bright light in a 20-foot radius, shadowy light in a 40-foot radius). These glowing weapons are quite obviously magical. Such a weapon can’t be concealed when drawn, nor can its light be shut off. Some of the specific weapons detailed below always or never glow, as defined in their descriptions.
Hardness and Hit Points: An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck. Each +1 of enhancement bonus also adds 1 to the weapon’s or shield’s hardness and hit points. (See the Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points table for common weapon ardness and hit points.)
Activation: Usually a character benefits from a magic weapon in the same way a character benefits from a mundane weapon—by attacking with it. If a weapon has a property that the user needs to activate (such as the sunlight power of a sun blade), then the user usually needs to utter a command word (a standard action). Weapon property descriptions and specific weapon descriptions will include any activation methods.
Magic Weapons and Critical Hits: Some weapon properties and some specific weapons have an extra effect on a critical hit. A flaming burst weapon, for example, does extra fire damage on a critical hit. This special effect functions against creatures not subject to critical hits, such as undead, elementals, and constructs. When fighting against such creatures, roll for critical hits as you would against humanoids or any other creature subject to critical hits. On a successful critical roll, apply the special effect, but do not multiply the weapon’s regular damage. For example, if a fighter rolls a natural 20 on his attack roll against an iron golem when using a mace of smiting, he rolls again. If he rolls high enough to hit the iron golem’s AC, then he does not apply double damage. Instead, he destroys the construct outright.
An augment crystal is a small gem, crystal, or similar object that provides a magical effect when affixed to a weapon, shield, or suit of armor (or any other magic item that grants an armor bonus to AC, such as bracers of armor). Each item can hold a single augment crystal, but an attached crystal can be swapped for another one at any time. Attaching an augment crystal to (or removing it from) an item requires a move action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. Effectively, each eligible item has a single “slot” that can be filled by any appropriate augment crystal. Each augment crystal’s Body Slot entry gives the appropriate item to which it can be attached.
Augment crystals are ranked as least, lesser, or greater. (Any crystal without a rank is considered a least augment crystal.) The rank not only describes the relative power level of the crystal’s effect, but also the minimum required quality or enhancement bonus of the armor, shield, or weapon for the crystal to function:
Only the item’s attack and damage enhancement bonus (for weapon crystals) or enhancement bonus to AC (for armor and shield crystals) applies, not its “effective” bonus; for example, a +1 keen holy flaming burst longsword won’t allow a greater augment crystal to function, since its actual attack and damage bonus is only +1.
See the Weapon Augment Crystals table and the Armor and Shield Crystals table for more information.
A potion is a magic liquid that produces its effect when imbibed. Magic oils are similar to potions, except that oils are applied externally rather than imbibed. A potion or oil can be used only once. It can duplicate the effect of a spell of up to 3rd level that has a casting time of less than 1 minute.
Potions are like spells cast upon the imbiber. The character taking the potion doesn’t get to make any decisions about the effect—the caster who brewed the potion has already done so. For example, a potion of protection from energy is always designed to protect against a specific energy type chosen by the creator, not the drinker. The drinker of a potion is both the effective target and the caster of the effect (though the potion indicates the caster level, the drinker still controls the effect, such as with levitate).
The person applying an oil is the effective caster, but the object is the target. When a character applies oil of speak with dead, the character is the one asking the questions.
Physical Description: A typical potion or oil consists of 1 ounce of liquid held in a ceramic or glass vial fitted with a tight stopper. The stoppered container is usually no more than 1 inch wide and 2 inches high. The vial has AC 13, 1 hit point, hardness 1, and a break DC of 12. Vials hold 1 ounce of liquid.
Identifying Potions: In addition to the standard methods of identification, PCs can sample from each container they find to attempt to determine the nature of the liquid inside. An experienced character learns to identify potions by memory—for example, the last time she tasted a liquid that reminded her of almonds, it turned out to be a potion of cure moderate wounds. (You can reward players who keep records of potion sampling by always having the same type of potion taste the same—or you can cross them up by occasionally having the almond-flavored potion be something other than a potion of cure moderate wounds.)
Activation: Drinking a potion or applying an oil requires no special skill. The user merely removes the stopper and swallows the potion or smears on the oil. The following rules govern potion and oil use.
Drinking a potion or using an oil on an item of gear is a standard action. The potion or oil takes effect immediately. Using a potion or oil provokes attacks of opportunity. A successful attack (including grappling attacks) against the character forces a Concentration check (as for casting a spell). If the character fails this check, she cannot drink the potion. An enemy may direct an attack of opportunity against the potion or oil container rather than against the character. A successful attack of this sort can destroy the container (see Smashing an Object).
A creature must be able to swallow a potion or smear on an oil. Because of this, incorporeal creatures cannot use potions or oils.
Any corporeal creature can imbibe a potion. The potion must be swallowed. Any corporeal creature can use an oil.
A character can carefully administer a potion to an unconscious creature as a full-round action, trickling the liquid down the creature’s throat. Likewise, it takes a full-round action to apply an oil to an unconscious creature.
Because standard potions are simply spells in liquid form, refer to the spell description for all pertinent details. The caster level for a standard potion is the minimum caster level needed to cast the spell (unless otherwise specified).
Rings bestow magical powers upon their wearers. Only a rare few have charges. Anyone can use a ring. A character can only effectively wear two magic rings. A third magic ring doesn’t work if the wearer is already wearing two magic rings.
Physical Description: Rings have no appreciable weight. Although exceptions exist that are crafted from glass or bone, the vast majority of rings are forged from metal—usually precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum. A ring has AC 13, 2 hit points, hardness 10, and a break DC of 25.
Activation: Usually, a ring’s ability is activated by a command word (a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity) or it works continually. Some rings have exceptional activation methods, according to their descriptions.
Special Qualities: Roll d%. A result of 01 indicates the ring is intelligent, 02–31 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to its function, and 32–100 indicates no special qualities. Intelligent items have extra abilities and sometimes extraordinary powers and special purposes. Use Table 7–30: Item Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Capabilities as indicated if a ring is intelligent. Rings with charges can never be intelligent.
Rods are scepterlike devices that have unique magical powers and do not usually have charges. Anyone can use a rod.
Physical Description: Rods weigh approximately 5 pounds. They range from 2 feet to 3 feet long and are usually made of iron or some other metal. (Many, as noted in their descriptions, can function as light maces or clubs due to their sturdy construction.) These sturdy items have AC 9, 10 hit points, hardness 10, and a break DC of 27.
Activation: Details relating to rod use vary from item to item. See the individual descriptions for specifics.
Special Qualities: Roll d%. A 01 result indicates the rod is intelligent, 02–31 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to its function, and 32–100 indicates no special qualities. Intelligent items have extra abilities and sometimes extraordinary powers and special purposes. Use Table 7–30: Item Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Capabilities as indicated if a rod is intelligent. Rods with charges can never be intelligent.
Metamagic rods hold the essence of a metamagic feat but do not change the spell slot of the altered spell. All the rods described here are use-activated (but casting spells in a threatened area still draws an attack of opportunity). A caster may only use one metamagic rod on any given spell, but it is permissible to combine a rod with metamagic feats possessed by the rod’s wielder. In this case, only the feats possessed by the wielder adjust the spell slot of the spell being cast.
Possession of a metamagic rod does not confer the associated feat on the owner, only the ability to use the given feat a specified number of times per day. A spontaneous spellcaster such as a sorcerer or bard still must take a full-round action when using a metamagic rod, just as if using a metamagic feat he possesses.
Lesser and Greater Metamagic Rods: Normal metamagic rods can be used with spells of 6th level or lower. Lesser rods can be used with spells of 3rd level or lower, while greater rods can be used with spells of 9th level or lower.
A scroll is a spell (or collection of spells) that has been stored in written form. A spell on a scroll can be used only once. The writing vanishes from the scroll when the spell is activated. Using a scroll is basically like casting a spell.
Physical Description: A scroll is a heavy sheet of fine vellum or high-quality paper. An area the size of a piece of modern-day notebook paper (about 8½ inches wide and 11 inches long) is sufficient to hold one spell. The sheet is reinforced at the top and bottom with strips of leather slightly longer than the sheet is wide. A scroll holding more than one spell has the same width (about 8½ inches) but is an extra foot or so long for each extra spell. Scrolls that hold three or more spells are usually fitted with reinforcing rods at each end rather than simple strips of leather. A scroll has AC 9, 1 hit point, hardness 0, and a break DC of 8.
To protect it from wrinkling or tearing, a scroll is rolled up from both ends to form a double cylinder. (This also helps the user unroll the scroll quickly.) The scroll is placed in a tube of ivory, jade, leather, metal, or wood. Most scroll cases are inscribed with magic symbols (see the arcane mark spell), which often identify the owner or the spells stored on the scrolls inside. The symbols often hide magic traps such as glyph of warding or fire trap spells.
Activation: To activate a scroll, a spellcaster must read the spell written on it. Doing so involves several steps and conditions.
Decipher the Writing: The writing on a scroll must be deciphered before a character can use it or know exactly what spell it contains. This requires a read magic spell or a successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spell level).
Deciphering a scroll to determine its contents does not activate its magic unless it is a specially prepared cursed scroll. A character can decipher the writing on a scroll in advance so that he or she can proceed directly to the next step when the time comes to use the scroll.
Activate the Spell: Activating a scroll requires reading the spell from the scroll. The character must be able to see and read the writing on the scroll. Activating a scroll spell requires no material components or focus. (The creator of the scroll provided these when scribing the scroll.) Note that some spells are effective only when cast on an item or items (for example, instant summons and snare). In such a case, the scroll user must provide the item when activating the spell. Activating a scroll spell is subject to disruption just as casting a normally prepared spell would be (see Cast a Spell). Using a scroll is like casting a spell for purposes of arcane spell failure chance (such as from armor).
To have any chance of activating a scroll spell, the scroll user must meet the following requirements.
If the user meets all the requirements noted above, and her caster level is at least equal to the spell’s caster level, she can automatically activate the spell without a check. If she meets all three requirements but her own caster level is lower than the scroll spell’s caster level, then she has to make a caster level check (DC = scroll’s caster level + 1) to cast the spell successfully. If she fails, she must make a DC 5 Wisdom check to avoid a mishap (see Scroll Mishaps, below). A natural roll of 1 always fails, whatever the modifiers.
Determine Effect: A spell successfully activated from a scroll works exactly like a spell prepared and cast the normal way. Assume the scroll spell’s caster level is always the minimum level required to cast the spell for the character who scribed the scroll (usually twice the spell’s level, minus 1), unless the caster specifically desires otherwise. For example, a 10th-level cleric might want to create a cure critical wounds scroll at caster level 10th rather than the minimum for the spell (caster level 7th), in order to get more benefit from the scroll spell. (This scroll would, however, be more costly to scribe.)
The writing for an activated spell disappears from the scroll.
Scroll Mishaps: When a mishap occurs, the spell on the scroll has a reversed or harmful effect. The DM determines what sort of mishap occurs, either by deciding on a certain effect to fit the circumstances of the encounter or adventure or by choosing from the possibilities given below.
A staff is a long shaft of wood that stores several spells. Unlike wands, which can contain a wide variety of spells, each staff is of a certain kind and holds specific spells. A staff has 50 charges when created.
Physical Description: A typical staff is 4 feet to 7 feet long and 2 inches to 3 inches thick, weighing about 5 pounds. Most staffs are wood, but a rare few are bone, metal, or even glass. (These are extremely exotic.) Staffs often have a gem or some device at their tip or are shod in metal at one or both ends. Staffs are often decorated with carvings or runes. A typical staff is like a walking stick, quarterstaff, or cudgel. It has AC 7, 10 hit points, hardness 5, and a break DC of 24.
Activation: Staffs use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a staff is usually a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. (If the spell being cast, however, has a longer casting time than 1 standard action, it takes that long to cast the spell from a staff.) To activate a staff, a character must hold it forth in at least one hand (or whatever passes for a hand, for nonhumanoid creatures).
Special Qualities: Roll d%. A 01–30 result indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides some clue to the staff ’s function, and 31–100 indicates no special qualities.
Staffs have immense utility because they pack so many capabilities into one item and they use the wielder’s ability score and relevant feats to set the DC for saves against their spells. Unlike with other sorts of magic items, the wielder can use his caster level when activating the power of a staff if it’s higher than the caster level of the staff.
This means that staffs are far more potent in the hands of a powerful spellcaster. Because they use the wielder’s ability score to set the save DC for the spell, spells from a staff are often harder to resist than ones from other magic items, which use the minimum ability score required to cast the spell. Not only are aspects of the spell dependent on caster level (range, duration, and so on) potentially higher, but spells from a staff are harder to dispel and have a better chance of overcoming a target’s spell resistance (especially if the wielder has the Spell Penetration feat).
Furthermore, a staff can hold a spell of any level, unlike a wand, which is limited to spells of 4th level or lower. The minimum caster level of a staff is 8th.
Standard staffs are described in the Staffs list.
A runestaff allows its wielder to use her own arcane energy to generate magical effects. Typically, a runestaff has anywhere from two to five spells. By expending a prepared arcane spell or arcane spell slot, the wielder can cast a spell of the same level or lower from the runestaff’s list, as long as that spell also appears on the wielder’s class spell list. The spell is treated exactly as if the wielder cast the spell herself, including caster level, save DC, and any other effects related to the spell. Unless stated otherwise in the runestaff’s description, each spell can be cast from a runestaff three times per day.
Example: A wizard wields a runestaff of frost, which holds ice storm, wall of ice, and cone of cold. She can sacrifice a prepared dimension door (a 4th-level spell) to cast either ice storm or wall of ice, since those are 4th-level wizard spells. If she sacrificed a prepared teleport (a 5th-level spell), she could cast any of the staff’s three spells (since they are all 5th level or lower on the wizard spell list).
Example: A hexblade could sacrifice a 2nd-level spell slot to cast suggestion from a runestaff of enchantment, since that’s a 2nd-level hexblade spell. He couldn’t use the staff’s crushing despair, mind fog, or mass suggestion spells, since those aren’t on the hexblade spell list.
Attunement: In order to use a runestaff, you must attune yourself to it as part of your preparation or readying of arcane spells. You can’t attune yourself to more than one runestaff at a time; attuning yourself to a second runestaff breaks your previous attunement.
Activating a runestaff (that is, casting a spell from it) is almost like casting the spell yourself, including casting time and even provoking attacks of opportunity. You must supply any components or costs normally required by the spell cast from the runestaff, just as if you had cast it yourself.
A domain staff allows its wielder to use his own divine energy to generate magical effects. Each domain staff holds the nine spells associated with a particular cleric domain. By expending a prepared divine spell or divine spell slot, the wielder can “cast” a spell of the same level or lower from the runestaff’s list, as long as that spell also appears on the wielder’s divine class spell list (including his domain lists, if any). Treat the domain spell as a spell of its level in the domain, even if it appears on your spell list at a different level. The spell is treated exactly as if the wielder cast the spell himself, including caster level, save DC, and any other effects related to the spell. Each spell can be cast from a domain staff once per day.
In order to use a domain staff, you must attune yourself to it as part of your preparation or readying of divine spells. You can’t attune yourself to more than one domain staff at a time; attuning yourself to a second domain staff breaks your previous attunement.
Activating a domain staff (that is, casting a spell from it) is almost exactly like casting the spell yourself, including casting time and even provoking attacks of opportunity. You must supply any components or costs normally required by the spell cast from the domain staff, just as if you had cast it yourself.
You can apply the effect of metamagic feats that you know to spells from a domain staff, but you must expend a spell whose level equals or exceeds the adjusted level of the affected spell.
A small selection of domain staffs is presented here, and any other domain staff can easily be created. All domain staffs have the same price, item level, body slot, caster level, aura strength, activation, weight, and cost to create. The prerequisites include Craft Staff and access to all spells of the selected domain.
A wand is a thin baton that contains a single spell of 4th level or lower. Each wand has 50 charges when created, and each charge expended allows the user to use the wand’s spell one time. A wand that runs out of charges is just a stick.
Physical Description: A typical wand is 6 inches to 12 inches long and about ¼ inch thick, and often weighs no more than 1 ounce. Most wands are wood, but some are bone. A rare few are metal, glass, or even ceramic, but these are quite exotic. Occasionally, a wand has a gem or some device at its tip, and most are decorated with carvings or runes. A typical wand has AC 7, 5 hit points, hardness 5, and a break DC of 16.
Activation: Wands use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a wand is usually a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. (If the spell being cast, however, has a longer casting time than 1 action, it takes that long to cast the spell from a wand.) To activate a wand, a character must hold it in hand (or whatever passes for a hand, for nonhumanoid creatures) and point it in the general direction of the target or area. A wand may be used while grappling or while swallowed whole.
Special Qualities: Roll d%. A 01–30 result indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides some clue to the wand’s function, and 31–100 indicates no special qualities.
All wands are simply storage devices for spells and thus have no special descriptions. Refer to the spell descriptions for all pertinent details.
This is a catch-all category for anything that doesn’t fall into the other groups. Anyone can use a wondrous item (unless specified otherwise in the description).
Physical Description: Varies.
Activation: Usually use activated or command word, but details vary from item to item.
Special Qualities: Roll d%. An 01 result indicates the wondrous item is intelligent, 02–31 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to its function, and 32–100 indicates no special qualities. Intelligent items have extra abilities and sometimes extraordinary powers and special purposes. Use Table 7–30: Item Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Capabilities as indicated if a wondrous item is intelligent. Wondrous items with charges can never be intelligent.
Wondrous items can be configured to do just about anything from create a breeze to improve ability scores. Standard wondrous items are described in the Wondrous Items list.
A relic is a magic item—often, but not always, a wondrous item—that functions only when worn or held by a character who believes in the deity to whom the relic is dedicated. That character must devote a measure of spiritual energy to keep open a divine connection between the relic he wields and his deity’s power.
The wielder of a relic can establish the divine connection in two ways. Any divine spellcaster such as a cleric, druid, or paladin of the relevant deity can temporarily sacrifice a spell slot of the level specified in the relic’s description; the divine spellcaster can’t use the spell slot anymore, but he can use the relic. Whenever the cleric or druid prepares spells (or each morning in the case of a spontaneous divine caster such as the favored soul), he decides whether or not he wants to keep the divine connection to the relic active.
Whether they’re clerics or not, believers can wield relics if they have the True Believer feat and are high enough character level that if they were a cleric, they would have a spell slot high enough to sacrifice, activating the divine connection to the relic.
For example, a 9th-level cleric finds himself in possession of a dawnstar relic. At dawn he can sacrifice a 4th-level spell slot to use the dawnstar for the day instead. Or he can prepare a 4th-level spell instead, choosing not to use the magic of the dawnstar.
If a paladin has the True Believer feat and worships Pelor, she can use the dawnstar as long as she’s 7th level or higher, because that’s the level she’d first have a 4th-level spell slot if she were a cleric or druid. If the cleric had the True Believer feat, he could likewise use the dawnstar at 7th level or higher, and he wouldn’t have to give up a spell slot to do so.
Relics are generally not available for purchase, nor will PCs trying to sell them automatically find a buyer. They are much more rare than other magic items; usually less than a half-dozen copies of each relic exist. Secondly, they’re tied so tightly to worship of a particular deity, so only a very few characters can use them.
The descriptions in the Relic list show market prices for each relic, but those prices are listed to help the DM design appropriate treasure for the NPCs in the campaign—you’ll never find a price tag on a relic. Some churches might offer a finder’s fee or other gifts equivalent to half the market price if the PCs return a lost relic to them. But such a situation could be role-played, because the deal depends greatly on the relationship between the church and the specific PCs who’ve acquired the relic.
The many of the relics in the Relics list are based on the deities of the core D&D (Grayhawk) pantheon, but they don’t have to be. Moradin’s axe of ancestral virtue works just as well for a deity of the dwarves you’ve created yourself—or any warlike but good deity, for that matter.
If you create your own relic, price them like you would any other magic item, but give them a discount based on the spell slot a cleric must sacrifice to use them. A discount worth 400 × spell slot level × minimum cleric level is a good starting place. Relics tend to be somewhat more complex than standard magic items. Many have magical effects that no spell duplicates exactly, giving them the feel of “artifacts on the cheap.”
A contingent spell is a single-use, one-spell magical effect instilled within a specific willing creature. It doesn’t take up space on the body or have a physical form, and it remains inactive until triggered (similar to the effect created by a contingency spell). Once triggered, a contingent spell takes immediate effect upon the bearer (or is centered in the bearer’s square if the spell affects an area). A character must have the Craft Contingent Spell feat to create contingent spells.
Triggers for contingent spells are usually events that happen to the bearer of the spell, and can include death, contracting disease, exposure to a breath weapon or to energy damage, falling, exposure to poison, exposure to a dangerous environment (trapped by fire, plunged underwater, and so forth), succumbing to sleep or fear effects, gaining negative levels, or being rendered helpless, deafened, or blinded.
The market price of a contingent spell is spell level × caster level × 100 gp. A contingent spell must be prepared in the presence of the person to bear it, and the bearer is subject to the same restrictions as the creator (unable to cast any other spells while the contingent spell is being prepared, must be present for 8 hours each day, and so on). Once assigned to a bearer, a contingent spell cannot be transferred to another creature, although it can be destroyed (see below). A contingent spell is tied to the bearer’s body, alive or dead, and stories circulate among adventurers of contingent spells remaining quiet for hundreds of years on a slain bearer’s remains, only to suddenly activate when the proper trigger condition arises.
If the bearer of a contingent spell is the target of dispel magic, the contingent spell might be permanently dispelled (but not triggered), as if it were an active spell in effect on the target creature. In an antimagic field, contingent spells are temporarily suppressed as all other magic items are.
At any one time, a creature can bear a number of contingent spells equal to its Hit Dice. Attempts to apply additional contingent spells beyond this limit simply fail.
Amid the graves of his ancestors, a goliath shaman calls her tribe’s most powerful warrior back from the dead. At the gates of a besieged dwarf city, a knot of heavily armored defenders stands against impossible odds, their arms and hearts strengthened by the stone on which they stand. In a peaceful glade in the center of his village, a gnome minstrel blends magic and song into one seamless whole. Drawing on the power of the rune circles on which they stand, these heroes reach beyond their own limits and accomplish amazing tasks with the help of the earth itself.
Rune circles are special places infused with magical power. They might grant spellcasters additional power and proficiency with their spells, make warriors faster or stronger, or cause any number of other powerful effects. Although dwarf, gnome, and goliath spellcasters are more likely than others to create rune circles, spellcasters of any race can do so. While they resemble wondrous magic items in many ways, important differences exist between rune circles and traditional magic items, and rune circles should be treated more as environmental elements than as magic items.
Sample rune circles can be found in the Rune Circle list. See Creating a Rune Circle for rules on making them.
A rune circle covers an area determined at the time of its creation. Any eligible creature standing within this area gains the benefit of the rune circle’s magic, with no activation or other action required on the part of the creature to be affected. Rune circles can (and often do) affect more than one creature at a time.
Characters who are not eligible to benefit from a rune circle can use the Use Magic Device skill to attempt to gain the benefit of a rune circle (by emulating a race, for instance) just as they can for any other magic item.
Rune circles are not traps, and they cannot be found with the Search skill in the same way that traps can, nor can they be disarmed with Disable Device checks. Normally, rune circles are plainly visible on the floor or ground where they are made. However, a rune circle covered by brush or similarly hidden can be found with the Search skill, just like any other object. This means, for example, that should a circle be hidden so well that the DC to find it is higher than 20, nonrogues can still find it provided that they beat the required DC.
The magic of rune circles is imbedded in mystical symbols, and a skilled character can decipher at least some of the meaning of those symbols if given time to study them. See Spellcraft for details on identifying the effects of a rune circle.
An active rune circle can change the mechanics of a combat encounter or the feel of a roleplaying encounter. Heroes might fight their way through an abandoned dwarf citadel filled with monsters to gain access to an ancient and powerful rune circle, or they might quest for rare components needed to build a rune circle in their new fortress. In a war-torn campaign setting, the loss of another gnome village becomes a more telling blow against the side of good because of the powerful chanting circle in the village’s center. In a decadent city, cultists cover a rune circle of terrible evil with the stalls and trappings of a market place, slowly warping the minds and bodies of all who frequent the bazaar. However you decide to use them, rune circles have the potential to affect campaigns in a way that few other magic items can. Because rune circles are stationary, the creatures in your campaign world must move around or to them, unlike with other magic items.
Rune circles can be used for many purposes. They can be part of a character’s fortress, a flavorful addition to a dwarf stronghold or a goliath village, the goal of a quest, a nearly invisible tool, or merely an interesting addition to an encounter. Knowing what part a rune circle is going to play in the campaign can make working it into an adventure much easier. Regardless of whether the circle is part of a passing encounter or a permanent fixture in one of the central locations of the campaign, there are some concerns involving the placement and use of rune circles that every Dungeon Master should keep in mind.
Rune Circles as Treasure: Deciding whether or not rune circles count as party treasure can be tricky. On one hand, if the PCs clear the monsters out of a stronghold that contains a rune circle and set up a permanent base of operations, they undoubtedly gain some benefit from the circle’s presence, and they should pay an appropriate amount for that benefit. On the other hand, if the PCs simply pass through an area that contains a rune circle, use its powers once, and then note its existence for later use, it’s probably not worth it to them to “buy” the rune circle or fair for the DM to count its value against the treasure gained from the adventure. The simplest way to adjudicate this is to pay attention to the price of a rune circle only when a character wants to include one in a permanent base; otherwise, ignore the rune circle’s value when calculating treasure.
Flavor: Because rune circles are tied to the location where they are created, they can be tremendous tools for changing the flavor and atmosphere of a special location. As the Dungeon Master, you should play this up by placing flavor-based restrictions or boons on the use of the circle. For example, restricting a rune circle to members of a single race limits the power of the rune circle, but makes it a more integral and flavorful part of the community that created it. Unless the circle in question is in a location crucial to the campaign, it’s unlikely that such a restriction significantly alters the PCs’ ability to make use of its powers.
One alternate approach is to limit the creation of rune circles to a specific race. If goliath shamans are the only spellcasters capable of creating rune circles, both the circles and the spellcasters themselves seem a little more mysterious. This level of exclusion is not right for every campaign, but it is one way that a DM can make the magic of one race feel significantly different from that of another.
Rune Circles and Crafting Items: Making other magic items inside rune circles is interesting from a flavor standpoint, but DMs should be careful of allowing players to manufacture items for less than the normal cost for game balance reasons. For example, a character creating a wand of fireballs inside a rune circle that increases his caster level would get the increased level. This use of the circle is fine, as long as the wand’s price is calculated using the adjusted caster level. If the wizard in the above example is 5th level and creates the wand in a rune circle that adds three to his caster level, he must pay the XP and raw materials cost for making an 8th-level wand.
This rule is consistent with the flavor of the rune circle: A spellcaster is capable of casting more potent versions of his spells and can imbue that potency into items that he creates. However, imbuing an item with the more powerful version of the spell still requires the character to put more of his essence (XP) into the creation process.
Damaging Rune Circles: Rune circles are not objects themselves. Rather, they are symbols magically etched on the floor. Rune circles have hardness and hit points equal to a 3-inch-thick piece of the material on which they are inscribed. As magic items, they can be suppressed by dispel magic and similar effects but not destroyed by them.
Multiple Rune Circles: You cannot create a rune circle in any location where another already exists.
Rune Circles and Encounter Level: Rune circles with the right powers can affect the difficulty of an encounter. For example, overcoming a group of trolls fighting within the confines of a rune circle that grants them immunity to fire is a tougher challenge than fighting the trolls under normal conditions. If you design an encounter that includes a rune circle, Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide provides some advice on how conditional modifiers such as location and terrain can make encounters more or less difficult. Beyond that, it’s only in extreme cases when the monster clearly benefits (the trolls in the above example lose one of their two vulnerabilities) from the rune circle and the PCs have no chance to benefit (none of the trolls attack with fire) that the DM needs to adjust the CR of the foes because of a rune circle’s presence.
The craft of creating skull talismans was originally pioneered by the primitive races that live in the frostfell. Potions tend to freeze in the cruel temperatures of the frostfell, so the skull talisman was invented to provide a replacement.
A skull talisman can be used only once. The size of the creature’s skull used in creation of the talisman determines the maximum level of spell that can be stored in it. A Small skull can store a spell of up to 3rd level. A Medium Skull can store a spell of up to 6th level. A Large skull can store a spell of up to 9th level. Only spells that target one or more creatures can be stored in a skull talisman.
Physical Description: A skull talisman appears as the rune-covered skull of a creature of at least Small size; usually talismans are made of animal skulls, but particularly savage tribes and cruel individuals enjoy making them from their slain enemies.
A Small skull talisman has AC 7, 5 hit points, hardness 2, and a break DC of 20. A Medium skull talisman has AC 5, 10 hit points, hardness 5, and a break DC of 25. A Large skull talisman has AC 4, 25 hit points, hardness 10, and a break DC of 30. A skull talisman carried by a creature has the same effective AC as the creature carrying it. A creature that con trols possession of a skull talisman can automatically break it with one hand by taking a standard action to do so; the AC and break DCs listed above are for those who try to strike or break an unattended skull talisman or a skull talisman held by another creature.
Identifying Skull Talismans: A skull talisman is covered with mystical runes and magic symbols; the exact spell stored in a skull talisman can be determined with a successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spell level); a read magic spell identifies the stored spell automatically.
Activation: A skull talisman produces its effect when it is purposefully destroyed by crushing it, either by smashing it with a weapon or crushing it in one hand. The stored spell affects the person who destroyed it. If you have a skull talisman in your uncontested possession, you can automatically destroy it by crushing it with your hand, foot, or body. This is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If you do not have a skull talisman in your possession, you can destroy it by dealing enough damage to it. In order to gain the effects of a spell stored in a skull talisman, the skull must be within 5 feet of you when it is broken; otherwise, the stored spell dissipates harmlessly.
Skull talismans are like spells cast upon the one who destroys the talisman. The character destroying the skull talisman doesn’t get to make any decisions about the effect—the creator of the talisman has already done so. The destroyer is both the effective target and the caster of the effect (though the skull talisman indicates the caster level, the destroyer still controls the effect).
Skull Talisman Descriptions: Because skull talismans are simply spells stored in a magically prepared skull, refer to the appropriate spell description for all pertinent details. The caster level for a standard skull talisman is the minimum caster level needed to cast the spell.
Example: A skull talisman containing the endure elements spell would be called a skull talisman of endure elements and have a caster level of 1, the lowest level that can cast endure elements.
Mahgren Dragonchild paused before the enormous tome, calming the butterflies in his stomach. This was his prize, his dream, the reason he had betrayed his sire. There were secrets Kraagothial had refused to share; those secrets were Mahgren's birthright, and now he had them. The ancient blue dragon had sneered when questioned about the legends of dragon scales, sneered when Mahgren begged for a boon from his draconic father. Now the dragon's grin was a rictus, his long tongue dangling out, a moist landing place for flies He would sneer at his half-dragon son no more. Mahgren took a deep breath and opened the book…
The secrets of dweomered dragon scales are jealously guarded by their draconic creators. However, such hidden lore sets adventurers into motion, so the descriptions that follow include creation details to aid you when you finally reveal those secrets to the PCs. Once the process is known, creating a dweomered dragon scale can become an adventure in itself.
Dweomered dragon scales can come from any kind of dragon, though each variety tends to have its own particular flavor. Most dweomered scales from chromatic dragons deal with the energies associated with those creatures—fire, cold, electricity, and acid—but others mimic their many spell-like abilities.
Crafters tend to use scales from metallic dragons to fashion magic items that don't involve elements and energies so directly. Even so, each dweomered dragon scale has powers deeply associated with the metallic dragon scale used Io create the item.
The lung dragons from Oriental Adventures and the dragons native to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting have varied and unique abilities, and magic items crafted from the scales of these creatures are similarly wondrous and unusual.
In practical terms, dweomered dragon scales are like any other magic item—they just use a dragon scale in their construction. Most but not all of them are wondrous items. For this reason, they will be placed in the regular magic item lists appropriate to the item creation feat used to make them. The descriptive text is altered (more than usual to fit it to Magic Item Compendium standards) to indicate that a particular item uses (or is) a dweomered dragon scale.
Normally, the creator of a dweomered dragon scale simply purchases the scale as part of the gold piece creation cost of the item. This cost assumes that the creator uses many rare components while shaping the magic item and represents the in vestment of time and money required to acquire them. However, you can add more flavor to these magic items by adding different requirements to the creation process, such as the following.
The misty past holds many secrets. Great wizards and powerful clerics, not to mention the deities themselves, have used spells and created items that are beyond the ken of present-day knowledge. These items survive as artifacts, but their means of creation are long gone.
Artifacts are extremely powerful. Rather than merely another form of magic equipment, they are the sorts of legendary relics that whole campaigns can be based on. Each could be the center of a whole set of adventures—a quest to recover it, a fight against a opponent wielding it, a mission to cause its destruction, and so on.
No table has been included to randomly generate specific artifacts, since these items should only enter a campaign through deliberate choice on your part.
Minor artifacts are not necessarily unique items. Even so, they are magic items that no longer can be created, at least by common mortal means.
Listed below is a selection of the most well-known (not necessarily the most numerous) minor artifacts.
Major artifacts are unique items—only one of each such item exists. Each has a long history, and the tales told of them are fantastic…and usually fraught with error and misconception. Major artifacts are secretive things, their current whereabouts unknown, waiting to be found and once again unleashed upon the world.
Never introduce a major artifact into a campaign without careful consideration. These are the most potent of magic items, capable of altering the balance of a campaign.
Unlike all other magic items, major artifacts are not easily destroyed. Each should have only a single, specific means of destruction, determined ahead of time by you. For example, a specific artifact might be undone by one of the following means:
Because the means of destruction of a major artifact are so difficult, such an item is often buried in a deep vault, thrown into the Astral Plane, or placed behind extremely powerful and untiring guardians by those without the power, knowledge, or wherewithal to destroy it.
The artifacts presented here are meant to be examples. Artifacts should be tailored to fit your individual campaign and its history: The discovery of a major artifact should be a campaign-defining moment. Feel free to change the powers of the example artifacts given here in order to customize these artifacts to your campaign.