D&D: Five of the Creepiest Magic Items in 5E
Magic items are usually wondrous treasures that you’re excited to find. And then there are the ones that are just a bit… unsavory.
In D&D, finding a magic item is usually a cause for a celebration. You’ve added something new to your character sheet that you’re either happy to have or will forget about for months until you desperately are looking for something, anything, to pull you up out of this imminent tpk and you’ll remember, right! the whistle that summons wolves! And the day is saved.
But every now and then, you find an item that leaves an aftertaste. Something a little unsettling. Unsavory, even. And these are five of the creepiest magic items in 5th Edition D&D.
Belashyrra’s Beholder Crown
If there’s one setting that does creepy and magic items extremely well, it’s Eberron. After all, Eberron is home to the Daelkyr; elddritch beings from the Plane of Madness who have a penchant for being able to sculpt flesh into helpful tools that allow them to extend their influence. And it is from these Daelkyr that one of D&D’s creepiest magic items can be found.
Belashyrra’s Beholder Crown takes its name from Belashyrra, a Daelkyr trapped in Khyber but who wields power and influence from a place known as the Citadel of Lidless Eyes. Belashyrra’s Beholder Crown reflects this. While wearing the crown, its ten eyestalk-like points extend hidden tendrils that burrow into your skull, fusing with you symbiotically.
While it does grant considerable power, including the ability to cast spells similar to the eye rays fired from a Beholder’s eye stalks, including disintegration and telekinesis, it also cannot be removed without powerful magic. And while wearing it, Belashyrra can see through the crown’s eyestalks, so you will never again be in private.
Demon Skin
Who doesn’t love having a weird gross black ichor that oozes out from the pot it’s stored in to cover your skin, inch by inch? Sure, it can count as chain mail, ring mail, splint, or full plate armor. And while wearing the ichor, it blends into your skin so that people don’t know you’re covered in a demonic ooze.
But this is a magic item that has to specify that it doesn’t impede bodily functions. And if you have to go out of the way to say this, then, you know what kind of territory you’re headed into.
Dried Leech
This magic item, out of the Book of Many Things, is exactly what it claims to be: a dried leech. Only it’s been somehow shaped into an arrow or crossbow bolt, because if you hit a living target with a dried leech as part of a ranged attack, the leech suddenly springs back to life, sinking its teeth in as it begins to drain the target of blood, dealing an extra 1d4 points of piercing damage per round until it has either absorbed 10 hit points or been detached.
Gulthias Staff
This staff is made from a branch of an evil tree. And trust me, it’s D&D, that tree is pretty evil. The Gulthias Tree is rumored to be the origin of the creatures known as Twig Blights, among other things. And its treacherous staff is just as creepy as the tree from whence it came.
Sure, it can drain your enemy of hit points, letting you heal yourself for the damage dealt as part of a melee attack with the staff. But it will also drain your blood, at least a little, and might make you mad for your troubles. Plus, it makes any beast uncomfortable, owing to how evil radiates from it.
Orcus Figurine
For starters, this one is carved from the petrified heart of an ogre, which is already plenty creepy. But it doesn’t stop there, because it’s Orcus, who, of course, is going to be megacreepy. It smells like decaying flesh and can be detected by scent alone from up to five feet away.
Its powers don’t make it any less creepy either. Within 30 feet of it, undead creatures can’t be turned, dead creatures can’t be brought to life, and if you pray hard enough, you might summon a smoky spectral aspect of Orcus to come and smite your enemies. And anyone else living in the vicinity when he’s through.
Rakdos Riteknife
The Rakdos are known for being a demonic bunch of circus folk, who are hedonistic about all things slicey and dicey. That’s already a creepy enough environment for this wickedly curved dagger. But a Rakdos Riteknife goes above and beyond because it doesn’t just kill creatures.
When you kill someone with a Rakdos Riteknife, it traps their soul within its blade, and that creature can’t be brought back to life except via a Wish spell. But wait, it’s creepier. For each soul trapped in the blade (it can hold up to five), you deal 1d4 extra points of damage on any hit, but you are also haunted by the dreams and whispers of those souls trapped in the blade.
What are your picks for the creepiest magic items?
