D&D: Five Eggs More Magical Than a Stale Peep
Throughout the years, D&D has proven to be full of eggs, good and bad, but these five are positively magical. That’s right, magic eggs.
D&D is surprisingly full of eggs. From the marvelous to the mundane, there’s no shortage of these ovoid orbs that seem to fascinate us all with what treasure might be hidden within them. Of course, there are the obligatory Easter Eggs hidden throughout D&D like some squirreled-away reference.
But there are plenty more just literal eggs. From the iconic dragon eggs, which hatch the titular beasts from the game to giant owlbear eggs and even Githyanki eggs, which you might have seen in Baldur’s Gate 3, there’s seemingly no end to the eggs. And it’s not just in the modern day, either. D&D’s history is littered with some eggs that are truly magical. Literally, these are magic eggs.
In honor of those stale peeps and melted chocolate eggs now squirreled away somewhere you’ll not find for another month, at least, here are five of the best magic eggs from D&D.
Hard-Boiled Egg
Don’t let the name fool you, this egg is actually a tough one to crack. As well it should be since it’s valued at 1,500 gold pieces (and this was in the 2nd Edition days when the economy wasn’t quite what it is today). When struck with a full blow from a weapon (requiring the wearer to hit an AC of 19), the egg shatters, granting whoever shattered it a +6 bonus to Armor Class and a +1 bonus to all saving throws for the next four rounds.
Real handy to break out in a pinch.
Egg of Reason
Introduced in the very first Unearthed Arcana, the Egg of Reason is a magical egg that is always coated in an oil of timelessness. It is an old, old egg and is “quite vile smelling”. You’ll have no trouble finding one of these if one happens to be near you.
And the Egg of Reason is perhaps the embodiment of old-school D&D, distilled into a single magic item. Because despite the noxious odor, this egg has a powerful benefit: it can increase the consumer’s Intelligence or Wisdom. However, you have to actually eat it first.
But eating it carries a terrible risk. You must make a saving throw without any bonuses whatsoever, and if you fail, you die, struck by a magical, unneutralizable poison that proves instantly fatal.
Succeed, however, and you’ll increase your Intelligence or Wisdom.
“Egg” of Disintegration
This magical “egg” is less an egg and more like Monty Python’s Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. When shattered, the egg casts disintegration, presumably at whatever it was shattered against.
Guardian Egg
A magical brass egg the size of a helmet, weighing in at a staunch 25 pounds, the Guardian Egg is best given to the party’s strongest character to be completely forgotten about in their backpack until it saves the whole campaign.
And save the campaign it will, since the Guardian Egg, when activated, becomes a powerful metallic construct, taking either the shape of a hill giant, a rock, or a dragon turtle, depending on whether it’s on land, in the air, or submerged in liquid when activated.
Each of these metallic forms is powerful and can fight as though it were one of the actual creatures whose shape it’s taking, meaning it can hurl rocks, capsize ships, or carry off potential targets as you direct.
Petrified Grung Egg
Finally, a magic item from 5th Edition! The Petrified Grung Egg, introduced in Tomb of Annihilation, functions as a powerful aid to any spellcaster. Attuning to it grants the user resistance to poison damage, but then it can also be used as an action to regain one expended spell slot of up to 3rd level. Sure, it only works once per day, but that’s an incredibly powerful boon for any character to have!
What’s your favorite magic egg? Do you even have one? I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t.
