D&D: Five Awesome Consumable Items
D&D players hate to use those limited items. But they can sure come in handy, especially at lower levels. Here are five great consumables!
It’s a trope as old as RPGs to never use all your potions. After all, what if the next fight is the one where you really need them? But! Consumable items have a lot to offer. Especially if the DM gives them out as rewards for a lower-level party.
These kinds of items can help get you through the painful crawl to level 4 or 5 and can make a huge difference. With these? The earlier the better. Because while 3d10 damage when you’re level 10 might not feel great, taking out a group of goblins? That’s a legendary session.
So the next time you’re handing out treasure, try some of these consumable items!
Chromatic Rose
Out of Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the Chromatic Rose is melodramatic, to say the least. It not only lets you gain resistance to damage just for holding it, but as an action, you can blow the petals from the rose to produce a 20-foot cone that deals 3d10 (Constitution DC 15 for half) damage of chromatic type, so acid, lightning, poison, fire, or cold.
This can be a big deal as a first or second-level character getting into a fight with multiple enemies!
Mind Crystals
An item straight out of Phandelver and Below, these items are the newest on the D&D block. But they’re great!
There’s a Mind Crystal that corresponds to the Sorcerer’s metamagic options: Subtle, Quickened, Heightened, Extended, Empowered, Distant, and Careful. Each of these can be used once to grant a spellcaster that power.
This is great whether you’re a Sorcerer or any other kind of caster. It’s a new way to play with magic, and as they’re all single-use items that are ultimately worth about 50gp once you use them up, they’re a great reward for players who find some treasure in unlikely places.
Scroll of the Comet
If you really want to shake up your campaign, include a Scroll of the Comet. This basically recreates Meteor from any of the Final Fantasy games. It won’t end the world, per se, but you will call a comet to fall from the sky and streak into a target you pick up to a mile away. It creates a 50-foot deep, 500-foot radius crater, and any creature caught within it, takes 30d10 force damage unless they succeed at a DC 20 Dexterity save.
All structures are destroyed, as are all untended nonmagical objects. This is not only a great MacGuffin to race to find, it’s a fantastic item for players to wonder when to use. Give them this, and you’ve got dramatic tension waiting to happen!
Bag of Beans
A BoLS favorite, the bag of beans contains 3d4 magic beans. You can use the whole bag as a 10 foot radius 5d4 explosive device, which can be very handy at like, level 1. OR you can use it the way they were intended, and just plant a bean, water it, and a minute later, you get a random magical effect that might help, might hurt, but will definitely make your day interesting.
Teeth of Dahlver-Nar
Finally, a rare consumable. An Artifact that’s meant to be used up. The Teeth of Dahlver-Nar, introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, is a collection of magical teeth that you can either draw and sow, like you’re in Clash of the Titans, or you can implant the tooth and gain a special benefit. Once you use a tooth, it’s gone from the bag forever,
You can use these teeth to summon creatures to fight for you for 10 minutes. Including, potentially, a Tarrasque, or an ancient Red Dragon. Or you can implant the teeth, taking a maximum of 1 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of two teeth) gaining a benefit that lasts until it’s either gone, or you replace it with another tooth.
There are twenty all in all, and each of them is a great boon, whatever decision you make.
What are your favorite consumables in D&D?
