D&D: Ten New Magic Items Unearthed From the 5.5E Dungeon Master’s Guide
WotC has unveiled ten new magic items from the new Dungeon Master’s Guide. Each is a treasure, but one in particular has everyone talking.
Wizards of the Coast revealed a suite of ten new magic items this week. Each one is plucked from the pages of the soon-to-be released Dungeon Master’s Guide. So if you want an idea of the kinds of powerful new toys that player characters (and monsters/npcs who use magic items) can play with in the new edition, read on!
Ten Magic Items From the New Dungeon Master’s Guide
Let’s dive right in with some of the good stuff, starting with the item type that has everyone talking—Enspelled Items. This is actually three separate items but they all do basically the same thing, so we’re lumping them together. Technically there’s an Enspelled Weapon, Enspelled Armor, and Enspelled Staff. Each of these items has slightly different restrictions, but in a nutshell here’s how they work:
“An enspelled item—armor, staff, or weapon—is imbued with a level 8 spell or lower.
All enspelled items, contain 6 charges, regain 1d6 charges daily at dawn, and you can expend 1 charge […] to cast the spell that is bound to the item.
And, in the case of Enspelled Weapons and Armor, you don’t have to be a spellcaster to cast the spell contained within. So you could, for instance, be a Fighter with an Enspelled Shield imbued with the Shield spell so you can cast Shield while you Shield.
There are some limits. Enspelled Weapons and Armor have only a few schools of magic they can hold spells from. And the spellcasting save DC/spell attack roll is determined by the level of the spell, not your ability modifier and proficiency bonus so spellcasters will get free spells, sure, but the DC will likely be lower than if you were just casting the spell yourself. Meaning there are some tradeoffs. These items are likely goong to open up a lot of options. Having 6 Shield spells per day is appealing to any character. And that’s just one example. And just one (or three, technically) of the new items.
We also get Baba Yaga’s Dancing Broom, which lets you live out your Sorcerer’s Apprentice dreams. It’s an ordinary broom that you can telepathically command to become an Animated Broom with its own stat block. It follows you around and can cause distractions or even fight beside you.
Then of course there’s two magic items from the D&D Cartoon. Hank’s Energy Bow (above) and Presto’s Hat of Many Spells (below). The Energy Bow shoots Force Arrows and needs no ammunition. Plus it can shoot restraining arrows, arrows that can teleport your allies, and even make arrows that become a ladder for scaling walls.
The Hat of Many Spells, meanwhile, lets you pull a magic spell out of your hat, just like in the cartoon. It’s Wizards only, but you can use the Hat to try and cast any level 1+ spell you don’t already have in your spellbook. So long as you can pass an Arcana check based on the spell’s level.
There are a few other items, including the Executioner’s Axe, which does 2d6 bonus damage against humanoids(and gives you temporary HP as a bonus), the Hag Eye, which lets you cast Darkvison and See Invisibility…for a price. And also a portion of greater invisibility, which gives you that 4th level spell for an hour (powerful). But my favorite may just be the Lute of Thunderous Thumping. This magical lute does 2d8 extra thunder damage in melee, and can be used by Bards with their Charisma, making you the D&D equivalent of El Ka-bong!
Want more magic items? Check out the new DMG November 12th!
