D&D: Nine New Eberron Magic Items in Unearthed Arcana
The Eberron Unearthed Arcana introduces nine new magic items that feel almost industrial. Plus, the feedback survey is open.
In the latest Eberron Unearthed Arcana, we got a hefty look at the new options in store for players. There was a revised take on the Artificer. It was joined by a new Cartography subclass that felt underwhelming, especially compared to the other Artificer options. Then there were the twenty-eight Dragonmark Feats and the Epic Boon which lets you cast Wish once per Short Rest without needing a Spell Slot. Fun times.
But tucked away in the midst of all that are nine new magic items with a uniquely Eberron feel. Though, unlike the Dragonmark Feats, there’s no Eberron only requirement. These Eberron magic items have all the magitech-industrial flavor but could exist almost anywhere.
And today is the perfect day to check them out. Because now the Unearthed Arcana feedback survey is open too. So you can let WotC know what you really think of the new playtest stuff.
Eberron Magic Items: Manufactured Magic
One of the original design goals of Eberron was making a world that felt pulpy and adventure-y. It was part of a massive design contest for 3rd Edition D&D. And one of the guiding principles of it was making a word where the rules of Player’s Handbook were sort of woven into the cosmic filaments of the world. You can see it in the Dragonmarks. In the magitech flavor. It’s a high-magic world full of people who are aware they live in a high-magic world. Full of people who are aware that their world follows certain rules.
It would be like if DMs designed their settings with an understanding that you can make a computer out of enough castings of Magic Mouth. And that NPCs would probably do so because there’s money to be made out there. Or how with enough low-level Druids and/or Bards you can just make your crops yield twice as much food, so agriculture changes. To fit.
All that to say, the world of Eberron is rich in magic. It’s not something that’s viewed as strange or corrupt or any more dangerous than a sword. It is a tool, and many people use magic to make better tools.
Case in point, the Manifold Tool—a common magic item that typically takes the form of a wrench, screwdriver, or other basic tool. You can take a Magic Action to touch the item and transform it from something that has no mechanical function in D&D, like a wrench or a screwdriver, and instead make it any type of Artisan’s Tools of your choice.
This does have implications for the world. As much as the 5.5E Dungeon Master’s Guide might say the rules aren’t there for an economy, the rules do imply that you need Artisan’s Tools and that wrenches and screwdrivers both exist but aren’t necessarily Artisan’s Tools by default. Which is about as silly as someone making an entry for Forks in an encyclopedia of Star Wars lore and they have both a Canon and a Legends entry.
Magic Items For Working Around Rules
It’s worth keeping all of that underpinning mindset about Eberron in mind, because some of the magic items introduced in this Unearthed Arcana feel like an extension of that. There are a few magic items in particular that feel like they were explicitly created to help users overcome the challenges imposed by living in a world governed by the rules of Dungeons & Dragons.
This is exemplified in the Mind Sharpener. This is a magic item that feels like it should have always been in Eberron. It’s a simple ring that has absolutely no flavor description (yet, though that’s likely coming). It has 4 charges. As a Reaction, you can spend one of the charges whenever you fail a Concentration check to succeed instead. No more losing your buff spells because you took a hit. It’s a handy item for any spellcaster, but especially for ones who happen to be in the mix with enemies more often than not.
There’s also the Spell-Refueling Ring. This item exists only to help players deal with the limitations of D&D’s spellcasting system. As a Bonus Action you can recover one expended spell slot of 3rd level or lower. Which is a handy item to have on you whether you’re out there doing mage work in a factory or on a battlefield fighting in the Last War (or anywhere else, really).
Meanwhile, crossbow and firearm users will find themselves reaching for weapons with the Repeating Shot enchantment. Like the other items we’ve looked at so far, this feels like Eberron’s take on a magical-industrial revolution. It applies to any simple or martial weapon with the ammunition property, so crossbows, guns, and regular bows as well.
It’s pretty simple: in addition to granting a +1 to attack and damage rolls, a Repeating Shot weapon ignores the Loading Property, so PCs with Crossbows can make multiple attacks per Attack action, no feat required, and if it doesn’t have ammunition, it magically creates ammunition when fired.
And Returning weapons exist solely to make people who use Thrown weapons viable, as these magical weapons return to your hand immediately after making an attack, so you can keep attacking with it.
Putting the Tech in Magitech
The other big category that Eberron magic items fall into is devices that feel like magical gadgets. You can imagine the lightning crystals and intricate circuitry that fuels some of these gizmos.
Take the Repulsion Shield. This magic shield grants a +1 bonus to your Armor Class, and as a Reaction you can spend one of it’s 4 charges after being hit by a melee attack to push your attacker 15 feet away, no save, no roll needed. This is extremely useful when facing down enemies that have multiple attacks, because you could theoretically push them out of range from you, rendering their multiattack action useless if they can’t find targets.
The Radiant Weapon feels like something taken straight from the Church of the Silver Flame, a religion dedicated to eradicating fiends and even Elder Evils from the face of Eberron. It grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage, and when you hit with it, you can spend one of its 4 charges to potentially blind an opponent until the end of their next turn if they fail the save. It also can glow like a lantern as a Bonus Action.
And finally the Helm of Awareness feels like a relic of the Last War. This magical helmet gives you Advantage on Initiative rolls. Which would be handy on any unit of soldiers who were sent out to fight in the battlefields of Karnath.
What I really like is how organic some of these weapons feel—like they have a place in the world and that’s why we’re reading about them. But, that’s just my opinion. WotC wants to know what YOU think—and you can tell them by filling out the Unearthed Arcana feedback survey, which is live now, but is only open for the next week!
Time to really let WotC know what you think!
