A damaged magic item continues to function, but if it is destroyed, all its magical power is lost. Repairing Magic Items. Some magic items take damage over the course of an adventure. It costs no more to repair a magic item with the Craft skill than it. Use of these tables still requires the use of some tables in the DMG, including the Random Treasure Table. However, when determining treasure, you may choose to substitute: 1 Minor magic item for 1 roll on these tables, 1 Medium magic item for 2 rolls on these tables, and 1 Major magic item for 3 rolls on these tables.

• Dmg Magic Item Table B
• Dmg Magic Item Tables

I’ve seen some people in my various DnD Facebook groups confused about magic item distribution in 5e. And I realized that, although there is information in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) such as item rarity and function, and tables for randomly generating items found in loot hoards, the thinking behind item design and distribution isn’t very well explained.

And I have the sort of mentality that finds patterns in things like this, so I thought it might be useful to explain a few things I’ve picked out. It may help you understand what’s going on when using the loot tables in the DMG, or deciding for yourself what items to place where in your game.

(Later edit: I’ve just acquired Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, which covers some gaps in the 5e core rules, and that has some of the missing explanation. But I’m going to leave this up, and even finish the series with a follow-up post, because I feel it is worth going through the logic step by step.)

Item rarity and tiers of play

The first concept to get your head around is item rarity. This corresponds fairly closely with item power, so that the least rare items are the least powerful, and really powerful items are really rare. Mainly. The rarity tiers are presented on DMG p135 but for reference:

Common These items, with fairly minor powers, are in most worlds actually available for sale from specialist suppliers like alchemists, herbalists and spellcasters. They are typically priced at 50-100 gold pieces (gp).

Uncommon These somewhat more potent items are not routinely available for sale, but still are not that rare overall. If you do find one for sale, for example at a private auction or a spellcasters’ institution, it is likely to cost 100-500 gp.

Rare If ever sold, Rare (and generally powerful) items are likely to be priced at 500-5,000 gp.

Very Rare If ever sold, you can expect Very Rare (and usually very powerful) items to change hands for 5,000-50,000 gp.

Legendary If you ever cheapen your game so far as to make available one of these mighty and possibly unique items for mere cash, price it at over 50,000 gp

You also should be aware of character tiers. These have numbers rather than official descriptive names, and are described on p15 of the Player’s Handbook (PHB):

Tier 1Levels 1-4 Described in the PHB as ‘effectively apprentices’, I’m not sure I want to think of them as quite that junior, but they are certainly of a grade that is scattered liberally across most fantasy adventure game worlds. They may lack some of the signature abilities of their classes, but they are able to take on local threats that ordinary civilians can’t cope with.

Tier 2 Levels 5-10 These are proper heroes, able to do fantastic things and face truly monstrous foes. They are important beyond the local level and may save the city or kingdom.

Tier 3 Levels 11-16 These exceptional superheroes can reach beyond the bounds of normal possibility and take on dangers great enough to threaten on a regional or continental scale.

Tier 4 Levels 17-20 At these top levels characters may transcend ordinary mortal limitations and a campaign that reaches this stage often escalates to save-the-world levels of threat. Possibly many worlds.

The upper tiers of magic items are reserved (as a guideline to the DM) for upper character tiers: Rare for Tier 2 and up; Very Rare for Tier 3 and up; Legendary for Tier 4.

Magic item tables

The tables (labelled A to I) for randomly determining magic items in treasure hoards (DMG p144-149) are arranged roughly by rarity category. The predominant category per table is:

Note that each category except Common has two tables. Tables F through I contain items that mostly have combat potential, and can mostly be used repeatedly, often unlimited times. Many also require attunement. In contrast tables A through E contain items that mostly are good for only a single use or a smallish number of uses, and/or are not combat-oriented (for instance items of movement, of carrying or of surviving environmental hazards). I do not think any of these items require attunement.

Without having made an exhaustive assessment of the power level of each item, just accepting the rulebook categorizations for now, I’m going to call the items from tables F through I ‘major’ items, and those from tables A through E ‘minor’ items. (Edit: the distinction is made explicit in Xanathar’s and major and minor are exactly the terms applied.)

Note that there are no Common major items. In fact in the DMG the only Common items are basic healing potions, potions of climbing, and scrolls of cantrips and level 1 spells. These are all single-use items. (There are many more Common minor items in Xanathar’s but still no Common major items.)

Treasure tables

Magic items can be found in treasure hoards. Random generation does not use the hoard tables for the belongings of ordinary individual monsters, only the accumulated treasures of large groups of monsters, those of powerful hoarding monsters like dragons, or quest rewards offered by patrons. They’re basically end-of-adventure rewards or boss fight rewards.

The treasure hoard tables (DMG p137-139) are organized by the Challenge rating of the monster guarding the hoard, which therefore roughly corresponds to the level of the party gaining the hoard. There is one table per character tier (that is, the tables are for Challenge 0-4, Challenge 5-10, Challenge 11-16 and Challenge 17+).

Analyzing these distributions, we can find that there is always (below Tier 4, where it does not apply) a small chance of items of a rarity category not recommended for that tier of character. Personally, I would exercise caution here, and maybe reroll specific items that look likely to harm a lower-level game. Also (above Tier 1) a hoard is more likely to contain items of a rarity category below the maximum recommended for that tier of character than items at or above the maximum; Common and Uncommon items do not disappear until the Tier 4 hoards. With the large number and variety of items in the game, new items can be interesting for reasons other than raw power.

Another analysis shows that most items in hoards are minor items. The ratio between hoards of minor and hoards of major declines as you go up the tiers, but is still over 2:1 at Tier 4. The number of items per hoard is also (often, depending on rarity tier) higher for minor than major items.

Quirks in the items available in the specific tables.

Some of the rarity categories (Common and Legendary) have too few minor items to fill a table. So Table A has all four Common items (making up 90% of results), and four of the minor Uncommon items to bring it up to eight entries. And Table E has the four Legendary-tier minor items plus three of the Very Rare ones, bringing it up to seven entries. Most of these out-of-category filler items also appear in their proper tables.

The designers appear to have decided that some armor types (as in, what kind of armor it is before enchantment) are rarer than others with the same enchantment, and that armors of those types therefore appear in higher rarity tables than the base rarity for their enchantment. The armors that appear at their base rarity are chain mail, chain shirt, scale mail and leather. Those that are one table rarer are breastplate, splint mail and studded. Half plate and plate are two tables rarer. If the combination of powerful enchantment and armor type would take the item beyond Legendary, it is squeezed into a seldom-occurring sub-table of Table I.

My best reconstruction of the logic of this armor distribution is this: The cheapest armor type in each weight class (padded, hide, ring mail) is never enchanted. The next cheapest (leather, chain shirt, scale mail, chain mail) is enchanted at the base rarity for the enchantment. The next cheapest (studded leather, breastplate, splint) is enchanted one tier more rarely. And the least cheap (no light armor, half plate, plate) is enchanted two tiers more rarely. This strikes me as a questionable piece of game design that may not be perfect for game balance and, to my mind, gravely offends against in-world logic. I might do a stand-alone post about this.

Finally there are some minor wondrous items that appear in tables of a higher rarity than they have in their description. They are all permanent, unlimited-use utility items (Decanter of Endless Water, Eyes of Minute Seeing, Periapt of Health and Sending Stones are Uncommon items on the Rare table; Horseshoes of a Zephyr and Portable Hole are Rare items on the Very Rare table). My guess is that there was a review of item tiers late in the game design process and these items were revised to a lower tier in their descriptions but it was somehow too difficult to change the tables.

So that is it for my analysis purely of the magic item tables. I will next have a similar look at the level advancement tables, and then I can provide some pointers on questions people have asked about magic items for characters of different levels.

Magic items are divided into categories: armor, weapons, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands, and wondrous items. In addition, some magic items are cursed or intelligent. Finally, a few magic items are of such rarity and power that they are considered to belong to a category of their own: artifacts. Artifacts are classified in turn as minor (extremely rare but not one-of-a-kind items) or major (each one unique and extremely potent).

Armor and shields

Magic armor (including shields) offers improved, magical protection to the wearer. Some of these items confer abilities beyond a benefit to Armor Class.

Weapons

Magic weapons are created with a variety of combat powers and almost always improve the attack and damage rolls of the wielder as well.

Potions

A potion is an elixir concocted with a spell-like effect that affects only the drinker.

Rings

A ring is a circular metal band worn on the finger (no more than two rings per wearer) that has a spell-like power (often a constant effect that affects the wearer).

Rods

A rod is a scepter-like item with a special power unlike that of any known spell.

Scrolls

A scroll is a spell magically inscribed onto paper or parchment so that it can be used later.

Staffs

A staff has a number of different (but often related) spell effects. A newly created staff has 50 charges, and each use of the staff depletes one or more of those charges.

Dmg Magic Item Table B

Wands

A wand is a short stick imbued with the power to cast a specific spell. A newly created wand has 50 charges, and each use of the wand depletes one of those charges.

Wondrous Items

These objects include magic jewelry, tools, books, clothing, and much more.

Magic Items and Detect Magic

When detect magic identifies a magic item’s school of magic, this information refers to the school of the spell placed within the potion, scroll, or wand, or the prerequisite given for the item. The description of each item provides its aura strength and the school it belongs to.

If more than one spell is given as a prerequisite, use the highest-level spell. If no spells are included in the prerequisites, use the following default guidelines.

Using Items

To use a magic item, it must be activated, although sometimes activation simply means putting a ring on your finger. Some items, once donned, function constantly. In most cases, using an item requires a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. By contrast, spell completion items are treated like spells in combat and do provoke attacks of opportunity.

Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item description indicates otherwise. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, regardless of the type of magic item, unless the item description specifically states otherwise.

The four ways to activate magic items are described below.

Spell Completion

This is the activation method for scrolls. A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. The preparation is done for the caster, so no preparation time is needed beforehand as with normal spellcasting. All that’s left to do is perform the finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on). To use a spell completion item safely, a character must be of high enough level in the right class to cast the spell already. If he can’t already cast the spell, there’s a chance he’ll make a mistake. Activating a spell completion item is a standard action and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does.

Spell Trigger

Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it’s even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. Anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell trigger item that stores that spell. (This is the case even for a character who can’t actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin.) The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Command Word

If no activation method is suggested either in the magic item description or by the nature of the item, assume that a command word is needed to activate it. Command word activation means that a character speaks the word and the item activates. No other special knowledge is needed.

A command word can be a real word, but when this is the case, the holder of the item runs the risk of activating the item accidentally by speaking the word in normal conversation. More often, the command word is some seemingly nonsensical word, or a word or phrase from an ancient language no longer in common use. Activating a command word magic item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Sometimes the command word to activate an item is written right on the item. Occasionally, it might be hidden within a pattern or design engraved on, carved into, or built into the item, or the item might bear a clue to the command word.

The Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history) skills might be useful in helping to identify command words or deciphering clues regarding them. A successful check against DC 30 is needed to come up with the word itself. If that check is failed, succeeding on a second check (DC 25) might provide some insight into a clue.

The spells identify and analyze dweomer both reveal command words.

Use-Activated

This type of item simply has to be used in order to activate it. A character has to drink a potion, swing a sword, interpose a shield to deflect a blow in combat, look through a lens, sprinkle dust, wear a ring, or don a hat. Use activation is generally straightforward and self-explanatory.

Many use-activated items are objects that a character wears. Continually functioning items are practically always items that one wears. A few must simply be in the character’s possession (on his person). However, some items made for wearing must still be activated. Although this activation sometimes requires a command word, usually it means mentally willing the activation to happen. The description of an item states whether a command word is needed in such a case.

Unless stated otherwise, activating a use-activated magic item is either a standard action or not an action at all and does not provoke attacks of opportunity, unless the use involves performing an action that provokes an attack of opportunity in itself. If the use of the item takes time before a magical effect occurs, then use activation is a standard action. If the item’s activation is subsumed in its use and takes no extra time use activation is not an action at all.

Use activation doesn’t mean that if you use an item, you automatically know what it can do. You must know (or at least guess) what the item can do and then use the item in order to activate it, unless the benefit of the item comes automatically, such from drinking a potion or swinging a sword.

Size And Magic Items

When an article of magic clothing or jewelry is discovered, most of the time size shouldn’t be an issue. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or they adjust themselves magically to the wearer. Size should not keep characters of various kinds from using magic items.

There may be rare exceptions, especially with racial specific items.

Armor and Weapon Sizes

Dmg Magic Item Tables

Armor and weapons that are found at random have a 30% chance of being Small (01-30), a 60% chance of being Medium (31-90), and a 10% chance of being any other size (91-100).

Magic Items On The Body

Many magic items need to be donned by a character who wants to employ them or benefit from their abilities. It’s possible for a creature with a humanoid-shaped body to wear as many as twelve magic items at the same time. However, each of those items must be worn on (or over) a particular part of the body.

A humanoid-shaped body can be decked out in magic gear consisting of one item from each of the following groups, keyed to which place on the body the item is worn.

• One headband, hat, helmet, or phylactery on the head
• One pair of eye lenses or goggles on or over the eyes
• One amulet, brooch, medallion, necklace, periapt, or scarab around the neck
• One vest, vestment, or shirt on the torso
• One robe or suit of armor on the body (over a vest, vestment, or shirt)
• One belt around the waist (over a robe or suit of armor)
• One cloak, cape, or mantle around the shoulders (over a robe or suit of armor)
• One pair of bracers or bracelets on the arms or wrists
• One glove, pair of gloves, or pair of gauntlets on the hands
• One ring on each hand (or two rings on one hand)
• One pair of boots or shoes on the feet

Of course, a character may carry or possess as many items of the same type as he wishes. However, additional items beyond those listed above have no effect.

Some items can be worn or carried without taking up space on a character’s body. The description of an item indicates when an item has this property.

Saving Throws Against Magic Item Powers

Magic items produce spells or spell-like effects. For a saving throw against a spell or spell-like effect from a magic item, the DC is 10 + the level of the spell or effect + the ability modifier of the minimum ability score needed to cast that level of spell.

Staffs are an exception to the rule. Treat the saving throw as if the wielder cast the spell, including caster level and all modifiers to save DC.

Most item descriptions give saving throw DCs for various effects, particularly when the effect has no exact spell equivalent (making its level otherwise difficult to determine quickly).

Damaging Magic Items

A magic item doesn’t need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on his save. Magic items should always get a saving throw against spells that might deal damage to them— even against attacks from which a nonmagical item would normally get no chance to save. Magic items use the same saving throw bonus for all saves, no matter what the type (Fortitude, Reflex, or Will). A magic item’s saving throw bonus equals 2 + one-half its caster level (round down). The only exceptions to this are intelligent magic items, which make Will saves based on their own Wisdom scores.

Magic items, unless otherwise noted, take damage as nonmagical items of the same sort. A damaged magic item continues to function, but if it is destroyed, all its magical power is lost.

Repairing Magic Items

Some magic items take damage over the course of an adventure. It costs no more to repair a magic item with the Craft skill than it does to repair its nonmagical counterpart. The make whole spell also repairs a damaged—but not completely broken—magic item.

Intelligent Items

Some magic items, particularly weapons, have an intelligence all their own. Only permanent magic items (as opposed to those with a single use or those with charges) can be intelligent. (This means that potions, scrolls, and wands, among other items, are never intelligent.)

In general, less than 1% of magic items have intelligence.

Cursed Items

Some items are cursed—incorrectly made, or corrupted by outside forces. Cursed items might be particularly dangerous to the user, or they might be normal items with a minor flaw, an inconvenient requirement, or an unpredictable nature. Randomly generated items are cursed 5% of the time.

Charges, Doses, And Multiple Uses

Many items, particularly wands and staffs, are limited in power by the number of charges they hold. Normally, charged items have 50 charges at most. If such an item is found as a random part of a treasure, roll d% and divide by 2 to determine the number of charges left (round down, minimum 1). If the item has a maximum number of charges other than 50, roll randomly to determine how many charges are left.

Prices listed are always for fully charged items. (When an item is created, it is fully charged.) For an item that’s worthless when its charges run out (which is the case for almost all charged items), the value of the partially used item is proportional to the number of charges left. For an item that has usefulness in addition to its charges, only part of the item’s value is based on the number of charges left.

Magic Item Descriptions

Each general type of magic item gets an overall description, followed by descriptions of specific items.

General descriptions include notes on activation, random generation, and other material. The AC, hardness, hit points, and break DC are given for typical examples of some magic items. The AC assumes that the item is unattended and includes a -5 penalty for the item’s effective Dexterity of 0. If a creature holds the item, use the creature’s Dexterity modifier in place of the -5 penalty.

Some individual items, notably those that simply store spells and nothing else, don’t get full-blown descriptions. Reference the spell’s description for details, modified by the form of the item (potion, scroll, wand, and so on). Assume that the spell is cast at the minimum level required to cast it

Items with full descriptions have their powers detailed, and each of the following topics is covered in notational form at the end of the description.

Aura

Most of the time, a detect magic spell will reveal the school of magic associated with a magic item and the strength of the aura an item emits. This information (when applicable) is given at the beginning of the item’s notational entry. See the detect magic spell description for details.

Caster Level

The next item in a notational entry gives the caster level of the item, indicating its relative power. The caster level determines the item’s saving throw bonus, as well as range or other level-dependent aspects of the powers of the item (if variable). It also determines the level that must be contended with should the item come under the effect of a dispel magic spell or similar situation. This information is given in the form 'CL x,' where 'CL' is an abbreviation for caster level and 'x' is an ordinal number representing the caster level itself.

For potions, scrolls, and wands, the creator can set the caster level of an item at any number high enough to cast the stored spell and not higher than her own caster level. For other magic items, the caster level is determined by the creator. The minimum caster level is that which is needed to meet the prerequisites given.

Prerequisites

Certain requirements must be met in order for a character to create a magic item. These include feats, spells, and miscellaneous requirements such as level, alignment, and race or kind. The prerequisites for creation of an item are given immediately following the item’s caster level.

A spell prerequisite may be provided by a character who has prepared the spell (or who knows the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard), or through the use of a spell completion or spell trigger magic item or a spell-like ability that produces the desired spell effect. For each day that passes in the creation process, the creator must expend one spell completion item or one charge from a spell trigger item if either of those objects is used to supply a prerequisite.

It is possible for more than one character to cooperate in the creation of an item, with each participant providing one or more of the prerequisites. In some cases, cooperation may even be necessary.

If two or more characters cooperate to create an item, they must agree among themselves who will be considered the creator for the purpose of determinations where the creator’s level must be known. The character designated as the creator pays the XP required to make the item.

Typically, a list of prerequisites includes one feat and one or more spells (or some other requirement in addition to the feat).

When two spells at the end of a list are separated by 'or,' one of those spells is required in addition to every other spell mentioned prior to the last two.

Market Price

This gold piece value, given following the word 'Price,' represents the price someone should expect to pay to buy the item. The market price for an item that can be constructed with an item creation feat is usually equal to the base price plus the price for any components (material or XP).

Cost to Create

The next part of a notational entry is the cost in gp and XP to create the item, given following the word 'Cost.' This information appears only for items with components (material or XP), which make their market prices higher than their base prices. The cost to create includes the costs derived from the base cost plus the costs of the components.

Items without components do not have a 'Cost' entry. For them, the market price and the base price are the same. The cost in gp is ½ the market price, and the cost in XP is 1/25 the market price.

Weight

The notational entry for many wondrous items ends with a value for the item’s weight. When a weight figure is not given, the item has no weight worth noting (for purposes of determining how much of a load a character can carry).

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