A Handful of Magic Items 16

For the sixteenth article in this series I’ve decided to focus on rings! I love magical rings and other jewelry because I feel as though they have the most opportunity before them for magical effects. For this article in particular I wanted to work on some rings to use in combat, and even more specifically ones that react to the wearer taking damage or being near death. Take a look and leave thoughts and feedback in the comments!

Ring of Death Defiance (requires attunement)

While you wear this ring and roll a 20 on a death saving throw, in addition to regaining 1 hit point you also gain 6d6 temporary hit points and exude an aura of vitality for one minute.

While exuding an aura of vitality, you gain resistance to all damage and advantage on all saving throws. If a successful saving throw would have you still take damage while exuding an aura of vitality, it instead deals no damage to you.

This ring appears as a plain, iron band at first glance. As the wearer of the ring gets closer to death, it begins to glow faintly, turning into a bright blue light should they escape death’s grasp.

Ring of Molten Blood (requires attunement)

As a reaction after taking damage from piercing or slashing damage, the wearer can activate this ring for one minute.

When the ring is activated and once per round when you take piercing or slashing damage while activated, the wearer can choose to make all creatures within 5 feet of them to take a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d6 fire damage on a failed save.

This ring cannot be activated again until after a long rest.

A round, red gem that appears to flicker like fire sits atop this silver and gold band, giving off a slight warmth.

Ring of Retribution (requires attunement)

As a reaction while wearing this ring, you can mark a creature within 60 feet that has just dealt damage to you for one minute.

While an enemy is marked, you gain advantage against being feared or charmed, and have advantage on attacks against the marked creature. Additionally, you have disadvantage on attacks against all other creatures and may not willingly move further away from the marked creature while they are marked.

This ring cannot be activated again until after a long rest.

This golden ring has a miniature shield in place of a gem, and the band is made to look like a sword wrapping around one’s finger. A coat d’arms appears on the shield, glowing red, while the ring’s magic is active.

And that’s this installment of magic items in the bag! Three magical rings, three ways to redirect the pain back at your enemies! I liked how tight I was able to stick to the theme while coming up with three different rings that all would appeal to different characters.

Let us know what you think of these items, and how you would improve them or change them to fit into your campaign! Be sure to join in the discussion over on our Discord channel where we talk tabletop!

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