creativerogues:

By Applejaxc:



Here’s a curated list of 6 items you can throw into any ongoing campaign, level 1-20, that is interesting and won’t unbalance your game.



Because WotC decided to completely suck while writing the magic items section of the 5e DMG, I did some extensive* trial-and-error testing to find out what items are both cool and non-disruptive so you don’t have to rely on the vague “common,” “uncommon,” "rare,“ “very rare,” and “legendary” “guidelines.”

*guess work



Next time your players decide to hit up the magic item shop, consider having one of these on display:

1 - Cloak of the Manta Ray

With the hood up, you can breath underwater You have a swim speed of 60ft

It sounds ridiculous, but honestly how many adventures take place underwater these days? This gives one of your party members a new, situational tactical option for aquatic infiltration and surprise, and it gives you a new way to split up the party: Someone has to dive into the pitch-black, freezing water to find the valve that opens the door in the next room!

2 - Ring of Resistance

Ye olde shop has 1-3 of these of display. Roll 1d10 to determine which element types are available.

d10 Element Gem



1 Acid Pearl



2 Cold Tourmaline



3 Fire Garnet



4 Force Sapphire



5 Lightning Citrine



6 Necrotic Jet



7 Poison Amethys



8 Psychic Jade



9 Radiant Topaz



10 Thunder Spinel

If you’re really worried, you can balance a Ring of Resistance in two ways: 1, only have a Ring of Resistance (Radiant) (because good adventurers shouldn’t be fighting many radiant enemies), or 2, each ring has a Curse: Weakness to another element (roll again to determine which).

3 - Belt of the Monkey

Whosoever wears this belt takes only half falling damage. Curse: You feel the urge to treat the world like your playground.

4 - Rope of Climbing

As the entry on page 197. It’s extremely useful without being grossly disruptive.

5 - Sending Stones

One of the most useful and best magic items.

A pair of magical rocks that function like WalkiTalkies, so the party can split into 2 groups and still communicate without metagaming. Curse: (Kind of) There’s a 3rd (or even 4th, 5th, and 6th+!) stone in the possession of the BBEG or the shopkeeper (could be the same person), which is used to spy on the party’s communication and track their movements.

6 - X of the Sun

Substitute “X” with any weapon. With a command word, the weapon’s blade or striking surface grants illumination similar to a torch, candle, or lantern (at the DM’s discretion), alleviating the need for party members without Dark Vision to carry a light source. This light cannot dispel magical darkness.