Magic items are the most sought after objects inDungeons & Dragons.

These magic items will help your D&D villains remain in control… mostly.

So how should we use these extraordinary objects in our games?

Woman warrior wielding magic sword

Vorpal Sword (Variant) by Alessandra Pisano

How Do Magic Items Work?

Unfortunately,this results in magic items functioning quite inconsistently between games.

If you have questions about how magic items work in your campaign, ask your dungeon master.

split image showing a character holding a staff and summoning tentacles, a character holding a crowned skull. and a bugbear holding a card shooting lightning at the floor

Vorpal Sword by Caio Monteiro

Hopefully, they have already decided how they deal with magic items.

Some dungeon masters rule that magic items are immediately noticeable as different from their ordinary counterparts.

Other dungeon masters rule that you must interact with a magic item to distinguish that is magical.

magic sword dead gorgon medusa

Vorpal Sword by Caio Monteiro

Magic items are cool and players want to interact with them.

This being the case, we advise avoiding hiding magic items from the player characters.

Firstly, magic items can be divided intoconsumable items and permanent ones.

Wilson, Refined Grizzly by Ilse Gort.

Wilson, Refined Grizzly by Ilse Gort.

Items that require attunement function as ordinary items of their kind until properly attuned to.

Attunement is yet another aspect of magic items that is often ruled differently by dungeon masters.

As before, ask your dungeon master how they rule attunement to get the clearest idea.

Drow with magic sword accepts gold in pouch

Hired Hexblade by Irina Nordsol

Watch out for cursed items when choosing whether or not to attune to something.

Additionally, magic items of some rarities are usually only encountered at higher levels.

The final signifier for magic items can be found in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.

A magic white robe with orbs floating around it

Robe of the Archmagi by Dallas Williams

Neither of these interpretations of magic item availability is wrong or right: they are simply different.

Ask your dungeon master whether they are running a low magic, regular, or high magic campaign.

This label can tell you a lot about the availability of magic items in your campaign.

dragonborn wielding sun blade against elf wielding dark spear

That being said, we would recommend clarifiying further as these are broad terms.

Magic items are exotic objects and they require forlorn materials to make in many cases.

you’ve got the option to find tables that measure these activities in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.

Tabletop

That being said, when is this not the case?

How Many Magic Items Should A Party Receive?

Take a look at the table in Xanathar’s if you wish to use both categorizations.

Dungeon & Dragons

Magic items are everyone’s favorite kinds of objects to encounter during a Dungeons & Dragons adventure.

Choose your magic items wisely and your game will be all the more rewarding.

D&D’s rare magic items can completely change how a character plays.