Rarity A magic item’s rarity provides a rough measure of its power level compared to other magic items. If the characters do find someone willing to put up gold, they’ll probably have to settle for less than the item’s true worth. Such negotiations can lead to interesting quests. A few buyers can afford to pay in coins or gems, but it's more likely that someone who wants the magic item will offer to trade some other item or service. The buyer might be a wizard in a lonely tower in the hills, a wealthy dwarf lord with a mountain stronghold, or some other isolated or powerful person. Finding someone willing to purchase a magic item for anything even approaching its true worth is no simple matter, though. Usually, selling anything more than a common item requires an interested buyer first. If a player character wants to sell a magic item, the lack of an established market makes doing so difficult. For example, an NPC wizard might create a scroll for adventurers if they complete a quest for her. Individuals who aren’t normally in the business of selling magic items might want something other than gold in exchange. For example, an apothecary might offer a small selection of potions, or the adventurers might hear rumors of an undercity market where a magic item is being auctioned off.Ĭommon magic items, such as certain potions and scrolls, can sometimes be procured from an alchemist or a spellcaster. Buying magic items might be easier in a city with a magical academy or a large temple, or in some other location that serves as a hub where adventurers can sell their loot. Player characters to buy or sell particular items.

Most such wonders aren’t sold in mass quantities, although situations might arise that allow Unless you decide your campaign works otherwise, magic items are, by and large, so rare that no market exists for them. For example, an evil duke’s trusted guard captain might wield a magic sword, while the goblin chief’s wizardly advisor might carry a magic staff. Powerful villains sometimes bequeath magic items to their favored minions. Similarly, a ring of water walking taken from an ill-‐fated Underdark explorer is more likely to be on a drow cleric’s finger than hidden in her belt pouch. If there’s a magic shield in a troglodyte warren, it is probably being worn by a troglodyte champion. Intelligent monsters and NPCs use the magic items in their possession, much as adventurers do. Such scarce commodities are usually hidden in deep dungeons, sealed inside trapped chests, buried in ancient treasure hoards guarded by monsters, or wielded by powerful foes. When you create your own adventures, it’s up to you as the DM to determine where magic items are located. Even the most common, least powerful magic item can have a remarkable appearance and history, or idiosyncratic properties. An especially rare item might have a proper name, a personality, and secrets. Who knows what the next room or the next chest might hold?Įvery magic item has a purpose. Every adventure holds the promise- but not a guarantee-of finding one or more magic items, and part of the fun of exploring a dungeon is the thrill of unearthing a unique item found nowhere else. Such wonders are desirable, but characters do not need magic items to be effective, nor are they entitled to them.Ī magic item is a wondrous treasure that adventurers find in a monster’s hoard, in a trap-‐riddled dungeon, or in the possession of a slain foe.

Magic items make characters more powerful and versatile, allowing them to fly like birds, walk on ceilings, resist damage, vanish without a trace, and do other amazing things.

Magic icon dnd