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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Magical Items Granting Spells - Need Help Balancing



quinron
2016-04-22, 04:30 PM
These are a couple magic items I'm planning to implement to grant my players some spells and abilities they don't normally have. I'm just curious where other people would place them on the Rarity scale so I have an idea of how potentially unbalancing they could be.

RING OF CHAINS
Wondrous item, [rarity] (requires attunement by a spellcaster)
Once attuned to this ring, you can cast the find familiar spell at will. The familiar you summon is a specific creature associated with the ring. Attuning to this ring does not count against the total number of items you can attune to.
Cursed. This ring is cursed. Attuning to it curses you until you are targeted by the remove curse spell or similar magic. Removing the ring fails to remove the curse on you, and it magically reappears on your finger when you complete a short or long rest. While cursed, any familiar that you previously possessed is replaced by the creature associated with the ring. You are unable to dismiss this familiar, and you cannot use the find familiar spell to change its form. However, if it has an ability that allows it to voluntarily change form (such as an imp's Shapechanger ability), you can use your action to command it to use that ability.

NECKLACE OF CLARITY
Wondrous item, [rarity] (requires attunement)
Once attuned to this necklace, you have advantage on saving throws against all enchantment spells, and you are immune to the confusion spell and any similar effects (such as a beholder's Confusion Ray or an umber hulk's Confusing Gaze).
The necklace also has 3 charges. While wearing it, you can use an action and expend 1 charge to cast the dispel magic spell; if you do not have a spellcasting ability, make a Wisdom check when attempting to dispel spells higher than 3rd level. The necklace regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn.

To outline the purposes of these items in-story: the Ring of Chains is meant to give the sorcerer a tie to the Abyss because she's actually a demon lord sealed into a mortal tiefling's body; the familiar she gains is going to be a quasit, though it still has to follow the standard rules of find familiar. The Necklace of Clarity is a gift to the rogue, who is the only one who won't be driven mad by a powerful confusion curse that hits the city; he'll be able to use the dispel magic to cure the others.

Foxhound438
2016-04-22, 05:31 PM
Both seem not overly powerful.

The ring gives you a first level spell that takes time to cast, being able to re-cast it every combat if your familiar dies is kind of strong, but certainly not game-breaking. Uncommon here.

The necklace gives 2 benefits, first resistance to some of the more... annoying effects in the game, and the second lets you cast a 3rd level spell. According to the guidelines in the DMG, that on its own would constitute uncommon, so combined with the other half it would be high-end uncommon or low-end rare. More than anything else, you just need to watch out for placing spell effects in your campaign that might trivialize a scenario if removed.