A few magic items for review

[Carissacat]

Hello. Fairly newbie DM here asking for some help with a few magic items I'm thinking for a players birthday (I like to give my players an in game item as a free present from me)
I doubt these are unique but see what you think of them. Mostly I'd like to know if these are overpowered/unbalanced and how they can be improved.

Gloves of the arrowhead
These appear as a pair of finger-less gloves with 6 small beads stitched onto the back of them. The gloves can hold up to 6 charges and recover 2d4+2 charges at dawn. Whenever you pull an arrow out of your quiver you can expend a number of charges to change the arrowhead to one of the following
Rare
Requires attunement
Ensnaring Strike - 2 charges
Cast the spell ensnaring strike without expending a spell slot
Elements - 2 charges
Pick one of the following elements; fire, cold, lightning. The arrow deals an extra 1d6 of the chosen element on a hit.
Thunder - 2 charges
1d6 thunder damage, target must make CON save or be pushed 10 ft back
Magic - 2 charges
Arrow counts as magic for the purposes of overcoming defenses
Healing - variable
Every 2 charges deals 1d4 healing. Arrow does not deal damage but must hit targets AC
Targeting - 3 charges
Arrow hits the target automatically, no roll needed. Arrow can move over and around cover but not through (I.e 1/2 cover and 3/4 but not full cover)

Bargaining Chip
Looks to be a simple poker chip, but can be offered in exchange for items or people. Gives advantage to any charisma checks that involve trading this chip, up to a value of 50gp. Although this chip appears non valuable people seem to desire it. By whispering your name and offering the chip a gold piece, you can guarantee that the chip will return to you after 1d4 days after trading it. Every time you plan to trade this chip away you must repeat this ritual
(Unknown to the player, everytime this is done an otherworldy entity is listening and gathering this wealth and the PCs name for a secret Purpose)

Mirror of healing
Appears to be a simple mirror with a silver frame, but examination will reveal a religious symbol carved into the back of the mirror.
Every time healing is done by the wielder of this item half of the healing done is stored within the mirror. The wielder can release these hitpoints to a creature within touch range as an action. The mirror can hold up to 60hp and the hitpoints disappear if they are not used before a long rest.

[Carissacat]

Collar of communication/circlet of communication
Allows a ranger to communicate more effectively with their bonded animal. This collar/circlet combo allows a beast master to use their reaction to grant a few martial battle tactics to their beast. The collar grants 4 d8 superiority die that a beast can use to enhance their attacks. The collar recharges 1d4 die after a long rest.
Very Rare
Requires Attunement
The following battle master tactics can be used by your beast

Evasive footwork
Roll a superiority die. Whilst your beast is moving it gains a bonus to its AC equal to the roll
Distracting strike
Roll die, add damage to the attack. Next attack roll against the target by an attacker other than your beast has advantage
Goading attack
Roll die, add damage to attack. Target makes Wisdom saving throw (DC 12/ or 8+prof+Dex/str). On a failed save target has disadvantage on attacks not against your beast.
Menacing attack
Roll die, add damage to attack. Target makes wisdom saving throw. On a failed save target is afraid of your beast for 1 min and can repeat saving throw at end of every turn
Rally
Roll a superiority die. Your beast gains temporary hit points equal to the roll + your CHA mod.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Mostly I'd like to know if these are overpowered/unbalanced

A note: without rarities, we can't know if these are balanced or not. It's like asking if a spell is balanced without telling us what level it is.

That said, I can still give some general comments.


Gloves of the arrowhead
These appear as a pair of fingerless gloves with 10 small beads stitched onto the back of them. The gloves can hold up to 10 charges and recover 2d4+2 charges at dawn. Whenever you pull an arrow out of your quiver you can expend a number of charges to change the arrowhead to one of the following
Entanglement - 6 charges
Basically cast the spell entanglement without expending a spell slot
Elements - 3 charges
Pick one of the following elements; fire, cold, lightning. The arrow deals an extra 1d6 of the chosen element on a hit.
Thunder - 6 charges
1d6 thunder damage, target must make CON save or be pushed 10 ft back
Magic - 2 charges
Arrow counts as magic for the purposes of overcoming defences
Healing - variable
Every 2 charges deals 1d4 healing
Targeting - 10 charges
Arrow hits the target automatically, no roll needed. Arrow can move over and around cover but not through (I.e 1/2 cover and 3/4 but not full cover)

"entanglement" is not the name of the spell; I suspect you were looking for Entangle. However, I would consider changing this to the ranger spell Ensnaring Strike, since that's designed to work with arrows in the first place.

It isn't clear how the 'healing' arrows work. Do you shoot someone and then they get healed? Do you have to hit their AC to do this? Do they take the normal weapon damage at the same time?

Overall, the charges are wonky. I'd scale to spell level (or spell level+1, since "elements" and "magic" are effectively cantrip-level power), bearing in mind Thunderwave, Entangle and Ensnaring Strike are all level 1 spells. Not sure how I'd value the automatic hit option... maybe 3 charges? Also I'd probably drop the total charges to 6, just as a matter of taste.

With those changes, I'd call it... rare? And yes to attunement.


Bargaining Chip
Looks to be a simple poker chip, but can be offered in exchange for items or people. Gives advantage to any charisma checks that involve trading this chip. Although this chip appears non valuable people seem to desire it. Appears in the owners (attuned to) pocket after 1d4 days

That's very vague. How much to people desire it? I'd specify a gp value, such as "people seem to desire it, being willing to trade up to 25gp worth of goods for it." And I'd work on the phrasing... "If you are attuned to the chip, it re-appears in your pocket 1d4 days after you trade it away." Though that begs the question why wouldn't the person you traded it to attune to it themselves, thereby ending your attunement?

It's probably in the uncommon tier, though I'd consider reworking the whole thing into some kind of curse... :smallamused:


Mirror of healing
Appears to be a simple mirror with a silver frame, but examination will reveal a religious symbol carved into the back of the mirror.
Option 1: every time healing is done by the wielder of this item they regain half of the hit points healed.
Option 2: every time healing is done by the wielder of this item half of the healing done is stored within the mirror. The wielder can release these hitpoints as an action. The mirror can hold up to 60hp and the hitpoints disappear if they are not used before a long rest.

Again, could do with some clarification. If you "release" stored hit points, where do they go? I'm assuming to a creature, but even then... what's the range? Do you need to be able to see the target? Is it locked to the original target? Or the healer themselves?

Given that option 1 is a class feature for life clerics, I'd rate this as rare.


Collar of communication/circlet of communication
Allows a ranger to communicate more effectively with their bonded animal. This collar/circlet combo allows a beast master to use their reaction to grant a martial battle tactics to their beast. The collar grants 4 d8 superiority die that a beast can use to enhance their attacks. The collar recharges 1d4 die after a long rest.
The following battle master tactics can be used by your beast
[LIST]
Evasive footwork
Roll a superiority die. Whilst your beast is moving it gains a bonus to its AC equal to the roll
Distracting strike
Roll die, add damage to the attack. Next attack roll against the target by an attacker other than your beast has advantage
Goading attack
Roll die, add damage to attack. Target makes Wisdom saving throw (DC 12/ or 8+prof+Dex/str). On a failed save target has disadvantage on attacks not against your beast.
Menancing attack
Roll die, add damage to attack. Target makes wisdom saving throw. On a failed save target isn't afraid of your beast.
Rally
Roll a superiority die. Your beast gains temporary hit points equal to the roll + your CHA mod.

"a martial battle tactics"... here you go, Fido: a tactic! Just what you've always wanted! Yeah, there's some copy-editing to do with this one.

Also, it's very powerful. I'm leaning towards very rare, but it might be better to go all-in and buff it a bit (maybe an AC bonus, damage resistance, or something) to the legendary tier.

[Carissacat]

Thank you so much for the response, I apologise for never getting back. The changes you suggested are perfectly sound and I've edited my post to reflect them.
I guess I was looking for help with rarities as well as I've no clue about grading them.