Saddened by my magic attunement choices

[Degwerks]

I'm a Hexblade and I'm now faced with a new attunement choice on a few magic items.
I currently have a Frostbrand, Robe of Eyes (has been very useful), and a +2 Rod of the Pact Keeper. The only 4 spells I use that benefit from Rod of Pact Keeper are Hold Person, Destructive Wave, Banishment, and Eldritch Blast. My charisma is 20.

The new item I want attuned is a Ring of Djinni Summoning. The DM hasn't said if he's using the wish granting variant though. So now I'm faced with unattuning one of the three items I mentioned above to be able to use the ring.

Any advice and reasoning on what to give up?

So far I'm leaning towards the Rod to unattune to. The Robe has been extremely useful against invisible and hidden creatures and its long range vision. Frostbrand, well we've been facing lots of demons and fire attacks lately.

[Unoriginal]

Couldn't you attune the ring just for a while to test it out?

[Azgeroth]

sorry if im wrong, im not super familiar with warlocks and dont have books/pdfs to hand.

but if you make the frostbrand your pact weapon, doesn't that mean you don't need to attune to it??

[nickl_2000]

sorry if im wrong, im not super familiar with warlocks and dont have books/pdfs to hand.

but if you make the frostbrand your pact weapon, doesn't that mean you don't need to attune to it??

Nope, there is nothing in the books about magic items not needing attunement. It just says that you can make a magic weapon your pact weapon


You can transform one magic weapon into your pact weapon by performing a special ritual while you hold the weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. You can then dismiss the weapon, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can’t affect an artifact or a sentient weapon in this way. The weapon ceases being your pact weapon if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different weapon, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The weapon appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks

[Sigreid]

Put the rod on the shelf. It's the least benefit to you.

[DracoKnight]

sorry if im wrong, im not super familiar with warlocks and dont have books/pdfs to hand.

but if you make the frostbrand your pact weapon, doesn't that mean you don't need to attune to it??

This is actually incorrect. You still have to attune to the weapon if it requires it.

[Azgeroth]

well fiddlesticks!

in that case, might i suggest unattuning the sword during down time, attuning the ring, ask if he does wishes , then re-attune the sword.

[Gorikon]

well fiddlesticks!

in that case, might i suggest unattuning the sword during down time, attuning the ring, ask if he does wishes , then re-attune the sword.

Your best bet is probably as the other guy said, get rid of the rod.

[ghost_warlock]

Note that the rod of the pactkeeper also allows you to recover a spell slot as an action once per long rest.

[Degwerks]

Note that the rod of the pactkeeper also allows you to recover a spell slot as an action once per long rest.

Yes that is true. However I think I might get more usefulness out of the Ring for an hour each day. So for now I think I'll bench the Rod for the time being. I'll keep it with me in case I change my mind later down the road.

[SharkForce]

Yes that is true. However I think I might get more usefulness out of the Ring for an hour each day. So for now I think I'll bench the Rod for the time being. I'll keep it with me in case I change my mind later down the road.

i will say that i think in later levels the rod has the potential to be extremely powerful. DC 20 (eventually 21, but i'm assuming you're nowhere near level 17 yet) control spells are no joke. if you can find monsters with penalties to a save that you can target, they automatically fail (20 is not an auto-succeed on a save in 5e). and of course, it's way more useful to recover 3 or 4 spell slots than it is to recover 2. you may even want to pick up hypnotic pattern to take further advantage of it.

but of course, your ring isn't bad either :)

[Degwerks]

i will say that i think in later levels the rod has the potential to be extremely powerful. DC 20 (eventually 21, but i'm assuming you're nowhere near level 17 yet) control spells are no joke. if you can find monsters with penalties to a save that you can target, they automatically fail (20 is not an auto-succeed on a save in 5e). and of course, it's way more useful to recover 3 or 4 spell slots than it is to recover 2. you may even want to pick up hypnotic pattern to take further advantage of it.

but of course, your ring isn't bad either :)

You're very right and I'm tempted to not do it. However I am thinking that at my current level the ring could be more useful. The Djinni has twice my hit points and 3 attacks per round. Also has the ability to summon an air elemental himself. So once per day I can get 2 minions with flight and we use flanking = advantage on attack rolls. I am 1 of 2 melee guys in our party and with a 19-20 threat range having advantage is pretty cool.

Later on I'll probably switch back to the rod I think. Spells like Mass Suggestion and Feeblemind and Hypnotic Pattern are really good.

[Dappershire]

I'm all about selfish, but is there a reason you can't hand it off to another player? A summoned ally is still a summoned ally. You can have "Any wishes on that ring are mine" as part of the deal. Plus they owe you.

[Arkhios]

Attunement slots is just another additional layer of resource management. As you can see, it enforces a meaningful choice. Still, it's nothing to be sad about. Just like preparing spellcasters prepare their spells each day, a character with more attunable items than their limit allows faces another choice each day (or however long it takes to re-attune to an item, I'm AFB) :)

Since you're a hexblade with a Frostbrand, I reckon you'll be in melee quite a bit. I agree with the others suggesting you to unattune with the Rod (but don't toss it away! You might need it later, as you never know how things transpire.)

A silly thought just came up. If your DM uses the Wish granting variant, why not make a wish to have 4th attunement slot!
I mean, if it's within the possibilities of Wish. (Again, I'm AFB, so I can't check it out. But a DM should be the final arbiter with questions like these, and a cool DM with a good grasp of Rules as Fun might allow it)

[Citan]

You're very right and I'm tempted to not do it. However I am thinking that at my current level the ring could be more useful. The Djinni has twice my hit points and 3 attacks per round. Also has the ability to summon an air elemental himself. So once per day I can get 2 minions with flight and we use flanking = advantage on attack rolls. I am 1 of 2 melee guys in our party and with a 19-20 threat range having advantage is pretty cool.

Later on I'll probably switch back to the rod I think. Spells like Mass Suggestion and Feeblemind and Hypnotic Pattern are really good.
Well, I'm with the "keep rod, drop sword" on this one. I understand very well the benefit of the Frostbrand against elementals and otherwise fire enemies, but if you intend to get a "pet" to fight for you, then the Rod will be much better for two reasons.

1. A successful Hold Person or Hold Monster (which you will get soon) means advantage on attacks and autocrit for everyone attacking it, including yourself and your pet, plus fairly limiting its actions.
A successful Banishment means one less enemy to care about during a fight, until everyone is ready to "welcome" him back.
Very few enemies you should fight at that level have more than +2 WIS, many have +0 at best. Your current DC should be 8+5+3 = 16. With your +2 rod it makes it 18. Chances of avoiding your spells should then range from 15% to 25%.
Although a magical weapon taking advantage of elemental weakness would statistically provide more consistent benefit over the day, I'd daresay the decisive advantage you get "right now when it counts" cannot be beaten, and your rod makes spells much less of a gamble and much more a reliable tactic. Of course, this is the point of view of someone who usually gets unluncky when you really need success. :)

2. As a Hexblade Warlock, if you really need some ice damage, you could still instead learn and automatically upcast Elemental Weapon, which would provide at least the same benefit. Of course, it does eat your concentration so it's not an obvious tactic, but if really you fight cold-vulnerable enemies, I'd daresay it's a pretty valid choice (especially if stacked with Armor of Agathys ;)).