Can a pc necromancer skeleton attune to magic items?

[Throne12]

Say I'm playing a necromancer and I have gauntlet of ogre strength, javelin of lightning, wand of magic missile. Can a skeleton attune to them and use them?

[sithlordnergal]

I think they can, it just counts towards your attunement slots. Kind of like if the Ranger's Animal Companion or a spell caster's Familiar attune to a thing. It may be better to give the gauntlets to a zombie though

[Yunru]

I think they can, it just counts towards your attunement slots. Kind of like if the Ranger's Animal Companion or a spell caster's Familiar attune to a thing. It may be better to give the gauntlets to a zombie though

Citation needed?

[sithlordnergal]

Citation needed?

Looked it up since I am AFB, but I was mistaken. That is an AL rule, not a DMG one.


Can my familiar attune to a magic item?

Any item attuned to a creature under your control (familiars, beast companions, etc.) counts against both your character’s limit of three attuned items and the character’s permanent magic item count.

This rule doesn’t imply that such creatures have the ability to attune to magic items. Whether or not a mindless undead creature— for example— can attune to something is subject to DM discretion.

DDAL FAQ

[JackPhoenix]

"Attuning to an item requires a creature to spend a short rest focused on only that item while being in physical contact with it (this can't be the same short rest used to learn the item's properties). This focus can take the form of weapon practice (for a weapon), meditation (for a wondrous item), or some other appropriate activity."

It is very unlikely a skeleton would be capable of the required focus.

However, neither Javelin of Lightning nor Wand of Magic Missiles require attunement.

[Yunru]

Looked it up since I am AFB, but I was mistaken. That is an AL rule, not a DMG one.
Ahh, that explains why my furious e-flipping (or as some call it: searching) through my books couldn't find anything, thanks!

[Tetrasodium]

Citation needed?

I remember seeing the same but think it may have been an AL ruling as well. Although, it looks like that may have changed (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/02/11/do-magic-items-attuned-to-a-familiar-count-against-the-arcanists-total/).

I'd say that you should ask your gm because I agree with both rulings on a case by case basis. +# flaming longsword might not count towards anything but the skeleton... staff of fireballs though.... that's a different story that might count towards the PC. Gauntlets of ogre power I'm not sure where it would count... so on & so forth

[NNescio]

I remember seeing the same but think it may have been an AL ruling as well. Although, it looks like that may have changed (https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/02/11/do-magic-items-attuned-to-a-familiar-count-against-the-arcanists-total/).

It's an AL 'houserule'. JC is just clarifying the default RAW (without AL).

JackPhoenix does raise a cogent point though on whether 'mindless' creatures can attune to an item.



I'd say that you should ask your gm because I agree with both rulings on a case by case basis. +# flaming longsword might not count towards anything but the skeleton... staff of fireballs though.... that's a different story that might count towards the PC. Gauntlets of ogre power I'm not sure where it would count... so on & so forth

Skellies can't use the staff anyway. It require specific classes (and the Wand equivalent requires a spellcaster).

Generally the only issue (IMHO) is the use of Ring of Spell Storing to offload concentration onto a minion.