Stat boosting items - why only STR and INT?

[Monster Manuel]

I like the stat boosting items in 5e. They can be an elegant fix for a really MAD build if you can get them. Headband of intellect makes an eldritch knight or arcane trickster a lot more magically proficient without having to put resources into Int. And the fact that they give a set score, rather than a bonus to the existing score, means they don't break Bounded Accuracy.

But why are only STR and INT supported in the official books?

I have some suspicions, that not all stats are created equal. The situations where getting a free 19 INT will have an impact on the game are much less than, say, an amulet that granted a 19 CON. The INT is only useful to a handful of builds, while the CON will help anyone. Lots of useful skill proficiencies key off of wisdom or charisma.

It would be trivial to homebrew something for another stat; take the Headband of Intellect and replace INT for X. So, why didn't they? And, if one was to whip up this homebrew item, should the rarity change? Or should it grant a different score than 19? How have others done this?

[Yunru]

Amulet of Health, page 150 of the DMG.

Although that is the only other one in the DMG.

[Ganryu]

Well, to be fair, the only stats affect, STR, INT, and CON don't break games. They all purely affect your character.

Intelligence is bread and butter of builds from the start, so going however many levels without it is painful, and when you suddenly do get it as Eldritch knight, you have to switch stuff around.

Strength is used on so little that boosting it does little more than turn you to a pack mule. (Fun fact, only time I got it was a with a GM who didn't want to use encumberance rules but was tired of my walking around with a convenience store worth of items, so he gave it to me just to make me make sense.)

Con, there's a reason this is bumped so much higher on the rarity table than the other two, it makes you into a meaty boy. Still is only your character.

Dex is used for damn near everything, but still, a rare dex item wouldn't break the game too much.

WIS/CHA? Nope. I would never allow it. It change the entire landscape of some politcal games, and you can just hand it to the person who's regularly an idiot.

Give to the barbarian. Now he fears no save.e

[Yunru]

Strength is used on so little that boosting it does little more than turn you to a pack mule. (Fun fact, only time I got it was a with a GM who didn't want to use encumberance rules but was tired of my walking around with a convenience store worth of items, so he gave it to me just to make me make sense.)

A barbarian can get away with prioritising Dexterity over Strength, as Reckless Attack will somewhat make up the deficit, but even then they'd still want around a 14 in Strength, so it's not as game-changing.

[Monster Manuel]

Amulet of Health, page 150 of the DMG.


Huh. So it is! I don't think I ever realized that the periapt of health and the amulet of health were two separate things. I just saw the periapt and said "welp... looks like no CON boost then". I may need to invest in that headband of intellect...

It does lend some weight to the thought that other, more useful stats might get boost items at a higher rarity, yeah?



WIS/CHA? Nope. I would never allow it. It change the entire landscape of some politcal games, and you can just hand it to the person who's regularly an idiot.

Never, though? What if the 19cha headband was a legendary item? Or, it only brought you to 17, instead of 19? Yeah, you can hand it to the barbarian, and all of a sudden he's a relatively smooth operator, but the bard with proficiency in all the social skills still blows him away. Couldn't you tailor the stat boost item to the relative value of the stat, and still have it be fair?

[stoutstien]

Personally I don't think any of the magic items that set an ability score are adding anything to the game not to mention to slap in the face for players who took stat increases.

Saying that I did add items that allow players to treat certain things in the game as if they had a set ability score.
So the gauntlets of ogre power treat your damage rolls as if you have 19 in strength, belt of X giant strength treat your str as X for athletics checks and contest, amulet of health treats your HP as 19 CON, headband of intelligence treats one intelligence skill and INT checks as if you have 19 INT.

By doing it this way an items that have limited CHA, WIS, and DEX boosting ablity can be added without XS power increases for build and combos that are already probably too strong.

[HappyDaze]

Well, to be fair, the only stats affect, STR, INT, and CON don't break games. They all purely affect your character.

Intelligence is bread and butter of builds from the start, so going however many levels without it is painful, and when you suddenly do get it as Eldritch knight, you have to switch stuff around.

Strength is used on so little that boosting it does little more than turn you to a pack mule. (Fun fact, only time I got it was a with a GM who didn't want to use encumberance rules but was tired of my walking around with a convenience store worth of items, so he gave it to me just to make me make sense.)

Con, there's a reason this is bumped so much higher on the rarity table than the other two, it makes you into a meaty boy. Still is only your character.

Dex is used for damn near everything, but still, a rare dex item wouldn't break the game too much.

WIS/CHA? Nope. I would never allow it. It change the entire landscape of some politcal games, and you can just hand it to the person who's regularly an idiot.

Give to the barbarian. Now he fears no save.e

I don't think I agree with any of the above.

A stat is a stat. Yes, some are better saves, but all are assigned points in the same way and all "purely effect your character" in the same way.

Typically, a stat item is not given to the one that uses the stat to the max from the beginning. Those Strength gauntlets are not likely helping a (Strength-based) Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, or Barbarian; instead, they are a blessing to many a Cleric, as well as some Dex-based characters that want a new way of attacking. Dexterity boosters likewise don't go to characters that primed their Dex; they go to characters like Bards, Barbarians, Wizards, Warlocks, and Sorcerers or anyone else that wants to go with light armor (or less) instead of medium plus. Charisma is no better than Intelligence for most characters that haven't already found reason to prime it (an exception might be Strength-focused Paladins that really do benefit from near-maxing their secondary trait). Still though, all of these are about on par with the other boosters in my opinion.

[Spore]

I like the stat boosting items in 5e. They can be an elegant fix for a really MAD build if you can get them.

These things are NOT elegant. I just hate the narrative problem of "suddenly becoming a hulking beast" when your character couldn't lift a longsword properly before. Much of well applied strength is learned coordination. This differentiates a bodybuilder from an athlete.

Imho it is a descriptive nightmare. And I hate these items. They either fix a broken build, or they are a useless sidegrade; give the Fighter with Str 18 the Belt for Str 19? Or give them to the thief rogue and watch as he hauls a hundred pounds of gold out of that treasury?

[Guy Lombard-O]

These things are NOT elegant. I just hate the narrative problem of "suddenly becoming a hulking beast" when your character couldn't lift a longsword properly before. Much of well applied strength is learned coordination. This differentiates a bodybuilder from an athlete.

Imho it is a descriptive nightmare. And I hate these items. They either fix a broken build, or they are a useless sidegrade; give the Fighter with Str 18 the Belt for Str 19? Or give them to the thief rogue and watch as he hauls a hundred pounds of gold out of that treasury?

I tend to agree. Also with the point that they essentially punish folks who put time and effort into their build (fine...mix/maxers :smallyuk:) and reward folks who just throw something together on a character sheet and call it good enough. The min/maxer character aesthete in me cannot abide it.

Back when I DM'd, I allowed the items to exist, but they had charges and provided only temporary bumps of 1 minute. Still pretty cool and great in a pinch, but not nearly as good as actually possessing the character stat itself. Plus, magic items (like all possessions) come and go.

[Willie the Duck]

If the 'why' of this is the important concern, I think it is because those three are the most iconic stat-boosting items, particularly for those TSR-era gamers that 5e was in part designed to woo back. There were Gauntlets of Dexterity, Pearls of Wisdom, and various items of Leadership, but they usually acted in very different ways (Gauntlets of Dexterity, for instance, really only moved your Dexterity towards a moderately high score, and gave low-level 'Thief' abilities very similar to 5e's Gloves of Thievery). For those who have to have symmetry between all the items, I suspect they assume such people will be perfectly capable of inventing their own magic items using the same template. 5e's moving back to things like having specifically holy avenger swords (as opposed to weapons with the holy property) indicate to me that they expect people to be able to modify things if they feel the need.

As to whether Str, Int, and Con are the appropriate defaults, I guess I sort of agree. The occasional Dex-based fighter or cantrip-based cleric will benefit from suddenly being able to switch-hit to using strength-based weapons when the party stumbles upon magic gauntlets alongside a non-finesse-weapon +3 or the like (about a commensurate benefit as one would expect when being given two powerful magic items). An Eldritch Knight who dumped Int will suddenly be able to pull off some good save-based spells, but they'll have to learn them first. Constitution-- well, everyone loves constitution, but then again most PCs already have more than a bit of it (meaning you're probably moving from a +2 modifier to a +4, not -2 to +4 or something. So, overall, the effects of these items will not be too disruptive. Would it be similar or different for Dex, Wis, and Cha items? Boy, I don't know. I mean, because they are common saves (plus initiative), everyone benefits from a +4 modifier for Dex and Wis. However... and I'm not sure if the designers expected this or not... I almost never see even meathead fighters dump wisdom or tin-can dwarven clerics dump dexterity. So again it's not really moving from minus-something to +4. I can see something like a rogue (perhaps a combat-oriented one) having an 8 Charisma and it suddenly going up to 19, allowing them to become a social skill rogue a little bit, but that's a pretty niche example (and without the skills or expertise chosen to capitalize upon that, it's the same situation as the EK suddenly getting a 19 Int).

[Amechra]

These things are NOT elegant. I just hate the narrative problem of "suddenly becoming a hulking beast" when your character couldn't lift a longsword properly before. Much of well applied strength is learned coordination. This differentiates a bodybuilder from an athlete.

Imho it is a descriptive nightmare. And I hate these items. They either fix a broken build, or they are a useless sidegrade; give the Fighter with Str 18 the Belt for Str 19? Or give them to the thief rogue and watch as he hauls a hundred pounds of gold out of that treasury?

I mean, I usually just think of it as giving the wearer a minor form of super-strength. It's explicitly magical - I'd describe stuff suddenly feeling as light as a feather or whatever. Maybe throw in a bit of a goofy scene when someone first attunes where they bust things because they don't know their own strength? And then handwave it with "yeah you got used to it" if the players don't care for semi-slapstick - just don't break their actual equipment, and everything should be fine.

Mechanically, the items are a homage to the Strength-boosting items from pre-3.X. Back then, increasing your stats was... difficult, at best, and Strength 19 was practically impossible to get (play a race with +1 Strength, then roll up an 18). If your Fighter had a Strength of 17, setting that to Strength 19 was something like +2 to hit, +6 to damage, and a massive increase to all of the out-of-combat Strength stuff. That's basically always useful.

In 5e? All stats are linear (thanks to 3e), so something that effectively gives you a +2 Strength will only ever give you +1 to Strength stuff. On top of that, it's really easy to boost ability scores if you want to - you potentially get +10 to ability scores spread over your whole career (+12 if you're a Rogue, +14 if you're a Fighter).

[Chronos]

I think that they're poor design, because the only people who can use them are the folks who aren't prioritizing that stat, or who are planning specifically on getting that item. The former makes them lackluster and boring, while the latter just completely wrecks the concept of the game (made all the worse by the fact that, in Adventure League, you can in fact plan on getting specific items). They should just give +x to a stat, like they did in 3e. Which, yes, does break bounded accuracy, which is a good thing because bounded accuracy is a terrible idea.

[Lupine]

Personally, I think that there should be rings that give a +1 or a +2 to one particular stat. I really don't think that wearing two rings of +1 str, or +1 dex would be THAT powerful.

Overall, I really think D&D doesn't have enough minor items that are powerful enough to be appreciated, but not powerful enough to actually make a huge difference.

[Monster Manuel]

Personally, I think that there should be rings that give a +1 or a +2 to one particular stat.

I think a lot of people would love to see that, in addition to the normal stat-boosting items. A +1 STR ring would be of minimal impact on-paper, but the niche it would fill is super-common...the character with the odd-numbered stat. Rather than wait until your next ASI, you could bump that 17 up to an 18 RIGHT NOW. I think A)that these would be extremely common among players, and B)this is why the developers didn't make stat-boost items work this way.

I get the animosity, where it feels like these cheapen the investment people made in REALLY having these stats. There's the argument that a stat given by an item can be taken away, but honestly, how often is that going to happen? I think there will be far more encounters where that 19 gets used than there will be encounters where the character is hit with an anti-magic field, or a dispel, or etc.

It's why I keep coming back to the idea of items that give lower scores to key abilities, at a higher rarity. Say, a Very Rare item that gives a 17 dex. Going from a +0 to a +3 to initiative, AC and Dex saves is useful to anyone, but at the level where a Very Rare item comes into play, is it really that much of an impact? What if it only gives a 15? How do you weigh that against going from a +0 to +4 to hit with melee weapons, STR saves, and athletics checks?

[Amechra]

Given that all of the items that set your stat to some number set it to an odd number (other than the artifact set that does it), it probably wouldn't break anything if you let someone who invested an ASI into getting a +2 to that stat bump that up to the next even number. Then there'd still be some reward for focusing on that stat if you later found one of those items.

[Anachronity]

Mechanically, the items are a homage to the Strength-boosting items from pre-3.X. Back then, increasing your stats was... difficult, at best, and Strength 19 was practically impossible to get (play a race with +1 Strength, then roll up an 18). If your Fighter had a Strength of 17, setting that to Strength 19 was something like +2 to hit, +6 to damage, and a massive increase to all of the out-of-combat Strength stuff. That's basically always useful.

Basically this. 5e is the throwback edition in a lot of ways, and I think it does quite well at that. But for these items specifically...

In 2e attributes weren't linear. They each had a table from 1 to 25 that you needed to reference. Having 16 in something was pretty good, having 19 in something was more than twice as good, it was inhumanly good. Having 25 in something was deific. Getting to 19 started giving you special benefits reserved only for such abnormally high attributes. 19 Con meant you started regenerating slowly, on the order of minutes. 19 Wis meant you started becoming immune to certain mind-affecting or soul-affecting spells. And so these items all seem to be purely fan service to players of old editions where 19 was a bigger milestone than 20.

To get a similar feel in 5e to what these items were in 2e, you'd actually want an item that sets an attribute to 22; higher than is typically possible. Of course, such items begin to tamper with bounded accuracy and might be quite broken. Still, I appreciate that the set-a-stat-to-19 items are interesting in that they are a lateral improvement. They don't make you better at what you're already good at. Instead they help you branch out to new things.

Overall I like that magical items feel a lot rarer and more special in 5e. You can make things like an item that sets strength to 22 and it's such an unusual and absurd thing that it can really shine despite its simplicity and really can be the sort of thing that the players are at risk of losing, because villains have taken note of the powerful item and covet it for themselves.


It's nothing like 3.5/PF where a 22 in a stat due to stat-boosting items is naturally assumed by 6th level or so, and where you're actually behind mechanically if you don't have a 22 in at least one stat. Where magical items are handed out by rote and the surest way to find an adventurer in disguise is to case Detect Magic and shank anyone who pings. As someone who plays a lot of those editions and still enjoys them despite their flaws, take it from me that the worst thing you can do to magic items is make them normal, routine, or in any way an expected part of character development.

[Ganryu]

I don't think I agree with any of the above.

A stat is a stat. Yes, some are better saves, but all are assigned points in the same way and all "purely effect your character" in the same way.

Typically, a stat item is not given to the one that uses the stat to the max from the beginning. Those Strength gauntlets are not likely helping a (Strength-based) Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, or Barbarian; instead, they are a blessing to many a Cleric, as well as some Dex-based characters that want a new way of attacking. Dexterity boosters likewise don't go to characters that primed their Dex; they go to characters like Bards, Barbarians, Wizards, Warlocks, and Sorcerers or anyone else that wants to go with light armor (or less) instead of medium plus. Charisma is no better than Intelligence for most characters that haven't already found reason to prime it (an exception might be Strength-focused Paladins that really do benefit from near-maxing their secondary trait). Still though, all of these are about on par with the other boosters in my opinion.

Uh-huh. How many constitution proficiencies do you see again? (its still a rare magic item however, because it is just plain better than STR and INT. Any of the other three would have to be rare.)

Athletics is literally the only strength proficiency

And Investigation and occasionally Arcana are the only intelligence proficiencies that might see some love.

And charisma is vastly superier to intelligence. Both in Rp'ing and fights.

Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation, all powerful proficiencies.

And saves, actually more common than intelligence saves.

Dex has Initiative, AC and Stealth. Wisdom has Perception, Insight, and the most common save in the game.

Some stats are vastly superior to others.

[Foxydono]

First off, in my opinion, +19 x (whether Dex, Cha or Wis) won't break anything. Limited attunement slots will make sure of that. What does break the game, is 29 Strength, because it breaks bounded accuracy.

Some people might say it can be abused by someone who plans his whole build around it. But, honestly, that is a player problem, not an item problem. Same with builds with simulacrum, clones etc.

I find it shortsighted that they didn't introduce items for Wis, Cha and Dex. It can help some MAD builds without having to use all you ASI into skill points. Feats are fun and it's a bit sad of someone can't take them because he or she would fall behind. And people who say they didn't maakte them because it breaks the game, please look at the girdle of storm giant strength and tell me how that made the main book :)

[HappyDaze]

Uh-huh. How many constitution proficiencies do you see again? (its still a rare magic item however, because it is just plain better than STR and INT. Any of the other three would have to be rare.)

Athletics is literally the only strength proficiency

And Investigation and occasionally Arcana are the only intelligence proficiencies that might see some love.

And charisma is vastly superier to intelligence. Both in Rp'ing and fights.

Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation, all powerful proficiencies.

And saves, actually more common than intelligence saves.

Dex has Initiative, AC and Stealth. Wisdom has Perception, Insight, and the most common save in the game.

Some stats are vastly superior to others.

All Skills can range from useless to "powerful" depending on the game. Rules still say that assigning a 10 to Strength costs the same (in point buy or array) as putting it into Dexterity. This is not Champions or GURPS where some stats cost more than others.

[Ganryu]

All Skills can range from useless to "powerful" depending on the game. Rules still say that assigning a 10 to Strength costs the same (in point buy or array) as putting it into Dexterity. This is not Champions or GURPS where some stats cost more than others.

Eh, I'm fine with that, and can agree.

[Yunru]

First off, in my opinion, +19 x (whether Dex, Cha or Wis) won't break anything. Limited attunement slots will make sure of that. What does break the game, is 29 Strength, because it breaks bounded accuracy.

Some people might say it can be abused by someone who plans his whole build around it. But, honestly, that is a player problem, not an item problem. Same with builds with simulacrum, clones etc.

I find it shortsighted that they didn't introduce items for Wis, Cha and Dex. It can help some MAD builds without having to use all you ASI into skill points. Feats are fun and it's a bit sad of someone can't take them because he or she would fall behind. And people who say they didn't maakte them because it breaks the game, please look at the girdle of storm giant strength and tell me how that made the main book :)

Actually bounded accuracy works up to stats of 30 (and probably beyond, but definitely up to).
Although, I'm not getting where you're getting +19 from?

[stoutstien]

All Skills can range from useless to "powerful" depending on the game. Rules still say that assigning a 10 to Strength costs the same (in point buy or array) as putting it into Dexterity. This is not Champions or GURPS where some stats cost more than others.

Ah the the 10 ft gap. Best lv 1-2 encounter with a party with those who think 8 str wouldn't come up.

[Ganryu]

Ah the the 10 ft gap. Best lv 1-2 encounter with a party with those who think 8 str wouldn't come up.

"You'll have to toss me. Don't tell the elf."

[Chronos]

Why would all gaps be 10 feet? Shouldn't 8 ft or 12 ft gaps be just as common?

[Amechra]

Why would all gaps be 10 feet? Shouldn't 8 ft or 12 ft gaps be just as common?

Well, when you go into a dungeon, the only measuring tool most people bring is a 10-foot pole...

[stoutstien]

Why would all gaps be 10 feet? Shouldn't 8 ft or 12 ft gaps be just as common?
They are but 10 ft is just such an easy value to work with on a grid. Same reason reach weapons add 5ft and not 3 or 6. Sometimes a game just has to be a game.
As a side note, I do use odd sizing from everything from crevasses in a glacier to width of a hallway. 10 ft pit is just a common troupe in TTRPGs.

[Willie the Duck]

Why would all gaps be 10 feet? Shouldn't 8 ft or 12 ft gaps be just as common?

Because DMs are people, and despite no real world preference for things being in exactly 5' increments, at any given table you probably still will see plenty of 10' gaps.