Held items

[Biggus]

The only rules for held items I can find are in the MIC (p.219):


You must hold the item or otherwise manipulate the item with your hand for it to function or be activated. All weapons and shields have this entry, as do many tools. In the case of a shield, simply carrying it isn’t enough—you must wear it properly as described on page 125 of the Player’s Handbook.

The bit I'm unsure about is the first sentence. How do you know whether you have to keep an item (other than a shield) in hand for it to work, or just hold it to activate it? In particular I'm curious about the Talisman of Undying Fortitude (MIC p.188) but I'd like to know in general for other items.

[HalfQuart]

The Nonworn Magic Items section, starting on p218, has three types listed, which reference the Body Slot entry on the magic item's description:

—: The item functions or can be activated as long as it is carried somewhere on your body
— (held): You must hold the item or otherwise manipulate the item with your hand for it to function or be activated.
— ([armor, shield, or weapon] crystal): Augment crystals are magic items that function only when attached to a suit of armor, shield, weapon, or other appropriate item.


The entry for Talisman of Undying Fortitude (MIC p.188) has "Body Slot: — (held)" -- so you actually need to hold it in your hand for it to function. "held" means hold in your hand, not carried somewhere on your person.

Is that what you're asking?

[Biggus]

The Nonworn Magic Items section, starting on p218, has three types listed, which reference the Body Slot entry on the magic item's description:

—: The item functions or can be activated as long as it is carried somewhere on your body
— (held): You must hold the item or otherwise manipulate the item with your hand for it to function or be activated.
— ([armor, shield, or weapon] crystal): Augment crystals are magic items that function only when attached to a suit of armor, shield, weapon, or other appropriate item.


The entry for Talisman of Undying Fortitude (MIC p.188) has "Body Slot: — (held)" -- so you actually need to hold it in your hand for it to function. "held" means hold in your hand, not carried somewhere on your person.

Is that what you're asking?

Er...you know you just quoted the exact same section I quoted in the OP right?

The bit that I'm uncertain about is:


for it to function or be activated

How do you know whether you just have to hold it in your hand to activate it, or if you have to keep it held in your hand for it to continue functioning?

[HalfQuart]

My apologies for the confusion. It wasn't really clear to me what your question was, and it seemed as though you might have missed the bit on the page before your quote.

But hmm... that is an interesting question. If you had a ring or a cloak that required activation, it seems unlikely to me that the effect would continue after the item was removed from the body part. But so then I looked at a bunch of items in MIC that are "— (Held)" to see what makes sense:

Lots of weapons -- would it make sense for the magical weapon's ability to stop functioning if you drop the weapon or are disarmed? I don't think so. There's also the relic Staff of the Unyielding Oak where the staff changes into a Treant -- clearly you are no longer holding it.
Aberrant Sphere shatters when you activate it and re-forms when its duration expires.
Banner of Storm's Eye explicitly says "as long as it is held aloft..."
Blast Disk is clearly activated while held and then set down someplace, and still functions.

There's obviously a ton more, but it seems pretty clear to me that items that are "— (held)" generally continue to function after they are activated unless they explicitly say they don't (like the Banner of Storm's Eye). That's what I'd go with, anyway.

[Biggus]

My apologies for the confusion. It wasn't really clear to me what your question was, and it seemed as though you might have missed the bit on the page before your quote.

But hmm... that is an interesting question. If you had a ring or a cloak that required activation, it seems unlikely to me that the effect would continue after the item was removed from the body part. But so then I looked at a bunch of items in MIC that are "— (Held)" to see what makes sense:

Lots of weapons -- would it make sense for the magical weapon's ability to stop functioning if you drop the weapon or are disarmed? I don't think so. There's also the relic Staff of the Unyielding Oak where the staff changes into a Treant -- clearly you are no longer holding it.
Aberrant Sphere shatters when you activate it and re-forms when its duration expires.
Banner of Storm's Eye explicitly says "as long as it is held aloft..."
Blast Disk is clearly activated while held and then set down someplace, and still functions.

There's obviously a ton more, but it seems pretty clear to me that items that are "— (held)" generally continue to function after they are activated unless they explicitly say they don't (like the Banner of Storm's Eye). That's what I'd go with, anyway.

Thank you for taking the time to do that! That makes sense, nice one :smallsmile:

[rel]

Another point of ambiguity is what kind of action grabbing hold of or touching an item to activate it (if it is say strapped to your belt) should be.
The example that comes up at our table is a metamagic rod strapped to the shoulder like a knife that the character reaches up to grab with a free hand as needed.

Is it a free action? Does it count as drawing a weapon and if so does quickdraw help? What happens if the user casts a spell as a reaction? what if the user normally wields a staff and has to switch to holding it one handed first?

All good questions with very little actual rules text covering them. Having a conversation and resolving the edge cases in a way that works for your group before the game is in my experience better than trying to work things out in the middle of a pitched battle.