Dungeon Master's Guide, Chapter 8

At last, we have reached the part of the DMG that matters most to players: Magic Items. And there are a lot of them. They are divided up into nine categories: Armor and Shields, Weapons, Potions, Rings, Rods, Scrolls, Staffs, Wands, and Wondrous Items (which used to be called Miscellaneous Magic, but people don't talk like that anymore).

We are given a discussion about handling magic items in the game, as in placing them, how characters ID them, how they look, and how they are used. As with so much of this new ruleset, everything is codified and explained in detail. There are limits on what can be worn (you can't wear three magic cloaks at the same time), which was common back in the day, although of course people often ignored those rules or found ways around them. I'm sure that won't happen in this edition, though.

Now we come to the types of bonuses. I like this section because it differentiates between different types of bonuses and how they interact. The basic rule is that you can't stack two of the same type of bonus together; only the better bonus applies. So, the spell mage armor and the magic item bracers of armor both provide an Armor bonus to your AC. Casting the spell and wearing the bracers at the same time won't provide a double bonus; only the better bonus to AC will be considered, and the other one will be ignored. There are a few exceptions; an armor bonus on your +1 chain mail and an armor bonus on your +2 shield will both be applicable, since they are different items. Dodge bonuses always stack as well, as do synergy bonuses for skills and some circumstance bonuses. Those are situational factors that can't necessarily be anticipated ahead of time. Otherwise, no stacking of the same kind of bonus.

However, and this is where it gets interesting, you can stack an armor bonus and a dodge bonus, or a deflection bonus and a natural armor bonus. In fact, the list has a total of ten different bonuses that can impact your AC: Armor, deflection, dodge, enhancement, haste, insight, luck, natural armor, profane, and sacred. The last two might be mutually exclusive, but all the others can be applied once to give you a truly impressive AC score. There are a total of 19 different bonuses, most of which can be achieved through a spell and/or magic item. Examples are given for each. This is really helpful, since every time an item or spell gives a bonus, the type of bonus is given as well, so you know what can and cannot stack.

Now we get into the good stuff, the items themselves. There are tables provided for random generation of magic items, and the items are divided up into three levels: Minor, Medium, and Major. This is a departure from the original game, where it was possible to roll up a +5 sword on the first dungeon level if you rolled right. Now, that isn't happening. Rods and staves aren't even available on the minor list. All the rest can be found on all three lists, even potions.

Armor and shields can have normal 'plus' bonuses, and they can also have special abilities beyond that. The tables for random rolling include a column for 'market price', which means you can buy the item in a magic shop or somewhere else if you want it. Armor and shields can go up to +5 without special abilities, or up to +10 if they include additional powers. The powers are given a modifier bonus. For example, +3 leather armor that has acid resistance would have an additional +3 bonus for purposes of price calculation, making it the equivalent of +6 armor.

Each special ability, as well as the 'specific armors', is given a caster level, prerequisites, and a market price. The specific armors also give you a cost to create them in both gold and XP. And this is where I have an issue with the game.

See, the fact that characters have Item Creation feats available, and have detailed explanations on what they need to make these items, completely changes the fundamentals of the game setting. In older editions, making magic items was a lost art, requiring tons of research and expenditure to make even a simple sword +1. It was hard to do, and made finding magic items in the dungeon all the more special because they were so rare. Your fighter found a magic spear but doesn't know how to use it? Well, you know what his next weapon proficiency is going to be, don't you?

Now, in 3rd edition, 1st-level wizards and clerics can make a living scribing scrolls; all they have to do is go kill a couple of orcs in their spare time to recharge the XP so they can continue to scribe. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of magic item creation costing XP; it means you are literally putting a bit of yourself into the item. But having everything standardized to this point is just...I don't like it. You can go to a magic shop and buy anything the DM decides is available there. Finding magic items isn't as impressive as it used to be, because you can just go buy or make a new one instead of settling for the one you found. Your fighter found a magic spear but can't use it? Take it to Warrick's Weapons Emporium and trade it in for a shiny magic longsword instead. See the difference? In the older editions, magic is rare and feels like it. Now, it's commonplace to the point that I expect city streets to be lined with continual light lanterns and tame otyughs cleaning up the gutters.

Alright, that's my rant. Weapons work the same as armor and shields, and there are three types: common, uncommon, and ranged. The uncommon weapons will cover almost all of the exotic melee weapons, of course, but all the ranged weapons are in the one table. Special abilities are divided up between melee and ranged, although some are shared between the two tables. Incidentally, if you want to buy a holy avenger sword, you'd best be saving your coins; it will cost you over 120,000 gp to buy one. Remember, the expected wealth level for characters means that you'll have to be 13th or 14th level to afford that sword. Are paladins now allowed to hoard wealth if it's for the purpose of buying a holy avenger sword?

Potions include oils that you rub on instead of drink. I have to say, my favorite oil is oil of slipperiness. Wouldn't that just be...ordinary oil? Or maybe this is extra oily oil, I don't know. Anyway, most potions are just the equivalent of a one-charge wand now, where you drink it to get a spell effect. There are some, however, that don't have a direct spell to draw from; these will mostly just require the Brew Potion feat and a minimum character level.

Rings...yeah, everyone knows about the rings. But damn, they get expensive; the rings of elemental command, all four of them, cost 200,000 gp each. Rings of wizardry are now limited to up to 4th-level spells, and only the base spells are doubled; bonus spells from specialization or high intelligence don't get doubled. Too bad; that would make this ring insanely powerful. It's still pretty awesome, though.

Rods are special magic items that don't have corresponding spells to create their powers. They are too powerful to be found as minor items; medium and major only. They do have creation prerequisites, which do have particular spells that help create their effects, but unlike staves which just cast the spell, these manifest their powers in different ways. For example, a rod of absorption has spell turning as a prerequisite to creating it. It doesn't actually turn the spells away since it absorbs them, which is why it is a rod and not a staff. Incidentally, the classic wand of wonder is now a rod of wonder. And it has confusion as a prerequisite even though it has about two dozen different effects.

Scrolls are just a spell written on paper and ready to be cast. They are divided up between arcane and divine scrolls; arcane casters can't use divine scrolls even if they have the spell on their lists; a wizard cannot cast a summon monster III from a divine scroll. Most, though not all, of the spells in the Player's Handbook can be found on the random scroll tables here.

Staves are multi-purpose wands, basically; where wands can just launch a single spell repeatedly, staves can fire off two or more different spells depending on what the caster wants and what the staff can actually do. For example, the staff of defense can cast a shield spell, shield of faith, shield other, and shield of law. Each casting costs at least one charge, and staves are limited to 50 charges at most, as are wands.

Finally, there are Wondrous Items, the things that don't fit into any of the other categories. These are your cloaks and boots, your bracers and gauntlets, your amulets and necklaces, your gems and pearls, etc. Lots of these. The tables are again divided up into three levels, and the items on them are listed in order of their market price rather than alphabetically. So, if you roll high on your treasure rolls, you're going to get the more expensive items every time.

But wait...there's more! Intelligent items now come in more than just swords; almost any permanent magic item might be intelligent now. Melee weapons are still the most common (15% chance!), while ranged weapons have 5% and everything else is at 1% chance. The list of available powers has been expanded, and some of the primary powers now give the player a free feat. That's useful. Of course, intelligent items also have Ego scores and can take control of characters in certain circumstances, especially the more powerful ones.

And of course, there are cursed items, the ones that went bad. There are two ways to get a cursed item: Screw up trying to make a good one, or deliberately create it cursed in the first place. And yes, the cursed items have prerequisites and market prices (although you won't be selling too many of them). Two of the cursed items are noted as not being creatable by characters: Bags of devouring (which are creatures), and crystal hypnosis balls, which are reserved to powerful NPC liches.

Finally (this time for sure), we have Artifacts. These are the really powerful items, the ones that don't get rolled up on random tables. There are two types: Minor and major artifacts. The minor ones are actually items that used to be on the magic item tables, such as the book of vile darkness or the deck of many things. I think it's a good idea to take these off the standard item lists because they are really powerful items that should only appear when the DM specifically wants them to. Old favorites like the hammer of thunderbolts and the staff of the magi appear here, too. These can't be made by mortal casters anymore; their means of creation is lost to time.

The major artifacts are what old-time gamers think of when artifacts are mentioned. The Hand and Eye of Vecna, the dragon orbs, and the sword of Kas are examples of these: super-powerful items that come complete with drawbacks that might well kill your character if you aren't careful (and sometimes even if you are). There aren't a lot listed here, but then you aren't going to run into too many of these in a campaign anyway.

So, that's the magic items you can find. Now we get the rules on how to create them. As I said, this is much more structured and delineated than it used to be, and it makes magic almost more scientific than mystical. All magical items must be masterwork items to begin with, and every type of item has a formula to work out how much it costs to make it based on the prerequisites and any exotic materials that might be required. It turns magic item creation into a bookkeeping exercise, basically. I'm not a huge fan. But, it's here, so we talk about it a bit.

There are some special materials listed in this section to make weapons, armor and shields, including adamantine, mithral, and darkwood. These aren't magical per se, but they do enhance items that are made from them in some way.

And...that's it! There's an appendix with some Quick Reference Tables, as well as a thorough Index at the back. No special section this time, though. But there's a Dragon subscription card!

So, that is the Dungeon Master's Guide for 3rd edition. As I mentioned, I now own a first printing, so there are errata and clarifications that I don't have incorporated into my book yet. But the essentials are all there. And that's going to wrap this up. Next time, I'll be talking about the first formal issue of the Living Greyhawk Journal. Stay tuned!