08-treasure

Treasure

Source: Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014), p. 133

Adventurers strive for many things, including glory, knowledge, and justice.

Many adventurers also seek something more tangible: fortune. Strands of golden chains, stacks of platinum coins, bejeweled crowns, enameled scepters, bolts of silk cloth, and powerful magic items all wait to be seized or unearthed by intrepid, treasure-seeking adventurers.

This chapter details magic items and the placement of treasure in an adventure, as well as special rewards that can be granted instead of or in addition to magic items and mundane treasure.

Types of Treasure

Treasure comes in many forms.

Coins

The most basic type of treasure is money, including copper pieces (cp), silver pieces (sp), electrum pieces (ep), gold pieces (gp), and platinum pieces (pp). Fifty coins of any type weigh 1 pound.

Gemstones

Gemstones are small, lightweight, and easily secured compared to their same value in coins.

See the “Gemstones” section for types of stones, gems, and jewels that can be found as treasure.

Art Objects

Idols cast of solid gold, necklaces studded with precious stones, paintings of ancient kings, bejeweled dishes-art objects include all these and more. See the “Art Objects” section for types of decorative and valuable artworks that can be found as treasure.

Magic Items

Types of magic items include armor, potions, scrolls, rings, rods, staffs, wands, weapons, and wondrous items. Magic items also have rarities: common, uncommon, rare, very rare, and legendary.

Intelligent monsters often use magic items in their possession, while others might hide them away to ensure they don’t get lost or stolen. For example, if a hobgoblin tribe has a +1 longsword and an alchemy jug in its treasure hoard, the tribe’s warlord might wield the sword, while the jug is kept somewhere safe.

Random Treasure

The following pages contain tables that you can use to randomly generate treasures carried by monsters, stashed in their lairs, or otherwise hidden away. The placement of treasure is left to your discretion. The key is to make sure the players feel rewarded for playing, and that their characters are rewarded for overcoming dangerous challenges.

Note

See the Loot Generator page for an automated version of the tables below.

Treasure Tables

Treasure can be randomly allocated based on a monster’s challenge rating. There are tables for challenge rating 0-4, challenge rating 5-10, challenge rating 11-16, and challenge rating 17 and higher. Use these tables to randomly determine how much money an individual monster carries (the D&D equivalent of pocket change) or the amount of wealth found in a larger treasure hoard.

Using the Individual Treasure Tables

An Individual Treasure table helps you randomly determine how much treasure one creature carries on its person. If a monster has no interest in amassing treasure, you can use this table to determine the incidental treasure left behind by the monster’s victims.

Use the Individual Treasure table that corresponds to the monster’s challenge rating. Roll a d100, and read the result across to determine how many coins of each type the monster carries. The table also includes the average result in parentheses, should you wish to forgo another roll and save time. To determine the total amount of individual treasure for a group of similar creatures, you can save time by rolling once and multiplying the result by the number of creatures in the group.

If it doesn’t make sense for a monster to carry a large pile of coins, you can convert the coins into gemstones or art objects of equal value.

Using the Treasure Hoard Tables

A Treasure Hoard table helps you randomly determine the contents of a large cache of treasure, the accumulated wealth of a large group of creatures (such as an orc tribe or a hobgoblin army), the belongings of a single powerful creature that likes to hoard treasure (such as a dragon), or the reward bestowed upon a party after completing a quest for a benefactor. You can also split up a treasure hoard so that the adventurers don’t find or receive it all at once.

When determining the contents of a hoard belonging to one monster, use the table that corresponds to that monster’s challenge rating. When rolling to determine a treasure hoard belonging to a large group of monsters, use the challenge rating of the monster that leads the group. If the hoard belongs to no one, use the challenge rating of the monster that presides over the dungeon or lair you are stocking. If the hoard is a gift from a benefactor, use the challenge rating equal to the party’s average level.

Every treasure hoard contains a random number of coins, as shown at the top of each table. Roll a d100 and consult the table to determine how many gemstones or art objects the hoard contains, if any. Use the same roll to determine whether the hoard contains magic items.

As with the individual treasure tables, average values are given in parentheses. You can use an average value instead of rolling dice to save time.

If a treasure hoard seems too small, you can roll multiple times on the table. Use this approach for monsters that are particularly fond of amassing treasure. Legendary creatures that accumulate treasure are wealthier than normal. Always roll at least twice on the appropriate table and add the results together.

You can hand out as much or as little treasure as you want. Over the course of a typical campaign, a party finds treasure hoards amounting to seven rolls on the Challenge 0-4 table, eighteen rolls on the Challenge 5-10 table, twelve rolls on the Challenge 11-16 table, and eight rolls on the Challenge 17+ table.

Gemstones

If a treasure hoard includes gemstones, you can use the following tables to randomly determine the kind of gemstones found, based on their value. You can roll once and assume all the gems are the same, or roll multiple times to create mixed collections of gemstones.

Art Objects

If a treasure hoard includes art objects, you can use the following tables to randomly determine what art objects are found, based on their value. Roll on a table as many times as there are art objects in the treasure hoard. There can be more than one of a given art object.

Magic Items

Magic items are gleaned from the hoards of conquered monsters or discovered in long-lost vaults. Such items grant capabilities a character could rarely have otherwise, or they complement their owner’s capabilities in wondrous ways.

Rarity

Each magic item has a rarity: common, uncommon, rare, very rare, or legendary. Common magic items, such as a potion of healing, are the most plentiful. Some legendary items, such as the apparatus of Kwalish, are unique. The game assumes that the secrets of creating the most powerful items arose centuries ago and were then gradually lost as a result of wars, cataclysms, and mishaps. Even uncommon items can’t be easily created. Thus, many magic items are well-preserved antiquities.

Rarity provides a rough measure of an item’s power relative to other magic items. Each rarity corresponds to character level, as shown in the Magic Item Rarity table. A character doesn’t typically find a rare magic item, for example, until around 5th level. That said, rarity shouldn’t get in the way of your campaign’s story. If you want a ring of invisibility to fall into the hands of a 1st-level character, so be it. No doubt a great story will arise from that event.

If your campaign allows for trade in magic items, rarity can also help you set prices for them. As the DM, you determine the value of an individual magic item based on its rarity. Suggested values are provided in the Magic Item Rarity table. The value of a consumable item, such as a potion or scroll, is typically half the value of a permanent item of the same rarity.

Buying and Selling

Unless you decide your campaign works otherwise, most magic items are so rare that they aren’t available for purchase. Common items, such as a potion of healing, can be procured from an alchemist, herbalist, or spellcaster. Doing so is rarely as simple as walking into a shop and selecting an item from a shelf. The seller might ask for a service, rather than coin.

In a large city with an academy of magic or a major temple, buying and selling magic items might be possible, at your discretion. If your world includes a large number of adventurers engaged in retrieving ancient magic items, trade in these items might be more common. Even so, it’s likely to remain similar to the market for fine art in the real world, with invitation-only auctions and a tendency to attract thieves.

Selling magic items is difficult in most D&D worlds primarily because of the challenge of finding a buyer. Plenty of people might like to have a magic sword, but few of them can afford it. Those who can afford such an item usually have more practical things to spend on. See chapter 6, “Between Adventures,” for one way to handle selling magic items.

In your campaign, magic items might be prevalent enough that adventurers can buy and sell them with some effort. Magic items might be for sale in bazaars or auction houses in fantastical locations, such as the City of Brass, the planar metropolis of Sigil, or even in more ordinary cities. Sale of magic items might be highly regulated, accompanied by a thriving black market. Artificers might craft items for use by military forces or adventurers, as they do in the world of Eberron. You might also allow characters to craft their own magic items, as discussed in chapters 6.

Identifying a Magic Item

Some magic items are indistinguishable from their nonmagical counterparts, whereas other magic items display their magical nature conspicuously. Whatever a magic item’s appearance, handling the item is enough to give a character a sense that something is extraordinary about it. Discovering a magic item’s properties isn’t automatic, however.

The identify spell is the fastest way to reveal an item’s properties. Alternatively, a character can focus on one magic item during a short rest, while being in physical contact with the item. At the end of the rest, the character learns the item’s properties, as well as how to use them. Potions are an exception; a little taste is enough to tell the taster what the potion does.

Sometimes a magic item carries a clue to its properties. The command word to activate a ring might be etched in tiny letters inside it, or a feathered design might suggest that it’s a ring of feather falling.

Wearing or experimenting with an item can also offer hints about its properties. For example, if a character puts on a ring of jumping, you could say, “Your steps feel strangely springy.” Perhaps the character then jumps up and down to see what happens. You then say the character jumps unexpectedly high.

Variant: More Difficult Identification

If you prefer magic items to have a greater mystique, consider removing the ability to identify the properties of a magic item during a short rest, and require the identify spell, experimentation, or both to reveal what a magic item does.

Attunement

Some magic items require a creature to form a bond with them before their magical properties can be used. This bond is called attunement, and certain items have a prerequisite for it. If the prerequisite is to be a spellcaster, a creature qualifies if it can cast at least one spell using its traits or features, not using a magic item or the like. (If the class is a spellcasting class, a monster qualifies if that creature has spell slots and uses that class’s spell list.)

Without becoming attuned to an item that requires attunement, a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless its description states otherwise. For example, a magic shield that requires attunement provides the benefits of a normal shield to a creature not attuned to it, but none of its magical properties.

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. If the short rest is interrupted, the attunement attempt fails. Otherwise, at the end of the short rest, the creature gains an intuitive understanding of how to activate any magical properties of the item, including any necessary command words.

An item can be attuned to only one creature at a time, and a creature can be attuned to no more than three magic items at a time. Any attempt to attune to a fourth item fails; the creature must end its attunement to an item first. Additionally, a creature can’t attune to more than one copy of an item. For example, a creature can’t attune to more than one ring of protection at a time.

A creature’s attunement to an item ends if the creature no longer satisfies the prerequisites for attunement, if the item has been more than 100 feet away for at least 24 hours, if the creature dies, or if another creature attunes to the item. A creature can also voluntarily end attunement by spending another short rest focused on the item, unless the item is cursed.

Cursed Items

Some magic items bear curses that bedevil their users, sometimes long after a user has stopped using an item. A magic item’s description specifies whether the item is cursed. Most methods of identifying items, including the identify spell, fail to reveal such a curse, although lore might hint at it. A curse should be a surprise to the item’s user when the curse’s effects are revealed.

Attunement to a cursed item can’t be ended voluntarily unless the curse is broken first, such as with the remove curse spell.

Magic Item Categories

Each magic item belongs to a category: armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands, weapons, or wondrous items.

Armor

Unless an armor’s description says otherwise, armor must be worn for its magic to function.

Some suits of magic armor specify the type of armor they are, such as chain mail or plate. If a magic armor doesn’t specify its armor type, you may choose the type or determine it randomly.

Potions

Different kinds of magical liquids are grouped in the category of potions: brews made from enchanted herbs, water from magical fountains or sacred springs, and oils that are applied to a creature or object. Most potions consist of one ounce of liquid.

Potions are consumable magic items. Drinking a potion or administering a potion to another character requires an action. Applying an oil might take longer, as specified in its description. Once used, a potion takes effect immediately, and it is used up.

Variant: Mixing Potions

A character might drink one potion while still under the effects of another, or pour several potions into a single container. The strange ingredients used in creating potions can result in unpredictable interactions.

When a character mixes two potions together, you can roll on the Potion Miscibility table. If more than two are combined, roll again for each subsequent potion, combining the results. Unless the effects are immediately obvious, reveal them only when they become evident.

Rings

Magic rings offer an amazing array of powers to those lucky enough to find them. Unless a ring’s description says otherwise, a ring must be worn on a finger, or a similar digit, for the ring’s magic to function.

Rods

A scepter or just a heavy cylinder, a magic rod is typically made of metal, wood, or bone. It’s about 2 or 3 feet long, 1 inch thick, and 2 to 5 pounds.

Scrolls

Most scrolls are spells stored in written form, while a few bear unique incantations that produce potent wards. Whatever its contents, a scroll is a roll of paper, sometimes attached to wooden rods, and typically kept safe in a tube of ivory, jade, leather, metal, or wood.

A scroll is a consumable magic item. Whatever the nature of the magic contained in a scroll, unleashing that magic requires the user to read the scroll. When its magic has been invoked, the scroll can’t be used again. Its words fade, or it crumbles into dust.

Any creature that can understand a written language can read the arcane script on a scroll and attempt to activate it.

Spell Scrolls

A spell scroll bears the words of a single spell, written in a mystical cipher. If the spell is on your class’s spell list you can use an action to read the scroll and cast its spell without providing any material components. Otherwise, the scroll is unintelligible.

If the spell is on your class’s spell list but of a higher level than you can normally cast, you must make an ability check using your spellcasting ability to determine whether you cast it successfully. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level. On a failed check, the spell disappears from the scroll with no other effect.

Once the spell is cast, the words on the scroll fade, and the scroll itself crumbles to dust. The level of the spell on the scroll determines the spell’s saving throw DC and attack bonus, as well as the scroll’s rarity, as shown in the Spell Scroll table.

A wizard spell on a spell scroll can be copied just as spells in spellbooks can be copied. When a spell is copied from a spell scroll, the copier must succeed on an Intelligence (Arcana) check with a DC equal to 10 + the spell’s level. If the check succeeds, the spell is successfully copied. Whether the check succeeds or fails, the spell scroll is destroyed.

Variant: Scroll Mishaps

A creature who tries and fails to cast a spell from a spell scroll must make a DC 10 Intelligence saving throw. If the saving throw fails, roll on the Scroll Mishap table.

Staffs

A magic staff is about 5 or 6 feet long. Staffs vary widely in appearance: some are of nearly equal diameter throughout and smooth, others are gnarled and twisted, some are made of wood, and others are composed of polished metal or crystal. Depending on the material, a staff weighs between 2 and 7 pounds.

Unless a staff’s description says otherwise, a staff can be used as a quarterstaff.

Wands

A magic wand is about 15 inches long and crafted of metal, bone, or wood. It is tipped with metal, crystal, stone, or some other material.

Variant: Wands That Don't Recharge

A typical wand has expendable charges. If you’d like wands to be a limited resource, you can make some of them incapable of regaining charges. Consider increasing the base number of charges in such a wand, to a maximum of 25 charges. These charges are never regained once they’re expended.

Weapons

Whether crafted for some fell purpose or forged to serve the highest ideals of chivalry, magic weapons are coveted by many adventurers.

Some magic weapons specify the type of weapon they are in their descriptions, such as a longsword or longbow. If a magic weapon doesn’t specify its weapon type, you may choose the type or determine it randomly. If a magic weapon has the ammunition property, ammunition fired from it is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Wondrous Items

Wondrous items include worn items such as boots, belts, capes, gloves, and various pieces of jewelry and decoration, such as amulets, brooches, and circlets. Bags, carpets, crystal balls, figurines, horns, musical instruments, and other objects also fall into this catchall category.

Wearing and Wielding Items

Using a magic item’s properties might mean wearing or wielding it. A magic item meant to be worn must be donned in the intended fashion: boots go on the feet, gloves on the hands, hats and helmets on the head, and rings on the finger. Magic armor must be donned, a shield strapped to the arm, a cloak fastened about the shoulders. A weapon must be held in hand.

In most cases, a magic item that’s meant to be worn can fit a creature regardless of size or build. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or they magically adjust themselves to the wearer.

Rare exceptions exist. If the story suggests a good reason for an item to fit only creatures of a certain size or shape, you can rule that it doesn’t adjust. For example, armor made by the drow might fit elves only. Dwarves might make items usable only by dwarf-sized and dwarf-shaped characters.

When a non-humanoid tries to wear an item, use your discretion as to whether the item functions as intended. A ring placed on a tentacle might work, but a yuan-ti with a snakelike tail instead of legs has no way to wear magic boots.

Multiple Items of the Same Kind

Use common sense to determine whether more than one of a given kind of magic item can be worn. A character can’t normally wear more than one pair of footwear, one pair of gloves or gauntlets, one pair of bracers, one suit of armor, one item of headwear, and one cloak. You can make exceptions; a character might be able to wear a circlet under a helmet, for example, or be able to layer two cloaks.

Paired Items

Items that come in pairs-such as boots, bracers, gauntlets, and gloves-impart their benefits only if both items of the pair are worn. For example, a character wearing a boot of striding and springing on one foot and a boot of elven kind on the other foot gains no benefit from either item.

Activating an Item

Activating some magic items requires a user to do something in particular, such as holding the item and uttering a command word, reading the item if it is a scroll, or drinking it if it is a potion. The description of each item category or individual item details how an item is activated. Certain items use one or more of the following rules related to their activation.

If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn’t a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue’s Fast Hands can’t be used to activate the item.

Command Word

A command word is a word or phrase that must be spoken audibly for the item to operate. A magic item that requires the user to speak a command word can’t be activated in the area of any effect that prevents sound, such as the area created by the silence spell.

Consumables

Some items are used up when they are activated. A potion or elixir must be swallowed, or an oil applied to the body. The writing vanishes from a scroll when it is read. Once used, a consumable item loses its magic and no longer functions.

Magic Item Formulas

A magic item formula explains how to make a particular magic item. Such a formula can be an excellent reward if you allow player characters to craft magic items, as explained in Chapter 6, “Between Adventures.”

You can award a formula in place of a magic item. Usually written in a book or on a scroll, a formula is one step rarer than the item it allows a character to create. For example, the formula for a common magic item is uncommon. No formulas exist for legendary items.

If the creation of magic items is commonplace in your campaign, a formula can have a rarity that matches the rarity of the item it allows a character to create. Formulas for common and uncommon items might even be for sale, each with a cost double that of its magic item.

Spells

Some magic items allow the user to cast a spell from the item, often by expending charges from it. The spell is cast at the lowest possible spell and caster level, doesn’t expend any of the user’s spell slots, and requires no components unless the item’s description says otherwise. The spell uses its normal casting time, range, and duration, and the user of the item must concentrate if the spell requires concentration. Certain items make exceptions to these rules, changing the casting time, duration, or other parts of a spell.

Many items, such as potions, bypass the casting of the spell and confer the spell’s effects. Such an item still uses the spell’s duration unless the item’s description says otherwise.

A magic item, such as certain staffs, may require you to use your own spellcasting ability when you cast a spell from the item. If you have more than one spellcasting ability, you choose which one to use with the item. If you don’t have a spellcasting ability—perhaps you’re a rogue with the Use Magic Device feature—your spellcasting ability modifier is +0 for the item, and your proficiency bonus does apply.

Charges

Some magic items have charges that you expend to activate its properties. The number of charges an item has remaining is revealed when an identify spell is cast on the item, or when a creature attunes to the item. Additionally, when an item regains charges, the creature attuned to that item learns how many charges it regained.

Magic Item Resilience

Most magic items are objects of extraordinary artisanship, assembled from the finest materials with meticulous attention to detail. Thanks to this combination of careful crafting and magical reinforcement, a magic item is at least as durable as a regular item of its kind. Most magic items, other than potions and scrolls, have resistance to all damage. Artifacts are practically indestructible, requiring extreme measures to destroy.

Special Features

You can add distinctiveness to a magic item by thinking about its backstory, in much the same way you would for a location. Who made the item? Is anything unusual about its construction? Why was it made, and how was it originally used? What minor magical quirks set it apart from other items of its kind? Considering these questions is useful for turning a generic magic item, such as a +1 longsword or a suit of +1 chain mail, into a more remarkable discovery.

The tables that follow can help you come up with answers. Roll on as many of these tables as you like. Some of the table entries make more sense for certain items than for others. Some magic items are made only by certain kinds of creatures, for instance; a cloak of elvenkind is made by elves, rather than dwarves. If you roll something that doesn’t make sense, roll again, choose a more appropriate entry, or use the rolled detail as inspiration to make up your own.

Random Magic Items

When you use a Treasure Hoard table to randomly determine the contents of a treasure hoard and your roll indicates the presence of one or more magic items, you can determine the specific magic items by rolling on the appropriate table(s) here.

Note

See the Loot Generator page for an automated version of the tables below.

Magic Items A-Z

Magic items are presented in alphabetical order. A magic item’s description gives the item’s name, its category, its rarity, and its magical properties. The full list of items is available on the items page.

Sentient Magic Items

Some magic items possess sentience and personality. Such an item might be possessed, haunted by the spirit of a previous owner, or self-aware thanks to the magic used to create it. In any case, the item behaves like a character, complete with personality quirks, ideals, bonds, and sometimes flaws. A sentient item might be a cherished ally to its wielder or a continual thorn in the side.

Most sentient items are weapons. Other kinds of items can manifest sentience, but consumable items such as potions and scrolls are never sentient.

Sentient magic items function as NPCs under the DM’s control. Any activated property of the item is under the item’s control, not its wielder’s. As long as the wielder maintains a good relationship with the item, the wielder can access those properties normally. If the relationship is strained, the item can suppress its activated properties or even turn them against the wielder.

Creating Sentient Magic Items

When you decide to make a magic item sentient, you create the item’s persona in the same way you would create an NPC, with a few exceptions described here.

Abilities

A sentient magic item has Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. You can choose the item’s abilities or determine them randomly. To determine them randomly, roll 4d6 for each one, dropping the lowest roll and totaling the rest.

Communication

A sentient item has some ability to communicate, either by sharing its emotions, broadcasting its thoughts telepathically, or speaking aloud. You can choose how it communicates or roll on the following table.

Senses

With sentience comes awareness. A sentient item can perceive its surroundings out to a limited range. You can choose its senses or roll on the following table.

Alignment

A sentient magic item has an alignment. Its creator or nature might suggest an alignment. If not, you can pick an alignment or roll on the following table.

Characteristics

Use the information on creating NPCs in chapter 4 to develop a sentient item’s mannerisms, personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws. You can also draw on the “Special Features” section earlier in this chapter.

If you determine these characteristics randomly, ignore or adapt any result that doesn’t make sense for an inanimate object. You can reroll until you get a result you like.

Special Purpose

You can give a sentient item an objective it pursues, perhaps to the exclusion of all else. As long as the wielder’s use of the item aligns with that special purpose, the item remains cooperative. Deviating from this course might cause conflict between the wielder and the item, and could even cause the item to prevent the use of its activated properties. You can pick a special purpose or roll on the following table.

Conflict

A sentient item has a will of its own, shaped by its personality and alignment. If its wielder acts in a manner opposed to the item’s alignment or purpose, conflict can arise. When such a conflict occurs, the item makes a Charisma check contested by the wielder’s Charisma check. If the item wins the contest, it makes one or more of the following demands:

• The item insists on being carried or worn at all times.
• The item demands that its wielder dispose of anything the item finds repugnant.
• The item demands that its wielder pursue the item’s goals to the exclusion of all other goals.
• The item demands to be given to someone else.

If its wielder refuses to comply with the item’s wishes, the item can do any or all of the following:

• Make it impossible for its wielder to attune to it.
• Suppress one or more of its activated properties.
• Attempt to take control of its wielder.

If a sentient item attempts to take control of its wielder, the wielder must make a Charisma saving throw, with a DC equal to 12 + the item’s Charisma modifier. On a failed save, the wielder is charmed by the item for 1d12 hours. While charmed, the wielder must try to follow the item’s commands. If the wielder takes damage, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success. Whether the attempt to control its user succeeds or fails, the item can’t use this power again until the next dawn.

Sample Sentient Items

The sentient weapons described here have storied histories.

• Blackrazor
• Moonblade
• Wave
• Whelm

Artifacts

An artifact is a unique magic item of tremendous power, with its own origin and history. An artifact might have been created by gods or mortals of awesome power. It could have been created in the midst of a crisis that threatened a kingdom, a world, or the entire multiverse, and carry the weight of that pivotal moment in history.

Some artifacts appear when they are needed most. For others, the reverse is true; when discovered, the world trembles at the ramifications of the find. In either case, introducing an artifact into a campaign requires forethought. The artifact could be an item that opposing sides are hoping to claim, or it might be something the adventurers need to overcome their greatest challenge.

Characters don’t typically find artifacts in the normal course of adventuring. In fact, artifacts only appear when you want them to, for they are as much plot devices as magic items. Tracking down and recovering an artifact is often the main goal of an adventure. Characters must chase down rumors, undergo significant trials, and venture into dangerous, half-forgotten places to find the artifact they seek. Alternatively, a major villain might already have the artifact. Obtaining and destroying the artifact could be the only way to ensure that its power can’t be used for evil.

Artifact Properties

Each artifact has its own magical properties, as other magic items do, and the properties are often exceptionally powerful. An artifact might have other properties that are either beneficial or detrimental. You can choose such properties from the tables in this section or determine them randomly. You can also invent new beneficial and detrimental properties. These properties typically change each time an artifact appears in the world.

An artifact can have as many as four minor beneficial properties and two major beneficial properties. It can have as many as four minor detrimental properties and two major detrimental properties.

Destroying Artifacts

An artifact must be destroyed in some special way. Otherwise, it is impervious to damage. Each artifact has a weakness by which its creation can be undone. Learning this weakness might require extensive research or the successful completion of a quest. The DM decides how a particular artifact can be destroyed. Some suggestions are provided here:

• The artifact must be melted down in the volcano, forge, or crucible in which it was created.
• The artifact must be dropped into the River Styx.
• The artifact must be swallowed and digested by the tarrasque or some other ancient creature.
• The artifact must be bathed in the blood of a god or an angel.
• The artifact must be struck and shattered by a special weapon crafted for that purpose.
• The artifact must be pulverized between the titanic gears of Mechanus.
• The artifact must be returned to its creator, who can destroy it by touch.

Sample Artifacts

The artifacts presented here have appeared in one or more of D&D worlds. Use them as guides when creating your own artifacts, or modify them as you see fit.

• Axe of the Dwarvish Lords
• Book of Exalted Deeds
• Book of Vile Darkness
• Eye of Vecna
• Hand of Vecna
• Orb of Dragonkind
• Sword of Kas
• Wand of Orcus

Other Rewards

As much as adventurers desire treasure, they often appreciate other forms of reward. This section presents a variety of ways that gods, monarchs, and other beings of power might recognize the characters’ accomplishments, including supernatural gifts that give characters new capabilities; titles, lands, and other marks of prestige; and boons that are available only to adventurers who have reached 20th level.

Supernatural Gifts

A supernatural gift is a special reward granted by a being or force of great magical power. Such supernatural gifts come in two forms: blessings and charms. A blessing is usually bestowed by a god or a godlike being. A charm is typically the work of a powerful spirit, a location of ancient magic, or a creature that has legendary actions. Unlike a magic item, a supernatural gift isn’t an object and doesn’t require attunement. It gives a character an extraordinary ability, which can be used one or more times.

Blessings

A character might receive a blessing from a deity for doing something truly momentous-an accomplishment that catches the attention of both gods and mortals.

Killing rampaging gnolls rarely warrants such a blessing, but slaying the high priest of Tiamat as he attempts to summon the Dragon Queen might.

A blessing is an appropriate reward for one of the following accomplishments:

• Restoring the most sacred shrine of a god
• Foiling an earthshaking plot by the enemies of a god
• Helping a god’s favored servant complete a holy quest

An adventurer might also receive a blessing in advance of a perilous quest. For example, a paladin could receive one before setting out on a quest to slay a terrifying lich that is responsible for a magical plague sweeping the land.

A character should receive only a blessing that is useful to him or her, and some blessings come with expectations on the part of the benefactor. A god typically gives a blessing for a particular purpose, such as recovering a holy person’s remains or toppling a tyrannical empire. The god might revoke a blessing if a character fails to pursue that purpose or acts counter to it.

A character retains the benefits of a blessing forever or until it is taken away by the god who granted it. Unlike a magic item, such a blessing can’t be suppressed by an antimagic field or similar effect.

Most adventurers go their entire lives without receiving even one of these blessings. There is no limit on the number of blessings a character can receive, but it should be rare for a character to have more than one at a time. Moreover, a character can’t benefit from multiple instances of a blessing at the same time. For example, a character can’t benefit from two instances of the Blessing of Health at once.

Example blessings are provided below. The text of a blessing addresses its user. If you decide to create more blessings, consider this: a typical blessing mimics the properties of a wondrous item.

• Blessing of Health
• Blessing of Protection
• Blessing of Magic Resistance
• Blessing of Understanding
• Blessing of Valhalla
• Blessing of Weapon Enhancement
• Blessing of Wound Closure

Charms

A charm is a minor supernatural gift, which can be received in a large variety of ways. For example, a wizard who finds an eldritch secret in a dead archmage’s spellbook might be infused with the magic of a charm, as might a character who solves a sphinx’s riddle or drinks from a magic fountain. Legendary creatures, such as ancient gold dragons and unicorns, sometimes grace their allies with charms, and some explorers find themselves bearing the magic of a charm after discovering a long-lost location that is drenched in primeval magic.

Some charms can be used only once, and others can be used a specific number of times before vanishing. If a charm lets you cast a spell, you are able to do so without spending a spell slot or providing any components (verbal, somatic, or material). In any case, a charm can’t be used in the area created by an antimagic field or a similar effect, and a charm’s effects are susceptible to dispel magic and the like. But the charm itself can’t be removed from a creature by anything short of divine intervention or the wish spell.

Example charms are provided below. The text of a charm addresses its user. A typical charm mimics the effects of a potion or a spell, so it is easy to create more charms of your own, if you like.

• Charm of Animal Conjuring
• Charm of Darkvision
• Charm of Feather Falling
• Charm of Heroism
• Charm of Restoration
• Charm of the Slayer
• Charm of Vitality

Marks of Prestige

Sometimes the most memorable reward for adventurers is the prestige that they acquire throughout a realm. Their adventures often earn them fame and power, allies and enemies, and titles that they can pass on to their descendants. Some lords and ladies began as commoners who ventured into the dangerous places of the world and made names for themselves through their brave deeds.

This section details the most common marks of prestige that adventures might acquire during a campaign. These marks are usually gained along with treasure, but sometimes they stand on their own.

Letters of Recommendation

When gold is in short supply, the adventurers’ benefactor might provide them with a letter of recommendation instead of monetary payment. Such a letter is usually enclosed in a handsome folio, case, or scroll tube for safe transport, and it usually bears the signature and seal of whoever wrote it.

A letter of recommendation from a person of impeccable reputation can grant adventurers access to NPCs that they would otherwise have trouble meeting on their own, such as a duke, viceroy, or queen. Moreover, carrying such a recommendation on one’s person can help clear up “misunderstandings” with local authorities who might not otherwise take the adventurers at their word.

A letter of recommendation is worth only as much as the person who wrote it and offers no benefit in places where its writer holds no sway.

Medals

Although they are often fashioned from gold and other precious materials, medals have an even greater symbolic value to those who award and receive them.

Medals are typically awarded by powerful political figures for acts of heroism, and wearing a medal is usually enough to earn the respect of those who understand its significance.

Different acts of heroism can warrant different kinds of medals. The King of Breland (in the Eberron campaign setting) might award a Royal Badge of Valor (shaped like a shield and made of ruby and electrum) to adventurers for defending Brelish citizens, while the Golden Bear of Breland (a medal made of gold and shaped in a likeness of a bear’s head, with gems for eyes) might be reserved for adventurers who prove their allegiance to the Brelish Crown by uncovering and defeating a plot to end the Treaty of Thronehold and reignite the Last War.

A medal doesn’t offer a specific in-game benefit to one who wears it, but it can affect dealings with NPCs. For example, a character who proudly displays the Golden Bear of Breland will be regarded as a hero of the people within the kingdom of Breland. Outside Breland, the medal carries far less weight, except among allies of Breland’s king.

Parcels of Land

A parcel of land is just that, and usually comes with a royal letter affirming that the land has been granted as a reward for some service. Such land usually remains the property of the local ruler or ruling body, but is leased to a character with the understanding that it can be taken away, especially if his or her loyalty is ever called into question.

A parcel of land, if sufficiently large, might have one or more farms or villages on it already, in which case the recipient is pronounced lord or lady of the land and is expected to collect taxes, along with any other duties.

A character who receives a parcel of land is free to build on it and is expected to safeguard it. He or she may yield the land as part of an inheritance, but can’t sell or trade it without permission from the local ruler or ruling body.

Parcels of land make fine rewards for adventurers who are looking for a place to settle or who have family or some kind of personal investment in the region where the land is located.

Special Favors

A reward might come in the form of a favor that the characters can call on at some future date. Special favors work best when the individual granting them is trustworthy. A lawful good or lawful neutral NPC will do whatever can be done to fulfill an obligation when the time comes, short of breaking laws. A lawful evil NPC does the same, but only because a deal is a deal.

A neutral good or neutral NPC might pay off favors to protect his or her reputation. A chaotic good NPC is more concerned about doing right by the adventurers, honoring any obligations without worrying too much about personal risk or adherence to the law.

Special Rights

A politically powerful person can reward characters by giving them special rights, which are usually articulated in some sort of official document. For example, characters might be granted special rights to carry weapons in public places, kill enemies of the crown, or negotiate on a duke’s behalf. They might earn the right to demand free room and board from any establishment within a particular community, or have the right to draft local militia to assist them as needed. Special rights last only as long as the legal document dictates, and such rights can be revoked if the adventurers abuse them.

Strongholds

A stronghold is a reward usually given to seasoned adventurers who demonstrate unwavering fealty to a powerful political figure or ruling body, such as a king, a knighthood, or a council of wizards. A stronghold can be anything from a fortified tower in the heart of a city to a provincial keep on the borderlands. While the stronghold is for the characters to govern as they see fit, the land on which it sits remains the property of the crown or local ruler. Should the characters prove disloyal or unworthy of the gift, they can be asked or forced to relinquish custody of the stronghold.

As an additional reward, the individual bequeathing the stronghold might offer to pay its maintenance costs for a period of one or more months, after which the characters inherit that responsibility. See chapter 6 for more information on stronghold maintenance.

Titles

A politically powerful figure has the ability to dispense titles. A title often comes with a parcel of land (see above). For example, a character might be awarded the title Earl of Stormriver or Countess of Dun Fjord, along with a parcel of land that includes a settlement or region of the same name.

A character can hold more than one title, and in a feudal society, those titles can be passed down to (or distributed among) one’s children. While a character holds a title, he or she is expected to act in a manner befitting that title. By decree, titles can be stripped away if the local ruler or ruling body has reason to question the character’s loyalty or competence.

Training

A character might be offered special training in lieu of a financial reward. This kind of training isn’t widely available and thus is highly desirable. It presumes the existence of a skilled trainer-perhaps a retired adventurer or champion who is willing to serve as a mentor. The trainer might be a reclusive wizard or haughty sorcerer who owes the queen a favor, the knight-commander of the King’s Guard, the leader of a powerful druid circle, a quirky monk who lives in a remote mountaintop pagoda, a barbarian chieftain, a warlock living among nomads as a fortune-teller, or an absentminded bard whose plays and poetry are known throughout the land.

A character who agrees to training as a reward must spend downtime with the trainer (see chapter 6 for more information on downtime activities). In exchange, the character is guaranteed to receive a special benefit. Possible training benefits include the following:

• The character gains inspiration daily at dawn for 1d4 + 6 days.
• The character gains proficiency in a skill.
• The character gains a feat.

Epic Boons

An epic boon is a special power available only to 20th level characters. Characters at that level gain such boons only if you want them to and only when you feel it’s appropriate. Epic boons are best awarded after the characters complete a major quest, or accomplish something else particularly notable. A character might gain an epic boon after destroying an evil artifact, defeating an ancient dragon, or halting an incursion from the Outer Planes.

Epic boons can also be used as a form of advancement, a way to provide greater power to characters who have no more levels to gain. With this approach, consider awarding one epic boon to each character for every 30,000 XP he or she earns above 355,000 XP.

You determine which epic boon a character gains. Ideally, the boon you pick is something the character would put to use in future adventures. You can allow a player to select a boon for his or her character, subject to your approval.

Whatever boon a character ends up with, consider its place in your story and world. Many of the boons are extraordinary and represent the gradual transformation of a character into something resembling a demigod. The acquisition of a boon might visibly transform a character. For example, the eyes of a character with the Boon of Truesight might glow when he or she feels strong emotion, and a character who has the Boon of High Magic might have faint motes of light glimmering around his or her head. Also, decide how the boon first appears. Does the boon appear spontaneously and mysteriously? Or does a being of cosmic power manifest to bestow it? The bestowal of a boon can itself be an exciting scene in an adventure.

The text of a boon addresses its user. Unless a boon says otherwise, a character can’t gain it more than once.

See the Other Rewards page for a list of available boons.

Alternatives to Epic Boons

You might decide to grant one of the following rewards to a 20th-level character, instead of awarding an epic boon. These two options can be awarded to a character more than once.

Ability Score Improvement. The character can increase one ability score by 2 or increase two ability scores by 1 each. The ability score can now be increased above 20, up to a maximum of 30.

New Feat. The character gains a new feat chosen by the player, but subject to your approval.