Magical items are one of the staples of the fantasy genre: even the low fantasy world of Game of Thrones is home to gems that can change someone's physical appearance and swords that always remain sharp.
The big names in the genre are usually focused on the power provided by a single magic item, such as the One Ring in Lord of the Ring or Stormbringer in the Elric series.
The different editions of Dungeons & Dragons have been no stranger to magic items, as they are often the most highly-sought out pieces of treasure in the game.
There are limits to what you can purchase with gold and silver, but magic items will make you more effective in combat and give you more of a shot at surviving the attacks of your enemies.
The mere existence of magic items gives players the chance to temporarily bend the rules of the game, as even the dumbest warrior can be given the chance to use magic.
It is in these moments that the player can use their magic items to try and gain an advantage that the dungeon master wasn't expecting, leading to an exploit that can easily ruin a campaign.
We are here today to look at the ways you can use magic items to break the rules throughout the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons; from the cube that does the exact opposite of what is it supposed to do to the wand that can break the challenge in any dungeon.
Here are the 20 Ways To Use Magic Items To Cheat In Dungeons & Dragons!
The Cold Keeps The Magma Out
There are a lot of enemies in Dungeons & Dragons that use cold-based attacks, so it makes sense that there would be magic items and spells that provide protection from a frosty demise.
One of the best items that the player can find for this purpose is a cube of frost resistance, which creates a ten-foot barrier around the party that absorbs cold damage.
The reason why players were able to exploit the cube of frost resistance was due to how its abilities were described in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, as the area within the cube was said to always be 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
This specific wording meant that the cube of frost resistance also protected the player from effects related to heat, as the temperature within the cube never changed.
This means that the player could use the cube to protect themselves from extreme heat and lava.
The Teleporting Tree Token
Quaal's feather tokens are some of the cheapest magic items that you can craft in Dungeons & Dragons. They look like regular bird feathers, but they possess the ability to transform into various items, such as an anchor or a whip.
The most dangerous of the feather tokens is the one that transforms into a tree. This is due to some shoddy writing that doesn't set limits on what the item can do.
The description of the tree token in the third edition of Dungeons & Dungeons describes the item as being able to transform into a sixty-foot tall tree when used.
The reason why this can be abused is due to the fact that there are no limits as to where you can use it.
A player would be well within their rights to place the tree token within the mouth of an enemy during battle (which is a lot easier when it is a huge monster) and activating it, leading to an instant victory.
The Necklace Trap
The fireball spell is one of the most popular attacks used by arcane spellcasters in Dungeons & Dragons. This is due to the long range and wide area of effect that fireball has to offer, as well as the damage that scales with the character's level, making it an ideal solution for dealing with groups of enemies.
The necklace of fireballs consists of several different red jewels that act as a fireball spell when removed and thrown at the enemy.
There is a risk associated with wearing a necklace of fireballs, as being struck with a fire-based attack means that the necklace has to make a saving throw. If the necklace of fireballs fails the saving throw, then all of the remaining jewels will activate.
This weakness means that the necklace of fireballs can be used as an amazing offensive weapon.
If you can use a spell to force the necklace onto the enemy and spam fire attacks until it fails the save, then the enemy is facing a potential 58d6 worth of fire damage.
The Falling Fortress
The average adventuring party will need to find refuge in a dangerous location at some point during their journey, as the spellcasters in the group will need to rest in order to regain access to their magic.
There are some spells that make it safer for the party to hide while resting, such as Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion and rope trick, as they create an extradimensional space in which to hide.
Daern's instant fortress is an item that creates a thirty-foot tower made out of adamantine, which the player can use as a portable refuge.
The player will find a lot more use for a Daern's instant fortress as a weapon, rather than a campsite. This is due to the fact that the tower deals 10d10 damage (or half on a successful Reflex save) to those next to it when it's activated.
The tower makes an ideal weapon in combat, as it can be used to crush the enemy by speaking the command word and forcing the fortress to repeatedly shrink and grow.
The Boat Blockade
There are some Dungeons & Dragons adventures that take place on the high seas. It's in these kinds of campaigns that players will start to research the costs associated with purchasing a ship, as everyone wants to be the fantasy version of Jack Sparrow and live the life of a pirate.
The player will quickly discover that buying ships is an expensive prospect, with the average sailing ship costing ten-thousand gold pieces, to say nothing of the cost of maintaining and storing the ship, as well as hiring a crew.
There is a magic item called a folding boat which can be a real asset to the seafaring adventurer, as it is a small box that can transform into a twenty-four-foot-long ship on command.
A folding boat can be extremely useful in combat, as it can instantly provide total cover from one angle, due to its size.
You can summon a boat as if it were a Pokémon and it will offer you total protection from ranged fire and prevent you from being targeted by spells.
The Army Of Wights
Necromancers are a common foe in Dungeons & Dragons campaigns even though no one is quite sure why anyone would want to become one.
The ability to create zombie monsters through the use of magic isn't worth the trouble, due to the fact that the spells have expensive components.
It costs twenty-five gold pieces per-skeleton and zombie that you wish to create, each of which can easily be dispatched by a party of first-level adventurers.
The cunning necromancer can exploit the rules to create an undead army. They can do this by disposing of a commoner with a spell that grants negative levels (like enervation), which will transform them into a wight.
A wight is a powerful undead monster with the ability to transform those it slays into other wights. This means that it is very easy to create a small army of wights and unleash them upon the world.
The Rod Trap
There is a type of magical item in Dungeons & Dragons called a rod, which are different from wands in that their abilities aren't finite, or at least they weren't in the older editions of the game.
It cost a lot of money to create a magical rod, with the exception of immovable rods, which cost seven-thousand-five-hundred gold pieces each.
If you push the button on an immovable rod, then it will stay in place. It takes over eight-thousands pounds worth of pressure to move it.
The reason why immovable rods are so useful is due to their ability to be used in weight traps.
All you need to do is stack four-thousand pounds worth of items on top of two immovable rods (an easy task when using extradimensional storage or conjuration magic) and drop it onto the enemy from above.
This means that you have a portable trap that deals 20d6 damage from a drop of only twenty feet, as you can easily deactivate them from a distance with the help of magic.
The Water Bag
The bag of holding is one of the most popular magic items in Dungeons & Dragons. These are bags that are a lot bigger on the inside, which means that players can easily carry loot around with them and avoid any arguments about encumbrance rules.
The one thing a bag of holding cannot be used for is shipping other characters around. This is due to a lack of oxygen, which will run out quickly once the bag is closed.
The reason why this restriction exists is to stop the players from using the bag as an easy means of sneaking into areas.
The easiest way to get around this restriction is through the use of water. There are several spells that allow characters to breathe underwater (like water breathing) or to transform into an aquatic creature (like polymorph or the druid's wild shape ability).
All you need to do is put some containers filled with water within the bag of holding and use them as a means of breathing.
The Anti-Lawyer Potion
Glibness is often considered to be the most broken spell in the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons, as it provides a +30 bonus to the player's Bluff skill. This means that the player can deceive people into instantly believing their lies, as they have become impossibly persuasive.
The glibness spell is actually a weaker version of the potion of glibness, which appeared in the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
The reason why the potion of glibness was even more powerful was due to the fact that it was incredibly cheap, costing only five-hundred gold pieces to brew, and could be used by anyone.
The potion of glibness also had the extra benefit of making the character immune to the effects of spells that discern lies.
This means that they can easily talk their way out of any legal proceedings that come about as a result of their illegal activities.
The Hungry Bag
There is a cursed item that is impossible for the players to make, which is called the bag of devouring. The bag of devouring is intended to resemble a bag of holding, but it eats anything that is placed inside of it.
If a player stumbles across a bag of devouring during their adventure, then they should keep hold of it, as it's one of the best weapons in the game.
A bag of devouring has a +8 to grapple checks when a living creature puts a limb inside of it. The bag will then consume that creature within the space of one round and devour them so thoroughly that they cannot be brought back to life with magic.
A player with a bag of devouring could use it as an incredibly effective weapon in combat, as all they need to do is wrap it around an opponent's head and keep it there for one round.
