Powerful magic items can be the most exciting part of a Dungeons and Dragons adventure for many players, but for DMs they can be perilous. On the r/DnD subreddit, a group of dungeon masters have been discussing the magic items they’ve banned from all future games to ensure they never again send a campaign completely off the rails.
We’ve reviewed their notes to find the five DnD magic items most likely to send a DnD campaign off the rails – in one way or another.
1. The Deck of Many Things
The Deck of Many Things is the most commonly banned magic item in the original Reddit thread, and its easy to see why. Players draw cards from a deck, and then almost anything could happen: maybe the character is struck instantly dead, maybe they’re granted a Wish spell. It’s the kind of artefact that will totally rewrite a campaign.
If that actually sounds like fun, there’s a whole DnD book devoted to it: check our Deck of Many Things review to learn more.
2. Bag of Devouring
A lot of DMs don’t like to used cursed items because they’re a mean to trick to pull on players – but the Bag of Devouring is a problem even for mean-spirited DMs. It looks like a Bag of Holding, but it instantly destroys anything placed inside.
The party will resent it the first time that happens, until the DnD Rogue points out they could use it to decapitate their enemies…
3. Horn of Valhalla
The original Reddit thread highlights several items that give the party a massive advantage in combat. Blowing a Horn of Valhalla will, at minimum, summon four Berserkers with a total 268 hitpoints to aid the party in a fight. It’s just a massive action economy gain.
4. Cube of Force
The Cube of Force is a rare wondrous item that projects a 15’ cube of energy around a character. The energy field can be configured to stop a variety of different things from passing through: from non-living things, to living creatures, to spells, to anything at all. This can break encounter balance utterly.
5. Immovable Rod
The Immovable Rod is a seemingly innocuous item, a short metal rod that, with a push of a button, becomes fixed in space. They’re extremely useful, but not typically game breaking. But as a DM in the original Reddit thread points out, there’s always that one player who tries to use real world physics on them, and derails the entire game arguing about it…
We’ll give an honorable mention to the Alchemy Jug, which was mentioned by several DMs who simply don’t trust their party with a magic item that can generate mayonnaise.
It will be interesting to see which of these items have really changed when the DM’s guide hits the DnD release schedule in November. Some DnD classes pair up with specific magic items like wine and cheese, and the new edition could shake that up. Check out our Dungeon Master’s Guide review to learn more about that book.
If you’re building a character in the new edition, make sure you check out our guides to DnD races and DnD backgrounds, and all the great articles on our DnD home page.
Source: Wargamer
