I was pretty excited when Dungeons and Dragons announced evolving magic items for Arcana Unleashed. It felt like Wizards of the Coast were trying something new with 5.5e, and the publisher is so rarely experimental these days. Changing magic items that grow in power alongside your DnD classes? Yes please.
And then I read the book. I picked up an early copy at Gen Con, and evolving magic items were first on my mind (after ranking the class options, brand-new spells, and extra feats, of course). The gist is this: I still love the idea of evolving magic items, but I’m not a fan of the execution.
The concept is quite a simple one. Magic items can evolve multiple times, typically when a character reaches a new tier of play or by using a modified version of D&D’s crafting rules. The exact whens and wheres are up to you, but these are the methods of evolution recommended.
When a magic item evolves, its name, rarity, and abilities change. That last one is cumulative, so you gain extra powers rather than replacing what you already have.
D&D recommends two ways to upgrade said abilities. ‘Simple Evolution’ literally involves changing a number. A +1 longsword becomes a +2 longsword. Exciting.
On the other hand, there’s ‘Complex Evolution’. This is more like what I pictured when I heard the phrase ‘evolving’. Arcana Unleashed gives you three tables to roll on (depending on your item’s new rarity level), and this determines the extra power you gain.
Most of these give you a spell to cast for free once a day: Blur, Tongues, Fear, Lightning Bolt, Fireball – the list goes on. In fact, 23 of the 34 table entries upgrade your magic item by adding a spell. The rest are fairly varied: 1d6 added to certain rolls, rerolls, extra speed, damage resistance, truesight, or even an ability score increase.
It’s all good stuff, but what if I want my magic item upgrade to feel more personal? something Arcana Unleashed actively encourages, as most of the examples show items influenced by a character’s decisions and campaign encounters. But what if none of the pre-set suggestions match my vibe?
Here lies the crux of my gripe. Arcana Unleashed gives basically no guidance on creating your own evolving magic items. Any sense of what makes for fun, balanced design has to be intuited by reading between the lines of those random tables. Wizards’ homebrew advice begins and ends at ‘up the rarity, change its name, and add a power’. Draw a circle, then draw the rest of the owl.
When 5.5e launched its new Dungeon Master’s Guide, I praised its practicality for complete beginners. There was so much actually usable advice for someone approaching this daunting role for the first time. I was hoping to see this accessibility continue, but Arcana Unleashed, at least, hasn’t put the work into supporting DMs.
They say every DM is already a D&D designer. However, unless they understand why something like an evolving magic item is designed the way it is, they’re not going to be a very good one. In a system that becomes so easily unbalanced, we should be guiding the less experienced towards a fun, fulfilling way of play. Evolving Magic items does the bare minimum in that department.
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Source: Wargamer
