If your favorite DnD classes don’t cast spells, you might be feeling bitter about Arcana Unleashed. Magic this, magic that! Spellcasting is already OP in D&D, why do we need a whole sourcebook making it better? Well, hold your grumbles, martials, because there’s some useful stuff in this book for you too. Mainly, these boons come in the form of magic items.
I picked up an early copy of D&D’s latest book at Gen Con, and I’ve had plenty of time to comb through it. We’ve already covered the top-tier subclasses, next-level spells, and essential feats. Now, let’s talk about my favorite new magic items:
Boon Companions’ Bands
This is a pair of Uncommon rings you can wear with your best buddy. When you create an effect that forces others to make a saving throw, you can protect the other character wearing one of these bands. It automatically succeeds its save, taking no damage if it would otherwise have taken half.
This is only a once-a-day thing, but it could save your Fighter from a stray Fireball, even if you’re not playing an Evoker Wizard. Plus, I love to imagine at high levels, when production of low-level magic items becomes trivial, your Wizard could have one ring on each finger to protect the entire party.
Lucky Foot
The Lucky Foot lets you re-roll a 1 on a saving throw or ability check. Neat! It disintegrates after you’ve used it, but this is a Common magic item. That means it shouldn’t be too hard to buy or craft another before long.
Mage Breaker
The Mage Breaker is a +1 dagger, which in itself feels pretty good. What makes it worth its Rare status, though, is its effect on concentrating spellcasters. When you damage them, they have disadvantage on their concentration save. Take that, magic!
This isn’t limited in its uses, either. So, if you’re a Fighter that can attack three times a turn, you get three shots to end that evil mage’s crucial spell.
Martialist’s Quarterstaff
This Uncommon quarterstaff makes martials slightly better at their job. A feat-stuffed Fighter might not make a beeline for it, but it would certainly make an interesting Monk Weapon.
The quarterstaff has four charges, with 1d4 regained every day at dawn. You can spend two to cast Searing Smite, or you can spend one to give the weapon the Thrown property for an attack. That last one gives it a range of 20/60 feet, and it returns to your hand after the attack resolves.
Lastly, you can spend a charge to give yourself advantage on an attack roll. That alone feels good, but if the attack hits, you can also knock your opponent prone if they fail a DC 13 Strength save.
Necklace of the Beastly Familiar
Arcana Unleashed has gone all-in on improving the Find Familiar spell. This necklace adds to the many feats and spells that modify your companion. You can use this necklace to cast Find Familiar once a day, even if you don’t already know the spell.
More importantly, while your familiar is within 60 feet, you can spend an action to activate the necklace. Your familiar shapeshifts into an enormous beast for 10 minutes.
Exactly what it turns into depends on your necklace’s rarity. Uncommon gives you a Giant Octopus, while Rare comes with a Giant Scorpion or Hippopotamus. Very Rare gives you a Mammoth friend, and, the cherry on the cake, Legendary gives you a pet T Rex. Imagine your furry friend nuzzling you as a giant dinosaur after absolutely wrecking the opposition in combat.
Spell Duelist’s Trophy
This is a Rare hand or talon that you wear on a necklace or bracelet. When you do, and you hit a creature with a melee spell attack, you can cast Dispel Magic on your opponent as part of the attack. It’s only once a day, but it could be a life-saver in the right circumstances.
Additionally, the Trophy means you can cast a spell using a spell slot without somatic components. That makes sword and board a little easier when you also want to cast spells.
Thief’s Thimble
This is an item pretty much every adventurer should carry. While wearing the Thief’s Thimble, if you trigger a trap and take damage, the Thimble takes it for you. It breaks if it ever takes 30 damage or more, but that’s 30 damage you can easily dodge.
Universal Pantograph
As an Artifact, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll come across a Universal Pantograph. But if you do, oh the fun you’ll have.
This is a box that, when you place a nonmagical item inside, creates a perfect duplicate. Infinite money, anyone?
You can also spend an action to make the box big enough for a Medium creature to sit inside. When you do, if you expend diamond dust worth 100 GP, you cast the Clone spell on that creature. The box then spends 120 days growing you a clone. Creepy, but it could be used in some utterly ridiculous ways.
Got more questions about the contents of Arcana Unleashed? Why not pick my brain over in the Wargamer Discord? We’re always keen for a nerdy chat.
Source: Wargamer
