Magic Item (Dungeons & Dragons) - Examples

Examples

The vorpal sword first appeared in Supplement I: Greyhawk (1976), listed as "Vorpal Blade", and later appeared in the original Dungeon Master's Guide (1979), listed as "sword, vorpal weapon". The name of the sword is derived from the vorpal sword mentioned in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", apparently a reference to the boy's decapitation of the Jabberwock. The designers of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game take "vorpal" to mean capable of decapitation, specifically through magical means. "Vorpal swords" exist fictionally in various works, especially in role-playing games and video games, where they are generally based on the Dungeons & Dragons concept. While its statistics have varied through the editions of the game, the weapon has been defined by its magical power to decapitate foes more easily than an ordinary weapon could. The vorpal blade in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons does not behead opponents.

A ring of regeneration bestows magical ability of regeneration upon its wearer. Because of the way that Dungeons & Dragons handles regeneration, the wearer is essentially immortal. Regeneration allows successful reattaching of severed limbs or regrowing them. Rings of regeneration can be given different levels of power by the Dungeon Master. The magnitude of their regenerative abilities is given as a numerical value, which represents the number of hit points regained per combat round, or six seconds. A lesser form of regeneration that does not allow the regrowth of lost limbs is called fast healing.

Boots of speed enable the wearer to run very fast—usually as fast as a galloping horse, or slower if the wearer is heavy. The wearer must usually rest for long periods after use.

Ioun stones (pronounced EYE-oon) are based on similar artifacts from Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. When functioning, they float in a circular pattern around their bearer's head, and grant various benefits based on their color and shape. Two stones of the same type will repel each other, and when drained of power, a stone becomes a dull grey, but still possesses the characteristic floating. While useless to a mage, burned out stones can still yield a single psionic power point to a psionic character in 3rd and 3.5 editions. In the original Jack Vance stories IOUN stones are highly prized by arch-magicians, and are acquired from a race known as the archveults, who mine them from remnants of dead stars (in his book Rhialto the Marvellous). In 2E Dungeons & Dragons it had been conjectured in Dragon magazine that Ioun stones instead come from the Positive Material Plane. Dragon #174 featured an article that included many dozens of new types of ioun stone, as well as an article about an elemental lord who hoards ioun stones on his home plane of radiance. Under 3.0/3.5 editions of the rules they are instead manufactured by spellcasters in the same manner as other magical items.