Magic Item Compendium 3.5 PDF: A Comprehensive Guide
The Magic Item Compendium for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition is a treasure trove of magical artifacts. Available in PDF format, it grants players and DMs access to a myriad of enchanted objects. This guide provides a comprehensive overview, aiding in navigating its wealth of items. It is an indispensable resource for enhancing any 3.5 edition campaign.
The Magic Item Compendium stands as a pivotal resource for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition players and Dungeon Masters. It is a comprehensive catalog of magical items, offering a vast array of options to enhance character abilities and enrich campaign settings. Originally published to consolidate and update items from various 3rd edition sources, such as the Arms and Equipment Guide and Magic of Faerûn, it streamlines the process of equipping adventurers with wondrous and powerful gear.
This compendium presents a vast collection exceeding a thousand magical items, each meticulously detailed with descriptions, properties, and creation requirements. It addresses the need for a unified source, eliminating the necessity of sifting through multiple books. It provides a systematic way to find the perfect item for any character or situation, from simple potions to legendary weapons.
For DMs, the compendium is an invaluable tool for crafting compelling adventures and rewarding players with appropriate treasures. It expands the possibilities for character customization and provides a wealth of options for character development. The Magic Item Compendium is an essential addition to any 3.5 edition game, offering a universe of possibilities for magic items.
Overview of the Book’s Contents
The Magic Item Compendium is structured to provide easy access to a vast collection of magical items. The book categorizes items into logical sections, facilitating efficient browsing and item selection. Central to its organization are the primary classifications of magic items: Armor, Weapons, Potions, Rings, Rods, Scrolls, Staffs, Wands, and Wondrous Items. Each category is further subdivided, allowing for precise targeting of specific item types.
Armor and Weapons receive significant attention, detailing enhancements, special abilities, and unique properties that can be imbued into equipment. Potions and Oils offer a range of temporary effects, while Rings provide persistent magical benefits. Rods, Staffs, and Wands serve as conduits for spellcasting, each with its own distinct mechanics. Scrolls contain single-use spells, and Wondrous Items encompass a diverse collection of artifacts that defy categorization.
The book also addresses cursed and intelligent items, adding layers of complexity. These items provide risks and rewards, adding intrigue to gameplay. An appendix covers item creation rules. It details the feats, costs, and processes involved in crafting magic items. This overview provides a structured approach to the book’s contents, and offers a roadmap to navigate its extensive collection.
Categories of Magic Items
The Magic Item Compendium organizes its extensive inventory into distinct categories, each representing a type of magical enhancement or device. These categories streamline item selection and help DMs and players find what they need. The primary categories include Armor, Weapons, Potions and Oils, Rings, Rods, Scrolls, Staffs, Wands, and Wondrous Items. Armor encompasses enchanted protective gear, such as suits of armor and shields, with varying defensive capabilities.
Weapons are magical implements of combat, ranging from swords to bows, imbued with enhancements to attack and damage. Potions and Oils offer temporary magical effects, providing healing, buffs, or other benefits. Rings grant persistent magical abilities, such as resistance to elements or enhanced skills. Rods, Staffs, and Wands are tools for spellcasters, each channeling magical energy in different ways.
Scrolls contain single-use spells, allowing characters to cast spells without expending their own magical energy. Wondrous Items are a catch-all category for magical items that don’t fit into other categories, including artifacts and unique devices with varied effects. Within each category, items are further organized by type, power, and function, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding the magical items available in the game.
Armor
Within the Magic Item Compendium, the armor section details a wide array of magically enhanced protective gear, essential for any adventurer facing perilous threats. This category encompasses not only full suits of armor but also shields, providing varying degrees of defense and unique magical properties.
Magic armor offers enhanced Armor Class (AC) bonuses, improving a character’s ability to avoid attacks. These bonuses can range from a simple +1 to substantial enhancements, making characters significantly harder to hit. Certain armor pieces grant elemental resistances, protecting against fire, cold, electricity, or other energy types. Other magical properties include the ability to deflect specific types of attacks, such as arrows or spells, or even provide complete immunity to certain effects.
Shields, too, are imbued with magical properties, enhancing their defensive capabilities beyond their base AC bonus. Some shields grant additional bonuses to saving throws, while others can reflect spells back at their casters. The Magic Item Compendium details specific magic armor and shields, outlining their properties, costs, and creation requirements, providing a comprehensive guide for characters seeking enhanced protection on their adventures.
Weapons
The Magic Item Compendium dedicates a substantial section to magical weaponry, a crucial aspect of any adventurer’s arsenal. This segment details a diverse range of enchanted arms, from swords and axes to bows and more exotic implements of destruction.
Magic weapons provide enhancement bonuses to attack and damage rolls, significantly improving a character’s combat effectiveness. These bonuses range from a modest +1 to formidable enhancements that can turn the tide of battle. Beyond simple attack and damage bonuses, magic weapons often possess special properties that add layers of tactical advantage.
These properties include elemental damage, such as flaming, frost, or shocking, inflicting additional damage types. Some weapons inflict status effects, like stunning, paralyzing, or poisoning opponents. Others may grant the wielder special abilities, such as increased critical hit range or the ability to bypass damage reduction. The Compendium provides detailed descriptions of each weapon, including its cost, creation requirements, and the specific magical effects it bestows, empowering players to choose the perfect weapon for their character’s style and the challenges they face.
Wondrous Items
Wondrous items in the Magic Item Compendium are a catch-all category for magical items. These items do not fit neatly into other groups. Anyone can generally use a wondrous item. Effects and activation vary greatly from item to item, creating unique opportunities.
Creating Magic Items in 3.5
Creating magic items in Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 requires spellcasters to utilize special feats. These feats allow them to imbue objects with magical properties, enhancing their utility and power. The process involves a significant investment of time, money, and personal energy, often in the form of experience points. Each item has specific prerequisites that must be met before creation can begin.
These prerequisites often include a minimum caster level, knowledge of specific spells, and access to rare materials. The Magic Item Compendium provides detailed information on these requirements, ensuring that players and DMs have a clear understanding of the crafting process. Furthermore, the creation process is not instantaneous; it takes time proportional to the item’s magical features.
Enhancing a weapon, armor, or shield requires one day for each 1,000 gp in the item’s magical features. The base item must be of masterwork quality, indicating exceptional craftsmanship. The crafter also expends experience points and raw materials. The XP cost is typically 1/25 of the item’s total price, and the raw materials cost one-half of the total price.
This system ensures that creating magic items is a challenging but rewarding endeavor, reserved for skilled and dedicated spellcasters; The Compendium also provides guidance on adjudicating unusual or custom item creation scenarios. This helps maintain balance and fairness within the game world. By following these guidelines, players can create wondrous and powerful items that enhance their adventures.
Feats Required for Item Creation
Creating magic items in the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 system is governed by a specific set of feats that spellcasters must possess. These feats represent the knowledge and skill required to imbue objects with magical properties. The most fundamental feat is Craft Wondrous Item, which allows a character to create a wide variety of magical items that don’t fall into other categories.
Other essential feats include Craft Magic Arms and Armor, necessary for creating enchanted weapons, armor, and shields. Craft Staff is required for crafting magical staves, while Craft Wand allows for the creation of wands. Scribe Scroll is needed to produce magical scrolls containing spells. Brew Potion enables the creation of magical potions and oils. Forge Ring is the feat to create magic rings.
Each of these feats has specific prerequisites, such as a minimum caster level and knowledge of certain spells. For instance, to craft a magic weapon with a specific enchantment, the crafter must know the spell that replicates the desired effect. The caster level must also be high enough to cast the spell effectively.
These feats ensure that only skilled spellcasters can create magic items, maintaining balance within the game world. The Magic Item Compendium provides detailed descriptions of each feat, including prerequisites and benefits. This allows players and DMs to easily determine the requirements for creating specific items. Careful selection and management of these feats are crucial for any character aspiring to become a master magic item crafter.
Costs Associated with Creation (XP, Gold)
Creating magic items in Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 involves significant investments, not only in time and effort but also in experience points (XP) and gold. The cost structure is designed to balance the power gained from magical items, ensuring that they are not easily accessible. The market price of an item dictates the XP and gold required for its creation.
Generally, a character must expend 1/25th of the item’s market price in XP during the creation process. This represents the personal energy and magical essence invested in imbuing the item with its powers. Additionally, raw materials costing one-half of the item’s market price are consumed. These materials can range from precious metals and gemstones to rare herbs and magical components, depending on the item being created.
For example, if an item has a market price of 25,000 gold pieces, the creator must spend 1,000 XP and 12,500 gold pieces worth of raw materials. These costs are cumulative and must be paid upfront before the crafting process can begin. Furthermore, any special components required for the item, such as rare monster parts or unique reagents, add to the overall cost. Each XP in the component costs adds 5 gp to the market price.
The Magic Item Compendium provides detailed cost breakdowns for various items, allowing players and DMs to accurately calculate the expenses involved in their creation. Careful planning and resource management are essential for any character seeking to become a proficient magic item crafter, as the costs can be substantial and may require significant adventuring to acquire the necessary resources.
Notable Items and Enhancements
The Magic Item Compendium is replete with notable items and enhancements that can significantly impact gameplay in Dungeons & Dragons 3;5. Among the most sought-after enhancements is the “everbright” property, which renders a weapon immune to non-magical darkness and grants a minor blinding effect. This is a great value enhancement.
Specific items like the Amulet of Health, Amulet of Mighty Fists, and Amulet of Natural Armor are staples for bolstering character defenses and combat prowess. These amulets provide constant bonuses to Constitution, unarmed strikes, and natural armor, respectively.
The book also features items that grant unique abilities or spell-like effects. Scrolls, staffs, and wands offer spellcasters a means to expand their repertoire and overcome magical limitations. Wondrous items, such as the Bag of Holding and Portable Hole, provide unparalleled utility for adventurers.
Armor and weapon enhancements, such as those providing resistance to energy types or granting additional damage dice, are also highly prized. These enhancements can be applied to existing equipment, allowing players to customize their gear to suit their specific needs and playstyles.
The Compendium also includes descriptions of cursed items and intelligent items, adding an element of risk and intrigue to the acquisition and use of magic items. Some items may appear beneficial but carry hidden drawbacks, while others may possess sentience and have their own agendas.
Navigating the vast array of options in the Magic Item Compendium requires careful consideration of character builds, party composition, and campaign settings. However, the rewards for discovering and utilizing these notable items and enhancements can be substantial, providing characters with the edge they need to overcome challenges and achieve their goals.
