Magic · Enchanted Equipment
Magic Item Descriptions
Magic item descriptions tell you what enchanted objects are, what their powers do, and which rules govern their use. This reference explains how to read magic item descriptions in D&D 5.5e / 2024, Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e, where familiar item names can use very different rules and notation.
Rules reference
How to Read Magic Item Descriptions
Magic item descriptions use different statistics depending on the edition in play. Choose your ruleset before reading an item’s notation: attunement, Aura, caster level, item slots, construction costs and older treasure categories are not universal mechanics.
| Field or rule | D&D 5.5e / 2024 | Pathfinder 1e | D&D 3.5e |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary entry line | Item type, rarity and attunement requirement when present | Aura, CL, Slot, Price, Weight, Description and Construction | Aura, CL, Prerequisites, Market Price, Cost to Create and Weight |
| Attunement | Some items | No 5e-style attunement | No 5e-style attunement |
| Caster Level (CL) | Not a standard item stat | Yes | Yes |
| Slot field | No Pathfinder-style slot line | Yes | Not a standard description field |
| XP cost to create | No | No | Yes |
| Minor / Medium / Major random table | No | Yes | Yes |
D&D 5.5e / 2024 · SRD 5.2.1
Reading a 2024 Magic Item
Start with the classification line, then read the item’s own property text. Current rules do not give every magic item an Aura or Caster Level statistic.
- Item Type
- Identifies the object’s broad form, such as a weapon, armour, wand, ring, potion or wondrous item. Any narrower restriction in the entry also matters.
- Rarity
- Places the item within the 2024 magic-item rarity structure. Use the item’s listed rarity rather than an older Minor, Medium or Major band.
- Attunement
- If the item requires attunement, its magical properties normally remain unavailable until the bearer attunes to it. An attunement prerequisite, when stated, must also be met. A creature can normally be attuned to no more than three magic items at once.
- Properties
- The individual description is the controlling rule. It states constant benefits, triggered effects, spell use, special movement, bonuses, transformations and other powers.
- Activation and Timing
- Use the Action, Bonus Action, Reaction or other timing written in the item. Do not substitute an older-edition default activation action.
- Charges and Recharge
- When an item has charges, the entry states how many it has, what each power costs and when charges return. There is no universal 50-charge rule.
- Save DCs and Attack Bonuses
- Use the DC, attack bonus or spellcasting instruction supplied by the item. Do not derive a 2024 DC from an invented caster level.
- Exceptions
- Specific item text overrides the general expectation. If an object changes the normal way it is worn, activated, attuned or used, follow that entry.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game · First Edition
Reading a Pathfinder 1e Magic Item
Pathfinder retains the older Aura and Caster Level structure but adds a formal Slot field and separates the item’s Description from its Construction information.
- Aura
- Gives the strength and school of the item’s magical aura where applicable. Detect Magic explains how that information is discovered in play.
- Caster Level (CL)
- Indicates the item’s caster level and affects level-dependent rules that refer to it, including the item’s saving-throw bonus and some dispel interactions.
- Slot
- States where the item must be worn or wielded to function. If the entry says none, the object must normally be held or carried as its description requires.
- Price
- Lists the purchase price in gold pieces when the item is available for sale. Availability remains a campaign and settlement question for the GM.
- Weight
- Records the item’s weight when it matters for carrying capacity. An omitted weight is not significant for encumbrance unless another rule says otherwise.
- Description
- Contains the item’s actual powers, activation requirements, limitations and special rules. For spell-storing items, the referenced spell remains part of the effect.
- Construction & Requirements
- Lists the feats, spells and other prerequisites used to create the item. Where the rules allow cooperation, different contributors can supply different prerequisites.
- Cost
- Lists the gold-piece cost to create the item. It is generally half the Price, with additional material components able to raise the final cost. Pathfinder 1e does not add the 3.5e XP creation cost.
Caster level in spell-storing items
For potions, scrolls and wands, the creator can choose an allowed caster level high enough to cast the stored spell and no higher than the creator’s own caster level. Other Pathfinder magic items use the caster level established by the item.
Physical statistics
General item-type rules can also provide AC, hardness, hit points and a break DC for typical objects. These are object statistics rather than replacements for the item’s magical description.
D&D 3.5e · d20 SRD
Reading a D&D 3.5e Magic Item
The original SpiralWorlds entry belongs primarily here. D&D 3.5e uses Aura and Caster Level notation, creation prerequisites, a market price and—unlike Pathfinder 1e—an XP expenditure in ordinary magic-item creation.
- Aura
- Gives the magical school and aura strength associated with the item where applicable. Detect Magic provides the edition-specific procedure for reading that aura.
- Caster Level (CL)
- Shows the item’s caster level. It affects the item’s saving-throw bonus, level-dependent aspects of its powers and rules that directly contest or reference that caster level.
- Prerequisites
- Lists the feats, spells and other conditions required for creation. More than one character can cooperate where the creation rules permit, but one character is treated as the creator for creator-level determinations.
- Market Price
- Represents the expected purchase price of the item. Component costs can make the market price higher than the underlying base price used in construction calculations.
- Cost to Create
- For an item without extra material or XP components, the gp cost is one-half the market price and the XP cost is one twenty-fifth of the market price. Extra components modify those totals.
- Weight
- Lists the object’s weight when it matters for carrying capacity. If no meaningful weight is given, do not add one merely to fill the notation.
Who sets caster level?
For potions, scrolls and wands, the creator can choose a caster level high enough to cast the stored spell and no higher than the creator’s own caster level. For other 3.5e magic items, the creator determines caster level, subject to the minimum needed to satisfy the item’s prerequisites.
Cooperative creation
Several characters can supply different prerequisites when the rules allow it. They must still designate the creator for rules that depend on creator level, and that designated creator pays the XP required to make the item.
Physical statistics
General item-type rules can also give typical AC, hardness, hit points and break DC. These statistics govern the object itself; they do not replace the item’s magical properties.
At the table
Identifying a Magic Item
Finding magic and learning exactly what an item does are separate questions. Use the identification method belonging to the edition in play.
D&D 5.5e / 2024
Identify is the fastest standard method. A character can instead focus on one item while in physical contact with it during a Short Rest to learn its properties and use. That Short Rest does not reveal a curse. If the item also requires attunement, attuning takes a separate Short Rest.
Pathfinder 1e
After detecting magic, a trained character can identify an item’s properties with Spellcraft (DC 15 + the item’s caster level). Examining one item takes 3 rounds, and a failed attempt using detect magic or identify cannot be retried on that item until the next day. Aura and CL therefore matter directly to identification.
D&D 3.5e
Detect Magic can reveal aura information, while dedicated identification magic handles the fuller question of an item’s properties. Do not treat the presence of an aura as a complete item description.
Need the detection procedure? See Detect Magic for the separate D&D 5.5e / 2024, Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e versions of the spell.
Browse the reference
Magic Item Categories
Once you know the kind of object you are dealing with, open its category for individual magic item descriptions, special abilities and the rules used by each family of enchanted objects.
Armour & Shields
Enchanted armour, shields, defensive abilities and protective equipment.
Browse armour & shields →Weapons
Magic melee weapons, ranged weapons, ammunition and weapon properties.
Browse weapons →Potions & Oils
Single-use magical liquids that are drunk, administered or applied.
Browse potions & oils →Rings
Worn magical bands with persistent, activated or protective powers.
Browse rings →Rods
Sceptre-like magical implements with specialised supernatural functions.
Browse rods →Scrolls
Magic written for later use, including stored spells and specialised scroll effects.
Browse scrolls →Staffs
Powerful magical staves and other staff-form implements with several related powers.
Browse staffs →Wands
Portable magical devices whose activation, charges and spell use depend on edition and item.
Browse wands →Wondrous Items
Amulets, boots, cloaks, bags, lenses, books, tools and stranger enchanted objects.
Browse wondrous items →Pathfinder 1e & D&D 3.5e
Random Magic Item Categories
The older rulesets use the following d% table to choose an item category after the treasure rules have established a Minor, Medium or Major magic item. These three bands are not D&D 5.5e / 2024 rarity categories.
| Minor | Medium | Major | Item Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01–04 | 01–10 | 01–10 | Armour and shields |
| 05–09 | 11–20 | 11–20 | Weapons |
| 10–44 | 21–30 | 21–25 | Potions |
| 45–46 | 31–40 | 26–35 | Rings |
| — | 41–50 | 36–45 | Rods |
| 47–81 | 51–65 | 46–55 | Scrolls |
| — | 66–68 | 56–75 | Staffs (staves in Pathfinder 1e) |
| 82–91 | 69–83 | 76–80 | Wands |
| 92–100 | 84–100 | 81–100 | Wondrous items |
Table wording: the Pathfinder 1e Core Rulebook uses staves; the D&D 3.5e SRD uses staffs. The category is the same for this shared generation table.
Beyond ordinary equipment
Special Magic Items
Some objects need more than the ordinary item-category rules because their danger, agency or campaign role changes how they are handled.
Cursed Items
Objects whose magic conceals drawbacks, compulsions, altered functions or other hazards.
Browse cursed items →Artefacts
Relics powerful enough to sit outside ordinary assumptions about purchase, construction and destruction.
Browse artefacts →Intelligent & Sentient Items
When an individual entry gives an item a mind, personality or independent purpose, treat those rules as part of the item itself. Older editions use intelligent-item mechanics; current D&D uses sentient-item rules where provided.
Rules questions
Quick Answers
Use these distinctions when an older item entry appears beside a newer one or when a familiar term changes meaning between editions.
What does CL mean on a magic item?
CL means Caster Level in Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e. It is a rules statistic used for level-dependent item effects, item saving throws and other interactions that refer to caster level. It is not a standard D&D 5.5e / 2024 magic-item field.
Does Detect Magic identify a magic item?
Not by itself in every edition. In 2024, detecting magic and learning an item’s full properties are separate procedures. In Pathfinder 1e, detect magic supports a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the item’s caster level) to identify the item’s properties. In D&D 3.5e, Detect Magic reveals aura information while fuller identification uses its own rules. See Detect Magic.
Do all magic items require attunement?
No. In D&D 5.5e / 2024, only items whose descriptions say they require attunement use that rule. Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e do not use the 5e attunement system.
Do Pathfinder 1e magic items cost XP to create?
No. Pathfinder 1e normally lists a gold-piece construction Cost, generally half the item’s Price before additional component costs. The ordinary XP expenditure shown on old SpiralWorlds magic-item entries belongs to D&D 3.5e.
What do Minor, Medium and Major mean here?
They are older random-generation bands used by Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e treasure rules. They are not the Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare and Legendary rarity structure used by current D&D.
Can I use an older item stat line unchanged in a 2024 game?
Use the older entry as the source for the item’s idea, but rebuild its mechanics for the ruleset in play. Aura, CL, body-slot notation, activation actions, saving throws, charges, creation costs and attunement can all work differently between editions.
Reference basis
Sources & Licence
D&D 5.5e / 2024 rules material
This work includes rules material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (SRD 5.2.1) by Wizards of the Coast LLC. SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Pathfinder 1e rules material
The Pathfinder 1e section is based on open rules material from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook as presented by Archives of Nethys. Pathfinder 1e Open Game Content used here remains subject to the Open Game License Version 1.0a and the relevant copyright notices.
D&D 3.5e rules material
The D&D 3.5e section is based on the open d20 System Reference Document, including the Magic Item Basics and Magic Item Descriptions rules, used under the Open Game License Version 1.0a.
Open Game Content notice: rules text derived from the Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e open rules references is used under OGL v1.0a. SpiralWorlds presentation, navigation, original commentary, CSS and other site-specific material are not designated Open Game Content by this notice. The Archives of Nethys licence page reproduces the OGL and Pathfinder copyright notices.