Customer Reviews

Magic Item Compendium (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)

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During the course of a dungeons and dragons campaign, the game can tend to stagnate for players as they gain levels and grow in power. When the challenges facing the characters increase, so too must their means of overcoming those challenges. This escalation of force leads to a boring trail of upgraded magical equipment. The +1 longsword that the party's fighter acquired at the second level of experience is replaced with a +2 longsword at level five, that ring of protection +1 found in the ogre's treasure hoard becomes a ring of protection +2, and so on. While most of the supplemental rule books that have been released for dungeons and dragons over the years have contained a pittance of unique or exotic magical items, most of these items usually are either campaign or theme specific, or focused on a small range of higher level characters. The problem of magic item stagnation has been handily defeated by the authors of the Magic Item Compendium (coincidentally, the problem of magic item stagnation in the D&D game was a challenge rating 12 encounter, so the authors all receive 1,400 experience points. Bruce Cordell probably gained a level). This new source book provides an exhaustive reference of magical equipment both new and old, covering every kind of item from rods, staffs, and books to armor, weapons, potions, and pendants.

The Magic Item Compendium provides a huge range of equipment for characters of every class, race, alignment, and level of experience. Special attention has been paid to inexpensive items that would be useful to lower level characters, which was a facet of the game that had been sorely lacking until now. The opening pages of Chapter One, Armor, and Chapter Two, Weapons, each contain several pages of magical properties that can be applied to any given weapon or suit of armor. These various properties alone will give a dungeon master enough magic item ideas to fill the biggest dungeon or the largest wizard's enclave. Many of these properties have been augmented from original printings to better balance them out against similar properties. Several of them have also been changed so that rather than adding a bonus of +1 to +5 to the items overall magical "level", they instead simply add an additional gold piece amount to the item's overall market price. This change was long overdue, as it now allows minor effects or abilities that don't increase damage or "to-hit" capabilities to be added to an item without artificially raising it's level, which is helpful as items have a maximum level of +5 or +10, depending on which version of the rules are being used.

Besides the magical properties that can be applied to items, the Magic Item Compendium has hundreds of specific named items, which actually comprises the bulk of the book. A few of these items use rules from the Eberron Campaign Setting or Magic of Incarnum source books, but the vast majority of the are campaign neutral and could easily be placed in any setting. The sheer variety of the items presented is almost mind boggling. Any given character, regardless of their class, alignment, or preferred weapon and armor combination, will find multiple magic items that their players will be salivating over. One of the most useful sections of the book is an extensive chapter on Tools, which are basically any item not expressly a weapon or armor. A good balance is struck between combat oriented tools such as the runestaff of frosts, non-combat oriented tools like the daylight pellet, and the "flavor" style items such as the everfull mug. A chapter is also devoted to fourteen different magic item sets, which are themed groupings of items that increase in power if the entire set is carried by one character.

The coup de grace that will destroy any question of whether or not the Magic Item Compendium is worth the money are the two appendixes and the artwork. The first appendix is an index of every item in the book, arranged by market price or overall level of the item, which allows a dungeon master to quickly locate an appropriate item for his group of adventurers. The index also gives a brief description of the item, its name, and the source book and page number it originally came from if it is a reprint. The second appendix is a set of tables for generating random magic items, arranged appropriately by level. The artwork is also uniformly outstanding throughout the book, and is liberally sprinkled through all of the 285 pages. While some art, such as the picture of the chromatic rod, has been reprinted from previous material, a surprising amount is newly created solely for this book.

The only problem with the Magic Item Compendium is that the dungeon master will probably overload the next adventure in his campaign with far too many new magic items. The players, of course, won't see this as a problem at all.

This book makes up for the lack of "crunchy bits" in a lot of recent D&D book publications. In other words, they publish a 300 page book, like Cityscape, of which perhaps 10 pages are prestige classes, feats, etc. The rest is fluff.

The MIC, on the other hand, is 100% crunchy bits. Hundreds of pages of magic items, tables, and rules on using the magic items. The book fills in a pretty major need in D&D, which is that: 1) Low level characters generally couldn't afford magic items, and 2) That a few magic items in every slot generally overshadowed all the others. In response to this, about 75% of the new magic items are low level items, things that usually have limited scope or charges per day, but are still useful. For example, 1,000gp buys you a headband that makes you immune to the fire effect of prismatic sprays (limited scope) and deals 1d6 fire damage as a swift action three times per day (limited charges). Overall, a pretty solid item for 1,000gp. At the level at which you can afford it, the extra 3d6 damage is nice, and the immunity to the fire effect of a prismatic spray still makes it useful, in a niche sort of way, later on in an adventurer's career.

OTOH, since I generally tend to play high level D&D, it was lacking in high level gear, but with all the new weapon enhancements and such, it's possible to build your own 200,000 weapon that does just what you want it to do.

Overall, a great buy for all D&D players, and, unlike the Spell Compendium, isn't just a pure reprint book, but has tons of new material.

What is it with Wizards of the Coast? Books are squeezed out of the printing press so fast that many of them lack any real substance or usefulness... BUT every once in a while, they put out a truly fantastic book. I've reviewed numerous books, including Monster Manuals, Complete ..., PHB2, and Spell Compendium. I haven't always been nice but I love the Spell Compendium and now I can say I love the Magic Items Compendium. This is literally a treasure trove of goodies that you can deal out without sticking to the +1 type of weapon or armor, or other general magic item from the DMG which any player generally knows just what it does. In here is a virtual plethora of wonderful items that have side abilities rather than increasing the 'to hit' effect. There's just so much it's hard to pick out some of the best items such as Belt of One Mighty Blow, Ring of Nine Lives, or Domain Draughts just to name three. The final appendix is fantastic in the it breaks the items into the "where it's worn" table with quick reference descriptions. Also, on the last page is a copyable page with a silhouette of 'your character' with reference boxes as to what items you have donned [head, face, shoulders, throat, torso, arms, hands, legs, feet, and rings](when you see it you'll understand what I mean). This is a great tool for players to give to their DMs to avoid confusion and arguments as to what they are wearing and when.

The artwork is superb. However, my only gripe is that the artwork is spread throughout the book in no real order. Such as, you could be in the "rings" section and the artwork is for some bracers or gloves (that's not exact but you should catch my drift). The art is great but isn't necessarily on the same page as the actual item it is portraying. The items are alphabetized and possibly could have been organized into a 'where it's worn' chapters instead.

Overall, of the WotC books being published, this and the Spell Compendium are the jewels in the junk. Absolutely worth getting for your game.

The Magic Item Compendium's a must-have for Dungeon Masters and is a should-have for players. It gathers all the magic items and magical enhancements for weapons and armors from all the various supplements into one book. It also more clearly defines the body 'slots' where a magical item can be worn or used.

My only complaint is a small one -- the weapon and armor enhancements/enchantments and the magic items from the Dungeon Master's Guide were NOT included in the Compendium. For that reason, it loses the ability to be a complete reference for magic items. Just the same, it remains a great reference and is a well-made supplement and addition to the existing books.

Mike Mearls is the man responsible for some of the best things in current Dungeons & Dragons books. In this book, he's done it again, grabbing over a thousand items from 3.0 onward, but he didn't settle for merely reprinting them, he made them better.

More balanced. Cheaper, at many levels, so that you need not struggle to find treasure from levels 2-4. Acknowledged where D&D made mistakes in item design, these past seven years, and changed things for the better. Weapon and armor augment crystals are a tacit acknowledgment that some item abilities are simply not worth their opportunity cost.

Many items are misses, but more, FAR more, are wondrous hits.

And behind it all, at the very end, are updated pricing guidelines for magic items, explicit rules for adding common item effects to existing items, so that ne'er again need an adventurer choose between a +6 statboost item and that cool new item you put there just for him. Rounding it all off, at the end, is a new method for quickly equipping high level PCs and NPCs, and a new random treasure generator that actually generates level appropriate results, guaranteed.

All this, AND a new, easy to read, item format that has to be seen to be believed. This is absolutely an invaluable tool for any DM, new or not, and you will not regret making this purchase.

When I ordered this book I was expecting a veritable treasure-trove (pun intended) of new magic items to sprinkle throughout my campaigns and delight my players. Though there are more than a few decent items that my players would find useful, I found that the majority of these new items were...well, lackluster.

Additionally, I found that the recommended levels on many of these items (that's a newly-introduced quick and dirty method for the DM to decide what character level the new magic item is appropriate for) was way out of whack. Some items were ridiculously low for the power that a character would gain, while others seemed barely useful (even situationally) yet had a high level listed.

On the upside, there is a good share of items geared for lower-level players, something I think the DM's Guide lacked in. Essentially it opens up some options when deciding treasure to give out in lower-level campaigns.

Overall the book could come in handy for DMs who have little time to create and balance new magic items and need a few good items quickly, but use your own judgment when deciding if an item is appropriate and don't expect more than half of the book to ever be of use.

Dunegons & Dragons players today just don't know how good they have it. Back in the ancient days of the late 70's and early 80's, we AD&D players had the DM's guide and that was about it. Sure, the Dragon Magazine always had new magic items or you could create your own but those were not "official". Today, however, Wizards of the Coast is putting out a veritable dragon's horde of new supplements regularly and among the best of the recent releases is The Magic Item Compendium. Over 100, magic items are packed into this gorgeous 286 page, hardcover tome. Everything from minor magical trinkets to artifacts and relics are included in a well organized, and wonderfully written book that is a must have for players and DM's alike.

The book is organized into six chapters on Armor, weapons, clothing, tools, magic item sets, and using magic items and is bolstered by two comprehensive appendices listing magic items by price and random treasure. One of the things that I really like about the new magic item system is the infusing of normal armor, shields, swords, with magical properties that don't necessarily make them unique, one-of-a-kind items.

For example, in the Armor/shield category, there are over sixty different magical properties that can be added to the item (as long as it is already at least a +1 item or better) to enhance its qualities. One such property is Healing. This property will heal 2d8+5 points of damage automatically when the wearer is brought down to -1 to -9 hit points...i.e., rescue from death! The Speed property allows the user to produce the effects of a haste spell 3 times per day. All of these properties can be added to armor or shields. Next, there are over 25 unique armors and shields.

The Weapons chapter is similar to armor in that it first lists all of the different properties that can be added to a +1 or better weapon, as well as the price, caster level, aura, and activation required. Again, there are dozens of different properties listed with their full effects leaving it to the DM to decide what they want to create. There are some great unique items in weapons as well. These all include full descriptions of the appearance and powers, and most of them have a drawing that accompanies the weapon as well.

The items in clothing are all unique items and run the gamut of everything from amulets and boots to gloves and rings and everything in between. Chapter four is really a hodgepodge of everything else not included in the first three chapters. Here you'll find items such as bags, orbs, musical instruments, rods, runestaffs, tomes, and more.

Chapter five's subject is magical item sets. These are groups of three to six unique magic items that provide extra bonuses and abilities when worn together. What I love about these is that they will make great items to set about on separate quests to find and locate. And it had better be pretty hard to do so because they will make for some pretty powerful characters should all the items be found.

Finally, chapter six covers the usage of magic items...where to buy them, how to craft them, where to place them in a dungeon, etc...

It felt like the good, old days again just browsing through page after page of this treasure trove. The art is fantastic as usual. One of the best Supplements to come out in a long time.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

As a regular player and a new DM, this book is a real time saver. Not only is the artwork amazing, many of the new items are becoming party favorites. As a DM though, the best part of this book is Appendix 2 which is a newly updated, revised and simplified treasure table. No longer do I have to flip though page after page after page to generate random treasures off of 20 different charts, it is all right here in 1 easy to use place. 10 d% rolls now replaced by 2 d% rolls. I highly recommend this book to anyone who plays D&D 3.5, but especially to DMs.

I have been collecting D&D products for over 15 years and this is one of the best ones I have come across. It not only combines various magic items from previously published books (i.e. weapons of legacy as an example), but it adds many never before published items as well. The artowrk is first rate with many pictures depicting what the magic items actually look like. Additionally each description also states specifically how the magic item is used/activated and details the necessary requirments and materials to craft the items. If you want to introduce new magic items into your game or just want additional information on crafting magic items, then this book is a must!

If it where just a collection of magic items, then this book would still probably be worth it, but it also introduces several new concepts in magic items that can allow DMs and players new avenues to explore.

The first is a new concept of charges-per-day. Magic items with charges, like wands, and use-per-day items, like virtually everything else, have existed since the beginning of DnD. Charges-per-day is an item that gets a specific number of charges per day for use with a special power. What makes it different is that spending more charges simultaneously increases the effect. This is great for little effects you wanted more than once a day, but sometimes wish where a little bit stronger.

Next up is the runestaff. The runestaff is a new must-have for any spell caster with a static spell list, such as sorcerers, warmages and divine souls. They allow these magic users to sacrifice their own spell slots to cast the spells imbedded in the staff, essentially expanding their spell list, almost exactly like a cleric spontaneously casting cure spells. Each spell can only be cast this way a limited number of times per day, but it allows a magic user to increase their flexibility in varying situations.

Augment crystals are next. The easiest way to think of augment crystals are like slotable equipment in video games like Diablo. These relatively cheap crystals give minor bonuses to your weapon or armor and are swappable, allowing you to change them when the situation does. Unfortunately, the requirements for the highest-level crystal are a little over the top, making them for more expensive than their little price tag indicates.

Finally introduced are item sets. If you have ever played World of Warcraft or Diablo, you know what an items set is. Each component of an item set is its own magic item, but if you own more than one piece of the system, you start acquiring extra bonuses as the items resonate with each other. Some of these bonuses are very powerful and useful, some not so much, but it is a nice option for DMs who give their player planned out loot.

Being a compendium, several items in it came form other sources, such as Eberron or Faruen. Many of these items where changed in the transition. Some of the items become more powerful, others cheaper. This makes some items that where nice concepts, but priced out of the range of players that could use them, possible. Monks and spell casters should check out the re-priced DR shirts!

Also included in the book are new options for stat booster placement, item synergies, good art, and a wonderful chart for all magic items from the compendium, and the DMG!