Return to site

How Many Attunement Slots 5e

broken image


Jan 07, 2019 Extension 5E Attunement Tracker I found no way to track this easily within Fantasy Grounds, so created the extension. Thanks to st4lk3r87 for providing an update to the extension that adds an option to change the attunement limit from 1 to 10 within Options and also enforce the limit on the inventory tab.

In older editions of Dungeons & Dragons, your character became a walking-talking magic item storage system. You'd typically have up to 10-15 magic items on you in the late game, all doing different things. And a lot of them were just boring stat bonuses! 5E changed that quite a bit with their Attunement system. This allowed Wizards to make strong magic items without their players having to shuffle through PDFs for their 7th magic item's effects. Learn more with our How to Attune 5E Guide.

Aug 21, 2014 As with many things we're designing for D&D, the drawbacks of attunement are another tool that DMs can make use of to encourage roleplaying and bring the campaign to life. Though named artifacts such as the Hand of Vecna will come with specific attunement drawbacks, general magic items lack them. Attunement prevents one character having too many powerful magic items - as any given character cannot attune to more than three at a time. Some items do have prerequisites - the gauntlets do not. The gauntlets' rules text states 'Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)'. For example, if you are a 3rd-level cleric, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Wisdom of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell cure wounds, you can cast it using a 1st-level or 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove. I ran Out of the Abyss until the end of the 1st act. Then, to get the PCs from level 6 to level 8, I ran a 5E conversion of The Gates of Firestorm Peak before starting Act II. Had a lot of fun, but the PCs are now 8th level and have so many attunement-required items that some are laying fallow.

How to Attune 5E

Races

If an item requires attunement, then you treat it as non-magical until you spend the time to attune to it. In order to attune to it, you take a short rest focused only on that object. No regaining Ki points, no spending hit dice, no learning what the item actually does. After you attune to it, you gain access to all of it's magical abilities, and have a basic understanding of any command words it needs to activate.

Attunement has a lot of rules attached to it. There's a few important things to know.

How Many Attunement Slots 5e Spell

  • An item only requires attunement if it says it does. This might sound obvious, but a good selection of 5E's items don't require attunement. For example, a +1 War Pick doesn't require attunement. However, the Will of the Talon artifact does. Make sure you and your DM both know what items require attunement before wasting a short rest on something… Well, that is, if you've correctly identified it.
  • You must meet all prerequisites to attune. Again, obvious. But you can't use a +1 Wand of the War Mage if you're not a Spellcaster. Usually, these prerequisites are class-based, but they can be racial or level-bound too.
  • You can only* attune to 3 items at once. After you've attuned to three things, you must end one of your original attunements to get a new one.

Can You Attune to More?

There is exactly one way to attune to more than three magic items; become an Artificer. The Artificer gains attunement slots at level 10, 14, and 18 (up to a maximum of six). This is obviously a lot of levels if you want to multiclass, and it's probably not worth it in most situations. But, if your goal is to be attuned to as many magic items as possible, Artificer is the easiest way to do it.

How Many Attunement Slots 5e Feats

Artificers also get the ability to ignore attunement prerequisites, but thankfully, that isn't artificer specific. The Thief Rogue's Use Magic Device ability also allows it to ignore those restrictions, and it ignores them one level earlier! Take that, Artificer!

See Also: How to Calculate Proficiency Bonus in 5E

Wrapping Up Attunement

Attunement is a system designed to lower the amount of craziness that 3.5 characters got to. Even for seasoned players, it could become a lot to deal with. Now, we replace the ability to have as many magic items and become as powerful as we want, for something more balanced and easy to read… though perhaps not necessarily better.

How Many Attunement Slots 5e Dnd

How Many Attunement Slots 5e

If an item requires attunement, then you treat it as non-magical until you spend the time to attune to it. In order to attune to it, you take a short rest focused only on that object. No regaining Ki points, no spending hit dice, no learning what the item actually does. After you attune to it, you gain access to all of it's magical abilities, and have a basic understanding of any command words it needs to activate.

Attunement has a lot of rules attached to it. There's a few important things to know.

How Many Attunement Slots 5e Spell

  • An item only requires attunement if it says it does. This might sound obvious, but a good selection of 5E's items don't require attunement. For example, a +1 War Pick doesn't require attunement. However, the Will of the Talon artifact does. Make sure you and your DM both know what items require attunement before wasting a short rest on something… Well, that is, if you've correctly identified it.
  • You must meet all prerequisites to attune. Again, obvious. But you can't use a +1 Wand of the War Mage if you're not a Spellcaster. Usually, these prerequisites are class-based, but they can be racial or level-bound too.
  • You can only* attune to 3 items at once. After you've attuned to three things, you must end one of your original attunements to get a new one.

Can You Attune to More?

There is exactly one way to attune to more than three magic items; become an Artificer. The Artificer gains attunement slots at level 10, 14, and 18 (up to a maximum of six). This is obviously a lot of levels if you want to multiclass, and it's probably not worth it in most situations. But, if your goal is to be attuned to as many magic items as possible, Artificer is the easiest way to do it.

How Many Attunement Slots 5e Feats

Artificers also get the ability to ignore attunement prerequisites, but thankfully, that isn't artificer specific. The Thief Rogue's Use Magic Device ability also allows it to ignore those restrictions, and it ignores them one level earlier! Take that, Artificer!

See Also: How to Calculate Proficiency Bonus in 5E

Wrapping Up Attunement

Attunement is a system designed to lower the amount of craziness that 3.5 characters got to. Even for seasoned players, it could become a lot to deal with. Now, we replace the ability to have as many magic items and become as powerful as we want, for something more balanced and easy to read… though perhaps not necessarily better.

How Many Attunement Slots 5e Dnd

How Many Attunement Slots 5e Races

One last note: Make sure you have someone with decent Arcana checks in your party! You want to ensure that your attunement doesn't end up cursing you.





broken image