Magic Items

The question about artifacts and magic items in Runeterra isn’t whether they exist, but how many more of them are still lost or in use. With Runeterra’s magical reality and Hextech technology, a sea of items with special powers and effects naturally exists across every region, often passed down through secret recipes or the techniques of the most accomplished artisans.

Beyond all the magic items built by channeling magic, Runeterra’s magical flora and fauna often make it easier on their own to produce lesser-powered items, whether through plants with innate magical properties or even magical creatures whose parts are traded for that purpose.

Whether in Bilgewater or on Butcher’s Bridge, there are many places where magic items can be found for sale, though prices may run well above what they’re really worth. For reasons like these, raids on Shuriman ruins can be a way to obtain magic items, though the risk involved can be even greater than walking through Bilgewater with a purse full of Golden Krakens.

In Piltover and Zaun, it’s common to find hextech items with minor or often simple functions. Combat and war equipment, such as weapons and armor that harness this technology, is another matter entirely.

Although it’s possible to find the occasional hextech artifact in Zaun, what prevails there are chemtech items, often the product of chemical reactions born of magic, but which typically carry a host of problems with them.

Even so, in a world with magic so present, it’s natural that some items are the product of a lifetime, or even generations of lifetimes.

Runeterra is home to items with power so far beyond human comprehension that their very existence alters the magic and nature around them. This isn’t represented only by the Global Runes, which seem to be the most powerful magic items in all of Runeterra, but also by artifacts such as the Darkin weapons, weapons as powerful as they are cursed, with an evil Intelligence waiting to fully dominate whoever bears them. Another example of such items are celestial treasures capable of controlling deities and even turning back time.

Rarity

All magic items have a rarity: common, uncommon, rare, very rare, or legendary. This rarity typically defines the item’s strength and how difficult it would be for a player to find or create it. Some items may be centuries or even millennia old, but the magic or the quality of their craftsmanship has kept most of these items preserved through time.

Depending on an item’s rarity, it’s recommended that a player have a minimum level for the item to be found or usable, as shown in the Magic Item Rarity and Value table. Even so, don’t let this level stop you from introducing a magic item into your campaign — if you want a Mikael’s Blessing in the hands of a 1st-level character… go ahead, but keep in mind that it may unbalance the players’ power.

If you allow magic items to be traded in your campaign, the Magic Item Rarity and Value table can also help you set a price for them. Consumable items, such as potions or scrolls, can be traded for 1/10 the price of a magic item of the same rarity.

Identifying a Magic Item

Some magic items are visibly… magical, like most items from the Shadow Isles, having a spectral aura or even floating around their bearer. However, identifying that an item is magical doesn’t mean you’ll know all of its properties right away.

During a short rest, a character can focus entirely on that item while maintaining physical contact with it. At the end of that rest, the character learns all of the item’s properties, as well as how to use them. This rest can’t be the same one the character uses to attune to the item. Potions end up being an exception to this rule, requiring the user to try the potion to find out what it does. Alternatively, the identify spell ends up being the fastest way to learn an item’s properties.

Some items may bear engravings, or even the place where they were found may offer clues about their properties.

Attunement

Some magic items require a creature to form a bond with them before the magical properties they have can be used. This bond is called attunement, and certain items have a prerequisite for it. If the prerequisite is belonging to a class, a creature must be a member of that class to attune to the item (if the class is a spellcasting class, a creature qualifies if it has mana points and uses the class’s spell list). If the prerequisite is being a spellcaster, a creature qualifies if it can cast at least one spell using origin traits or features it possesses, not through the use of a magic item or similar means.

Without attuning to an item that requires attunement, a creature gains only the item’s non-magical benefits, unless the item’s description states otherwise. For example, a magic shield that requires attunement grants the benefits of an ordinary shield to a creature not attuned to it, but none of its magical properties.

Attuning to an item requires a creature to spend a short rest focused solely on that item, maintaining physical contact with it (this can’t be the same short rest used to learn the item’s properties). This focus can take the form of weapon practice (for a weapon), meditation (for a wondrous item), or some other appropriate activity. If the short rest is interrupted, the attunement attempt fails. Otherwise, at the end of the short rest, the creature gains an intuitive understanding of how to activate any of the item’s magical properties, including any necessary command words.

An item can be attuned to only one creature at a time, and a creature can be attuned to no more than three magic items at once. Any attempt to attune to a fourth item fails; before that, the creature must end its attunement to one of the items. Additionally, a creature can’t attune to more than one copy of an item. For example, a creature can’t attune to more than one Doran’s Ring.

A creature’s attunement to an item ends if the creature no longer meets the prerequisites for attunement, if the item has been more than 100 feet away for at least 24 hours, if the creature dies, or if another creature attunes to the item. A creature can also voluntarily end attunement by spending another short rest focused on the item, unless it’s cursed.

Cursed Items

Some items carry curses within them that afflict their bearers, and these curses can remain active for a long time, even after the bearer stops using the item. The item’s description will state whether or not it’s cursed.

Spending a short rest focused on the item, or using the identify spell, won’t reveal a curse contained within a magic item. Once attuned to a cursed item, you can’t voluntarily end the attunement; the curse must be ended first.

Categories of Magic Items

All magic items belong to a category: Rings, Armor, Weapons, Rods, Staves, Wondrous Items, Scrolls, Potions, and Wands.

Rings

There is a wide variety of magic rings; unless the ring’s description states otherwise, you must be wearing the ring for its magic to function.

Armor

Most armor will specify what type of armor it is. If it isn’t specified, you may choose the armor’s type. Unless the armor’s description states otherwise, you must be wearing the armor for its magic to function.

Weapons

Magic weapons are usually the most coveted category of magic items among characters. Most weapons will specify what type of weapon they are. If it isn’t specified, you may choose the weapon’s type. Unless the weapon’s description states otherwise, you must be wielding the weapon for its magic to function.

Rods

Like a scepter or staff, a rod is a heavy cylinder usually made of some wood, metal, or bone. It’s about 10 to 20 inches long, 1 inch thick, and weighs between 1 and 3 kilograms.

Staves

Magic staves are usually created by some powerful wizard, often causing the staff’s appearance to reflect part of their personality, making each staff different from the others. A staff is about 5 to 6 feet long, and can weigh from 1 to 5 kilograms depending on its material.

Unless the staff’s description states otherwise, a staff can be used as a quarterstaff.

Wondrous Items

Most objects on the adventuring gear list can be considered wondrous items, in addition to wearable items such as boots, cloaks, backpacks, and gloves. This category is extremely broad and can include anything that doesn’t fall into one of the other categories.

Scrolls

Scrolls are consumable items with a spell stored within them in some written form. Regardless of the spell contained in the scroll, it’s a roll of paper that may or may not be attached to wooden rods.

Whatever spell is contained in the scroll, a creature must understand the language it was written in to activate the scroll’s spell. Activating a scroll uses an action, and doing so causes the scroll to crumble to dust.

Potions

Potions are consumable magic items; a potion is usually contained in a flask able to hold up to 30 ml of liquid. A potion will describe whether it can be ingested, thrown, or applied. Drinking or throwing a potion requires an action, while applying it takes longer, as specified in its description. Once used, a potion takes effect immediately and is expended.

Wands

Like staves, wands can vary greatly in shape and appearance depending on their creator. They’re about 15 inches long and can be made of various materials, such as metal, crystal, wood, or bone.

Using and Wielding Items

Using the properties of a magic item may mean having to wear it or wield it. A magic item meant to be worn must be used in the proper way: boots go on the feet, gloves on the hands, hats and helmets on the head, and rings on the fingers. A magic armor must be worn, a shield strapped to the arm, a cloak draped over the shoulders. A weapon must be wielded.

In most cases, a magic item meant to be worn can fit a creature regardless of its size or build. Many magic garments are made to be easily adjustable, or magically adjust to fit the wearer. Rare exceptions exist. If the story suggests a good reason for an item to fit only creatures of a certain size or shape, you may determine that it doesn’t adjust to fit any wearer.

Yordles can make items usable only by beings of the same size and shape as yordles. When a non-humanoid attempts to use an item, use your judgment as to whether the item works as intended. A ring placed on a tentacle might work, but a Marai with a tail instead of legs might not be able to wear boots.

Multiple Items of the Same Kind

Use common sense to determine whether more than one of a given type of magic item can be worn. A character normally can’t wear more than one pair of footwear, one pair of gloves or gauntlets, one pair of bracers, one suit of armor, one headwear item, and one cloak. You can make exceptions; a character might be able to wear a circlet under a helmet, for example, or a cape over a cloak.

Paired Items

Items that come in pairs — such as boots, bracers, gauntlets, and gloves — grant their benefits only if both items of the pair are being worn. For example, a character wearing a Boot of Mobility on one foot and a Sorcerer’s Shoe on the other gains no benefit from either.

Activating an Item

Activating some magic items requires a user to do something special, such as holding the item and speaking a command word. The description of each item category or individual item details how an item is activated. Certain items use the following rules to be activated.

If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn’t a function of the Use an Item action, so a feature such as the Mercurial’s Fast Hands can’t be used to activate the item.

Command Word

A command word is a word or phrase that must be spoken for an item to function. A magic item that requires a command word can’t be activated in an area where sound is prevented from carrying, such as within the area of the silence spell.

Consumable Items

Some items are used up when activated. A potion or an elixir must be swallowed, or a balm applied to the body. The writing vanishes from a scroll when it’s read. Once used, a consumable item loses the magic it holds.

Spells

Some magic items allow the user to cast a spell from the item. The spell is cast at the lowest possible circle, doesn’t expend any of the user’s mana points, and requires no material components, unless the item’s description states otherwise. The spell uses its normal casting time, range, and duration, and the item’s user must concentrate if the spell requires concentration. Many items, such as potions, don’t require casting a spell and instead grant the spell’s effects with their usual duration. Some items are exceptions to these rules, altering a spell’s casting time, duration, or other parts.

A magic item, such as certain staves, may require you to use your own spellcasting ability when casting a spell from it. If you have more than one spellcasting ability, you choose which one to use with the item. If you don’t have a spellcasting ability, your spellcasting ability modifier is +0 for the item, and your proficiency bonus still applies.

Charges

Some magic items have charges that must be spent to activate the properties they have. The number of charges an item has left is revealed when an identify spell is cast on it, as well as when a creature attunes to it. Additionally, when an item regains charges, the creature attuned to it knows how many charges the item regained.

Magic Item Resilience

Because of how they were made, and often thanks to magical reinforcement, magic items are masterworks capable of withstanding enormous amounts of damage, having resistance to all types of damage. Artifacts and Darkin Weapons, meanwhile, are considered by many to be indestructible items, requiring an extraordinary amount of energy to destroy.

Magic Items by Location

Below are magic items in alphabetical order, divided by the location where they can be found. A magic item’s description gives its name, category, rarity, and magical properties.