A Guide to Magic Items
This guide hope to rate the various magic items in the DMG. I don’t expect that characters will be able to choose magic items in most campaigns, but it’s worth considering what you might want if you did have an opportunity, and alternately what you might want to sell if you obtain it normally.
The New Style
5e is a return to the 2e method of dealing with magic items, which is, you take what your DM gives you and make the most of it. This changes the value of a lot of items - the haversack, for instance, is a lot less valuable when it's not filled with miscellaneous treasure.
Buying Items
You can't, and it would mess with things a lot if you could. Whining is unbecoming.
Crafting Items
By the rules, this is a lot more feasible. The problem is that there is a lot of very valuable stuff at the uncommon tier. You can quickly reassemble your golf bag of items if the DM allows you to use this process as written. As a DM, I would insert a lot of adventure into the process of getting a formula, especially for anything rated blue or higher.
Selling Items
According to the rules, you can sell rare items for a base of 5000 gp, and very rare items for a base of 50 000 gp. This is halved for consumables and takes ten days. The problem is that most of the very rare consumables are not worth anywhere near a noble estate. This is a loophole, I suppose, but a pretty dumb one. I don't consider any DM that would agree to me selling a potion of Invisibility for 25000 gp worth playing under.
Starting at Higher Levels
This is likely to be the most common way to get an item of choice. The guideline for starting at higher levels make no mention of who chooses the items. If the player does, then just look at this guide for a few ideas. If the DM does, you can still attempt to inflence the process. You might find that your influence goes farther when you try to suggest items for other players entering the game, especially flavorful things that the DM is interested to see in action.
Potion of Climbing
Useful, and not so expensive.
Potion of Healing
Yes, you want some. Don’t let the healer die.
Spell Scroll: L0-1
These are a fairly cheap way to keep non-ritual utility spells on hand.
Colors coming soon.
Uncommon Items
Adamantine Armor Wonderful stuff. Criticals may not make up a lot of the damage you take, but they make up a lot of the damage that kills you unexpectedly. Also likely to end up on bosses for exactly the same reason you want it for yourself.
Alchemy Jug Basic poison, acid, and oil all have obvious applications for the aspiring trap maker, while honey and mayonnaise have similar applications as bait. If you have a home base, you can use the jug to make a good stockpile of materials. In a survival situation, it’s quite solid as well. Worth keeping.
Ammunition +1 Reasonably useful, if expensive.
Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location (A) Can be useful, and is something a Big Bad is likely to have. Very situational.
Bag of Holding The mule you can take into a dungeon. Once you have this, there’s no reason not to be prepared for almost everything.
Bag of Tricks 3x per day is quite generous, and very likely to get you a big creature. Tan seems the best overall, but for distractions, whatever matches your local terrain is useful too. A great item to give a follower.
Boots of Elvenkind These can be really useful. If people can only detect you by sound, point out the part that says your feet don’t make any – no sound, no roll, right?
Boots of Striding and Springing (A) Nice for dwarves in heavy armor – or anyone in heavy armor. You want a good strength for the increased jumping distance.
Boots of the Winterlands (A) Resistance to cold is just OK, but ignoring difficult terrain from ice or snow has nice synergy with sleet storm and ice storm.
Bracers of Archery (A) These are really good if you’re an archer. It does rule out the hand crossbow guy, which maybe is a good thing.
Brooch of Shielding (A) “I cast magic missile at the guy in robes”, which is why this is pretty nice if you’re a guy in robes. Also why it might show up on a bad guy near you.
Broom of Flying Fly 50’, can carry up to 400 lbs. This one requires quite a few rulings, and how they go will strongly affect the value of the item. Personally, I would say you have disadvantage on almost any action and can only have one hand free – the other must cling on. If I was meaner, I would say at least one person has to cling to the broom with two hands. Also, something like a concentration save if you take damage to avoid falling off.
But if your GM is kind and lets you cast spells or shoot arrows from this thing and mostly ignores the danger of falling off, well this is golden.
The fetch trick is kind of fun as well. Lots of potential in city adventures and the like.
Cap of Water Breathing It’s slightly dull, but death by drowning is one of those things that happens a lot. Invest in a chin strap. And think about scouting underwater.
Circlet of Blasting I would probably want to spend money and put this on my hawk familiar, for reasons. It’s not all that spectacular though – maybe on a low damage caster, like a cleric or bard?
Cloak of Elvenkind (A) You have advantage on stealth, they have disadvantage (-5 passive). I don’t think they’re going to see you – and none of the invisibility banishing items work on it. Very solid for stealth types – or even for that un-stealthy guy in armor who keeps ruining it.
Cloak of Protection (A) +1 to AC and saves is good.
Cloak of the Manta Ray Breathe underwater and a swim speed? Useful for scouting in many environments.
Decanter of Endless Water Welcome to your riot cannon. If I knew trouble was coming, I would arrange a few 200 pound logs around for maximum craziness from the blowback. Also, this thing is simply crazy for flooding underground environments – there is no daily limit, so you can just point this thing down the stairs and say, ‘Geyser, geyser, geyser, geyser….’ until whatever is downstairs stops breathing.
Deck of Illusions These have a lot of potential for tricks and trap bait. Solid.
Driftglobe A stealthy character can use this as bait by covering it until ready to reveal, then moving more than 60’ away from it. A social character might be able to make people believe it’s a will ’o the wisp.
Dust of Disappearance Group invisibility without concentration is sure to get used.
Dust of Dryness The water released by a smashed pellet is massive – 30’ of 10’x10’ corridor. Toss that in and slam the doors shut for a watery surprise.
Dust of Sneezing and Choking This is likely to end reasonably quickly as long as you all have decent constitution scores. Nasty though, as you’re likely to be quite close to the enemy when you start making all this noise.
Elemental Gem One use only, but could be a lifesaver. Get an air elemental if fliers are wrecking your day, a water elemental near water, an earth elemental in the dungeon.
Eversmoking Bottle As an at-will fog cloud, this is useful – especially to cover a retreat against ranged attackers. You need a ruling on whether the cloud of smoke is harmful in any way. If so, its use might change from a defensive measure into a trap. Smoke signals might be a thing too.
Eyes of Charming (A) Charm 3 times a day. Yeah, I’ll take that.
Eyes of Minute Seeing Very nice on whoever has investigation.
Eyes of the Eagle (A) Advantage on perception is very good. Additionally, you can use this to milk the DM for information a lot. Solid.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Silver Raven 12 hours of messages between fixed locations. Great in a large battle or for a complex caper.
Gauntlets of Ogre Power (A) This is really nice for secondary fighters like clerics and druids.
Gem of Brightness Blindness is a scary condition and 60’ range is decent.
Gloves of Missile Snaring (A) OK for a caster who needs a free hand anyways.
Gloves of Swimming and Climbing (A) Not a very spectacular effect, especially considering attunement.
Gloves of Thievery Two of the most dubious thief things to do made easier in one simple package.
Goggles of Night Darkvision is important, so make sure everyone has it.
Hat of Disguise (A) A classic. Very useful. Invest in a chin strap.
Headband of Intellect (A) Amusingly, this is not all that useful despite its dramatic effect. Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters will covet it, naturally, but not a lot of other characters get much secondary value out of Intelligence. If you are missing those two types, feel free to give it someone it will be funny on, like the barbarian.
Helm of Comprehending Languages This is one of those things you’re not very excited about at first but end up using at 20th level.
Helm of Telepathy (A) Detect Thoughts at will? Suggestion once a day? Yes, please.
Immovable Rod
I love this so much. Utility, traps, practical jokes.
A few ideas. Find 7950 pounds of junk. Winch it up on the rod. Rig a tripwire to drop a 50 pound rock on top. KA BLOOM!
Use this to winch heavy items of great value out of the dungeon.
If you have two, you can use them to climb into space. With one and some madness, you can descend any depth by pressing the button repeatedly to stop your fall.
If you get this, it should be accompanied by lots of rope and a block and tackle.
*********Instrument of the Bards: Doss Lute, Fochluran Bandore, Mac-Fuirmidh Cittern (A – Bard)*********
So… your charm spells have disadvantage on the save. Wow, nice.
Wait, there’s more. You get to cast all of the spells on its list once a day each.
Ah, some of those spells are OK, but some are kind of lame. OK, not bad, some aren’t on the bard list. Worth it for the versatility of adding to your spells known.
But they don’t use your spell slots. They’re just… free.
Crazy. What’s that top one? Fly, levitate, invisibility, protection from good and evil? I want that one.
No, everyone gets that. That’s the base model. All the other spells are in addition to that.
OK, that’s it, I’m multiclassing into bard.
Seriously, at mid levels this more than doubles your spells per day and about triples your spells known. Plus the charm thing. These are insane. Players, beg for this. DMs, don’t give in.
Doss Lute: Animal friendship is situational, but can be strong as a daylong charm with no concentration.
Fochluran Bandore: These are all great spells, especially entangle and faerie fire.
Mac-Fuirmidh Cittern: Barkskin and cure wounds are consistently useful.
Javelin of Lightning A great weapon for the strong guy before he wades into melee. Likely to do enough damage to make the concentration check difficult.
Keoghtom’s Ointment The healing is underwhelming but the removal of poison and disease are great. Save it for that if you can.
Lantern of Revealing Bye-bye invisibility.
Luck Stone Amazing.
Mariner’s Armor Did I have to die first? A swim speed in heavy armor is a good thing, I suppose.
Medallion of Thoughts (A) Detect Thoughts 1-3 times a day is very nice. Of course it’s good for interrogations, as the spell description suggests, but it’s also good when entering an urban environment to scan the surface thoughts of everyone and get a sense of the mood and what’s going on. It can save a lot of time faffing around making rolls and the like.
Mithral Armor Great for Fighter/Rogue types, or anyone who dips fighter for armor proficiencies.
Necklace of Adaptation (A)
Generally not that great, especially with the attunement. Advantage on the save isn’t bad, but it’s nowhere near immunity. Does work underwater, or on hostile planes, so that’s nice. For water related reasons, the guy in the heaviest armor should probably get this.
Oil of Slipperiness A long lasting grease can really help shape a battlefield to your advantage. A good candidate for mass production.
Pearl of Power (A-Spellcaster) Flexible, solid, great.
Periapt of Health Meh. Lots of things cure diseases.
Periapt of Wound Closure (A) If you are a tank, this is fantastic. Especially lovely for Bladelocks.
Philter of Love This is not really great, but it demands to be given to someone in game. It doesn’t have the normal ‘you know you were charmed’ clause, so there is that going for it.
Pipes of Haunting Riding your goat of terror, playing the pipes, being the dude. An excellent effect. You can make it only work on hostile creatures, so this might be a good way to sort out who those are.
Pipes of the Sewers (A) I’m not sure what to do with a swarm of rats. Extort restaurants?
Potion of Animal Friendship Sell or give.
Potion of Fire Breath Not so terrible. But not valuable.
Potion of Hill Giant Strength Not sure who would benefit from this. Most characters who need strength are going to have something comparable to this anyways.
Potion of Growth Useful for characters with tricks that are size reliant. Might be worth keeping around for a battlemaster.
Potion of Greater Healing Probably a good ace-in-the-hole.
Potion of Poison Really nasty. If you know what it is, perfect to poison someone with.
Potion of Resistance The kind of item you forget you even have on your character sheet. Give away or sell.
Potion of Water Breathing Worth keeping around if only to prevent death by drowning.
Quiver of Elhonna (A) A traditionally great item that has been made weaker with the reduction of magic items. Still, I wouldn’t be too surprised if the golf bag of alchemical items makes a return, and it is storage space, so that’s useful.
Ring of Jumping (A) It’s pretty good to be able to running long jump 60’ or running high jump 24’ (Str 20). Better than it sounds at first.
Ring of Mind Shielding (A) The anti-mind-reading thing is good, but the soul trapping bit is very interesting. This DM would certainly make it occupied.
Ring of Swimming It can prevent drowning, and that’s good.
Ring of Warmth (A)
This is uncommon, and that’s a fair rarity for resistance. Still not exciting.
Ring of Water Walking Not great, but I think this would be pretty good to bait a trap – fill a pit with acid, kite the guards, run over the top…
Robe of Useful Items The pit, the door and the window are the winners here, but it is generally useful to have extras of all these important items – not primary items, but backups if your main ones get destroyed.
Rod of the Pact Keeper (A – Warlock) This is really pretty nice for a warlock. If they can reliably get their hands on one, it will make their save DCs the best in the business.
Rope of Climbing Good stuff. It is a bit fragile, so treat it carefully. This requires some rulings on how the rope moves- if only laterally that’s a fair bit weaker.
Saddle of the Cavalier Mounted Combat has been deemphasized, and in a dungeon campaign this is clearly pointless. Maybe later it will get some support.
Sending Stones This is one of those things that patrons give you more than anything else, though they would be handy for scouting and many plot based stories.
Sentinel Shield Advantage on Perception and Initiative? Very nice. Try to make the guy carrying this have some useful form of area effect so they can control the movement of enemies.
Shield +1 Solid.
Slippers of Spider Climbing These give you absolutely lovely mobility in a dungeon environment.
Spell Scroll: L 2-3 If this is a worthwhile spell, copy it. Otherwise, it might be vaguely useful to have at some point.
Staff of the Adder (A – Cleric, Druid, Warlock) You are not likely to be great in melee, so this is not great.
Staff of the Python (A – Cleric, Druid, Warlock) The snake is not too hard to kill, but it is good at restraining and intimidating people, so save it for the end of a fight.
Sword of Vengeance (A)[/color] This can mess with tactics, but once you know that the guy with this sword is limited in flexibility, you can work around it – lots of players are like that anyways. Nowhere near the horror of the Berserker Axe.
Trident of Fish Command (A) Good if you live in the ocean, a joke if you don’t. So, yeah, a joke.
]Wand of Magic Detection Not spectacular, but useful every day.
Wand of Magic Missiles A great use case for minions. Just tell them to point this and use it anyone who casts a spell.
Wand of Secrets Kind of useful.
Wand of the War Mage +1 (A – Spellcaster) Only works on to hit rolls. Worth using, but undewhelming.
Wand of Web (A – Spellcaster) Very useful indeed. A great way to start almost any battle.
Weapon +1 Solid. Fighters need this.
Weapon of Warning (A) No surprise for the whole party and advantage on initiative. Give anyone with this any area control items you find to go with it so they can take control of the battlefield.
Winged Boots (A) Fantastic, available early, no sudden falls, simply perfect in every way. Give to the melee people first.
Wind Fan Good for blowing people off cliffs and dealing with fliers. A decent contingency with some trap applications as well- you can push people into or back into the danger zone.
Rare Items
Ammunition +2 Too expensive. Get the formula for +1 Ammunition.
Amulet of Health (A) This is really good – the lower your starting Constitution, the better. Great on MAD frontliners like Rangers.
Armor +1 Useful, even more so if it’s plate.
Armor of Resistance (A) This is not great. Maybe necrotic resistance would be nice in some situations. If you have followers, I’d try to get some loyalty there.
Armor of Vulnerability (A) Some cursed items are quite useful, but this isn’t one of them. Maybe piercing resistance in the back ranks for a cleric? Yeah, no.
Arrow-Catching Shield (A) Despite the name, it works against all ranged attacks – including spells. Not bad for a casting cleric, who can use this to protect the arcanist.
Bag of Beans Be warned that there are other tables out there, some of which are generally quite nasty to the planter. My general use would be to plant this at the edge of enemy territory (soil from a bottle if needed), and run like heck, ready to take the goodies if there are any, or to exploit the confusion from any detrimental effects.
Bead of Force These are single use items, but very, very powerful. I would generally use it on enemy casters, as they do get a Dex save. Keep in mind that they can run away once they’re trapped in the ball, but a familiar should be able to grab it and keep it somewhere convenient.
Belt of Dwarvenkind (A) This is not bad for a non-dwarf, I guess. +2 Con is not bad by any means, and darkvision is rather nice. A thief would likely get good use from the poison resistance as well.
Belt of Hill Giant Strength (A) This is really good, but more for those who fight in melee occasionally than the dedicated front liner.
Berserker Axe (A) This is a frightening curse. When you figure it out – if you’re still living – give it to the leader of a society you don’t like.
Boots of Levitation (A) Levitation at will is pretty useful. Casters especially appreciate being able to float out of reach of melee monsters. Later, giving it to a fighter can help them with some of their issues, though it’s hardly a replacement for flight.
Boots of Speed (A) Doubling your speed and disadvantage on opportunity attacks isn’t terrible, especially for monks, but lacks excitement. The 10 minutes/day bit is kind of unnecessary – takes away from some potential fun things to do.
Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals A water elemental for one hour once per day has great potential – if you’re near water. They have good combat ability, but I would probably mostly use it for something more like, “Scout out the water system for 25 minutes, then come back to me. If you see any sentries near the water on the way back, bring one to me.” Don’t lose your concentration, though.
Bracers of Defense (A) These are pretty useful – and stack with spells like shield and mage armor. Monks probably benefit most.
Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals This is nice, but probably the weakest of the elemental summoning items as you have to do something conspicuous to use it and fire elementals aren’t exactly good scouts. They do make a good distraction.
Cape of the Montebank It’s too rare for its power, but it is a good and fun effect. Still, I would sell it if I had something compelling to do with the money – otherwise it’s time to see if someone in the party can put it to its intended use.
Censer of Controlling Air Elementals Air Elementals are far from subtle. Still, they fly extremely well, and the interaction of a whirlwind knocking enemies prone with flight can be very effective (they fall).
Chime of Opening The 10 times limit is rough, plus it’s very loud.
Cloak of Displacement (A) This is very good indeed for anyone with low hit points who doesn’t want to take hits anyways.
Cloak of the Bat (A) Advantage on Stealth, flight, a stealth polymorph form? Lovely. But stay away from casters – strong light will ruin your day.
Cube of Force (A) This is clearly very useful – at a minimum, you can set up impressive chokepoints.
Daern’s Instant Fortress I love this thing. Besides the obvious uses, I like it for dungeon remodeling. DM’s, add some wreckage from this thing in earlier levels if you happen to roll it as a treasure.
Dagger of Venom Poisoned is a nasty condition, so this is pretty decent.
Dimensional Shackles Put them in your bag of holding, as you’ll need them one day. Even as normal restraints, they’re very good.
Dragon Slayer I’d generally rather have a +2 weapon, but dragons do pop up.
Elixir of Health You can sell this for a lot of money. There are better ways to do the things it does.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Bronze Griffon[/color] 6 hours of flight once a week. Can fight decently. Solid.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Ebony Fly 2 hours of flight every 2 days. Very fragile. Sell if everyone has solid flight options.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Golden Lions 1 hour of fighting once a week. Decent.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Ivory Goats Oh my god, the goat of terror. Not only the best name ever, but an amazing power. And you have some other goats too.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Marble Elephant A day of smashing once a week. Elephants are good at breaking things, use that.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Onyx Dog 6 hours a week of message passing, and confounding strangers. Not so bad if they can set off items, weak if not.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Serpentine Owl[/color] 8 hours every 2 days of solid scouting. Good stuff outside.
Flame Tongue (A) No to-hit bonus and the light hurt, but the extra damage is solid. Might make a good backup weapon.
Folding Boat I guess you bring this to the underground lake? Sounds like a set-up to me, but maybe there’s no better option.
Gem of Seeing (A) Truesight is very useful. DMs, they lie.
Giant Slayer This is maybe a little worse than a +2 weapon, but giants are relatively common.
Glamoured Studded Leather This is a useful effect.
Helm of Teleportation (A) 1-3 teleports a day. Tremendous.
Heward’s Handy Haversack Although you would probably be more excited to get some of the other Rare items, you always need more storage space. Think of this as your minivan. And magic items as your children.
Horn of Blasting 20% chance to explode and kill the blower, right, got it. Hey follower, I have this awesome magic item I’ve decided to give you!
Horn of Valhalla: Silver or Brass Berserkers aren’t that awesome, but they can surely be used to do some damage.
Horseshoes of Speed A solid bonus for your rocket horse.
Ioun Stones (A) They only have an effective 20 hit points. A damaging area effect will torch them. Unless your friendly DM rules otherwise.
Ioun Stone: Awareness (A) No surprise is very good. Might prevent you from getting torched along with the stone.
Ioun Stone: Protection (A) +1 AC is good, but it may not live that long.
Ioun Stone: Reserve (A) Saving a few levels of Cleric or Druid spells is golden. There have got to be some incredible contingency ideas, but I can’t think of any right now.
Ioun Stone: Sustenance (A) Weak. Sell unless on Athas.
Iron Bands of Bilarro Fantastic. Throw on casters every day.
Mace of Disruption (A) The glowing is annoying, but undead are everywhere. Low level undead are everywhere even at higher levels – thanks to pesky necromancers. BOOM!
Mace of Smiting Constructs are not everywhere, and they tend to have a lot of hit points. This is just a magic mace without a lot going for it.
Mace of Terror (A) The goat of terror is almost the same, but better. Because it’s a goat. And goats affect everyone. Just saying.
Mantle of Spell Resistance (A) Get this, keep this, love this.
Necklace of Fireballs A nice thing for anyone who might get swarmed to have.
Necklace of Prayer Beads (A – Paladin, Druid, Cleric) Some of these are really good. 4 more spells a day is nothing to sneeze at even if they’re all Bless, but a daily Wind walk or Planar ally is something else.
Oil of Etherealness You can really wreck a lot of ‘get to the bad guy’ adventures with this, as you can just pop though the walls and are effectively invisible. On the other hand, you only get to do it once, so you can’t get anyone out with it, and it’s worth quite a lot of money. It’s useful, but I would probably sell.
Periapt of Proof against Poison Immunity is very good. So many trap possibilities come to mind – and of course the poisoned drink is a classic.
Portable Hole If Heward’s Haversack is a minivan, then this is a schoolbus. Loading and unloading are a pain, but if you’re the kind of player who reads guides like this, you probably need one.
Potion of Clairvoyance Insanely overvalued. Clairvoyance is situationally useful.
Potion of Diminution Is this an Alice thing? Fine, drink it, look around for the miniature door.
Potion of Gaseous Form Good for scouting and infiltration, I suppose. But way over priced.
Potion of Frost, Stone, or Fire Giant Strength If you can’t sell these, they are quite nice for Strength fighters.
Potion of Superior Healing Could be handy, but the gold would be more handy.
Quall’s Feather Token The tree is famously useful, though maybe less so at this price. The whip looks quite nice as well. The rest are situational at best.
Ring of Animal Influence Can be kind of good, although it should likely be uncommon. Talking to local wildlife and getting them to help your scheme are sort of lower level activities.
Ring of Evasion (A) A good thing. Use it.
Ring of Feather Fall (A) Sigh… this feels like a rip off, but you probably want it anyways due to the concentration issues if you are casting fly a lot. Outclassed by Winged Boots, which can also help you fly.
Ring of Free Action (A) You can still be grappled and restrained by things that aren’t magical. Still worth it.
Ring of Protection (A) Great, use it.
Ring of the Ram (A) The attack is only OK, but the smashing can be invaluable. A +15 bonus is very strong.
Ring of X-Ray Vision (A) This is very useful, especially in dungeons. Use it to scout out scary doors and the like.
Robe of Eyes (A) Advantage on perception, darkvision, and seeing invisibility make this a winner – but the disadvantage is key, because blindness will get you deaded. I would probably cover this with a second cloak most of the time.
Rod of the Pact Keeper +2 (A – Warlock) Very good to have.
Rod of Rulership (A) Mass charm daily is impressive. Might be able to do some ridiculous things with this.
Scroll of Protection I just know I’m going to roll plants. Kind of a neat effect, but short duration and high rarity make this a disappointing pick.
Shield +2 Worthy.
Shield of Missile Attraction (A) Cursed? Resistance against missile weapons is not bad, and you will certainly get hurt less by them than anyone else would. Put yourself next to the squishy casters and they’ll thank you for saving them from incoming fire – and you’ll thank yourself for helping them not lose their concentration on important spells. There are certainly less useful things to get at this rarity level – like all of the potions.
Spell Scroll: L 4-5 If you need the spell, copy it. Failing that, if you can get MSRP for it, do so, and failing that, hope it comes in handy.
Staff of Charming (A – Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) It can burn out, but negating enchantment spells is pretty cool, and the utility is great.
Staff of Healing (A -= Bard, Cleric, Druid) I guess a bunch of healing is good.
Staff of Swarming Insects (A – Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Insect Plague daily is cool.
Staff of the Woodlands (A – Druid) This is a great item – that doesn’t blow up when you use it dry, so there’s that. Wall of Thorns is the only combat-relevant spell. The others are mostly wilderness utility – but really good wilderness utility, in great profusion.
Staff of Withering (A – Cleric, Druid, Warlock) No plus to hit, but does extra damage and stuffs their Con saves. Not convinced it’s worth it.
Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals Burrow and earth glide are just incredible utility. Use him to scout in dungeons, to remodel dungeons, to dig pit traps, to dig the foundations for your new castle, to blow a hole in the enemy’s castle…. Endless value. The clear winner of the rare elemental items.
Sun Blade (A) Radiant damage is nice, the +2 is nice, extra damage vs. undead is good, vampires will hate you. The light is kind of attention getting but at least you can turn it off.
Sword of Life Stealing (A) No to-hit bonus, no damage most of the time. Not worth it.
Sword of Wounding (A) This could be sort of decent in certain battles against big hard to kill things, but those things can likely make the save easily. Not great.
Tentacle Rod (A) Just not that great. You have no bonus damage, and you have to be close to the front line. Better for villains than heroes.
Vicious Weapon +7 on a 20 is just not that much. You’d rather hit more often.
Wand of Binding (A- Spellcaster) This is really pretty nice. The spells are good, but the extra ability is what’s really helpful.
Wand of Enemy Detection (A) There’s enemies all over the place! Oh, wait, that’s just you guys.
Wand of Fear (A) Not bad, especially the cone. A good way to string out a mob into a manageable battle, or deal with hostile townfolk without being arrested.
Wand of Fireballs (A – Spellcaster) A very good thing to have around. You never know when things are going to get mob-like quickly. Beware tricky rulings on dungeon corridors, though. If they do it by volume, prepare to exploit.
Wand of Lightning Bolts (A – Spellcaster) Nice in dungeons, but less useful outside most of the time.
Wand of Paralysis (A – Spellcaster) Saving throw? I assume Con, which is OK.
Wand of Wonder (A – Spellcaster) Using the supplied table (don’t count on that), this is unreliable but generally good. I would probably have made it uncommon to encourage desperate usage.
Wand of the War Mage +2 (A – Spellcaster) Cantrips and Scorching Blast are starting to look outdated. OK, after reading the nova thread, maybe not outdated, but many of the casters who are meant to use this don't need it.
Weapon +2 Yup, still good.
Wings of Flying (A) Wonderful, and eventually something like this is necessary, particularly for melee fighters. Somewhat outclassed by winged boots for the feather fall effect and the lower rarity.
Very Rare Items
Ammunition +3
Those arrows could buy a nice tract of land. Maybe a guy to make lots of +1 Ammunition as well.
Amulet of the Planes (A)
No daily limit. Obviously powerful, but do everything you can to make that roll go in your favor. Bardic Inspiration, Jack of all Trades, Guidance, Inspiration, whatever it takes. You can go to general locations on other planes or to specific teleport circles. Retreat to friendly planes to rest up, strike without warning at enemy teleport circles. Lots to love here. This is an item that smells like plot.
Animated Shield (A)
Depending on DM rulings, this can go from amazing (you can use it with a polearm) to merely good (caster with shield proficiency).
Armor +2
Very good.
Arrow of Slaying
Fear this item. It smells like plot, but isn’t going to help very much. No to-hit bonus, average of 31 additional damage - or 15 on a successful save. If you manage to survive the plot encounter, consider selling this item, as it’s worth rather a lot of money.
Bag of Devouring
If you survive the initial unpleasant surprise, this is a very useful item. Dungeon cleaning is the least of it. Invest in some metal tongs for a very convincing trap – just show off that you’ve put something desirable inside and wait for the victims to come to you. Alternately, you can just put the bag at the bottom of any sort of hole people might reach or step into. My little bag monster would be very well fed indeed.
On the note of the initial surprise, this is a very good use case for familiars. They’re replaceable, but they smell like something valuable to the DM. Everybody comes away happy.
Belt of Stone/Frost Giant Strength (A)
Goodbye bounded accuracy. Hello +6 to hit and damage. If you are a strength fighter or barbarian, do what it takes to get this.
Belt of Fire Giant Strength (A)
Everything I just said, only with one more +1.
Candle of Invocation (A)
I would argue that the gate ability means the first time each person lights it. Without that clause I figure you’d come across it on the burn and would have a thoroughly useless treasure. And if that ever happens to you, take a moment to blow it out.
Gate is clearly absurdly powerful, and even if you restrict it to gating in things from its home plane, evil generally has factions. You can make it work for you.
Carpet of Flying
Among other uses, this has some application as a trap, especially the larger versions. Since it does what you say, it can lift people up into the air.
Cloak of Arachnida (A)
This is a little underwhelming at this level, but climbing speeds and ceiling walking are both very good utility.
Crystal Ball (A)
Scrying is good. Doing it at will is better.
Dancing Sword (A)
This is nice for someone without a lot to do with their bonus actions, like a champion fighter or barbarian.
Demon Armor (A)
Who says this is cursed? It’s decent magic plate, and you get the unarmed thing…… Oh yeah, the demon things. When would THAT ever come up? And were you going to make that save anyways?
Dragon Scale Mail (A)
Scale +1 is plate +0. Most of the other abilities are weak. Maybe you can use the locate feature and then taunt them you’re wearing their mother.
Dwarven Plate
Not falling off a cliff can be nice.
Dwarven Thrower (A - Dwarf only)
Full +3, really good.
Efreeti Bottle
Cover your bases. Make sure you are ready for one hell of a fight and have some wishes planned.
Elven Chain
Kind of nice for casters. There are no penalties for casting in armor if you have proficiency, and this gives it to you.
Figurine of Wondrous Power: Obsidian Steed
A nightmare is not that impressive; especially at the level you’re likely to get this.
Frost Brand (A)
This is really weak. Compared to a +3 weapon, you get almost no extra damage, no +3 to hit, an attunement slot gone, a weak resistance, and a spooky villain effect. Sell it.
Helm of Brilliance (A)
So, let me get this straight. You can cast a good number of spells a good number of times, but then you’re a walking bomb. I would suggest using the gems quickly.
Horn of Valhalla: Bronze
Berserkers are going to die pretty easy at this level, but maybe they can hold off guards for a minute or two?
Horseshoes of a Zephyr
I suppose no forced march is nice. However, this is something I would sell if I needed cash.
Ioun Stones
In general, at this level you are really going to need a ruling on whether they will simply blow up from any area effect damage. If so, only a very few of these are valuable at all.
Ioun Stone: Absorption
Worth using even if it’s at risk of blowing up. The ability to cancel spells like charm is invaluable. Ask your DM how it interacts with cantrips.
Ioun Stone: Agility
Dexterity is great for nearly everyone. Unless BOOM.
Ioun Stone: Insight
For some characters, this is quite nice. And the save doesn’t hurt either.
Ioun Stone: Intellect
Obviously, the headband is much better. Still has value.
Ioun Stone: Leadership
A bit of charisma helps many character concepts. Not a mechanical monster, though.
Ioun Stone: Strength
This is pretty universally unneeded. Maybe your Drizzt ranger can make use.
Manual of Bodily Health
Pretty cool. You can probably even sell it to the elves or something afterwards.
Manual of Gainful Exercise
Has to compete with the belt, which is simply ridiculous. Still good.
Manual of Golems
This is cool, but I wish you could mass produce them more. They’re probably not really worth the money, but… so cool.
Manual of Quickness of Action
There is very likely someone in the party who has maxed their Dex. Or so they thought until they saw this. Oh happy day!
Mirror of Life Trapping
This is quite the nasty trap. Cha Save to avoid, so pretty hard for some characters. I imagine it comes pre-stocked with prisoners, though. Could be good, could be bad. A lovely item either way, dripping with plot and potential.
Nine Lives Stealer (A)
It’s not bad just as a magic weapon, and the life stealing thing seems decent. You might want to not use it against hordes.
Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments
Paint pits and other traps, or doors to other places.
Oathbow (A)
Better make sure he dies, but advantage and ignoring cover are fantastic, especially if you have something like rogue levels.
Oil of Sharpness
This is really not worth it. Sell.
Potion of Flying
Are you kidding me? Sell, Sell, Sell.
Potion of Cloud Giant Strength
Well, it is an impressive effect. But sell it.
Potion of Supreme Healing
Sigh. Sell.
Potion of Invisibility
Sell.
Potion of Longevity
At least this has a point, and it will make sense when someone buys it for a lot of cash. But yes, sell.
Potion of Speed
Are we seriously saying a single use of a third level spell is worth the same as a house?
Potion of Vitality
If you can’t sell, this is a decent ‘save me from impending doom’ potion.
Ring of Regeneration (A)
Wonderful. Your DM may want to arrange demonstrations of its effectiveness, though.
Ring of Shooting Stars (A)
This is not that great, but it is flavorful and fun.
Ring of Telekinesis (A)
Oh my gosh. This has absolutely tremendous utility.
Robe of Scintillating Colors (A)
Stunning and disadvantage on attacks against you is rather strong. A good way for squishy characters to avoid being mobbed.
Robe of Stars (A)
You may or may not want to make regular journeys to the astral plane on a regular basis, but it does have utility as an escape method – not many people will know that you’re going to return to the same spot. The save bonus is a winner, and the magic missiles don’t hurt.
Rod of Absorption (A)
Amazing! So much casting flexibility! Use for defense or abuse it to trade in low level spells for high. Or both, heck, 50 levels is a lot.
Rod of Alertness (A)
Advantage on initiative is nice – him that goes first kills first, after all. At will detections are handy. The Bless style aura is good, too. But it kind of pales next to the Rod of Absorption.
Rod of the Pact Keeper +3 (A – Warlock)
Spell regained, DCs increased, to-hit gained. Great.
Rod of Security
Nice for saving endangered villages, but it seems like you can’t remodel it to be a prison world.
Rope of Entanglement
A very nice effect, but this is pretty fragile. Save it for the very end of a fight, and put it on the guy with the best mobility.
Scimitar of Speed (A)
It’s probably worth the +1 for the extra bonus attack, but Drizzt is already using his bonus actions for his offhand attack, right?
Shield +3
No complaints if you find one of these.
Spell Scroll: L 6-8
Due to the very limited number of castings of higher level spells you get, these start creeping up in value again. Very much depends on the spell.
Spellguard Shield (A)
Advantage on saves vs. spells seems to be a theme this edition. Nice to have.
Staff of Fire (A – Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)
You can burn things all day with this. If they’re resistant to your fire, then you’ll likely enjoy being resistant to theirs.
Staff of Frost (A – Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)
Ice Storm and Wall of Ice are solid battlefield control, but you have to worry about burnout.
Staff of Power (A – Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)
There are a lot of good spells in this thing.
Staff of Striking (A)
This is an excellent magic weapon. The ability to lay in damage after a hit is great. Just don’t blow it up.
Staff of Thunder and Lightning (A)
A great weapon with some very handy abilities that naturally work with you being you in melee. Wasted on an arcanist much of the time – think monk.
Sword of Sharpness (A)
A 1 in 400 chance of lopping off a limb. All with no to hit or damage bonus. Pass.
Tome of Clear Thought
A wizard would be happy.
Tome of Leadership and Influence
Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks – all pleased to see this.
Wand of Polymorph (A – Spellcaster)
I would have a frog slicing cage forged to go with this item. Frog in cage, spell ends, sliced meat.
Wand of the War Mage +3 (A – Spellcaster)
To-hit rolls are so, like, last tier.
Weapon +3
You definitely won’t be sad you got this item. Just give it a cool name.
Legendary Items
Apparatus of Kwalish
It’s cute, and a good protection against hostile environments. However, its damage isn’t much good at this level, and 200 HP is not that much.
Armor +3
Wonderful. Attunement matters a lot more at high levels.
Armor of Invulnerability (A)
On one hand, you’re getting hit substantially more often. On the other hand, half damage against non-magical damage. Very situational – this could easily be a ‘last war’ kind of item where you win the war, take this from the leader of the army – and then go haring off to the planes to fight planar enemies who all do magic damage all the time. Still obviously good.
Belt of Storm Giant Strength (A)
You use strength to hit and for damage? You love this.
Belt of Cloud Giant Strength (A)
You have +9 to hit from strength. That’s… a lot. Tiamat will fear your blows. Dex fighters should think carefully about what they gain and lose from a temporary switch to a strength based style.
Cloak of Invisibility (A)
2 hours/day without concentration is good, but there are a lot of items that blow off invisibility. Really, not much better than the Cloak of Elvenkind, and sometimes worse.
Crystal Ball of Mind Reading (A)
Good for surface thoughts, maybe worth blowing your cover for some things. Like the teleport circle code.
Crystal Ball of Telepathy (A)
Walk to the teleport circle room. Waaaaalk to the teleport circle room. Dooooooooo itttttttt.
A standard item for that chatty wizard patron. Hopefully something bad happens to him so you can snag it.
Crystal Ball of True Seeing (A)
I might scry on myself. I would certainly scry on my party members. You probably couldn’t get me away from the damned thing.
Cubic Gate
This is a big old plot item indeed. Gate a few times a day? I guess it’s time for that Planescape module.
Deck of Many Things
You realize it’s a trap, right? Give it to someone you hate – and if it’s at that point in the campaign where the DM is giving these out, that’s likely to be another party member.
Defender (A)
I’m not sure how often I would bother with the + to AC, but a +3 weapon is good, right?
Efreeti Chain (A)
+3 chain is good – and immunity to fire is golden.
Hammer of Thunderbolts (A)
The stunning attack is quite something, but you just know the DM is going to dangle one piece of the full set out of reach.
Holy Avenger (A-Paladin)
There are lots of fiends and undead out there at this level. Go get ‘em, pally.
Horn of Valhalla: Iron
Berserkers are tissue paper at this level.
Ioun Stones (A)
Speaking of tissue paper, so are Ioun stones.
Ioun Stone: Greater Absorption (A)
Still amazing. Protect it most of the time, but when people are going to throw down the scary spells, you want this. Probably goes on the arcanist.
Ioun Stone: Mastery (A)
This is not that awesome really. If it is in serious danger of damage, I might try to sell it.
Ioun Stone: Regeneration (A)
Well, out of combat healing just got a lot easier.
Iron Flask
Well, this just got dicey! The power is amazing. But you have to assume that no DM is going to roll fair on that table. He is going to roll and roll until he gets something he likes. Which means that someone is already inside that bottle. Someone who needed locking up.
I mean, if the bottle looks like plot, you might as well get into position and send it on a suicide mission. Wade into the wreckage and stick whichever Big Bad Evil Guy is left standing into the bottle. But don’t expect it not to blow back on you.
Luck Blade (A)
This is really pretty good. Wishes and rerolls are hard to argue with.
Plate Armor of Etherealness (A)
As armor, it’s underwhelming, but as long as you have a secure way to camp, you use this to penetrate almost any castle, dungeon or fortress and arrive exactly where you are needed. Note that it keys off dawn, not a long rest, so you might be able to go in just before dawn, do something, and then immediately leave the same way.
Potion of Cloud Giant Strength
This is ridiculous. Half the price of a permanent belt? See if your DM will let you trade it for a barony or something.
Ring of Djinni Summoning (A)
OK… this is interesting. Djinnis have a lot of spell like abilities, just very useful stuff. And the whole Aladdin thing is cool too.
Ring of Elemental Command (A)
These aren’t terrible but they aren’t legendary. They should do the summoning thing at the minimum.
Ring of Invisibility (A)
Invisibility at will is cool. Mind the truesight and lanterns of revealing, though.
Ring of Spell Turning (A)
Advantage on saves is very nice. And the rebound doesn’t hurt either. Maybe not exactly legendary, but impressive.
Ring of Three Wishes
Wishes are something you definitely want up your sleeve at this level of play.
Robe of the Archmagi (A – sorcerer, warlock, wizard)
Armor, saves, and save DCs all make an arcanist better at what they do best.
Rod of Lordly Might (A)
This is… pretty impressive. Although I’m not sure how different the various weapon forms are.
Rod of Resurrection (A – Cleric, Druid, Paladin)
Good to have.
Scarab of Protection (A)
Good if your big bad is undead.
Sovereign Glue
Really, really great stuff, but you’ll feel a little robbed if you kill an ancient dragon and find that this is the keystone.
Spell Scroll: L 9
Doubling your castings of 9th level spells is pretty great. An extra wish in your bag is a good thing to have.
Sphere of Annihilation
Well, this is pretty iconic. Uses should be obvious.
Staff of the Magi (A – Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)
Wow. This has a lot of boom.
Sword of Answering (A – Alignment)
Really good. The ability to ignore immunity or resistance is golden at this level.
Talisman of Pure Good/Evil (A – good/evil)
On the ground is a notable limitation, but dooming your enemies with only a DC 20 save between them and oblivion is pretty cool.
Talisman of the Sphere (A)
Mostly, controlling the sphere is not that hard. You just have to be able to get 30 feet in front of it. You can see situations where this might be handy, but mostly it’s redundant.
Tome of the Stilled Tongue (A – Wizard)
Pretty powerful and creepy. Probably a good idea to pull out the tongue, but wizards aren’t known for turning down power.
Universal Solvent
This is kind of a joke unless it comes with Sovereign Glue. They probably ought to go together, and Even then it’s of Very Rare value at best.
Vorpal Sword (A)
+3, straight 20 and off goes the head. Excellent, although far too many things at this level won’t be killed by it.
Well of Many Worlds
DM decides where it goes, huh? Kind of amusing, but not actually good.
Unique items, Intelligent Items, Artifacts
Coming Soon
Combos and Miscellaneous Tricks
Coming Soon
And ... open for discussion. I just realized a couple of things I missed - I'll throw those in later. I'd love to hear of any secret uses for seemingly useless items you have figured out.
On a note for the Immoveable Rods:
Aside from utility uses such as barring doors, if you get enough (and give it to your Gnomish inventor), they could construct a walking / animated suit of armor that uses these as "feet" and could walk through the air. Basically a way to make a cheap mecha suit.
You could call it your Gnumdam Suit.
It's like a Gundam Suit, but it's Gnot.
I like the idea. Immovable Rods seem especially well suited to mass production - as long as you can get the formula, 500 gp and 20 days just adds more weird possibilities to your toolkit. Really, that's a nearly disposible price. Launch them with a gnomish device in front of fliers! Use them as the fulcrum of a portable trebuchet!
I suuggest goldenrod rather then gold.
It's a bit easier to read.
Oathbow:
My 4e Star'lock took the Wand Expertise feat that made me an ignore-cover sharpshooter; once I persuaded a DM to let me zap my enemy from through a keyhole in the door !
An elf (Longbow proficiency) might be able to do something similar, but on a slightly larger scale.
Shoot through an arrow slit while standing on the other side of the room - so the enemy can't see you too well.
Thanks for the guide! 
Just a couple small things:
- the correct name for "Luck Stone" is "Stone of Good Luck" or "Luckstone" (one word)
- it requires attunement
Note that for Warlocks it's even better because it stacks with Rod of the Pact Keeper.