Enemies with Magic Items: what have you used/seen?

[Unoriginal]

NPCs sometime own magic items, either by design or because a roll on a random treasure table.

Yet, I get the impression that when they get some, enemies usually get pretty straightforward items to boost attack/damage (be it with weapons or spells), or help ambushing/fleeing the fight, rather than, say, a Robe of Eyes or an Eversmoking Bottle.

What have you seen enemies use?

[ZorroGames]

At an epic, the wandering organizer had a high level off board pirate NPC toss a working eversmoking bottle at the PCs as s smoke screen for undead pirates. I reflexively caught the bag and worried it might be an explosive hellish device, threw it back onto the docked ship.

[Zanthy1]

I've given certain NPCs items like true seeing eyes or general stuff to thwart some shenanigans, though my rule for myself is that if the NPC has it, the players can loot it. Also most of my baddies would have slightly magic but mostly just boosting gear if necessary, only special ones get specific items

[strangebloke]

I gave a Cloud Giant Quintessant a Hammer of Thunderbolts once. :D

To answer the question, all the time, yeah. It's more reasonable that the big bads are using the best gear they have access to. So if you're giving it as loot, give it to the monsters first. Narratively, this is more fun as well, because the players get to see how devastating the item in question is. That said, I mostly use custom items.

Other items
-A dagger that extinguishes all light within a hundred feet, unless that light comes from a 3rd level spell or higher. I gave it to a demonic assassin.
-A weapon that once per long rest, lets you choose two separate enemies to move towards and attack, taking the better path. I gave it to a cultist who had seriously deadly poison. The players kept wondering why they were making CON saves when they weren't getting attacked.
-Cloak of Feather Fall to a griffon-riding night.

[Unoriginal]

I gave a Cloud Giant Quintessant a Hammer of Thunderbolts once. :D

Did the PCs had to disguise one of them as the Giant's bride-to-be to get it back?



To answer the question, all the time, yeah. It's more reasonable that the big bads are using the best gear they have access to. So if you're giving it as loot, give it to the monsters first. Narratively, this is more fun as well, because the players get to see how devastating the item in question is.

I agree with that.

Though sometime it makes sense the monster won't use that particular item, like in Sunless Citadel where an Ogre has a magic rapier as loot, but ihe doesn't use it in battle because a) he doesn't want to look like some kind of spoony bard and b) it would likely more than half his damage output.


At an epic, the wandering organizer had a high level off board pirate NPC toss a working eversmoking bottle at the PCs as s smoke screen for undead pirates. I reflexively caught the bag and worried it might be an explosive hellish device, threw it back onto the docked ship.

I've read this adventure. There are some good ideas, but damn I was utterly disappointed by the BBEG's stats.

[KorvinStarmast]

We ran into a dwarf necromancer in our first campaign, who was wearing +1 half plate. (Given to our dwarf paladin) Also had (in a box) an amulet that had some evil side effects, like randomly summoning demons wherever our bard was. (Our bard wore the amulet).

[ImproperJustice]

A troll with a vorpal sword that would cut off a finger or toe so it could regenerate and come at us later.

A Ranger with boots of something that let them move unhindered through a poisonous swamp while he pelted us with arrows.

A robe wearing six armed beast that turned out to be three kobolds on magical stilts.

[Goblin Slayer]

Hand of vecna?

Seems like an item someone of the evil persuasion would have

[Tubben]

Alot of the Items my group own, are from NPCs. In a world full of magic, most higher level npcs will use magic items, like the pc's. While the lower minions use nonmagic, the underbosses allready have + armor/weapons or some other commons magic items. The bosses, depending on their CR, will have rare/very rare items.

The Robe of the Archmage in our group came from an lv 18 mage, the Defender from an high lv knight. Given the Level of my group (all are around 20+2 - 20+5) we own most of the magic items from the DMG and around the half we took from the dead cold hands of NPCs.

Maybe it's just my DM, but in 25 yours of pen and paper we allways had enough of magic items (and money). I was allways under the impression, thats how it is in every group.

I must say, i doubt my GM rolls for the items NPCs wear, i know create every npc by hand (inclusive complete sheet, name, and some piece of backstory) He rolls only for the vault on the magic table.

[Breashios]

Whatever I want my player's characters to get (or don't mind them getting). If using a written adventure and there is something that would tarnish the story, I would take it out or replace it with something useful but not plot bending.