[RPG] What benefits do you get from the Belt of Dwarvenkind without attuning to it

attunementdnd-5emagic-items

The description of the Belt of Dwarvenkind (DMG, pg. 155) says the following:

Belt of Dwarvenkind

Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

While wearing this belt, you gain the following benefits:

  • Your Constitution score increases by 2, to a maximum of 20.
  • You have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to interact with dwarves.

In addition, while attuned to the belt, you have a 50 percent chance each day at dawn of growing a full beard if you're capable of growing one, or a visibly thicker beard if you already have one.

If you aren't a dwarf, you gain the following additional benefits while wearing the belt:

  • You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
  • You have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.
  • You can speak, read, and write Dwarvish.

The way I read this, only the stuff about your beard growing requires you to attune to it.

Am I reading this right? Do you really gain everything else (excluding the stuff at the end if you're a dwarf, obviously) even if you're not attuned to it?

Or is it the case that because the belt requires attunement, it's implicit that everything it does requires you to have attuned to it, and the way it's worded is just tripping me up?

Best Answer

You only get a cool looking belt

While it is true that the belt has some properties that are described as being active "While wearing this belt" this is not, in my opinion, explicitly saying that the property works even while not attuned and thus not enough to be considered an exception

Compare with the Brooch of Shielding (emphasis mine):

While wearing this brooch, you have resistance to force damage, and you have immunity to damage from the magic missile spell.

This is the only benefit of the brooch yet it also requires attunement. If wearing the Brooch of Shielding was enough to benefit from its properties why would anyone ever bother to attune to it?

In fact, the way I interpret the distinction made in the Belt of Dwarvenkind is simply that while you are attuned to the belt, even if you are not wearing it at dawn you have a chance to grow a beard. However, the other properties would require both attunement and wearing.

Related Jeremy Crawford tweet

While not specifically about the Belt of Dwarvenkind Jeremy Crawford has reiterated what the rules already say (albeit a slightly different wording) about attunement requirements on magic items in this tweet (emphasis mine):

If a magic item requires attunement, none of its magical properties function without attunement, unless its description says otherwise. Re: the scarab of protection, the appearance of the writing has no effect on the properties; they're active while you're attuned to it.

This is about a different item but it may help clarify the intent.

Explicit example

As an example of a magic item that explicitly displays an exception to this general rule, see (warning: Hoard of the Dragon Queen spoilers)

The Hazirawn which states that "Even if you aren’t attuned to the sword, you gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls made with this weapon.". For more information see also this Q/A.

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