Would items that work like “Belt of X giant strength” for other stats be utterly unbalanced

balancednd-5emagic-items

To my understanding, strength is the only stat that can be increased beyond 20 just wearing (and attuning to) an item.

I am playing an Arcane Trickster, with wood elf magic feat.

For my backstory and a solo-sidequest I will undertake in an upcoming hiatus (every player will do the same, we're ending the campaign at lvl 10 and will get back from hiatus at lvl 12), I am trying to come up – together with the DM – with an item that is a family heirloom that got stolen from me and that I want to get back.

Since I need to take care of DEX, INT, and WIS as a minimum, I was hoping to be able to convince the DM to design a "Tiara of X intelligence" or "Bracers of Y dexterity" (or something for CHA that right now I have no idea what it could be).

I understand that anything bringing my DEX up would be probably too unbalanced (extra hit chance, damage and AC all in one), but if you have ways in which this could balanced, I am all ears.

Would something bringing my INT up to 24 or 26 too unbalanced? (it would bring up my hit chance and DC level for my spells.)

Is there an inherent reason why STR is the only stat to have built-in objects that bring it above 20? [as an aside, why odd numbers? why not round them down? :very annoyed: ]

Best Answer

The possibilities are few and far between

Due to bounded accuracy built into 5e, most things do let let you go above 20.

Barbarians get a capstone to increase their STR and CON, and there are tomes and manuals for each of the stats that can raise them by two to a max of 22. Same with the Book of Exalted Deeds and Book of Vile Darkness.

But for just general stat raising, there are a fair number of items:

  • Amulet of Health (CON 19)
  • Belt of Dwarvenkind (CON +2/Max 20)
  • Deck of Many Things (Star card can increase any score by two/Max 24)
  • Gauntlets of Ogre Power (STR 19)
  • Gloves of Soul Catching (CON 20)
  • Hammer of Thunderbolts (STR +4 if also wearing Belt of Dwarvenkind/Max 30)
  • Hand of Vecna (STR 20)
  • Headband of Intellect (INT 19)
  • Ioun Stone (1 stat +2/Max 20)
  • Orb of the Veil (WIS +2/No Max)
  • Stormgirdle (STR 21 or 23)
  • Sword of Zariel (CHA 20)

There is probably more, but those are the ones I found from a quick search.

As for ending on odd numbers

That is design intent and we really don't have an actual answer (unless someone finds a random tweet).

Best guess; stats get bonuses on even numbers, but some math is done on the actual number, such as carry weight. So by ending on an odd, you get the benefit of better math, but not the stat bonus increase.