The Attunement Rule: If It’s Necessary, Then Why Is It So Disliked and How Could It Be Handled Differently

Greetings, gamers from all systems, places and timelines!

One of the hallmarks of playing in a D&D game is it’s trademark magic-rich environment. However, there are games such as Diablo and Skyrim that offer a similar experience, allowing you to explore the world, face powerful enemies and collect magic equipment like Pokémon. And while these games are similar, one stark difference between D&D 5E and the above-mentioned games is the limitations with magical item attunement, toward which there are a great deal of mixed feelings both for and against it.

In this post, we are going to discuss the reasons this rule can be so strongly supported and hated at the same time and how else it could be handled.

What Is It?

While there is plenty to discuss with this rule, we will primarily focus on how a character can use a maximum of three magical items at a time, which require attunement and how a requirement of attunement is to spend the time of an interrupted short rest to acquire its magical benefits.

Why Make a Rule Like This?

If you played in previous editions, your character sheet may have looked like the equipment screen of a Diablo game. The player had item slots allowing them to wear two magic rings, helmet, chest piece, boots, belt, pants, an amulet, gauntlets, and whatever weapon/shield they were using. If that sounds crazy, just think that plenty of old-school gamers have made the argument that, in addition to wearing a magic ring on each hand, they should also be allowed to wear them as earrings and or on their toes.

Because in earlier editions of D&D, like 4E, if you weren’t dripping with magical equipment your character was then underpowered. This allowed a character to use just as many magic items as in Diablo except they were nearly all bland and unpowered. Making the tradeoff here that you could use as many magic items as you could carry but unfortunately most of them sucked. All of which was tied into the question of, “should  the characters greatest powers come from themselves and their class or the loot they acquire?”

5e answered this by saying that the character’s powers should come from their level and class primarily. And I love high-magic worlds, really truly. But think of it like this: If your party battled a dragon every time they left a village, would that creature still be mysterious and hold the same level of threat? Instead, dragons in that world would be reduced to just another mundane encounter of appropriate level. And that is absolutely not how you want the players in your game to view treasure.

Why It’s a Headache

Admittedly, not all magical items, such as elven boots or even +3 plate armor, require attunement. However, if it is a weapon or piece of armor that has a plus and a property, then odds are that it does. This puts marital characters who planned on dual wielding cool weapons at a vast disadvantage. And for everyone else in my experience as a DM, players do not like giving up rewards they worked for in exchange for new ones. So, if a character already has three magical items that they like, giving out something new as a reward suddenly gets turned from appreciated  into a hard sell.

Now with respect to how characters need to actually attune to magical items, consider this scenario.

A warrior was trying to escape a vampire’s castle, and the vampire is chasing him. By luck, he found a Sun Blade and decided to try and turn the tables on his pursuer. However, the vampire calmly looks at her watch and starts laughing because the warrior clearly doesn’t know how magical item attunement works. “There is no way you had an opportunity to take a one hour uninterrupted break to attune with that weapon,” she said before ripping his throat out. As unfortunately, yes, the warrior did find an undead slaying sword but since he wasn’t able to lock himself in a closet and take a nap with it, he instead ended up taking a dirt nap.

How Else to Handle It

Attunement Time:  There are times where the DM should feel comfortable allowing a character to use a magic item or weapon without a short rest. Without the benefits of an identify spell, they may not know exactly what the weapon’s true properties are or even if it’s cursed. However, magical swords and axes should still cut and slash more effectively even without attunement because it doesn’t change that they are designed using superior materials.

So why is this not the case if the weapon also has a magical property? Just think of it like this: If the warrior in the previous example had found a +2 sword, he might have had a fighting chance. Instead, he found a Sun blade which, because it required attunement, was about as effective as a butter knife. However, if a player comes across a staff of the magi or a mirror of mental prowess, then yes, they definitely need some time to figure out how to use them. 

Attunement limitations: Depending on the flavor of the game and how many levels you suspect it will cover, then consider allowing additional attunements based on character level.

For example, you could allow an additional item attunement once per every six levels at levels 7, 13, and 19 respectively.  Or even throw caution to the wind and not limit the use of magical items at all. Once again, this needs to be specifically tailored to the theme of your game, so nothing goes off the rails. However, I am and have always been a fan of allowing players to use and enjoy what they have earned. Otherwise, what you’re doing is limiting your own ability to reward and incentivize the group with one of the lowest hanging fruits the game has to offer.