Today we’re delving back into the world of Magic: The Gathering in an effort to create a new magical item for use in your Dungeons and Dragons games. Specifically let’s look at the card Accorder’s Shield first released in the Scars of Mirrodin set in 2010 and then again in the 2014 Core Set. This piece of equipment grants a creature a +0/+3 bonus to their power and toughness and also grants the creature vigilance, which means they do not tap after attacking. For those of you not versed in the rules of Magic, that means that the creature is still available to be used as a blocker when play passes to your opponent even if they were used as an attacker in your own combat phase.
Immediately I thought of the Protection fighting style available to fighters and paladins when thinking about how to bring this card into Dungeons and Dragons. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a specific class option as a requirement for attunement to a magic item, but it felt fitting in this case – I didn’t just want to give anyone who came across this item the ability, but just make fighters and paladins better at it. I wanted that choice made at low levels to be rewarded. Being able to impose disadvantage on enemy attacks twice in a round is certainly a powerful ability. Or, you can use this item’s ability to use your regular reaction for something else and still impose disadvantage on an attack roll should an enemy target an ally instead of you. More options in combat is never a bad thing, especially for classes that can already be as versatile as these two.
So there you have it – a simple item this week, but sometimes there’s elegance in that simplicity. How would you use this item in your home games? What kind of order might have created and carried these shields? And what do you think of the specific ability requirement for attunement? Is it something that bears further exploring or do you feel that it limits the general utility of magic items too much? Let me know your thoughts below! Until next time.
Ben Erickson
