The Cozy Dragon's Hoard of Dice

Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition has a manifest case of ‘cozy’ world building, and that takes the form of the so-called “common” magical item.

Although a number of lists of “best” common magic items describe a use case for some of the underwhelming effects that these magic items can have, the coziest of items are unlikely to appear on these lists. The reason for this is simple; they are either strictly entertaining, or they offer a solution to a problem that is rarely if ever enforced. Exploring this – and expanding on how these items help to build a world that uses magic to make itself more hospitable – can help to understand the cozy adventurer’s needs.

A good example to begin with is clothes of mending. Described as an “elegant outfit of travellers’ clothes“, this outfit automatically mends itself from the wear and tear of everyday use. No mention of whether it automatically cleans itself, but we are after all looking at this as an example rather than the sole or be-all and end all case. The item description mentions that individual items that are destroyed are gone for good, presumably to forestall a Sorcerer’s Apprentice-style replication of self-mending outfits.

It is possible that some games do take into consideration the wear and tear on boot leather and seam rippage that can happen to travellers’ clothing, but if they do, they are distinctly in a minority. The problem that matches the solution is one that arises so rarely in the course of play that many adventurers never have more than one or two sets of clothing total. They may purchase specifically fine clothing, or replace articles that are specifically destroyed, but the average adventurer thinks nothing of wandering into town wearing the very vestments that too recently had a sword run through them, or a fireball ignite them.

That kind of bookkeeping is, for most play-groups, less than enjoyable. So we just don’t make a fuss about it, and the solution goes on in search of a problem.

Indeed, the chief argument in favour of including the clothes of mending is one of in-character comfort; a dungeon master who applies a penalty to an interaction because the PC in question is wearing beaten up clothing is inventing rules, if sensible ones. This is well within their right, but now we have a problem seeking the solution that itself seeks a problem. Woe, one supposes, unto the party members who were not so forward thinking that they picked up their own sets of such clothing. Hopefully, a party member with prestidigitation is willing to do your dry-cleaning.

(In one of the groups that I play in, magical items re-size themselves to fit the wearer, normally or only-with-attunement if the item otherwise requires attunement. I had a Blessing of Corellon elf PC who found it easier than carrying various clothing for their various shapes.)

(One is forced to hope that similar magic means that just as the sole will never cease to provide arch support, auto-fitting means that the boots do not have to be broken in.)

Presumably, this implies that, within the context of the universe, someone built this common magic item – least of the ‘useful’ magical oddments and trinkets of the world – simply because it was useful and saved time and effort. In a world where ninety percent of all displayed magic has an immediate martial use-case, this is actually fairly revolutionary.

The armour of gleaming, cloak of many fashions, and shield of expressions seem to be purely aesthetic-based choices made into items for Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It is conceivable that someone could use a pipe of smoke monsters to show someone a one cubic foot image of what a monster that they saw looked like, but as the image appears only for a few seconds, the effect is not lasting. Heward’s handy spice pouch is explicitly a common item that allows for the seasoning of food – useful, perhaps, in a case where player characters are trying to impress someone with their cooking acumen, but expressly less than useful except that it makes the PC experience of being on the road less miserable. A dungeon master can introduce a use-case – but then it’s a problem seeking a solution seeking a problem once more.

Common magical items make a case for magic as a wondrous thing that improves the lives of those who use it. They demonstrate that people sometimes think beyond simple martial applications, and this makes sense. Using these items in your game can add a touch of wonder – and an awful lot of comfort, if that is something that you wish to include.