Items such as Ring of Protection, Ring of Telekinesis, Ring of Evasion, etc don't specify in their description what metal they are made from. I would have assumed gold, however since my character is a werewolf, it suddenly got decided that his Ring of Protection is silver, so he can't use it. Is there any precedent anywhere for what kind of metal they are, or is it just open to interpretation?
Most magic items in D&D don't really have specific descriptions. Some of them have illustrations associate with them, but they're not required to be treated as identical to that illustration. Not every Bag of Holding is an over-the-shoulder satchel with an image of a face on the front, but that's what the official illustration looks like.
That said... if your DM says your ring of Protection is made of silver, then it's made of silver. Literally the only person who can determine that specific information for the Ring of Protection in your game is the DM. I think it's a little unreasonable of them to say you can't wear it any more, since that's not really how silver weakness works in 5e, but then again, I don't know if your DM has any homebrew rules I'm not aware of.
We've kind of house ruled it in our campaign that werewolves can't touch any items made of silver. Hell last time the group managed to subdue him with one silver coin.
I think the argument may run about this but it seems flexible so you could decide whatever metal to suit your needs.
We've kind of house ruled it in our campaign that werewolves can't touch any items made of silver. Hell last time the group managed to subdue him with one silver coin.
I think the argument may run about this but it seems flexible so you could decide whatever metal to suit your needs.
You could also just have the ring wrapped in cloth, wire, or something while wearing it.
Wait, your DM let you be subdued with a single silver coin? Like, a single unit of an incredibly common currency? He also changed the material of the item you have been using so that you can't use it anymore?
I think in this instance it's been miscommunication between myself and the DM, we should have established at the beginning because this is the first time the ring has been an issue. I think we'll just hammer it out between us - he basically told me "if you can find a precedent for it not being silver then it can be gold/platinum/whatever". I guess it becomes a case where you make your own decision so the ring could be more/less valuable depending on circumstances.
From what I've been able to look up, it doesn't seem like the materials of the ring have ever been specified.
Based on the art, I'd guess it is gold on the inside with either silver or platinum on the outside (plus some light blue gems that could be diamonds but are more likely sapphires).
Anyway, you could wear gloves or something or wrap the ring if it is silver.
To back up what others are saying: even if your fur has been miraculously nerfed to transmit silver to your skin, that nerf shouldn't apply to things which aren't your fur, so this is fixable with a glove. You could also swing by most any smith and have the thing plated with copper for cheap - it'll leave a green stain on your finger, but so what? Or you can go expensive and gold-plate it. Or you can buy a prosthetic ring finger (the least useful finger, as John Wick understands) at the common magic items shop and chop off your real ring finger with a silver knife. But there is no one canonical answer.
It could be Vermeil, a special process by witch silver (like a ring) is plated with gold. (Since silver is also a “precious metal,” it was still considered fancier than regular gold plate, but still cheaper than solid gold.)
Back during the golden age of Pirates, platinum was considered a junk metal and they used to use it to cut silver ingots, lowering the purity to make it seem like there was more silver. There was an entire system based on displacement to determine how much “worthless” platinum had been mixed into the silver.
So even a “silver ring” could actually be half platinum and plated with a thin layer of gold, meaning your PC could theoretically wear it and not have any problem. 🤷♂️
I think in this instance it's been miscommunication between myself and the DM, we should have established at the beginning because this is the first time the ring has been an issue. I think we'll just hammer it out between us - he basically told me "if you can find a precedent for it not being silver then it can be gold/platinum/whatever". I guess it becomes a case where you make your own decision so the ring could be more/less valuable depending on circumstances.
Well, there's literally exactly as much precedent for it to be made of plain old steel as there is for it to be made of silver. Hell, nothing in the ring's description even says that it's made of metal. It could just as easily be one of those little weaved fabric friendship rings.
Rings can be made out of whatever the DM wants them to be made out of.
However, a DM that insists that all rings in their game are made out of silver because one of the players is a lycanthrope is just being a bad DM.
Rings can be made of any metal, any wood, any crystal, any substance whatsoever - horn, bone, stone, whatever.
Because they can be made of whatever the DM wants, the rules usually only specify what they do, not what they are made of. It is possible to find magic item formulae if the DM is using some form of crafting and that document would specify what that particular version of a magic ring would require for manufacture.
Honestly, your best bet to get an idea of what rings could be made of is the pictures of rings in the DMG. These include silver, gold, brass, bronze, feathers, steel, some black substance which could be onyx or maybe adamantium ... there are no rules on what rings are made of since they can be made of anything the DM decides.
The bottom line is that the DM decides what rings are made of in the world they are creating - they could decide that silver has some special property in their world.
------------------
However - some examples below of magical rings from published adventures - though it is very rare that the composition of magic rings is specified in their description since most don't want to step on the toes of the DM who decides what rings are made of ... though it does include a description of a gold ring of protection from Tales of the Yawning Portal. The most common substance used is gold though the list includes gold, jade, stone, wood and dark metal.
ToA: "The Ring of Winter is a golden band that resizes to fit snugly on the finger of its wearer."
OotA: "He also wears a gold ring fitted with a star ruby (worth 1.000 gp). A detect magic spell reveals that the gem radiates a faint aura of divination magic. The gem's star-shaped core is a magical compass ..."
WD-DMM: "Trobriand crafted magic rings to control the scaladar. Each ring is a black metal loop with a stinger-shaped protrusion."
SKT: "a wooden ring adorned with dancing nymphs" "Should she need anything, all she must do is whisper his name ""into the ring, and he would appear"
SKT: " ... a ring of hardened magma sized for a fire giant's finger. When a creature attunes to the ring, it magically shrinks to fit that creature's index finger, and warm orange light spills from minuscule cracks that form on its outer surface.... While attuned to the ring, a creature can expend 1 charge to cast conjure minor elementals"
TftYP: "On the middle finger of each hand are carved jade rings, one in the form of a man holding the moon (a ring of resistance [fire]) and the other a panther ready to strike (a ring of animal influence)."
TftYP: "The golden circlet is a bracelet of rock magic (see appendix A) that was originally a ring, an earring, or some other piece of stone giant jewelry."
TftYP: "It contains thirty gold rings, one of which is a ring of protection."
--------------
P.S. In 5e there is no reason why a lycanthrope can't handle silver or wear silver items though if it is a concern due to house rules they could probably wrap the item in cloth before wearing it. Explicitly, lycanthropes can be damaged by silvered weapons - it says nothing about other sources of silver. They could probably even wear silver earrings - it would just hurt like it does for everyone else.
To resolve an argument from our latest session.
Items such as Ring of Protection, Ring of Telekinesis, Ring of Evasion, etc don't specify in their description what metal they are made from. I would have assumed gold, however since my character is a werewolf, it suddenly got decided that his Ring of Protection is silver, so he can't use it. Is there any precedent anywhere for what kind of metal they are, or is it just open to interpretation?
First off werewolves aren't incapable of wearing silver as far as I can tell.
There aren't any standards in 5e for what magic items are made of other than their descriptions.
Most magic items in D&D don't really have specific descriptions. Some of them have illustrations associate with them, but they're not required to be treated as identical to that illustration. Not every Bag of Holding is an over-the-shoulder satchel with an image of a face on the front, but that's what the official illustration looks like.
That said... if your DM says your ring of Protection is made of silver, then it's made of silver. Literally the only person who can determine that specific information for the Ring of Protection in your game is the DM. I think it's a little unreasonable of them to say you can't wear it any more, since that's not really how silver weakness works in 5e, but then again, I don't know if your DM has any homebrew rules I'm not aware of.
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We've kind of house ruled it in our campaign that werewolves can't touch any items made of silver. Hell last time the group managed to subdue him with one silver coin.
I think the argument may run about this but it seems flexible so you could decide whatever metal to suit your needs.
You could also just have the ring wrapped in cloth, wire, or something while wearing it.
Maybe he's trying to tell you to give to somebody else?
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Wait, your DM let you be subdued with a single silver coin? Like, a single unit of an incredibly common currency? He also changed the material of the item you have been using so that you can't use it anymore?
That seems, bizzare....
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I think in this instance it's been miscommunication between myself and the DM, we should have established at the beginning because this is the first time the ring has been an issue. I think we'll just hammer it out between us - he basically told me "if you can find a precedent for it not being silver then it can be gold/platinum/whatever". I guess it becomes a case where you make your own decision so the ring could be more/less valuable depending on circumstances.
From what I've been able to look up, it doesn't seem like the materials of the ring have ever been specified.
Based on the art, I'd guess it is gold on the inside with either silver or platinum on the outside (plus some light blue gems that could be diamonds but are more likely sapphires).
Anyway, you could wear gloves or something or wrap the ring if it is silver.
Biblo Ring was made of gold. So you could use Tolkeins influence in D&D as arguement.
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To back up what others are saying: even if your fur has been miraculously nerfed to transmit silver to your skin, that nerf shouldn't apply to things which aren't your fur, so this is fixable with a glove. You could also swing by most any smith and have the thing plated with copper for cheap - it'll leave a green stain on your finger, but so what? Or you can go expensive and gold-plate it. Or you can buy a prosthetic ring finger (the least useful finger, as John Wick understands) at the common magic items shop and chop off your real ring finger with a silver knife. But there is no one canonical answer.
It could be Vermeil, a special process by witch silver (like a ring) is plated with gold. (Since silver is also a “precious metal,” it was still considered fancier than regular gold plate, but still cheaper than solid gold.)
Back during the golden age of Pirates, platinum was considered a junk metal and they used to use it to cut silver ingots, lowering the purity to make it seem like there was more silver. There was an entire system based on displacement to determine how much “worthless” platinum had been mixed into the silver.
So even a “silver ring” could actually be half platinum and plated with a thin layer of gold, meaning your PC could theoretically wear it and not have any problem. 🤷♂️
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Well, there's literally exactly as much precedent for it to be made of plain old steel as there is for it to be made of silver. Hell, nothing in the ring's description even says that it's made of metal. It could just as easily be one of those little weaved fabric friendship rings.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Rings can be made out of whatever the DM wants them to be made out of.
However, a DM that insists that all rings in their game are made out of silver because one of the players is a lycanthrope is just being a bad DM.
Rings can be made of any metal, any wood, any crystal, any substance whatsoever - horn, bone, stone, whatever.
Because they can be made of whatever the DM wants, the rules usually only specify what they do, not what they are made of. It is possible to find magic item formulae if the DM is using some form of crafting and that document would specify what that particular version of a magic ring would require for manufacture.
Honestly, your best bet to get an idea of what rings could be made of is the pictures of rings in the DMG. These include silver, gold, brass, bronze, feathers, steel, some black substance which could be onyx or maybe adamantium ... there are no rules on what rings are made of since they can be made of anything the DM decides.
The bottom line is that the DM decides what rings are made of in the world they are creating - they could decide that silver has some special property in their world.
------------------
However - some examples below of magical rings from published adventures - though it is very rare that the composition of magic rings is specified in their description since most don't want to step on the toes of the DM who decides what rings are made of ... though it does include a description of a gold ring of protection from Tales of the Yawning Portal. The most common substance used is gold though the list includes gold, jade, stone, wood and dark metal.
ToA: "The Ring of Winter is a golden band that resizes to fit snugly on the finger of its wearer."
OotA: "He also wears a gold ring fitted with a star ruby (worth 1.000 gp). A detect magic spell reveals that the gem radiates a faint aura of divination magic. The gem's star-shaped core is a magical compass ..."
WD-DMM: "Trobriand crafted magic rings to control the scaladar. Each ring is a black metal loop with a stinger-shaped protrusion."
SKT: "a wooden ring adorned with dancing nymphs" "Should she need anything, all she must do is whisper his name ""into the ring, and he would appear"
SKT: " ... a ring of hardened magma sized for a fire giant's finger. When a creature attunes to the ring, it magically shrinks to fit that creature's index finger, and warm orange light spills from minuscule cracks that form on its outer surface.... While attuned to the ring, a creature can expend 1 charge to cast conjure minor elementals"
TftYP: "On the middle finger of each hand are carved jade rings, one in the form of a man holding the moon (a ring of resistance [fire]) and the other a panther ready to strike (a ring of animal influence)."
TftYP: "The golden circlet is a bracelet of rock magic (see appendix A) that was originally a ring, an earring, or some other piece of stone giant jewelry."
TftYP: "It contains thirty gold rings, one of which is a ring of protection."
--------------
P.S. In 5e there is no reason why a lycanthrope can't handle silver or wear silver items though if it is a concern due to house rules they could probably wrap the item in cloth before wearing it. Explicitly, lycanthropes can be damaged by silvered weapons - it says nothing about other sources of silver. They could probably even wear silver earrings - it would just hurt like it does for everyone else.