Attunement in Dungeons and Dragons allows your character to bond with a unique magical item, however, you will lose the attunement if your character dies.
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, also referred to as DnD 5e, is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Since the game focuses on storytelling, each party needs a Dungeon Master (DM), who assumes the role of storyteller.
The other party members can create their own character to control their actions and interactions. After creating a character, the party members can start their adventure by solving problems, engaging in battles, exploring areas, and gathering treasures.
While progressing in the campaign, you may discover different objects, each of which have unique purposes in the game. Keep in mind that some of the magic items you can collect require attunement.
Magic items
A magic item is any object with magic powers that can be used to alter your gameplay. These items have been prevalent in the game in almost every edition and setting. Players first learned about magic items in the original DnD edition, and they still feature in the 5th edition.
In addition to gold coins and jewels, magic items are one of the treasures that players often seek in dungeons. That being said, magic items are generally found in treasure hoards, however, you can also loot them from fallen enemies.
The 5e version introduced the concept of item rarity, in which magic items are categorised as common, uncommon, rare, very rare, or legendary. This controls the frequency in which the item is expected to be found in the game.
Dnd 5e: Attunement
Although magic items can be found in many shapes and sizes, all of them have unique effects, which can potentially influence your gameplay. When looking at the different magic items in the game, the most common trait an item can have is that it requires attunement.
Attunement is a special, magical bond that can be formed between a creature and a magical item. In other words, if the item requires attunement, only the attuned creature can benefit from that item’s effects.
It is noteworthy that even if your party plans on sharing a powerful item, no more than 1 player or creature can be attuned to that item simultaneously.
Moreover, your character cannot attune to more than 3 items at once. This means that if your character has more than 3 attunable items, you have to choose the 3 that you will benefit from the most.
In order to attune to an item, your character must practice the item, or study it for a short rest, which is approximately an hour.
When the rest concludes, your character becomes attuned to that item, and therefore gains an understanding of its functionality and command words that it may have.
Your character can only attune to a single magic through 1 short rest. If you want to attune to several items, additional time is required.
Can you attune during a long rest?
According to the DnD rules, attuning to a magic item in 5e requires a short rest. However, the rules are up for interpretation in terms of whether players can attune to a magic item during a long rest.
The general consensus indicates that Dungeon Masters allow their party members to attune over a long rest.
That being said, the rules of a long rest are that a creature or character needs to spend 8 hours resting, and they have to be asleep for at least 6 hours.
This means that your character has 2 hours to do whatever they want. Because of this, the masters argue that players can use those hours to attune to a magic item.
What is the purpose of attunement?
Magic items that require attunement are generally more powerful than other objects in the game. As previously mentioned, the 5e of DnD introduced limited attunement sets, which prevent any character from obtaining all the magic items that the party discovers.
The objective of attunement in the 5e is to prevent players from becoming unreasonably powerful through the use of as many magic items as they like.
Can an attunement come to an end?
It is crucial to note that the attunement bond can come to an end if you no longer want to use that specific magic item. Much like how attuning a magic item requires a short rest, the easiest way to drop the attunement is by completing another short rest.
Alternatively, another player can attune to the item already attuned by your character. Players can also drop their attunement if their character is at least 100 feet away from the item for 24 hours. Furthermore, your attunement will also come to an end if your character dies.
