Last Updated on January 22, 2023
Welcome to our magic item gear guide to the Robe of Stars. In this guide, we’ll outline how this very rare magical item works in Dungeons & Dragons 5e, how best to use it, how much it costs, and which character classes are most suited to using it.
Robe of Stars
Wondrous Item, very rare (requires attunement)
A black, indigo, or deep-blue magical robe the color of the night sky. While attuned to the robe, wearing it grants a +1 bonus to all saving throws.
The robe is embroidered with small white or silver stars. There are also six larger stars located on the upper front portion of the garment. As an action, the wearer can pull off one of these stars and use it to cast the spell Magic Missile as a 5th-level spell. The robe replenishes 1d6 removed stars each day at dusk.
While wearing the robe, a creature can use their action to enter the Astral Plane from whichever plane they currently occupy, bringing with them everything they are wearing and carrying. The robe’s wearer remains in the Astral Plane until they use an action to return to the plane they were previously on. When they return, they reappear in the last space they occupied, or if that space is occupied, the nearest unoccupied space.
What Is a Robe of Stars?
A Robe of Stars is a very rare wondrous item that grants the wearer +1 on saving throws as well as allowing them to cast Magic Missile as a 5th-level spell up to 6 times per day and travel into the Astral Plane at will.
How a Robe of Stars Works
The Robe of Stars is an interesting and powerful item that grants its wearer three benefits: an incremental buff to all saving throws, the ability to fire off up to 6 additional 5th-level spells per day, and free passage to the Astral Plane and back again. All in all, it’s a remarkably powerful item.
+1 on All Saving Throws
This is a relatively simple and straightforward bonus that is going to increase your character’s chances of passing a saving throw by roughly 5% (although that number fluctuates a bit depending on level, bonuses, and DC — it’s a whole thing, and roughly 5% is honestly good enough for me). This might not seem like a whole lot, but D&D characters roll a lot of saving throws, and over time, being able to add +1 to every single one of them is going to have some cumulative positive results.
Magic Missile
A holdover from the earliest editions of D&D, Magic Missile is an interesting spell in that it inflicts damage without a saving throw or attack roll. You pick the target for your three magical darts (you can divide them up or make them all hit the same target) and roll 1d4 + 1 force damage (which basically nothing is resistant or immune to, by the way) for each.
Each time you increase the casting level of Magic Missile above 1st, add another dart. This means that, when you cast Magic Missile as a 5th-level spell using the Robe of Stars, you launch seven darts of energy, which can be divided up between targets or used to inflict 24.5 (7d4 + 7) force damage to a single target without a saving throw.
Use all six stars from the robe, and that’s an average of 147 force damage in the space of a minute. Guaranteed. No saving throw. No missed attack rolls. The Robe of Stars is a devastating offensive weapon.
Astral Travel
While it’s certainly a more niche application than the flat bonus and impressive damage conferred by the robe’s other two abilities, the power to travel into the Astral Plane at will is certainly interesting, especially when you start to think about bringing things with you.
Anything you are wearing or carrying is an interesting definition, and you could potentially use the robe to dispose of dangerous magical items, hide contraband from the authorities, and otherwise use the Astral Plane as your own personal hidey-hole. Also, I’m a big fan of the possibility of picking up or grappling an enemy, stepping into the astral plane, dropping them, and hopping back out to wherever you were, leaving them stranded. Unlike the Banishment spell, you can just keep doing it.
The Astral Plane
The Astral Plane is the plane of thought, memory, and psychic energy; it is where gods go when they die or are forgotten (or, most likely, both). It is a barren place with only rare bits of solid matter and blanketed in many places by a vast silvery sea.
This is the home of Planescape, the Spelljammer setting, and some of the most interesting monsters and creatures in D&D.
Is the Robe of Stars a Good Item?
Any one of the Robe of Stars’ three main attributes would make it a good item. Together, all three conspire to make it great, improving the wearer’s survivability and damage as well as giving them access to a new form of travel and interplanar utility that they might not otherwise have.
Who Should Use a Robe of Stars?
While it might obviously seem like a Wizard or Warlock’s item, the Robe of Stars can be attuned to by any character. Therefore, if your party has a member who is desperately in need of a bit of added survivability or ranged damage output (it’s not armor, so a barbarian could totally wear this), this is a great option.
Rogues (who have occasional survivability issues but can use traits like Evasion to take no damage when they pass Dexterity saving throws, for example) and spellcasters who lack damage and spell slots (like Warlocks and Bards) would all be great candidates for a Robe of Stars.
How Much Does a Robe of Stars Cost and Where Can I Get One?
All magic items have an estimated price based on their rarity. As a very rare item, a Robe of Stars could cost anywhere between 5,001 gp and 50,000 gp. Based on the relative power levels of other items in the same rarity bracket, I would estimate a fair price for the Robe of Stars as around 30,000 gp.
However, many magical items are so rare and valuable that no shopkeeper would have the money to buy them or know who to sell them to. Even if a merchant agreed to purchase such a rare and valuable magic item from an adventurer, they would likely refuse to pay the full value, and if they were selling it in their shop, they could do so at a high markup.
- About Author
- Latest Posts
I played my first tabletop RPG (Pathfinder 1e, specifically) in college. I rocked up late to the first session with an unread rulebook and a human bard called Nick Jugger. It was a rocky start but I had a blast and now, the better part of a decade later, I play, write, and write about tabletop RPGs (mostly 5e, but also PBtA, Forged in the Dark and OSR) games for a living, which is wild.
