Last Updated on November 9, 2023
Robe of Stars
Wondrous Item, very rare (requires attunement)
This black or dark blue robe is embroidered with small white or silver stars. You gain a +1 bonus to saving throws while you wear it.
Six stars, located on the robe’s upper front portion, are particularly large. While wearing this robe, you can use an action to pull off one of the stars and use it to cast magic missile as a 5th-level spell. Daily at dusk, 1d6 removed stars reappear on the robe.
While you wear the robe, you can use an action to enter the Astral Plane along with everything you are wearing and carrying. You remain there until you use an action to return to the plane you were on. You reappear in the last space you occupied, or if that space is occupied, the nearest unoccupied space.
Notes: Bonus: Saving Throws, Teleportation, Damage, Combat, Warding, Outerwear
Source: Basic Rules, pg. 194
Cost: Robe of Stars is worth 70,000 gold pieces. This is according to our Magic Item Price Guide. Especially with powerful items like this the final decision is up to your Dungeon Master.
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 It Works
The Robe of Stars is an interesting and powerful item that grants its wearer three benefits:
- +1 Saving Throws
- Magic Missile 6x per day
- Astral Travel
+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
Astral Travel is certainly a more niche application than the flat bonus and impressive damage conferred by the robe’s other two abilities.
Still, 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.
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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.
