Does an unattuned Frost Brand weapon still glow in freezing temperatures?

The name of the pictureThe name of the pictureThe name of the pictureClash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP












9












$begingroup$


Frost Brand weapons have the following property, amongst others:




In freezing temperatures, the blade sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.




The other properties of Frost Brands directly benefit their attuned wearer (ability to extinguish flames by drawing the blade, fire resistance while holding it, extra cold damage while attacking with it), but the light-shedding property seems more of a passive thing (it would make sense, to me at least, that an unattuned, abandoned Frost Brand stuck in an Iceberg would glow).



The rules on attunement state the following:




Without becoming attuned to an item that requires attunement, a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless its description states otherwise. For example, a magic Shield that requires attunement provides the benefits of a normal Shield to a creature not attuned to it, but none of its magical properties.




But this light shedding property does not seem to be intended to benefit its wearer in particular — seems more to be the blade’s natural reaction to extreme cold.



Considering that there are already attunement-based items with non-attunement properties (such as a Talisman of Pure Good’s contact damage to non-good creatures), does an unattuned Frostbrand still glow in freezing temperatures ?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$
















    9












    $begingroup$


    Frost Brand weapons have the following property, amongst others:




    In freezing temperatures, the blade sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.




    The other properties of Frost Brands directly benefit their attuned wearer (ability to extinguish flames by drawing the blade, fire resistance while holding it, extra cold damage while attacking with it), but the light-shedding property seems more of a passive thing (it would make sense, to me at least, that an unattuned, abandoned Frost Brand stuck in an Iceberg would glow).



    The rules on attunement state the following:




    Without becoming attuned to an item that requires attunement, a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless its description states otherwise. For example, a magic Shield that requires attunement provides the benefits of a normal Shield to a creature not attuned to it, but none of its magical properties.




    But this light shedding property does not seem to be intended to benefit its wearer in particular — seems more to be the blade’s natural reaction to extreme cold.



    Considering that there are already attunement-based items with non-attunement properties (such as a Talisman of Pure Good’s contact damage to non-good creatures), does an unattuned Frostbrand still glow in freezing temperatures ?










    share|improve this question











    $endgroup$














      9












      9








      9





      $begingroup$


      Frost Brand weapons have the following property, amongst others:




      In freezing temperatures, the blade sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.




      The other properties of Frost Brands directly benefit their attuned wearer (ability to extinguish flames by drawing the blade, fire resistance while holding it, extra cold damage while attacking with it), but the light-shedding property seems more of a passive thing (it would make sense, to me at least, that an unattuned, abandoned Frost Brand stuck in an Iceberg would glow).



      The rules on attunement state the following:




      Without becoming attuned to an item that requires attunement, a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless its description states otherwise. For example, a magic Shield that requires attunement provides the benefits of a normal Shield to a creature not attuned to it, but none of its magical properties.




      But this light shedding property does not seem to be intended to benefit its wearer in particular — seems more to be the blade’s natural reaction to extreme cold.



      Considering that there are already attunement-based items with non-attunement properties (such as a Talisman of Pure Good’s contact damage to non-good creatures), does an unattuned Frostbrand still glow in freezing temperatures ?










      share|improve this question











      $endgroup$




      Frost Brand weapons have the following property, amongst others:




      In freezing temperatures, the blade sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.




      The other properties of Frost Brands directly benefit their attuned wearer (ability to extinguish flames by drawing the blade, fire resistance while holding it, extra cold damage while attacking with it), but the light-shedding property seems more of a passive thing (it would make sense, to me at least, that an unattuned, abandoned Frost Brand stuck in an Iceberg would glow).



      The rules on attunement state the following:




      Without becoming attuned to an item that requires attunement, a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless its description states otherwise. For example, a magic Shield that requires attunement provides the benefits of a normal Shield to a creature not attuned to it, but none of its magical properties.




      But this light shedding property does not seem to be intended to benefit its wearer in particular — seems more to be the blade’s natural reaction to extreme cold.



      Considering that there are already attunement-based items with non-attunement properties (such as a Talisman of Pure Good’s contact damage to non-good creatures), does an unattuned Frostbrand still glow in freezing temperatures ?







      dnd-5e magic-items weapons vision-and-light






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Mar 5 at 19:10









      V2Blast

      26.1k590159




      26.1k590159










      asked Mar 5 at 16:21









      Gael LGael L

      9,223342172




      9,223342172




















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          13












          $begingroup$

          No, it does not glow



          That is a magical feature of the blade and whether or not you consider it to be a benefit, it can be a beneficial feature and qualifies.



          Unattuned features that are on will say so in the description



          You've quoted the relevant requirement in that it will say if a benefit will work without attunement:




          ...a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless it's description states otherwise




          What is beneficial isn't something that is table or DM dependent, it's an inherent property of the weapon - and unless it specifically states that it's an always-on feature...and this weapon doesn't.






          share|improve this answer











          $endgroup$












          • $begingroup$
            Ah! Sadness. See, my intent was to acquire one on my Tundra Herald Barbarian so that, when he’ll be constantly cold (raging, wearing a Shard of the Ise Rune, a Belt of Frost Giant Strength and a Shield that extinguishes flames), he’d have the Frostbrand on his back to glow in order to “show and tell” that he’s a very frosty man (all of this for some RP flavor, basically).
            $endgroup$
            – Gael L
            Mar 5 at 16:30







          • 3




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Heh - no worries. But you also just said yourself it's beneficial to have it glow (as a flavor benefit.)
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 16:31










          • $begingroup$
            If you want a Crawford tweet to back you up: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/948339653639258112
            $endgroup$
            – Michael W.
            Mar 5 at 18:20










          • $begingroup$
            @MichaelW. Thanks, but I think I'll leave it just as the rules quoted. Trying my best to support and provide answers without Crawford's ephemeral interpretations :). That, and he's just repeating those same words quoted by OP.
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 18:23






          • 5




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Of course, you can always just get DM permission that it works differently. I'd never let a weird little edge-case rule get in the way of somebody's cool (ha) character idea if it's at my table.
            $endgroup$
            – Darth Pseudonym
            Mar 5 at 18:59












          Your Answer





          StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
          return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
          StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
          StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["\$", "\$"]]);
          );
          );
          , "mathjax-editing");

          StackExchange.ready(function()
          var channelOptions =
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "122"
          ;
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
          createEditor();
          );

          else
          createEditor();

          );

          function createEditor()
          StackExchange.prepareEditor(
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader:
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          ,
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          );



          );













          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function ()
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2frpg.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f142506%2fdoes-an-unattuned-frost-brand-weapon-still-glow-in-freezing-temperatures%23new-answer', 'question_page');

          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          13












          $begingroup$

          No, it does not glow



          That is a magical feature of the blade and whether or not you consider it to be a benefit, it can be a beneficial feature and qualifies.



          Unattuned features that are on will say so in the description



          You've quoted the relevant requirement in that it will say if a benefit will work without attunement:




          ...a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless it's description states otherwise




          What is beneficial isn't something that is table or DM dependent, it's an inherent property of the weapon - and unless it specifically states that it's an always-on feature...and this weapon doesn't.






          share|improve this answer











          $endgroup$












          • $begingroup$
            Ah! Sadness. See, my intent was to acquire one on my Tundra Herald Barbarian so that, when he’ll be constantly cold (raging, wearing a Shard of the Ise Rune, a Belt of Frost Giant Strength and a Shield that extinguishes flames), he’d have the Frostbrand on his back to glow in order to “show and tell” that he’s a very frosty man (all of this for some RP flavor, basically).
            $endgroup$
            – Gael L
            Mar 5 at 16:30







          • 3




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Heh - no worries. But you also just said yourself it's beneficial to have it glow (as a flavor benefit.)
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 16:31










          • $begingroup$
            If you want a Crawford tweet to back you up: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/948339653639258112
            $endgroup$
            – Michael W.
            Mar 5 at 18:20










          • $begingroup$
            @MichaelW. Thanks, but I think I'll leave it just as the rules quoted. Trying my best to support and provide answers without Crawford's ephemeral interpretations :). That, and he's just repeating those same words quoted by OP.
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 18:23






          • 5




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Of course, you can always just get DM permission that it works differently. I'd never let a weird little edge-case rule get in the way of somebody's cool (ha) character idea if it's at my table.
            $endgroup$
            – Darth Pseudonym
            Mar 5 at 18:59
















          13












          $begingroup$

          No, it does not glow



          That is a magical feature of the blade and whether or not you consider it to be a benefit, it can be a beneficial feature and qualifies.



          Unattuned features that are on will say so in the description



          You've quoted the relevant requirement in that it will say if a benefit will work without attunement:




          ...a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless it's description states otherwise




          What is beneficial isn't something that is table or DM dependent, it's an inherent property of the weapon - and unless it specifically states that it's an always-on feature...and this weapon doesn't.






          share|improve this answer











          $endgroup$












          • $begingroup$
            Ah! Sadness. See, my intent was to acquire one on my Tundra Herald Barbarian so that, when he’ll be constantly cold (raging, wearing a Shard of the Ise Rune, a Belt of Frost Giant Strength and a Shield that extinguishes flames), he’d have the Frostbrand on his back to glow in order to “show and tell” that he’s a very frosty man (all of this for some RP flavor, basically).
            $endgroup$
            – Gael L
            Mar 5 at 16:30







          • 3




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Heh - no worries. But you also just said yourself it's beneficial to have it glow (as a flavor benefit.)
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 16:31










          • $begingroup$
            If you want a Crawford tweet to back you up: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/948339653639258112
            $endgroup$
            – Michael W.
            Mar 5 at 18:20










          • $begingroup$
            @MichaelW. Thanks, but I think I'll leave it just as the rules quoted. Trying my best to support and provide answers without Crawford's ephemeral interpretations :). That, and he's just repeating those same words quoted by OP.
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 18:23






          • 5




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Of course, you can always just get DM permission that it works differently. I'd never let a weird little edge-case rule get in the way of somebody's cool (ha) character idea if it's at my table.
            $endgroup$
            – Darth Pseudonym
            Mar 5 at 18:59














          13












          13








          13





          $begingroup$

          No, it does not glow



          That is a magical feature of the blade and whether or not you consider it to be a benefit, it can be a beneficial feature and qualifies.



          Unattuned features that are on will say so in the description



          You've quoted the relevant requirement in that it will say if a benefit will work without attunement:




          ...a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless it's description states otherwise




          What is beneficial isn't something that is table or DM dependent, it's an inherent property of the weapon - and unless it specifically states that it's an always-on feature...and this weapon doesn't.






          share|improve this answer











          $endgroup$



          No, it does not glow



          That is a magical feature of the blade and whether or not you consider it to be a benefit, it can be a beneficial feature and qualifies.



          Unattuned features that are on will say so in the description



          You've quoted the relevant requirement in that it will say if a benefit will work without attunement:




          ...a creature gains only its nonmagical benefits, unless it's description states otherwise




          What is beneficial isn't something that is table or DM dependent, it's an inherent property of the weapon - and unless it specifically states that it's an always-on feature...and this weapon doesn't.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Mar 5 at 19:08

























          answered Mar 5 at 16:23









          NautArchNautArch

          61.8k8221407




          61.8k8221407











          • $begingroup$
            Ah! Sadness. See, my intent was to acquire one on my Tundra Herald Barbarian so that, when he’ll be constantly cold (raging, wearing a Shard of the Ise Rune, a Belt of Frost Giant Strength and a Shield that extinguishes flames), he’d have the Frostbrand on his back to glow in order to “show and tell” that he’s a very frosty man (all of this for some RP flavor, basically).
            $endgroup$
            – Gael L
            Mar 5 at 16:30







          • 3




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Heh - no worries. But you also just said yourself it's beneficial to have it glow (as a flavor benefit.)
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 16:31










          • $begingroup$
            If you want a Crawford tweet to back you up: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/948339653639258112
            $endgroup$
            – Michael W.
            Mar 5 at 18:20










          • $begingroup$
            @MichaelW. Thanks, but I think I'll leave it just as the rules quoted. Trying my best to support and provide answers without Crawford's ephemeral interpretations :). That, and he's just repeating those same words quoted by OP.
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 18:23






          • 5




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Of course, you can always just get DM permission that it works differently. I'd never let a weird little edge-case rule get in the way of somebody's cool (ha) character idea if it's at my table.
            $endgroup$
            – Darth Pseudonym
            Mar 5 at 18:59

















          • $begingroup$
            Ah! Sadness. See, my intent was to acquire one on my Tundra Herald Barbarian so that, when he’ll be constantly cold (raging, wearing a Shard of the Ise Rune, a Belt of Frost Giant Strength and a Shield that extinguishes flames), he’d have the Frostbrand on his back to glow in order to “show and tell” that he’s a very frosty man (all of this for some RP flavor, basically).
            $endgroup$
            – Gael L
            Mar 5 at 16:30







          • 3




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Heh - no worries. But you also just said yourself it's beneficial to have it glow (as a flavor benefit.)
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 16:31










          • $begingroup$
            If you want a Crawford tweet to back you up: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/948339653639258112
            $endgroup$
            – Michael W.
            Mar 5 at 18:20










          • $begingroup$
            @MichaelW. Thanks, but I think I'll leave it just as the rules quoted. Trying my best to support and provide answers without Crawford's ephemeral interpretations :). That, and he's just repeating those same words quoted by OP.
            $endgroup$
            – NautArch
            Mar 5 at 18:23






          • 5




            $begingroup$
            @GaelL Of course, you can always just get DM permission that it works differently. I'd never let a weird little edge-case rule get in the way of somebody's cool (ha) character idea if it's at my table.
            $endgroup$
            – Darth Pseudonym
            Mar 5 at 18:59
















          $begingroup$
          Ah! Sadness. See, my intent was to acquire one on my Tundra Herald Barbarian so that, when he’ll be constantly cold (raging, wearing a Shard of the Ise Rune, a Belt of Frost Giant Strength and a Shield that extinguishes flames), he’d have the Frostbrand on his back to glow in order to “show and tell” that he’s a very frosty man (all of this for some RP flavor, basically).
          $endgroup$
          – Gael L
          Mar 5 at 16:30





          $begingroup$
          Ah! Sadness. See, my intent was to acquire one on my Tundra Herald Barbarian so that, when he’ll be constantly cold (raging, wearing a Shard of the Ise Rune, a Belt of Frost Giant Strength and a Shield that extinguishes flames), he’d have the Frostbrand on his back to glow in order to “show and tell” that he’s a very frosty man (all of this for some RP flavor, basically).
          $endgroup$
          – Gael L
          Mar 5 at 16:30





          3




          3




          $begingroup$
          @GaelL Heh - no worries. But you also just said yourself it's beneficial to have it glow (as a flavor benefit.)
          $endgroup$
          – NautArch
          Mar 5 at 16:31




          $begingroup$
          @GaelL Heh - no worries. But you also just said yourself it's beneficial to have it glow (as a flavor benefit.)
          $endgroup$
          – NautArch
          Mar 5 at 16:31












          $begingroup$
          If you want a Crawford tweet to back you up: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/948339653639258112
          $endgroup$
          – Michael W.
          Mar 5 at 18:20




          $begingroup$
          If you want a Crawford tweet to back you up: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/948339653639258112
          $endgroup$
          – Michael W.
          Mar 5 at 18:20












          $begingroup$
          @MichaelW. Thanks, but I think I'll leave it just as the rules quoted. Trying my best to support and provide answers without Crawford's ephemeral interpretations :). That, and he's just repeating those same words quoted by OP.
          $endgroup$
          – NautArch
          Mar 5 at 18:23




          $begingroup$
          @MichaelW. Thanks, but I think I'll leave it just as the rules quoted. Trying my best to support and provide answers without Crawford's ephemeral interpretations :). That, and he's just repeating those same words quoted by OP.
          $endgroup$
          – NautArch
          Mar 5 at 18:23




          5




          5




          $begingroup$
          @GaelL Of course, you can always just get DM permission that it works differently. I'd never let a weird little edge-case rule get in the way of somebody's cool (ha) character idea if it's at my table.
          $endgroup$
          – Darth Pseudonym
          Mar 5 at 18:59





          $begingroup$
          @GaelL Of course, you can always just get DM permission that it works differently. I'd never let a weird little edge-case rule get in the way of somebody's cool (ha) character idea if it's at my table.
          $endgroup$
          – Darth Pseudonym
          Mar 5 at 18:59


















          draft saved

          draft discarded
















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to Role-playing Games Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid


          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

          Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function ()
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2frpg.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f142506%2fdoes-an-unattuned-frost-brand-weapon-still-glow-in-freezing-temperatures%23new-answer', 'question_page');

          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown






          Popular posts from this blog

          How to check contact read email or not when send email to Individual?

          Displaying single band from multi-band raster using QGIS

          How many registers does an x86_64 CPU actually have?