13

During a recent session, my character was given a Cloak of Protection and a Staff of Fire. Both items require attunement. Is it possible to attune to both items at the same time or do I need to attune to them seperately?

Morchalion the Mad
  • 247
  • 2
  • 7
  • 1
    Are you asking about having those items attuned at the same time at some point or about actually attuning to them simultaneously, such as in a single short rest? – Sdjz Oct 18 '19 at 14:17

1 Answers1

27

Can you attune simultaneously? No.

Unfortunately, you are limited to just one item per short rest. The basic rules covers this (emphasis mine):

Attuning to an item requires a creature to spend a short rest focused on only that item while being in physical contact with it (this can't be the same short rest used to learn the item's properties).

You can generally attune up to three in total

The Basic Rules covers this (my emphasis):

An item can be attuned to only one creature at a time, and a creature can be attuned to no more than three magic items at a time. Any attempt to attune to a fourth item fails; the creature must end its attunement to an item first. Additionally, a creature can't attune to more than one copy of an item.

As long as they aren't the same item, a character can attune to up to 3 items. Your character can definitely attune to both the Cloak of Protection and the Staff of Fire (assuming you also meet the requirements for the Staff).

NotArch
  • 125,044
  • 39
  • 506
  • 804
  • 1
    You may also want to mention that at least 1 class can attune to more than 3 items. – Journer Oct 18 '19 at 15:01
  • @journer what class? – NotArch Oct 18 '19 at 15:27
  • Artificer for sure, 6 items attuned at level 20, not sure about lower levels. – Journer Oct 18 '19 at 15:36
  • Also looks like Artificer Infusions can count to attunement. – Journer Oct 18 '19 at 15:40
  • The odd thing is that the rules specify the duration of the short rest for attunement for one item and that the short rest must be at least one hour. What then if you take a two hours short rest? By RAW you can only attune the one item. Two attune to two items you'd need to rest for one hour, do something non restful, then attune the second item. – Allan Mills Oct 18 '19 at 21:51
  • @allan-mills Isn't that just taking two back to back short rests? – NotArch Oct 18 '19 at 22:03
  • 1
    @NautArch Sort of. You'd need to do something to break up the rest though by RAW. You can't just rest for 2 hours and attune 2 items in that time. – Allan Mills Oct 18 '19 at 22:30