It's kinda hard to make a magic item for your D&D party. In an ideal world, you create the perfect reward for a gruelling quest that lets your party get an advantage in combat without going over the top. However, the reality is that your painstakingly crafted magic item will either be chaff left at the bottom of their bags or become the one thing that warps the entire campaign.

But can AI do a better job than I at making a legendary-tier magic item for Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition? I tried making an item with ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini to see how each one fared, and as you'll see, things get pretty scary.

ChatGPT: Aetherion, the Heart of Forgotten Stars

Beat up a robot, then make it your (deadly) friend

The one that started it all for me was this magic item generated by ChatGPT. It's called Aetherion, the Heart of Forgotten Stars, and it's the one that set a precedent that I used for the other models.

Aetherion, the Heart of Forgotten Stars is a legendary weapon that's actually a sentient construct, meaning your magic item is actually a companion robot. It gives +2 to either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma up to 24, and you can pick which stat you want. It grants resistance to Force and Radiant damage, renders you immune to blinding, and gives you a free Plane Shift per long rest.

It comes with five charges that regenerate at dawn at a rate of 1D4+1, and its "ultimate ability" allows you to spend all your charges on forcing everyone in a 60ft radius, 300ft away, to make a DC 22 Wisdom save or be banished for a minute. It even has extra unlockable abilities if you're level 20 or you kill a deity with it.

Here's the full description:

Aetherion, the Heart of Forgotten Stars

Weapon (any), artifact (requires attunement by a spellcaster)

Lore

Forged in the crucible between dying realities, Aetherion is said to be a fragment of the first star that ever collapsed into nothingness. Ancient records speak of a cabal of archmages who dared to weave the dying breath of an entire cosmos into a single crystalline core. The result was a weapon capable of unraveling the fabric of existence itself.

When wielded, Aetherion whispers echoes of infinite worlds lost to time, and those who listen too long risk glimpsing truths their minds cannot contain.

Base Properties

While attuned to Aetherion, you gain the following benefits:

  • Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (your choice) increases by +2, to a maximum of 24.
  • Starforged Resilience. You have resistance to force and radiant damage, and you cannot be blinded by natural or magical means.
  • Spell Conduit. When you cast a spell that deals damage, you can choose to change its damage type to force or radiant.
  • Voidstride. You can cast plane shift (self only) once per long rest without expending a spell slot or material components.

Stellar Convergence

Aetherion has 5 charges. You can expend charges to channel its cosmic power:

Effect

Cost

Description

Nova Pulse

1 charge

As an action, unleash a 30-ft radius burst of starlight. Creatures of your choice must make a DC 20 Con save, taking 4d10 radiant + 4d10 force damage on a failed save, or half on success.

Event Horizon

2 charges

As an action, create a 20-ft radius sphere of collapsing gravity within 120 ft for 1 minute. Creatures entering or starting their turn in the area must make a DC 20 Strength save or be restrained and pulled 10 ft toward the center.

Reality Fracture

5 charges

Once per long rest, you can tear open a scar in reality. Choose a point within 300 ft; creatures in a 60-ft radius must make a DC 22 Wisdom save or be banished to a random demiplane for 1 minute. Legendary creatures make this save with advantage.

Aetherion regains 1d4+1 charges at dawn.

Mythic Awakening

When the wielder reaches level 20 or defeats a being of divine or greater power, Aetherion awakens, unlocking its true form.

  • Cosmic Overload. Once per long rest, you can enter a state of stellar ascendance for 1 minute:
    • You gain truesight 120 ft.
    • You can concentrate on two spells simultaneously.
    • Your spells and abilities deal maximum damage.
  • Unbound Reality. Once per month, you can rewrite reality as if casting the wish spell, but without the usual stress or restrictions. However, each time you use this feature, the DM secretly rolls a d20:
    • On a 1, Aetherion shatters into fragments of fading starlight, permanently losing all power.

Sentience

Aetherion is a sentient artifact (Int 22, Wis 20, Cha 18) with a lawful neutral alignment. It communicates telepathically and shares visions of possible futures with its wielder. It seeks to preserve the multiverse’s balance — and may resist wielders who use it recklessly.

Destroying Aetherion

To destroy Aetherion, it must be cast into the cradle of the first star — a cosmic phenomenon lost to mortal maps. Alternatively, if a creature simultaneously casts wish, time stop, and imprisonment on the wielder while standing at the heart of a dying universe, Aetherion dissipates into motes of fading starlight.

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However, ChatGPT didn't stop there. It offered to make an encounter where you obtain Aetherion, and it involves defeating the construct in a big boss battle. So, of course, I had it make one, and the results were pretty horrifying.

We're talking an AC25, 850HP, gargantuan construct that can fly 120ft. It heals 400HP when defeated and forces everyone within 120ft to make a DC 24 Wisdom saving throw or be banished until the start of the next turn. It has five legendary resistances, unlimited uses of Dispel Magic, a free Time Stop a day, and attacks three times with a 20ft range with a +17 to hit, doing 67 damage per smack on average. It even has an ability that deals 180 damage and blinds everyone within a 90ft radius on a failed DC 24 Constitution saving throw, which recharges on a 5 or a 6.

Think that's bad? It gets worse. It can pull people in within a 60ft radius area with a DC 24 Strength saving throw, with people who fail being dragged into the center and becoming restrained. Anyone reduced to 0HP while restrained this way gets disintegrated instantly. Plus, ChatGPT added an optional "Final Gambit" where you have to do 250HP worth of damage or perform five DC 25 Arcana checks in three round,s or everyone gets banished forever and the campaign ends. Insane.

If you want to see all the stats, here's the chat log.

Copilot: Aegis of the Last Horizon

Or: how to annoy your DM with one simple trick

So now that ChatGPT has set the bar pretty high, other chatbots now have to make a magic item and a suitably terrifying boss fight to win the trophy. Up next was Copilot, and its legendary item is called Aegis of the Last Horizon. It's a shield for a Paladin, Cleric, or Fighter, and it's seemingly designed to tick the DM off to no end.

It starts innocent, with +3 to AC and resistance to all spells and magic effects. However, it comes with three charges of Stellar Reprisal, which lets you do 6d8 Radiant damage and blind a creature if it attacks someone within 30 feet of you and fails a DC 20 Constitution saving throw, which recharges on a long rest. And if that wasn't obnoxious enough, you can slam the shield into the ground once per long rest, creating a 20ft radius of difficult terrain that restrains enemies on a failed DC 20 Strength saving throw and can even snag fliers out of the air. Perfect for ruining your DM's encounter.

Here's the stat block:

Aegis of the Last Horizon

Legendary, requires attunement by a Paladin, Cleric, or Fighter

Wondrous Item — Shield

This masterwork shield is forged from a single slab of star-metal, its surface shimmering with a faint reflection of distant constellations. When held, you hear the faint hum of celestial winds, as though the void itself is watching over you.

Stats & Properties

  • AC Bonus: +3 to AC while wielded.
  • Void Ward: You have resistance to all damage from spells and magical effects.
  • Stellar Reprisal: When a creature within 30 feet of you hits you or an ally with an attack, you can use your reaction to unleash a burst of radiant starlight. The attacker must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or take 6d8 radiant damage and be blinded until the end of its next turn. Usable 3 times per long rest.
  • Gravity Well: Once per long rest, you can slam the shield into the ground, creating a 20‑foot radius zone of crushing gravity for 1 minute.
    • Enemies treat the area as difficult terrain.
    • At the start of their turn, enemies in the area must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 20) or be restrained until the start of their next turn.
    • Flying creatures in the area are pulled to the ground unless they succeed on the save.
  • Celestial Bulwark: While you have 0 hit points but are not dead, you remain conscious and can act normally for 1 round before falling unconscious. This feature recharges at dawn.

Lore

The Aegis of the Last Horizon was said to be the final gift of the Astral Sentinels before they vanished beyond the edge of the multiverse. It was wielded by the champion Ser Calvess during the Battle of the Falling Stars, where he held the line against an army of planar horrors for three days without rest.

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You know what time it is now; it's time to see that boss fight. Well, your first problem is getting to the shield, as it's in a vault, orbiting around a dead planet in space. Once you finally find a way to perform the D&D 5e equivalent of boarding the International Space Station, you then have to fight an Ancient Solar Dragon with AC 18, 370HP, 80ft flying speed, and gets advantage on everything it does if it's in bright light.

It has two breaths: one that slows people, and one that blinds them. It's immune to fire, and radiant damage heals it instead. And while you're fighting it, the vault itself spawns gravity wells that drag people around and lava fissures that do 4d10 damage on contact. Yeesh.

Here's the full chat log if you want to use this fellow in your own campaign for some reason.

Google Gemini - The Orb of Chronos

The power gamer's dream

Google Gemini's offering seems a lot tamer on the surface, but the more you think about it, the more you can see how it can break the game. It starts simple: the orb gives you advantage on Perception and History checks if you're trying to recall or track events. It comes with seven charges that fully recharge themselves at dawn. You can use one charge to cast haste or slow without concentration that lasts until your next turn. You can use three to blink something about to take damage within 60ft of you, and it takes no damage. Finally, you can spend all seven to cast haste on yourself and slow on everyone within 30ft of you, with no chance of saving against it.

Here are the stats:

The Orb of Chronos

Wondrous Item, legendary (requires attunement by a creature with proficiency in Arcana or History)

This small, perfectly spherical orb is carved from a single piece of what appears to be petrified cosmic dust. Within its crystalline surface, a constant, slow-moving spiral of light can be seen, resembling a miniature galaxy. When held, it feels as though time itself flows through your fingers—a quiet hum that resonates with the past, present, and future. Legend claims it was forged by a forgotten deity of time to observe the multiverse, before being lost to the ages.

Temporal Insight. While attuned to the Orb, you have a deep, intuitive understanding of the flow of time. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (History) checks related to tracking or recalling events in a specific location.

Temporal Acceleration. As an action, you can expend 1 of the Orb's 7 charges to cast either the haste or slow spell (your choice). Both spells require no concentration when cast using this feature, but their effects end at the start of your next turn.

Momentary Stasis. As a reaction when you or a creature you can see within 60 feet is about to take damage, you can expend 3 charges from the Orb. The creature is momentarily shunted out of time, avoiding the damage. The creature immediately returns to its space at the end of the current turn, unaffected by the event that would have harmed it.

Chronos's Gambit. As a bonus action, you can expend all 7 charges from the Orb and speak its command word. For 1 minute, you are under the effects of the haste spell, and all other creatures within a 30-foot radius of you are under the effects of the slow spell. The slow effect requires no concentration and affects all creatures within the area. At the end of the duration, all creatures affected by the slow spell are stunned for 1d4 rounds and their speed is reduced to 0 until the start of their next turn. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until 7 days have passed.

Temporal Decay. The Orb of Chronos regains all of its expended charges at dawn. Each time the Orb is used, there is a 5% cumulative chance that its magic temporarily warps the user's perception of time, causing the user to take 1d4 psychic damage at the end of each turn for the next 10 rounds. This effect cannot be cleansed by a spell of 5th level or lower.

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Seems pretty tame versus an animate weapon and a shield that can break encounters, but I'd argue that this weapon is fiendish in the hands of someone crafty enough to use it. For example, you could throw yourself off a cliff, and as a reaction to you hitting the floor with an almighty splat, you blink yourself and nullify it. And because Chrono's Gambit doesn't call for a saving throw against its slow effect, you can use it to nerf the Big Boss battle severely, and it can't even use a legendary resistance to avoid it. One whole in-game minute of treating the terrifying, world-ending boss as a punching bag. Amazing.

If you want to trivialise anything your DM throws at you until the end of the campaign, you're going to need to find this orb at The Temple of the Unmoving Present. Your party has to pass The Trial of the Past and The Trial of the Future, and then fight The Warden of the Moment in its chamber. The Warden is a gargantuan construct with 20 AC, 315 HP, and a 40ft walking speed. Any attacks against it have disadvantage due to its ability to perceive the future. It can use a reaction to gain +5 AC against a melee attack on top of the disadvantage, can teleport 60ft as a bonus action, and one of its abilities has it show a party member their own demise, causing fear for a turn. Plus, it can use a legendary action to return to a spot it was in before.

Here's the full chat log for this beast of an item.

AI-generated D&D assets are super powerful items you have to bleed for

While I admired just how mighty these items are and how equally mean their boss fights are, I think perhaps the AIs went a little overboard on this one. I think I'll stick with the D&D book when it comes to adding magic items to my campaign.