5 Underrated Pieces of Adventuring Gear from the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook

Salutations, nerds! Today I’m taking a look at basic adventuring gear for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Specifically I’m looking at adventuring gear from the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook I haven’t seen in play nearly enough. These pieces of adventuring gear are things you can find in most shops, many of provide a measurable mechanical benefit to characters who use them.

5E D&D adventuring gear with special rules or explanations

“For an adventurer, the availability of armor, weapons, backpacks, rope, and similar goods is of paramount importance, since proper equipment can mean the difference between life and death in a dungeon or the untamed wilds.” — from the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook chapter 5: Equipment

Below you’ll find a selection of often overlooked or under-valued pieces of adventuring gear for 5E D&D along with their descriptions from the Player’s Handbook.

Ball Bearings and Caltrops

Ball Bearings. “As an action, you can spill these tiny metal balls from their pouch to cover a level, square area that is 10 feet on a side. A creature moving across the covered area must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. A creature moving through the area at half speed doesn’t need to make the save.”

Caltrops. “As an action, you can spread a bag of caltrops to cover a square area that is 5 feet on a side. Any creature that enters the area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or stop moving this turn and take 1 piercing damage. Taking this damage reduces the creature’s walking speed by 10 feet until the creature regains at least 1 hit point. A creature moving through the area at half speed doesn’t need to make the save.”

Here’s the thing. Both ball bearings and caltrops cost 1 gp for a bag of either. You get 1000 ball bearings and 20 caltrops but with a higher save DC and damage, not to mention slowing a creature’s walking speed, caltrops are objectively better.

I recommend investing in more than one bag of these. When I have time to prepare an area for a fight and bring enemies to me I spread them over a larger area. Ball bearings have two things over caltrops. For one they cover a larger area so if you have a narrow hallway to bottleneck enemies into you can get them all in one action without them having to go around. For another they’d be more useful in a running-from-the-guards situation because if you do get caught imagine them trying to crank up the charges against you by saying, “They spilled a bunch of marbles in my way.”

Admittedly this is a lot more useful when you’re playing with a battle map than if you’re using theater of the mind. I suppose you can always ask your Dungeon Master about the gaps though.

Healer’s Kit

“This kit is a leather pouch containing bandages, salves, and splints. The kit has ten uses. As an action, you can expend one use of the kit to stabilize a creature that has 0 hit points, without needing to make a Wisdom (Medicine) check.”

In a nutshell you don’t have to roll a Medicine check to stabilize a dying ally. This isn’t as good as literally any spell that restores hit points but if you don’t have anyone with healing magic around then a healer’s kit absolutely becomes a life saver. This is especially the case if you’re not being noodly about what kinds of wounds people have and how you’re going about healing them. You can generally just slap a bandage on it and move on.

Even if your 5E D&D adventuring party does count a healer among them I have seen far too many times someone go down and the character with healing spells just meh and keep trying to deal damage instead of picking up their friend. A healer’s kit is a good investment. Yes, even if you’re the rogue.

Holy Water

“As an action, you can splash the contents of this flask onto a creature within 5 feet of you or throw it up to 20 feet, shattering it on impact. In either case, make a ranged attack against a target creature, treating the holy water as an improvised weapon. If the target is a fiend or undead, it takes 2d6 radiant damage. A cleric or paladin may create holy water by performing a special ritual. The ritual takes 1 hour to perform, uses 25 gp worth of powdered silver, and requires the caster to expend a 1st-level spell slot.”

Holy water deals 2d6 radiant damage to undead creatures and fiends. Most of the DM’s I’ve played with let me dunk arrows in holy water and add the damage, too. (Your DM might not and you have to be a good sport if they don’t.) Holy water is an absolute must have piece of adventuring gear if you’re playing in an undead or demon-heavy games.

Hunting Trap

“When you use your action to set it, this trap forms a saw-toothed steel ring that snaps shut when a creature steps on a pressure plate in the center. The trap is affixed by a heavy chain to an immobile object, such as a tree or a spike driven into the ground. A creature that steps on the plate must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d4 piercing damage and stop moving. Thereafter, until the creature breaks free of the trap, its movement is limited by the length of the chain (typically 3 feet long). A creature can use its action to make a DC 13 Strength check, freeing itself or another creature within its reach on a success. Each failed check deals 1 piercing damage to the trapped creature.”

I have literally never seen anyone use this in game and I have no idea why. It’s a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw to avoid being caught, and if you are you take 1d4 piercing damage. Doesn’t seem too great, right? Except if you’re caught then your movement severely limited and you can’t get out until you succeed on a DC 13 Strength check and you keep taking damage every time you fail.

A hunting trap becomes pretty useless in higher level 5E D&D games, admittedly, but early on and in a large scale combat situation with a lot of enemies this isn’t a bad thing to consider preparing even during middle levels because odds are good some of the bad guys are going to get caught.

At 5 gp each a hunting trap can be kind of expensive during early levels but if you’re smart about your placement, totally worth it. [NERDITOR’S NOTE: The Pack Master CBG makes efficient use of hunting traps!]

Rope and Chains

Rope. “Rope, whether made of hemp or silk, has 2 hit points and can be burst with a DC 17 Strength check.”

Chains. “A chain has 10 hit points. It can be burst with a successful DC 20 Strength check.”

I’m reminded immediately of the scene in The Boondock Saints where one of the brothers derisively asks, “What are we gonna need rope for?” and the other answers, “You always need it.” Rope comes standard issue in a lot of packs: Burglar’s, Dungeoneer’s and Explorer’s. Although I do question why shops would sell burglar’s packs. Hmm…

Anyway, chain has a higher DC to break than rope and is actually cheaper than silk rope. Heavier, but cheaper, and if your DM isn’t calculating weight (I have never had one who does) it’s a solid choice. Ha, see what I did there?

Shut up, I’m funny.

All right! There we have five underrated pieces of adventuring gear from the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook you should totally think again about taking with you on your adventures. After all, it’s dangerous to go alone. Well. It’s also dangerous to go with a party of three to five other people but with a little bit of smarts and the right adventuring gear it can be just a tiny bit less so. Got any other bits of adventuring gear that don’t get used enough in your opinion? Hit us up in the comments, connecting with us on Facebook or tweeting us @Nerdarchy. Feel free to comment or tweet me @Pyrosynthesis too and of course, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — The marketplace of a large city teems with buyers and sellers of many sorts: dwarf smiths and elf woodcarvers, halfling farmers and gnome jewelers, not to mention humans of every shape, size, and color drawn from a spectrum of nations and cultures. In the largest cities, almost anything imaginable is offered for sale, from exotic spices and luxurious clothing to wicker baskets and practical swords. [Images courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

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