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Artifact
An Artifact is an item which there is said to be only one of in existence in their respective setting. These items are often the most powerful in the game, as well as often having cursed properties associated with them. Some editions have had a random selection of different properties which each Artifact would be given by the Dungeon Master, making each item's implication in each game unique and unpredictable. These items sometimes have associations with characters in the Mythos of various campaign settings, such as the Hand of Vecna and Wand of Orcus.

2nd Edition AD&D
Artifacts are once again considered a classification of Miscellaneous Item, yet in this edition only three examples of potential Artifacts are given in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Every Artifact will have a number of Minor effects, Major effects, Dangers, and Weaknesses, as well as having a Corrupting effect on the user, the specifics of all these chosen from a list so that each item is unique as in the first edition.

3.5th Edition
In this edition, the number of magic items that a character can have in their possession is limited to what they can fit on their body. For example, a character can only benefit from one pair of boots/shoes, one set of gloves, one belt around the waist, etc. While it may have been assumed prior, this is the first edition to explicitly specify this limit. Artifacts in 3.5 no longer have randomly assigned properties like they did in AD&D, only possessing their assigned abilities or drawbacks. Artifacts have also been split into Minor and Major categories.

5th Edition
The 5th edition Dungeon Master's Guide introduced the concept of Item Rarity, in which magic items are given a rating between Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare, and Legendary to denote the frequency in which this item is expected to be found within the game. The only Common magic item to appear in the Dungeon Master's Guide is the Potion of Healing, with an additional list of Common items appearing in the supplementary book Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Artifacts act as a 6th Rarity category for items, the highest possible due to their singular nature.[7] Artifacts also have random properties as they did in AD&D, each Artifact possessing a certain number of minor and major beneficial or detrimental properties. Some items require attunement to be used, limiting the number of items a character can benefit from at once to 3 attuneable items (while specifying no specific limits on items otherwise).

Other Fantasy Stories

 * The Hand and Eye of Vecna bear a similarity to items appearing within Michael Moorcock's Corum novels: A left hand and left eye which are able to grant whoever replaces their existing limbs with it unusual powers.
 * The Ioun Stones are taken directly from the Jack Vance series Dying Earth.
 * The Vorpal Sword is taken from Lewis Carrol's poem "Jabberwocky", and its in-game abilities related to beheading references the way in which the Jabberwocky was killed in the poem.

Folklore/Mythology

 * The Carpet of Flying is based upon Magic Carpets, which originate in Persian myths and were popularized in media through 1001 Arabian Nights.
 * Winged Boots bear a similarity to the Winged Sandals worn by Hermes.
 * The Broom of Flying is based upon Wiccain Rituals and artwork depicting Witches soaring through the air while riding Broomsticks.
 * The Mirror of Life Trapping, a mirror which can steal and trap the souls of living persons, has a similarity to various culture's mirror supersititons. During the Jewish mourning process of Shiva, mirrors in a house are to be covered in order to prevent the soul of the deceased from being trapped within them.
 * The Flametongue, a sword with a blade engulfed in flame, is similar to other flaming swords appearing in mythology. Some examples of these are Dyrnwyn of Welsh Medieval tradition, and in some writings the Sword of Surtr is described as being flaming as well.