# How many Ioun Stones can you use at once? Also, do they work with other head gear?



## dead (Nov 7, 2004)

Just wondering how many Ioun Stones you can have zipping around your head and all working?

Also, does an Ioun Stone work if you've got some other piece of head gear on like, say, a Headband of Intellect or Goggles of Darkvision?

Thanks.  

P.S. Many Ioun Stones zipping around a PC's head would look way cool. In fact, there's some illustrations of the sort in the XPH but I'm not sure if a) this is artistic liberty; or b) these are psicrystals.


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## Scion (Nov 7, 2004)

You can have as many ioun stones as you can afford floating around your head at one time  They take up no slots and they do not interfere with headgear.


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## argo (Nov 7, 2004)

Ioun stones don't actually occupy a slot so you can use as many as you want/the DM will allow.  And yes their effects stack with an item in the head slot, assumig that they provide bonuses of a different type of course.


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## dead (Nov 7, 2004)

Thanks.  

Hmm . . . 15 Ioun Stones buzz'n round my head (one of each type). What a sight!


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## Scion (Nov 7, 2004)

Make sure to get a heightened continual flame put on a few of them


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## Sammael (Nov 7, 2004)

Larloch has 24, as statted in LoD...


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## UltimaGabe (Nov 7, 2004)

Scion said:
			
		

> Make sure to get a heightened continual flame put on a few of them




Heightened?


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## Scion (Nov 7, 2004)

UltimaGabe said:
			
		

> Heightened?





SRD:
Higher level light spells are not affected by darkness.


So, if it has a higher level then it penetrates into higher level darkness type spells 

Also, you dont want it to wink out when walking around into globes (yes, I know it depends on how you read it).

And hey, since it is permanent might as well get the good stuff.


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## Xath (Nov 7, 2004)

I know someone who once had 1000 mundane Ioun stones floating around his body.  The DM allowed that they granted him a cover bonus.


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## dead (Nov 8, 2004)

Xath said:
			
		

> I know someone who once had 1000 mundane Ioun stones floating around his body.  The DM allowed that they granted him a cover bonus.




Ya, but was he blinded?


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## dcollins (Nov 8, 2004)

From _Rhialto the Marvellous_ by Jack Vance (c) 1984, Part 3, Section 9:



> "A quick question before you go," spoke Gilgad. "Where does one find IOUN stones?"
> 
> Morreion looked at him without comprehension. At last he gave his attention to the stones, which swirled with a swifter motion. In comparison, those of the archevault Xexamedes were listless and dull. These danced and curveted, and sparkled with different colours. Closest to Morreion's head moved the lavender and the pale green stones, as if they thought themselves the most loved and most privileged. Somewhat more wayward were the stones glowing pink and green together: then came stones of a pure proud pink, then the royal carmine stones, then the red and blue; and finally, at the outer periphery, a number of stones glittering with intense blue lights...
> 
> Morreion gave a slow thoughtful nod. "Curious! So much which I seem to have forgotten..."


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## Romnipotent (Nov 8, 2004)

dead said:
			
		

> Ya, but was he blinded?



he had cover, he couldn't see them he was hiding behind the stones 

a note of interest: in Dragonstar play a Talarn (Ioun Stone makers) Psion/Wilder what ever, sit around as a kid making stones for power points (each stone still has enough for 1 power point)

yeah, anyway, back to golf ball head psions


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## Pseudonym (Nov 8, 2004)

They seem to have dissapeared in 3.5, but in 3.0 and earlier, you could get burned out grey ioun stones for 25 GP.  Those were perfect for the continual light/flame trick, especialy usefull for archers and those who need both hands free to cast.


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## MerakSpielman (Nov 8, 2004)

Just a quick aside (I know most of you here wouldn't make this mistake), but when a player of mine heard that you can have as many Ioun Stones as you can afford equipped at the same time, he jumped to the conclusion that he get several of the "+1 to AC" variety and improve his AC by several points. As elsewhere in the rules, _like bonuses don't stack_. So he could equip them all, sure, but he would only get the bonus from, at most, one of them.


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## Ogrork the Mighty (Nov 8, 2004)

Actually, a bunch of burned out ioun stones would be a great investment (if they still float). Just paint the active ioun stones the same colour and your enemies won't know which one(s) to grab!


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## darthkilmor (Nov 8, 2004)

Didnt there used to be something about only using 3 ioun stones at once?
or am i getting pen and paper dnd confused with some video game that had ioun stones?


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## Robbert Raets (Nov 10, 2004)

There's been some confusion over this, so I think various sources are/have been contradicting each other or themselves.

24 seems a bit much, unless Ioun Stones are a lot smaller than I imagine.


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## Storyteller01 (Nov 10, 2004)

Kind of off topic, but...

Wasn't there a magic crown that could have been confused for Ioun stones? The crown itself was invisible, but the inset stones weren't.

I think it was a FR/Myth Drannor item.


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## Stockdale (Nov 11, 2004)

I'm gonna chime in with Darthkilmor. I recall reading somewhere (3.0 DMG ?) that it was two or three stones. I further recall (and I might be wrong) that they did take up the head slot for magic items.


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## Knight Otu (Nov 11, 2004)

Nope, definitely not the 3.0 DMG (unless it is not mentioned in the ioun stone writeup). I also dug up the german AD&D book for magic items (part of the DMG), and also doesn't say anything about a limit.

 Only thing I remember are similar items in the computer game Betrayal in Antara, where you could only have one.


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## dcollins (Nov 11, 2004)

No, there's never been any limit on the use of _ioun stones_, in any by-the-book version of D&D, Basic, 1st, 2nd, 3.0, or 3.5. I posted the snippet from Jack Vance above to illustrate the inspiration where they come from.

Maybe people who very quickly glance at the description and see "must be within 3 feet" are getting confused?


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## darthkilmor (Nov 11, 2004)

If memory serves right, in the old dnd game Dungeon Hack, you could use ioun stones, and only 3 at a time. I think thats where I'm getting "3" in my head from.  Anyone that has a working install wanna back me up? (also have to remind myself to look in the DMG when iI get home and convince self of no ioun stone limit. then ponder why his 13F/3W dwarf doesnt have any yet.)


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## kenobi65 (Nov 11, 2004)

Stockdale said:
			
		

> I'm gonna chime in with Darthkilmor. I recall reading somewhere (3.0 DMG ?) that it was two or three stones. I further recall (and I might be wrong) that they did take up the head slot for magic items.




Nope to both.  

First of all, there isn't technically a "head" slot.  There's a "headband, hat, helmet, or phylactery on the head" slot, and a "eye lenses or goggles on or over the eyes" slot.  Since ioun stones clearly aren't any of these (and the DMG gets specific on names of things, so it's clear which slot they go into), they don't take up a slot on the body.  Items whose names don't explicitly describe the slot they occupy almost always list the slot in the description of the item.  No such information exists in the DMG or SRD description of ioun stones.

Similarly, if there were a limit on how many a character could "wear" at once, again, it'd be in the description, and again, there's no such information in the description.

Additional indirect evidence that they don't take up a slot: the ioun stones that grant a +2 enhancement bonus to an ability score cost 8,000gp, twice as much as items like Gloves of Dexerity +2 or Gauntlets of Ogre Power +2, which do *exactly* the same thing.  Further, in the section of the DMG about creating magic items, it says that a magic item that doesn't take up a slot on the body costs 2x the standard costs, and it even lists ioun stones as an example!


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## Taluron (Nov 11, 2004)

Pseudonym said:
			
		

> They seem to have dissapeared in 3.5, but in 3.0 and earlier, you could get burned out grey ioun stones for 25 GP.  Those were perfect for the continual light/flame trick, especialy usefull for archers and those who need both hands free to cast.




They are in the Expnaded Psionic Handbook and now in the SRD.


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## Stockdale (Nov 12, 2004)

I stand corrected!


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