Cloaks are super useful items of clothing. They can act as disguises, protection from the weather, and a fashionable statement. A cloak can indicate rank or it can indicate being sneaky. It seems obvious, then, that magic cloaks show up a lot.
The Cloak of the Manta Ray allows for an increased swim speed. Cloak of Invisibility does what it says on the tin. Like any magic item, some cloaks are simply items for utility. The utility of an item is important to consider, but so is its story. what does it say about the world? The Cloak of Elvenkind is absolutely a Tolkien callback but is also an implicit statement about Elves in D&D in general. It tells you that Elves rely on stealth quite a bit, so much so that it is identified as being an eleven trait.
Cloak of Love
Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)
This cloak has 3 charges and regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn. While wearing the cloak, you can take a Magic action to pull its hood over your head and expend 1 charge. If you do so, for one hour you appear to have the face of the true love of the person you last spoke to. You will not know the identity of the face you appear to have. That said, a skillful manipulator can make use of that appearance to gain someone’s trust. Any Deception or Persuasion check involving the person whose true love you now resemble is made with advantage.
Cloak of Authority
Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement)
While wearing this cloak, a low-level charm effect is always present. You are perceived by everyone you encounter to be in some sort of position of authority. This can be a mayor, a magistrate, or some sort of captain in the guard. This grants a +2 for all charisma skill checks related to giving commands and persuading action in keeping with the perceived position of authority.
However, if the person wearing it lacks the office they are pretending, anyone who speaks with them while they are wearing the cloak with realize after their next long rest that the wearer was not who they claimed and will not be susceptible to its influence in the future. If the person does hold the position claimed while wearing it, there are no negative side effects.
The Fighting Cloak
Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement)
These cloaks were created long ago to be worn by a long-forgotten king’s guard. The kingdom fell and was lost to history, but those who know of these rare cloaks, woven with spells to make cloth strong as steel, value them more than gold.
The Fighting Cloak is a fine grey wool cloak, that acts as a shield for you if you are not holding anything off-hand. It gives the +2 to AC that one normally has from carrying a shield, and any other benefits one might get from wielding a shield such as those requiring a shield for feats (Defense Fighting Style, Shield Mastery, ect…) and fighter-abilities related to shields (Maneuvers, ect..).
Additionally, once per short rest, you may cast the Shield spell without expending a spell slot.
Cloak of the Arcane
Wondrous Item, Legendary (requires attunement)
This cloak is the one-time property of a mage named Prax. Prax spent much of his long life tracking down all sorts of arcane secrets. He wove some of those secrets into the fabric of his cloak. This cloak will only provide its benefits to arcane spell casters. To use its abilities, you must have at least a level in Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, or Warlock.
The cloak has the following effects:
The Wearer has +2 to their AC
The wearer has advantage on concentration checks.
The wearer may cast True Seeing once per long rest without spending a spell slot.
The wearer may cast the following spells without spending a spell slot.
Absorb Elements
Detect Magic
Arcane Vigor
Misty Step
Design note: These are quick and dirty examples but it gives a range of examples of things you can do with magic cloaks and magic clothing of any sort. It sort of makes me want to revisit cloth armor from 4th edition……hmmmm.
