Ring of Protection 5e: What +1 AC and Saves Is Worth, and What It Stacks With

The Ring of Protection in 5e is a rare ring that requires attunement and gives a +1 bonus to Armor Class and to every saving throw while you wear it. That's the whole item, and it's identical in the 2014 and 2024 rules. It stacks with a Cloak of Protection, Mage Armor, a Shield and a Paladin's aura, but you can't attune to two Rings of Protection. The verdict: a solid pick for any character, rarely the best use of a rare-tier attunement slot, and overpriced next to the uncommon cloak that does the same thing.

Table of Contents

• •Ring of Protection Rules Text
• •How the Ring of Protection Works
• •Ring of Protection: 2014 vs 2024
• •What +1 Actually Does: The Math
• •Is the Ring of Protection Worth It?
• •Ring of Protection for DMs
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Ring of Protection Rules Text

The 2014 card (SRD 5.1) is first, then the 2024 card (SRD 5.2.1):

One sentence each, and the only difference is that 2024 spells out "Armor Class" where 2014 wrote "AC".

How the Ring of Protection Works

Attunement and wearing it

You get nothing from the ring until you attune to it: a short rest spent focused on the ring while touching it. It then takes one of your three attunement slots. Neither SRD limits how many rings you can wear, so the slot, not your fingers, is the real cost.

Which saving throws it covers

All of them. The text says "saving throws" with no ability attached, so the +1 applies to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saves alike. That includes:

• •Concentration checks. Keeping Concentration after taking damage is a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 or half the damage, whichever is higher), so the ring helps a spellcaster hold a spell.
• •Death saves. A death saving throw is a saving throw, so the +1 applies and moves the success threshold from 10 to 9 on the die: 55% to 60% per roll. The 2014 SRD says so directly: death saves are "aided only by spells and features that improve your chances of succeeding on a saving throw". The 2024 SRD calls it a saving throw that isn't tied to an ability, and its D20 Test steps add bonuses before you compare the total with the target, so "10 or higher" is the total. A natural 20 and a natural 1 still count as rolled.

Stacking with other items and spells

Neither SRD has a general rule that blocks bonuses from different sources adding together. The rule that does exist is narrow: spells with the same name don't combine (two castings of Bless give one benefit), and you can't attune to more than one copy of an item. The SRD's own example for that second rule is the Ring of Protection.

The "different names stack" logic is the reason the classic defensive build is ring + cloak + armor + Shield. Each piece is a separate source.

Ring of Protection: 2014 vs 2024

Nothing changed in play. What changed around it: the 2024 SRD prices every rare item at 4,000 GP, which makes the ring cost ten times as much as the uncommon Cloak of Protection (400 GP) for the same effect.

What +1 Actually Does: The Math

A +1 shifts a d20 roll by one face, which is 5 percentage points. Whether that's a lot depends on how often you were being hit or failing.

Armor Class. Take a monster attacking at +7:

The higher your AC already is, the more each point is worth in relative terms: going from 18 to 19 cuts hits by 10% (10 to 9), from 16 to 17 by about 8%.

Saving throws. Against a DC 15 Wisdom save, a character with +1 Wisdom saving throws succeeds on 14+ (35%); with the ring, 13+ (40%). For a fighter worried about being charmed or frightened, that's one more failed save in every twenty avoided. It's the same 5 points on every save, so the ring is most valuable to characters with several bad saves rather than one great one.

Compared with Advantage. Advantage on a roll you'd make on 11+ is worth about +5. The ring is +1 on every roll, every time. That's why the ring rarely feels dramatic but quietly turns a handful of failures into successes over a campaign.

Is the Ring of Protection Worth It?

Worth it for almost anyone who has a free attunement slot and nothing better. A trap if it pushes out a rare item that does something the party can't do otherwise. Here's what it competes with at the rare tier:

Who should wear it:

• •Spellcasters who hold Concentration. Wizards and sorcerers have weak Constitution saves without help. +1 to Con saves and +1 AC protects both the spell and the caster.
• •Characters already wearing a Cloak of Protection. The ring adds the same bonus again. The other SRD item with a flat +1 to every save, the Stone of Good Luck, gives no AC.
• •Characters without a Shield. A monk or a two-handed fighter has fewer ways to raise AC. The ring stacks with anything.

Lower priority: characters inside a Paladin's aura (it already adds the Paladin's Charisma modifier to saves), and characters choosing between this ring and an item that does something new.

Ring of Protection for DMs

Placement. It fits in a rare treasure hoard at around the point characters start finding their second and third attuned items. Because it does nothing new, it won't break an encounter or a plot.

What it changes. Very little. A party where several characters wear protection items will see your monsters hit a bit less and your save-or-suffer spells land a bit less. If a big villain depends on one save, a +1 can decide it. That's a feature; it rewards the players for building defensively.

Pricing. The 2024 SRD values rare items at 4,000 GP and the Cloak of Protection at 400 GP for the same effect. If you run a magic shop, expect players to buy the cloak first. The 2014 SRD prints no prices; any 2014 figure comes from the Dungeon Master's Guide, not the SRD. The shop price calculator and rarity calculator help set prices for anything else in the rare item list.

At the table. Ask the player to write the +1 into their AC and every save on the sheet. Remind them it also applies to death saves and Concentration saves, which are easy to roll without the sheet in front of you.

Hooks.

• •A noble's heir wears a Ring of Protection and refuses to take it off. The family wants it back to pay a debt, and the heir has started hiring guards.
• •Two identical rings turn up in one hoard. The party can only use one each, which makes them perfect bribes, rewards or trade goods for the next town.
• •A ring fits only a single finger of a statue in a shrine. It's a Ring of Protection, and taking it wakes whatever the statue was protecting.

Small flat bonuses are the easiest things to forget between sessions. Loreify records your game and keeps the recap, loot and who's attuned to what included.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Ring of Protection stack with the Cloak of Protection?

Yes. They're different items, so a character attuned to both gets +2 to AC and +2 to all saving throws. The only limit is that you can't attune to two copies of the same item.

Can you wear two Rings of Protection?

You can wear them, but you can't attune to more than one copy of an item, and the ring does nothing without attunement. Both SRDs use the Ring of Protection as the example for this rule.

Does the Ring of Protection require attunement?

Yes, in both 2014 and 2024. It takes one of your three attunement slots.

Does the Ring of Protection add to death saving throws?

Yes, in both editions. A death save is a saving throw, so the ring's +1 applies and a 9 on the die becomes a success. The 2014 SRD says death saves are aided by anything that improves saving throws.

How much is a Ring of Protection worth?

4,000 GP under the 2024 SRD, the value of any rare magic item. The 2014 SRD gives no prices.

Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.