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Sending Stones 5e: One Message a Day, Anywhere
Sending Stones 5e are an uncommon wondrous item in the 2024 SRD: a matched pair of stones. While you touch one, you can cast the Sending spell at whoever bears the other, sending up to 25 words and getting an immediate reply. One use per day covers the whole pair, it needs no attunement, and no spellcasting is required. For a party that splits up, or a patron who needs to reach the party, they turn a level 3 spell into something any character can use.
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Sending Stones Rules Text
This is the 2024 version from SRD 5.2.1. The item isn't in SRD 5.1.
Sending Stones
2024 rules
Wondrous Item, Uncommon
UncommonNo attunement
Sending Stones come in pairs, with each stone carved to match the other so the pairing is easily recognized. While you touch one stone, you can cast Sending from it. The target is the bearer of the other stone. If no creature bears the other stone, you know that fact as soon as you use the stone, and you don’t cast the spell.
Once Sending is cast using either stone, the stones can’t be used again until the next dawn. If one of the stones in a pair is destroyed, the other one becomes nonmagical.
The stones cast Sending, a level 3 spell. Its 2024 text sets the rules for the message itself:
•Up to 25 words, heard in the target's mind.
•The target recognizes you if it knows you and can answer the same way, immediately.
•Any distance, and across planes. If the other stone's bearer is on a different plane, there's a 5 percent chance the message doesn't arrive, and you know if it fails.
•After receiving a message, the target can block you from reaching it with Sending for 8 hours.
The general rules for spells cast from items fill in the rest. The spell is cast at its lowest level, uses no spell slot, and needs no components unless the item says otherwise. The stones don't, so you don't need the copper wire, and you can use them while gagged, bound or inside a Silence area. The only requirement is touching the stone. The casting time is still an action.
Who receives the message
The item names the target: "the bearer of the other stone," meaning whichever creature is carrying it. That replaces the spell's usual rule that you must have met the target or had it described to you, so you don't need to know who has the stone. A thief who steals it hears your next message, and you hear the thief's reply.
If no creature bears the other stone (it's on a table or locked in a chest), you learn that as soon as you try. The spell isn't cast, so the day's use isn't spent.
Once per day, for the pair
After Sending is cast through either stone, neither stone works again until the next dawn. A pair gives one exchange a day: one message, plus the immediate reply that the spell allows. The reply doesn't need the second stone; the spell carries it.
The two bearers have to agree on who talks first: whoever goes first uses the day for both. A message lost to the 5 percent planar failure was still cast, so it uses the day too.
Breaking the pair
If one stone is destroyed, the other becomes nonmagical. Most magic items in the 2024 rules have Resistance to all damage, so this takes effort. It also means a captured messenger can cut the link by destroying their stone. The other holder finds out only by trying: a stone whose partner has no bearer tells you so, while a stone whose partner was destroyed does nothing at all.
Blocking
The recipient's 8-hour block applies to "your ability to reach it again with this spell". Since the stones only work once a day, the block rarely matters for the stones. It does stop the sender from following up with their own Sending spell for 8 hours.
Sending Stones in the 2014 Rules
Sending Stones aren't in SRD 5.1, so there's no 2014 SRD version to compare. A table using the 2014 Sending spell with this item should note two spell differences: the 2014 spell reaches "a creature with which you are familiar" (the stones override that with the bearer rule), and it has no 8-hour blocking clause.
Who Should Use Sending Stones?
Any party that splits up. Uncommon, no attunement, usable by anyone: there's no cost to carrying them except deciding who holds the second stone.
Good bearers for the second stone: a scout who ranges ahead, a hireling left guarding the camp or ship, or a patron in town with news. One message a day is enough for "The duke moved the prisoners. North gate, midnight."
The stones don't replace a Bard or Wizard with the spell. A caster can send as many times as they have slots, and to anyone they've met. The stones' value is that anyone can use them, and they cost nothing to activate.
Sending Stones for DMs
Where they turn up. Early. An uncommon item with no combat use is safe to hand out at low levels. The best way to give them out is as one half of a pair, with the other half already in someone's hands: a patron, an informant or a villain.
What they change. Very little in combat. They change pacing: an NPC can reach the party anywhere, once a day, which gives you a reliable way to deliver news or a twist mid-adventure. They also let a party that splits up coordinate without a caster.
Pricing. The 2024 SRD values an uncommon item at 400 GP, and the pair is one item. Use the magic item rarity calculator for comparisons, or roll one into a hoard with the magic item generator.
At the table. Have players write out the 25 words, and remember the reply is immediate: the bearer can't think it over for an hour.
Hooks.
•The party finds one stone on a dead courier. The next morning, a voice says, "Report. Did you find the vault?" Whoever answers gets one reply.
•A patron gives the party one stone and keeps the other. Weeks later, the morning message comes from a stranger's voice.
•Two rival families each hold one stone of a pair, used once a year for a truce. This year, one of them didn't call.
Messages from a Sending Stone tend to matter later, and they're easy to forget. Loreify records the session and keeps them in the recap.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many times a day can you use Sending Stones?
Once per pair. After Sending is cast through either stone, neither can be used again until the next dawn. The other bearer can still reply to that message immediately, as the spell allows.
Do Sending Stones require attunement?
No. Sending Stones are an uncommon wondrous item with no attunement, and you don't need to be a spellcaster. You only need to touch a stone.
Can Sending Stones reach another plane?
Yes. The Sending spell works across planes, but if the other bearer is on a different plane there's a 5 percent chance the message doesn't arrive. You know when it fails.
What happens if nobody is holding the other stone?
You know as soon as you try to use your stone, and the spell isn't cast, so the pair's daily use isn't spent.
Are Sending Stones in the 2014 SRD?
No. They're in SRD 5.2.1 (2024) only. SRD 5.1 has the Sending spell but not the stones.
How much are Sending Stones worth?
400 GP under the 2024 SRD, the value of an uncommon magic item. The pair counts as one item.
Item text: System Reference Document 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.