Artifacts
Even among magical items that are commonplace within Tamriel, there are a few items of great power that are uncommonly rare which are known as Artifacts.
This section presents items referred to as artifacts, which are incredibly powerful items created by the gods or Daedric Princes themselves. See the 5e Core Rules for the rules on artifacts and the relevant Artifact Properties tables to determine the random beneficial properties.
These artifacts are extremely powerful. Rather than merely another form of magic equipment, they are the sorts of legendary relics that whole campaigns can be based on. Each could be the center of a whole set of adventures—a quest to recover it, a fight against a opponent wielding it, a mission to cause its destruction, and so on. Artifacts are broken down into two categories: minor and major artifacts.
Minor Artifacts
Minor artifacts are not necessarily unique items. Even so, they are magic items that no longer can be created, at least by common mortal means, such as the masks of the ancient Nord dragon priests (such as Konahrik) of Skyrim.
Major Artifacts
Major artifacts are unique items—only one of each such item exists. These are the most potent of magic items, capable of altering the balance of a campaign. So artifacts, such as Umbra, appear to hold some level of sentience, as well as a curse that slowly degrades the wielder's personality. See the Conflict section in the 5e Core Rules for rules of sentient items.
Unlike all other magic items, major artifacts are not easily destroyed. Each should have only a single, specific means of destruction.
