History of Magic Rings in D&D

Inspired by Telecanter's Story of Potions I tried to do the same thing with Magic Rings.

Rings as Gygaxian Building Blocks:              
A Ring is a magical piece of jewelry that imbues the wearer with a magical effect for as long as they wear the ring. Effects are generally limited to the person of the wearer, and primarily defensive or evasive rather than offensive. A character can't wear more than 1 or 2 rings at a time.

              
A few of the classic and evergreen rings that don't meet this building block test are:              

• Three Wishes--Limited Uses is not a permanent effect
• Djinni Summoning--Summoning is not a permanent or personal effect
• Many Wishes--Limited uses is not a permanent effect
• Plant Control--Animating sessile plants is not a personal effect
• Elemental Control--Summoning is not a personal or permanent effect
• Shooting Stars--A fancy wand of fireballs is not a personal or permanent effect.

There were also a few rings in the Cyclopedia that had charged protective effects, but anything with charges shouldn't be a magic ring under this rubric. And there are alternative platforms for these effects anyway.

The genie ring does have folklore behind it, but summoning spirits and animating objects doesn't fit the idea of a magical aura the way invisibility or water walking does.

Rings for controlling/befriending Animals and Humans do fit, just barely, in that they change the way other beings percieve the wearer.

I also gave the Telekinesis Ring a pass, because I imagine the ability to move objects with the mind is different from animating a plant or object.

As you can see from the Table, most of the magic rings survive relatively unchanged from the original 3 books all the way through to 3rd Edition. Most of the rings on my selected list come straight from OD&D+Blackmoor, except:              

• Feather Falling (AD&D)
• Wizardry         (AD&D)
• Sustenance      (Cyclopedia/2nd Edition)
• Jumping           (2nd Edition)
• Mind Shielding (2nd Edition) 
• Melding           (3rd Edition)  

I did squeeze a few rings together for what I thought was simplification.
Fire Resistance, Elemental Adaptation and Warmth become a single Ring of Resistance to Elements.
Rather than have item trade-in syndrome for Rings of Protection, I turned it into a scaling effect.

Arms Race
Without mandating an attunement period to benefit from a ring, GMs can give ring overuse a bite similar to potion miscibility by having characters who overload on rings, or who swap rings out too often have to make saving throws to avoid thematic side effects.

 

Ring	Ability	Side Effect	Metal	Jewel
Invisibility	Wearer is invisible as long as they wear ring.	Only partly visible	Silver	None
Weakness	Wearer is enfeebled, their Strength is now as low as possible. Takes remove curse or similar to remove ring.	NA	Gold	Diamond
Protection	Wearer gets bonus to Armor Class and all Saving Throws equal to 1/3 their class level (minimum =1)	Penalty to Armor Class	Silver	Ruby
Delusion	No Powers. Roll Again. Wearer thinks that result is true	NA	Gold	Diamond
Water Walking	Wearer can walk on water as if it was solid ground.	Wearer sinks into ground like its mud.	Silver	Pearl
Resistance to Elements	Immune to hardships of natural environment (cold, heat, wind, rain, etc.) +2 on Saving Throws against “energy” attacks (Fire, Ice, Lightning, etc.)	Wearer extra sensitive to temperature/light/humidity	Iron	Emerald
Beastmastery	Automatic Friendly reaction from animals and beasts. Can have animals and beasts as loyal retainers	Animals react poorly	Copper	Jade
Enchantress' Ring	Wearer's charisma is now effectively the maximum possible, automatic friendly reaction from human(s) and can cast Charm Person 3/day	People react poorly	Gold	Diamond
Regeneration	Wearer regenerates wounds like a troll.	Hemophelia	Quicksilver	Opal
Telekenisis	Wearer can move objects with their mind. As the spell telekenisis	Clumsiness	Steel	Diamond
X-Ray Vision	Wearer can see through walls and things up to 30 ft range. Blocked by lead.	Blindness	Lead	Sapphire
Spell Turning	Any spell or similar effect which targets the wearer will be reflected back to the caster or source.	Spell effects double	Tin	None
Spell Storing	A spellcaster can store any spell in the ring. The wearer can cast the stored spell as if they were the original caster.	NA	Iron	Amber
Freedom	Wearer can swim like a fish and is immune to any slowing, entangling, or physically hindering effects.	Clumsiness	Quicksilver	Coral
Feather Fall	If wearer falls of a cliff or somesuch they float like a feather.	Wearer is heavy, like high-gravity	Quicksilver	Moonstone
Wizardry	Wearer can memorize double usual number of spells. Magic-Users/Wizards Only	Wearer forgets spell levels	Gold	Diamond
Sustaining Energy	Wearer does not need to breathe, drink, eat, sleep	Gluttonous and Slothful	Copper	None
Jumping	Wearer can jump really high, like chanbara.	Clumsiness	Tin	Moonstone
Mind Shielding	Wearer is immune or at least resistant to telepathy/esp/mind blasts etc.	Wearer accidentally broadcasts thoughts	Iron	Quartz
Melding	Wearer can hide in or walk through walls, stone, and other matter, but not forcefields	Wearer sinks into ground like its mud.	Silver	Obsidian

History of Rings in D&D
OD&D	HOLMES	Moldavay/Cook	AD&D	2nd Edition	3rd Edition
Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility	Invisibility
Weakness	Weakness	Weakness	Weakness	Weakness
Protection	Protection +1	Protection +1	Protection	Protection	Protection 1
Three Wishes	Three Wishes	(Wishes 1-4)	Three Wishes	Wishes 3	3 Wishes
Delusion		(Delusion)	Delusion	Delusion
Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking	Water Walking
Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Fire Resistance	Energy Resistance
Mammal Control	Animal Control	Animal Control	Mammal Control	Animal Friendship/Mammal Control	Animal Friend
	Plant Control	(Plant Control)
Human Control		(Human Control)	Human Influence	Human Influence
Protection, 5' r.		(Protection +1,5'r)
Regeneration	Regeneration	(Regeneration)	Regeneration	Regeneration	Regeneration
Djinn Summoning		(Djinni Summoning)	Djinni SUmmoning	Djinni Summoning	Djinn Calling
Telekenisis		(Telekenisis)	Telekenesis	Telekenisis	Telekenisis
X-Ray Vision		(X-Ray Vision)	X-Ray Vision	X-Ray Vision	X-Ray Vision
Spell Turning		(Spell Turning)	Spell Turning	Spell Turning	Spell Turning
Spell Storing		(Spell Storing)	Spell Storing	Spell Storing	Spell Storing
Many Wishes (4-24)			Multiple Wishes	Wishes Multiple
Supplements
{G}Protection+2, 5'r					Protection 2-5
{G}Protection +3					Force Shield
{G}Shooting Stars			Shooting Stars	Shooting Stars	Shooting Stars
{G}Contrariness			Contrariness	Contrariness
{B}Freedom (Underwater action)			Free Action	Free Action
{B}Movement (Swimming)			Swimming	Swimming	Swimming
			Elemental Command	Elemental Command	Elemental Command
			Feather Falling	Feather Falling	Feather Fall
			Warmth	Warmth
			Wizardry	Wizardry	Wizardry (I-IV)
				Sustenance	Sustenance
				Truth
				Blinking	Blinking
				Chameleon Power	Chameleon Power
				Jumping	Jumping
				Mind Shielding	Mind Shielding
				Ram	Ram
				Clumsiness
				Schocking Grasp
					Climbing
					Counterspells
					Evasion
					Meld Into Stone
					Friend Shield