Magic Items Placed in Treasures & Otherwise

[Admin Pete]

I just took note that we are at 1999 Threads and so I decided that I would take the chance to create thread 2000 since I had the chance to do it. This number to me is kind of a milestone of sorts and it just feel good to reach it.

So I thought I would post about some of the magic items that I have placed in treasures and that have appeared in my games, just for fun. Everyone is welcome to participate.

[Admin Pete]

Magic items IMC run the gamut from minor things up to full blown Artifacts. One of the things about Artifacts IMC is that they do not stay put. They tend to wander around on their own, even if you discover and use an Artifact, you will not have it in your possession any longer than it wants to be there.  Every four hours of game time, I roll a 30% chance that it has left you and gone elsewhere. It might have went into a treasure hoard deep in a dungeon or appeared in a throne room on the other side of the world, but where ever it goes, if there are intelligent creatures there it will not stay long. On the other hand it might lay in a treasure hoard or a tomb or elsewhere for centuries before it is discovered again.

There is an exception, some Artifacts have a special purpose in life and they tend to stick around until their job is done. Sometimes that is way longer than the wielder is happy about. Sometimes when you wield powerful magic, you wish to be rid of it, because it imposes its will on your life as it takes its own path. Sometimes (often) you do not want to be the chosen one. 

[Admin Pete]

One Artifact that I placed in a game was The Mirror. You know the one:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Yeah that Mirror. BTW although Disney said Magic Mirror on the wall, in the original Brothers Grimm story (translated into English), it is indeed:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who in this land is fairest of all?

So that mirror is IMC and it is an Artifact and as it turns out there are lots of questions you can ask it, but it is not limited to just answering questions, it has a lot of other powers as well. You can request it to send you someplace that you asked about. The players IMC learned this accidentally when one of them asked in the presence of the mirror, "I wish that we could all go there right now." And right now they were there, 38 levels deeper in the dungeon and with no clue where they were at or how to find their way out. That of course is another story.

[Admin Pete]

On occasion, they have opened a treasure chest and discovered that it is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Sometimes they have opened a treasure chest and discovered that there are trays in it, each tray is covered by a solid color piece of cloth, the item beneath the cloth is lying on another piece of cloth. Both pieces of cloth when tested detect as magic. 

One item found was a bundle of thin sticks, each about 8 inches long. When any two ends at touched they bond into a  longer stick, when they are all joined the long stick collapses into a rope 25 feet long. The rope seems to be semi-intelligent in some odd fashion and can move and act on its own. Left to its own it will coil up in different place, one of which is around your waist. When climbing it will act to keep you from falling and it will also try to entangle the legs of an opponent. It does not seem to respond to commands or to ones wish, it will sometimes not stay tied, but will untie itself. Other things remain to be discovered.

[Admin Pete]

One of the magic things IMC are paintings and tapestries (sometimes). Players have on occasions encountered a painting or a tapestry on a wall and been able to step directly into the scene and adventure there, where ever there is.

One occasion they found a map that you could use to display other places that they wanted to know something about. They accidentally discovered that you could travel directly there by entering through the map and by reaching a hand into the map they could pull that player back out of the map. So on one occasion not long after they obtained the map they had to flee for their lives and they made the decision to escape by going through the map instead of riding away, but they were unwilling to give the map up so they each took hold of a corner of the map and jumped in together and pulled the map through itself after them (or tried to anyway).

What happened is that the event sent a magical shock wave around the world and as they materialized in the new location (The Blighted Lands - now with new massive damage to the landscape), a powerful magic user appeared and cast a spell and they were in stasis in a bubble and only able to observe and nothing else (meanwhile the map which was an Artifact was gone and not to be found). The magic user immediately disappeared was followed over the next few minutes with many different beings appearing and immediately disappearing. After a while things settled down.

Then the magic user reappeared and pulled them out of stasis and gave them a stern lecture.

1. what they did could have caused immense destruction and innocent deaths.
2. things like that and other very powerful magic contradictions draw the notice of powerful entities and you don't want that
3. you could have ended up in a very bad place, any number of them
4. your welcome for my saving your lives, I'll take my pay and go (and taking his pick of their magic he left)

They did not complain, when you are standing in the middle of a new smoking crater that you caused, it is hard to argue that you being mistreated when you are still alive.

[Hexenritter Verlag]

I love this thread Admin Pete, kudos. Have an exalt. I hope to see what other members post in this thread.

[mormonyoyoman]

Can't hope to top any of Dave's artifacts, nor even equal That Map or its final (?) adventure - so I won't try.

My favorite artifact I created, wasn't powerful at all - not as adventurers would say. The Lunchbox of Everlasting Meals was found & named by the hobbit survivor of a sea-faring adventure, into which she had been dragged kicking and screaming. Every time - EVERY time the box was opened, there was a fresh 10-course meal, cold or hot depending on each dish, drink, or sandwich. After a short while ("How long have you been stranded here?" "Many dinners!") she lost any desire to be rescued from the deserted island. Indeed, she has refused rescue at least once, endearing me to her player. I suspect she feared anyone finding out about her lunchbox.

Eons prior - or maybe last Saturday - the Greatest Chef in the World wished he might create and cook for the Greatest Epicurean in the World. A mischievous godling, let's say Loki ("Puny god.") heard and decided to grant his or her wish. Voila! She or he became the almost sentient, single minded Box, waiting for that perfect epicurean.

[mao]

Pearl of Healing, you can hold it in your mouth and cure D3 HP.

[Q Man]

Jun 16, 2018 21:43:17 GMT -5 Hexenritter Verlag said:

I love this thread Admin Pete , kudos. Have an exalt. I hope to see what other members post in this thread.

As do I and what he said!

[Bartholmew Quarrels]

I like to use Mimics in ways that people do not expect. You are traveling through the countryside and you find a spring with nice clear cold water. It trickles down from some rocks into a series of pools of water. If you go into any of the lower ones to bath or the upper ones to fill your waterbags, the mimic will grab you.

[mormonyoyoman]

That's still better than a mime grabbing you.

[Yaleric]

Jun 28, 2018 22:48:46 GMT -5 mormonyoyoman said:

That's still better than a mime grabbing you.

I don't know about that, there are some really pretty girl mimes.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

I was the Admin at the time this thread was started. A lot of people have not seen this so I thought I would bump it to the top. Later this week I will plan on posting some more magic items.

[The Editor]

Hmm, I will have to see if I have anything worthy of adding to this thread. The Perilous Dreamer we are getting closer to 4000 threads, you should start something else for when we reach 4000 threads later this year.

[youngbuck]

Jun 16, 2018 13:48:59 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

Magic items IMC run the gamut from minor things up to full blown Artifacts. One of the things about Artifacts IMC is that they do not stay put. They tend to wander around on their own, even if you discover and use an Artifact, you will not have it in your possession any longer than it wants to be there.  Every four hours of game time, I roll a 30% chance that it has left you and gone elsewhere. It might have went into a treasure hoard deep in a dungeon or appeared in a throne room on the other side of the world, but where ever it goes, if there are intelligent creatures there it will not stay long. On the other hand it might lay in a treasure hoard or a tomb or elsewhere for centuries before it is discovered again.

There is an exception, some Artifacts have a special purpose in life and they tend to stick around until their job is done. Sometimes that is way longer than the wielder is happy about. Sometimes when you wield powerful magic, you wish to be rid of it, because it imposes its will on your life as it takes its own path. Sometimes (often) you do not want to be the chosen one. 

I like your idea of some Artifacts having a special purpose and that your Artifacts do not stick around and that they tend to wander, so you cannot possess an Artifact. I added the emphasis above.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Feb 20, 2021 18:55:30 GMT -5 youngbuck said:

Jun 16, 2018 13:48:59 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

Magic items IMC run the gamut from minor things up to full blown Artifacts. One of the things about Artifacts IMC is that they do not stay put. They tend to wander around on their own, even if you discover and use an Artifact, you will not have it in your possession any longer than it wants to be there.  Every four hours of game time, I roll a 30% chance that it has left you and gone elsewhere. It might have went into a treasure hoard deep in a dungeon or appeared in a throne room on the other side of the world, but where ever it goes, if there are intelligent creatures there it will not stay long. On the other hand it might lay in a treasure hoard or a tomb or elsewhere for centuries before it is discovered again.

There is an exception, some Artifacts have a special purpose in life and they tend to stick around until their job is done. Sometimes that is way longer than the wielder is happy about. Sometimes when you wield powerful magic, you wish to be rid of it, because it imposes its will on your life as it takes its own path. Sometimes (often) you do not want to be the chosen one. 

I like your idea of some Artifacts having a special purpose and that your Artifacts do not stick around and that they tend to wander, so you cannot possess an Artifact. I added the emphasis above.

Thank you! Having thought more about it, it rather boils down to I treat Artifacts like NPCs, powerful ones.

[hengest]

Killer ideas, The Perilous Dreamer. Wish I could play. Clearly this is ballpark similar to what I tried with my Gloves of Milkban. I wonder if I read this thread before and forgot. Great attitude towards Artifacts, much more playable and inspiring than the AD&D artifacts (which I was into as a kid).

[arjen]

This is something about how I design new magic items I wrote a while ago :

Thoughts about an element to add to magic items: taboos or geis/geas.

I like adding little advantages/disadvantages/quirks to magic items, I think all magic items, especially weapons and armor, should have at least 1 quirk or extra ability. Even the ones that are bought in downtime (you never know what unknown stuff that second hand item has under the hood). One of these added elements could be in the form of a taboo/geas/geis.
A taboo/geas/geis added to an item is not really a balancing tool as it is (often) very situational but it works well when paired with another situational advantageous ability.

The taboo added should have the following attributes: Trigger, consequence, duration/"while true statement" and possible "resist" and/or "recover".
-The trigger is the taboo/geas/geis itself, it can be something like :"refrain from eating fish" ,"don't suffer a skeletal undead to exist", "don't hurt the dragon-blooded" ,"never refuse an invitation" ,"don't raise your voice to the opposite sex" etc. Get your inspiration from Celtic myths , religious commands, monastic orders etc. Think about who made these items and how they might want to avoid the item being used against them or their interest, how they might want to promote their ideals through the item or how they want the user to not take the item's power for granted (life-lessons!!)
-Consequence, The Geas spell inflicts 5d10 damage when triggered (max 1/day), consequences like this should be act as a reminder ("stay on the path" ,"don't stray from goal") and are better paired with "long-term" geas/geis. Other consequences could be: disadvantage on attack rolls (say when the taboo is "don't kill goblinoids", killing a goblin will trigger this), blindness (a crystal ball with the taboo: "don't use to look at naked people"), immobile (necklace made for a heroin afflicted with lycanthropy might confer immobility when she views a full moon), loss of attribute score or max hit-points (harsh, so best paired with a "while" trigger (The flail of Torog confers a cumulative -1 CON for every day spend above ground).
-Duration: Some like damage should be instantaneous, possible with a reset time (like the geas' damage of max 1/day), other could be rounds, to days to years or could be situational (while full moon is visible, until encountered skeletons are killed, while on water, until beard has grown to at least 5 inches below the chin). The duration could also be dependent on an action the wielder or someone else takes (until wielder has apologized to every descendant of the person she killed, until forgiven by the high priest of Freya.) see also below.
-"resist" or "recover", "Reminder-like" consequences as damage should not need a resist element as do taboos (do and reap the consequences) but a geas/geis compelling an action (attack all skeletons for instance) might, depending on the trigger and severity of the consequence. For cumulative loss of max hit-points and/or attribute points recovery could be instantaneous (recover all lost CON after a full day underground) but could also be gradual (recover 1 CON point per full day underground) or require an action/amendment.

Go wild make the PC's life interesting and give them some interesting choices and dilemmas. Some words of warning: don't cripple a PC (giving a dragon-slayer PC a sword with a "don't hurt dragons" taboo is unfair), keep it fairly simple and manageable for other DM's (these items might end up at another DM's table), make the item still desirable and last: avoid "gotcha" moments, don't have a random opponent secretly be dragon-blooded and have it trigger a taboo, don't hide pork in that meatloaf, it's about having the players make informed (sometime difficult) choices not about paranoia and punishing players for not asking the "right question"; the PC would know that this night is a full moon so tell the player and don't have the player having to ask you.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Aug 25, 2021 16:15:41 GMT -5 arjen said:

This is something about how I design new magic items I wrote a while ago :

Thoughts about an element to add to magic items: taboos or geis/geas.

Have an Exalt!!

[hengest]

arjen this is awesome, a powerfully useful post. Exalt! And thank you!

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Aug 25, 2021 18:39:45 GMT -5 hengest said:

arjen this is awesome, a powerfully useful post. Exalt! And thank you!

Yeah, on re-reading that I like it even more than I did the first time. That is just a really good idea.

[Traveroark]

Jan 17, 2021 23:31:27 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

I was the Admin at the time this thread was started. A lot of people have not seen this so I thought I would bump it to the top. Later this week I will plan on posting some more magic items.

Great ideas Perilous!

[Traveroark]

Aug 25, 2021 16:15:41 GMT -5 arjen said:

This is something about how I design new magic items I wrote a while ago :

Thoughts about an element to add to magic items: taboos or geis/geas.

I like adding little advantages/disadvantages/quirks to magic items, I think all magic items, especially weapons and armor, should have at least 1 quirk or extra ability. Even the ones that are bought in downtime (you never know what unknown stuff that second hand item has under the hood). One of these added elements could be in the form of a taboo/geas/geis.
A taboo/geas/geis added to an item is not really a balancing tool as it is (often) very situational but it works well when paired with another situational advantageous ability.

The taboo added should have the following attributes: Trigger, consequence, duration/"while true statement" and possible "resist" and/or "recover".
-The trigger is the taboo/geas/geis itself, it can be something like :"refrain from eating fish" ,"don't suffer a skeletal undead to exist", "don't hurt the dragon-blooded" ,"never refuse an invitation" ,"don't raise your voice to the opposite sex" etc. Get your inspiration from Celtic myths , religious commands, monastic orders etc. Think about who made these items and how they might want to avoid the item being used against them or their interest, how they might want to promote their ideals through the item or how they want the user to not take the item's power for granted (life-lessons!!)
-Consequence, The Geas spell inflicts 5d10 damage when triggered (max 1/day), consequences like this should be act as a reminder ("stay on the path" ,"don't stray from goal") and are better paired with "long-term" geas/geis. Other consequences could be: disadvantage on attack rolls (say when the taboo is "don't kill goblinoids", killing a goblin will trigger this), blindness (a crystal ball with the taboo: "don't use to look at naked people"), immobile (necklace made for a heroin afflicted with lycanthropy might confer immobility when she views a full moon), loss of attribute score or max hit-points (harsh, so best paired with a "while" trigger (The flail of Torog confers a cumulative -1 CON for every day spend above ground).
-Duration: Some like damage should be instantaneous, possible with a reset time (like the geas' damage of max 1/day), other could be rounds, to days to years or could be situational (while full moon is visible, until encountered skeletons are killed, while on water, until beard has grown to at least 5 inches below the chin). The duration could also be dependent on an action the wielder or someone else takes (until wielder has apologized to every descendant of the person she killed, until forgiven by the high priest of Freya.) see also below.
-"resist" or "recover", "Reminder-like" consequences as damage should not need a resist element as do taboos (do and reap the consequences) but a geas/geis compelling an action (attack all skeletons for instance) might, depending on the trigger and severity of the consequence. For cumulative loss of max hit-points and/or attribute points recovery could be instantaneous (recover all lost CON after a full day underground) but could also be gradual (recover 1 CON point per full day underground) or require an action/amendment.

Go wild make the PC's life interesting and give them some interesting choices and dilemmas. Some words of warning: don't cripple a PC (giving a dragon-slayer PC a sword with a "don't hurt dragons" taboo is unfair), keep it fairly simple and manageable for other DM's (these items might end up at another DM's table), make the item still desirable and last: avoid "gotcha" moments, don't have a random opponent secretly be dragon-blooded and have it trigger a taboo, don't hide pork in that meatloaf, it's about having the players make informed (sometime difficult) choices not about paranoia and punishing players for not asking the "right question"; the PC would know that this night is a full moon so tell the player and don't have the player having to ask you.

Good ideas here. Some people think that a geas is a railroad and it is not, it is a consequence. Just like laying around for a week or two to recover from wounds by natural healing.