Tag Archives: Magic Items

RPGs

Musings On Magic

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I had three different ideas related to magic come to me today.

  • What are the effects of light emitting spells on infravision?
  • Cursed item idea.
  • Luck Blade Idea.

Light Emitting Spells and Infravision

Fireball, lightning bolt, light, shocking grasp are all light emitting. 

What is the effect of using them in the dark?

Infravison, ultravision, and normal vision would all be seeing spots if in a certain range and not killed. Even the caster would be affected.

At least the next round possibly -2 to -4 to hit. Casting spells might not go where you want.  You might accidentally heal an opponent in the fight, or wound an ally.

I think we’re used to light spells, lanterns, torches, candles, and campfires spoiling infravision, but I don’t recall ever having a DM rule that casting lightning bolt, fireball, or other light emitting spell does anything to vision.

Similarly, a lightning bolt should produce a thunderclap. How loud will this be underground or indoors where the sound wave is bounded? Will it cause a ringing or other issue with hearing? Will it give a penalty to hear noise?

Cursed Item

My idea for a cursed item can be anything, a book, scroll, ring, weapon, or other mundane item. If the person suffering under the curse can’t get remove curse, their only recourse is to give it to someone who willingly accepts it —as long as they do not know it is cursed. One might suspect it is cursed, but only if they know it is cursed can they avoid taking on the curse.

If the cursed person gives it to someone who knows it is cursed, their only recourse is remove curse or other magical means.

Luck Blade

A luck blade is a +1 weapon with one to three wishes. What if a luck blade were also an intelligent sword, but it had no more wishes? I see a couple of possibilities:

The blade long ago granted it’s last wish and is now “merely” a +1 blade, but it longs for the glory days of having such power within. It might be boastful, needy, cowardly, smug, or helpful. It might have vague, unreliable memories of the past locations of ancient rings of wishes, genie lamps, scrolls, etc. The locations are so ancient that they now lie in buried ruins, sunken cities, or someone in the more recent past has already found and removed the item(s). The removed items might have had their wishes used.

Another way to handle this is that while intelligent and no longer having any wishes to grant, the sword still thinks it has wishes. Somehow the “counter” of how many wishes it has is broken, and it will say it has 1d6 wishes available, and never less than one.

Perhaps it secretly knows this but strings along it’s bearer hinting about the possibility of granting wishes if the bearer completes a great deed. Once completed, the great deed’s achievement is somehow flawed, or they say the wish will bear fruit once the time is ripe. Anything to avoid admitting they don’t have any wishes left.

Maybe there is a way to truly restore its ability to grant wishes by performing some great deed, but the sword and bearer have to work together to figure out what that is.

You can listen to the companion podcast here.

RPGs

Circlets Of Golem control

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I made some notes about magic items for controlling golems. I had plans of introducing them in my AD&D campaign, but they have yet to appear. This is an idea that others may find useful in their own games.

The AD&D Monster Manual [Affiliate Link] lists four kinds of golems on pages 47-49:

  • Flesh golems inspired by Frankenstein‘s monster (perhaps more by the Universal Movies). 1% chance per round of continuous combat of becoming out of control. Creator has 10% chance per round of ragaining control. Created by magic-users.
  • Clay golems inspired by the 16th century golem of Prague. 1% chance per round of continuous combat of becoming out of control. No chance to regain control. Created by clerics.
  • Stone golems – Creator always maintains control. Created by magic-users.
  • Iron golems – Creator always maintains control. Created by magic-users. Iron golems are subject to attack by Rust Monsters.

The Circlets

The circlets are needed because the creations can become out of control of their creators. Thus the need for something to improve control and the chance of regaining lost control.

Flesh Golem Control – Band of leather made from the skin of a slain flesh golem. The usual story of creation of this device is that a magic user has had to slay their first creation in the interests of self-preservation. Creation of this magic item from the remains of a golem is one way to use what one has learned and expand upon it.

Clay Golem Control – Precious metal circlet of either silver with gold weave, gold, or platinum with a clay “stone” from a slain clay golem inset in the center that rests over the forehead.

Stone Golem Control – Precious metals similar to that used for a clay golem, but the stone insert is of the same form of stone from a slain stone golem.

Iron Golem Control – Iron band from a slain iron golem forged into a circlet.

Circlet of Controlling All Golems – The leather from a flesh golem wrapped around the iron circlet from an iron golem with stones from a clay and stone golem.

NOTE: Those who create golems who are forward thinking, can use a portion of the material from their first creation to make a circlet of control. Such a circlet will improve the control over the related golem.

Abilities of Control Circlets

  • Circlets improve the chance of maintaining and regaining control of golems of the appropriate type.
  • The wearer is invisible to out of control golems.
  • The wearer receives a special protection to enemy controlled golems and is at -4 to hit.
  • The wearer has a chance to wrest control of enemy controlled golems. There is a 50% chance that a failed attempt to gain such control causes the golem to go berserk.
  • The wearer can focus on a single golem for one round to attune to a single golem and then access all the senses of the target golem. Such attunement is interrupted by dispel magic. A spell of dispel magic will prevent regaining control of the affected golem(s) for 1d6 turns. Similar effects occur by other spells such as anti-magic spheres, rays, etc. Rooms or areas with an anti-magic or dispel magic effect block and prevent control for the duration of time the golem is in such an area. If the wearer is in such an area, if the effect is not permanent, control can be regained in 1d6 turns after leaving such an area.
  • Range: 60′ per point of intelligence of the bearer. Alternate range: Line of site. Spells and items that increase the range of vision will boost this.

Similar Items

Potions and Scrolls of golem control also exist.

Potions, scrolls, rings, or other items can render the bearer invisible to golems, and provide the same benefit as control circlets for out of control and enemy controlled golems.

RPGs

Musings on Bags of Holding

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Today on the podcast, I recorded my second Saturday Scrawl about encumbrance.

This got me to thinking about bags of holding and of course their counterpart, bags of devouring.

Here’s a sneaky way to handle bags of devouring. It is devious and players will hate you for it. 

This is not like the normal bag of devouring from the 1e DMG on pages 137-138, but something different.

Whether it is a mimic like creature or some other creature or a magical object is up to the DM. This is a Dormant Bag of Devouring. This bag functions as a normal bag of holding until a set condition occurs. The DM must determine this condition when the item is placed as potential treasure. 

Creature

If the bag is a creature of some kind, the DM must determine where does the treasure go? It can be a pocket dimension, another plane, or a specific location on the planet. This opens up the possibility of having it disgorge all the treasure it has ever eaten, leading to hilarity as the Scrooge McDuck vaultful of coins fills the location where it was slain. 

Detemine the age of the bag to determine the volume of its lifetime of meals.

1d6 NOTE: The below is in addition to treasure the party puts in it.

  1. New/Baby only the contents of a volume equal to the size of the treasure in which it is found.
  2. Juvenile volume is 5 times the treasure in which it is found.
  3. Young adult volume is 10 times the treasure in which it is found.
  4. Adult volume is 15 times of original treasure.
  5. Mature volume is 20 times of original treasure.
  6. Ancient volume is 25 times original treasure.

Treasure may be in coins, gems, ingots, and other things capable of fitting into its opening (mouth). Damage from falling coins will be 1d6 per 100 coins or gems, and 1d8 per falling ingot. Characters may use their best saving throw to attempt to dodge the falling loot, or attempt to “float” or “climb” to stay above the torrent. If this happens in a small room, it will soon be filled and pour out into all openings and could potentially overflow a small dungeon, sink a ship, topple a tower, etc. Wooden structures must make a saving throw to resist bursting and collapsing.

The best hope is to be in a huge cavern or in the open air when this occurs.

Magic Item

If a magic item, this is a crafty device developed by mages in need of cash. These bags of holding will empty their contents into a space
designated at the time of their creation that is capable of holding it all safely. This will be a room of sturdy stone construction with a heavy door. Often the access door is hidden by illusion or craftsmanship, and is always wizard locked at the current level of the owner.

These devices are often given as rewards to adventuring parties that help the wizard achieve their goals. Successful adventurers are more likely to find treasure.

There will be some sort of alert, so the mage knows to empty the room. Perhaps a magic mouth or other spell. 

If a quick thinking party caster can cast knock BEFORE it finishes consuming its contents, it will shred the bag and open a portal to the treasure vault. This portal will endure for 1 turn. If there is no knock available for the access door, and they can’t find the access door, they are trapped without some other means of egress, such as teleport. 

If the vault is filled, roll percentile dice for the amount of treasure that spills out before the portal closes.

Instead of knock, if hold portal is cast, the mouth of the bag is opened to the standard dimensions of a door and the party has the duration of that spell to attempt to recover their treasure and avoid being trapped as in the example using knock. In this case, the bag will fall harmlessly to the ground, waiting for its next use. If the entire party is in the treasure vault, they bag will lie there until found by another. If some of the party remains they can attempt to fill the bag until it is triggered to consume and cast one of the spells effective to shred or open it.

There may be other spells that allow the players to subvert the intended use of the bag as determined by the DM.

NOTE: The creator of the bag, or their heir, descendant, or successor will often know that something is amiss and will seek to prevent the party from making off with the treasure. It may be possible for them to see the party, as with a crystal ball, spell, or other device and be able to track them.

Triggers

A dormant bag may be triggered to consume its contents by many things. The trigger can be activated by a specific spell near it, a set interval of time, when a specific type of creature is near, or in a specific place. The DM must determine the trigger for each bag before placing it in a treasure.

Examples of spells might be fireball. This would be bad for the party if they cast fireball in a room with the treasure where it is found, as it will attempt to consume the treasure. This is an atypical function of the bag. In this case it will open its mouth wide to grab a pile of treasure it is in, or to inhale all the valuables that are party of the treasure. NOTE: IF the party bests the creature who owns the treasure, the items on their person are not considered part of that loot.

A set interval of time could be once a year, or a certain amount of time after it is filled to maximum capacity, or a certain time of day.

A specific place and time might be to consume all the treasure of a dragon’s hoard if the party has the bag with them when they defeat the dragon, or if the bag is party of the dragon’s hoard. 

The available triggers to choose from are only limited by the DM’s imagination.

Consuming The Treasure

Once the delayed bag is triggered, those who posses it will hear an omm nom nom, sound like Cookie Monster going nuts with a plate of cookies. However, it is only the om nom sound, followed by a large burp when completed. If the party is in a loud environment like walking through the streets during festival, in a rowdy tavern, in the midst of combat, roll to see if they notice the om nom sound. The burp will be a hearty one and if they miss the om nom sound will think a member of the party is responsible for the noise. 

If the party cannot hear because of a silence spell, or some other cause of deafness, they will miss these audible clues.

Just like a bag of holding, the weight is the same and they will not discover it is empty until they go to draw something from it.

Finding The Loot

You should allow some chance for the party to find the loot. A wish, for example will give them the name and address of a wizard who crafts such a bag, or the location the loot has gone if it is a creature. Scrying by spell or device may be effective, unless the mage who crafted a bag has means in place to prevent it. A creature type bag will have its treasure location susceptible to scrying, should the party posses or find such means.

Scrying is only effective within a limited amount of time. It might be one day or week per level of the spellcaster doing the scrying. Make it an amount of time that is within the realm of possibility for the party to find it, if they choose to do so. If they don’t realize that scrying is a possibility within the time limit, that is fine, not everything should be automatic. A wish of course, will trump all, if it is worded properly to prevent unintended consequences.

Special Cases

Mages who plan the design of their bags carefully will have in place safeguards that prevent cursed items from being put in the bag.

Artifacts and certain other powerful magics cannot be placed in these bags due to the nature of their power and magic. Powerful items include any item with a wish, like a luckblade, deck of many things, intelligent items like swords, and items that contain the soul or essence of another creature whether mortal or otherwise. The DM should consider what items are powerful enough to withstand being placed in the bag.

When an item that is cursed or too powerful is placed in the bag, it will not even enter the bag, like it is repelled by a magnet. This repulsion does not propel the item with any great force. It merely prevents placing it in the bag. This effect will hold true if a crafted bag is held open by means of hold portal or similar.

Additionally, items that act as a beacon to overcome scrying cannot be placed in a bag. This is of course optional.

Plot Hook: There may be a certain legendary item, or other item, that the mage wants and they may bargain, cajole, or geas a part to find some component needed to complete a bag that will accept the artifact. Then the bag is given to the party with directions to the artifact.

If you have lots of these bags in your game, you may want only some of them to prevent the creator from getting these items.

If you only have one of these bags in your game you will want to consider special cases. 

Any other special case you can think of may be used.

There could even be a legendary item that is an artifact with all the risks and rewards of same, that is capable of receiving other artifacts and powerful items, perhaps it will transfer the curse on a cursed item to another object such as a coin or other magic item, or even a person. Such as the person who puts the cursed item in the bag.

Other Uses

A variation of this bag is carried by tax collectors to ensure that their collected revenue ends up in government coffers.

A master of a thieves guild might commission such a bag so that operatives can’t cheat the guild out of what is owed.

RPGs

Idea for Two New Magic Items

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My inspiration for the first of the magic items that came to me today come from a table over at +Shane Ward’s 3 Toadstools Blog. He has a page of Tables. One of the tables is, 100 Minor Magical Items. Catch Shane’s podcast, Gilligan’s Isle of ADD.

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you should realize that when my brain encounters a title like that, I’m going to get a skewing of that. What came out is 100 Miner Magical Items. Queue obligatory scene from Galaxy Quest.

No, I don’t have a list of 100 items yet. What I thought of is a list of items dwarves might make to make their life in the mines easier. So far, I only have one item:

Auger of Impossible Depth

This auger allows the user to bore holes of the diameter required to great depths. The more narrow the diameter required the quicker it can drill. Originally developed by the brother of a miner lost to a mining accident. It is used to open air vents in collapses and cave ins, and bore supply and rescue tunnels. It soon found use in following veins, probing for underground caves, streams, and gas pockets. Additionally, it is used to bore wells, cisterns, and drill precision grooves for quarrying stone.

With the losses of many dwarves in the goblin wars, this allows the young and old dwarves left in the mines to maintain their quotas. 

The Auger also saw use in sapping, and counter mining, and breaching walls in the goblin wars. 

Stats

This device appears to be a wand or baton. It is usable by any intelligent creature who understands its use and knows the activation word. The dwarven word for drill. The dimensions, depth, and direction of the shaft must be specified. It will return to the owner once the command is completed. Only powerful magics or magical creatures can interrupt its orders.

It can bore a pencil thin shaft 100 feet long through hard rock in an hour, or a 10 foot diameter shaft at the rate of 10 feet per hour. Softer stone is at triple the rate, and earth is at 6 times that rate.

Creatures that burrow in earth, or rock, or from the elemental plane of earth are sensitive to the vibrations of this device. Any within a mile of it will seek it out to stop its annoying tone. Those more than a mile away will find it easier to avoid it. There is a 10% chance that a creature more than a mile away is so annoyed by this thing interrupting its day, that it will seek it out and attempt to destroy it.

Magically summoned earth elementals and other rock burrowing creatures will be harder to control for both friendly and unfriendly spell casters. If a spell caster loses control of the summoned creature, it will deal with the annoying noise before turning on the spell caster who summoned it. 

Simply ceasing to use the device will stop the tone and there is a 90% chance attracted creatures will resume their prior activity. For the 10% of creatures truly annoyed by this device, there is a 50% chance.

Cursed Auger

There is a cursed item that some mad, trickster mage created to annoy those who find it. The Auger of Impossible Drilling. It will only drill one inch into any substance and makes an annoying sound that irritates all who hear it in 100 yards. Conversation is impossible until the augur completes its task. While it only drills to a depth of one inch, it will continue to drill for the duration it would take to complete the task as if it really were the Auger of Impossible Depths.

It attracts all the same creatures as its counterpart, but within 5 miles and there is only a 50% chance of them breaking off if it ceases before their arrival. If the creature sees it or its user, it is too late. Annoyed creatures will find the item and its user and seek to silence both.

This item will obey any depth and direction comments by its unfortunate owner. Only a remove curse can free the owner. Once freed, the device will bore into the ground in a random direction and the castings behind it will harden and make it impossible to trace. Anyone who successfully grapples it before it gets away will now be cursed and it will take them with it to the nearest cavern in the underdark.

Ring of Elven Years

This fine gold or mithril ring bestows a wearer of non-elven blood with an extended lifespan. They will age at a fraction of the normal rate, merely one month for every year. Further they will have elvish resistance to sleep and charm spells. Spells causing haste and slow have a 50% chance of failure as they are of too similar to the phase, or energies of those spells. The slow spell will 

If a haste or slow spell is effective it will have double the duration and age the wearer double the normal rate.

Additionally, non-elven wearers will gain the ability to sense hidden and secret doors at the same rate as elves. This keen eyed ability will carry over to the use of long swords and bows, as well as magic use. Magic users who wear this ring, have no penalty to the use of armor and weapons of the type usable by elves.

This ring is most effective with humans.

Elves will feel none of the magic others can sense. Only the most ancient elf could discern that they feel a bit more spry than yesterday. Younger elves will sense the magnitude of eternity and get a true sense of the years ahead. NPC elves will require a morale check to continue the life of an adventurer. If they fail, they will return home seeking to be a productive member of elven society.

Half-elves will get the full benefit of their elvish blood, and will have a more elf-centric outlook on life. They will tend to ignore their human heritage, and may even act as if they have no human blood.

Halflings will wonder at their less than hearty appetite, but will use their heightened senses and immunities to good advantage.

Dwarves and gnomes will have none of the anti-aging effects, it will make their finger itch. Dwarves will freely spend their gold and wealth to help others, even non-dwarves. PC’s get a save vs. magic. They will have a new appreciation for elves and seek to learn more about elves and their ways. 

Half-orcs will feel self-loathing and it will burn. They will not willingly leave it on as it causes them too much angst and self-doubt. For the next 1+d6 weeks they will have a strong desire for stealth, strategy, and negotiation if they normally charge in without asking questions.

Cursed Ring

The cursed Ring of Elvish Years will cause those of elvish blood to age at the same rate as humans and instantly age d100 years.

For those of non-elvish decent, there is a 90% chance that they will age d100 years. Save verses magic for half. For each week the ring remains on a digit, whether finger or toe, they will age one year. Removal of the ring will not restore lost years.