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Serpentine
2010-05-22, 03:53 AM
If Indiana Jones' hat was a D&D 3.5 magical item, what would it be like?

In my much-brought up, nearly-completed Temple of the Trickster God, we're trying to track down an Indiana-Jonesesque "archaeologist"-adventurer. He has a hat. He likes it a lot. It's magical. The party finds him crushed under a giant boulder, skeletonised arm futilely outstretched in an attempt to retrieve the hat. Also he explored the Underdark a fair bit.

So... I think that's about all the relevant information. Oh, except I think I made him a gnome.

edit: The party's level 12, by the way. I was thinking some sort of armour bonus, or Damage Reduction vs. Bludgeoning (for surviving rock falls and the like). It can do more than one thing, too. Or maybe even an Item of Legacy...

cheezewizz2000
2010-05-22, 04:20 AM
Hmm... either +X luck bonus to all saves and checks, or a +Y bonus to survival, K(dungeoneering) and K(Nature) checks. Both very useful to an adventurer/archaeologist and not something that guy would want to lose. Define X or Y based on the levels of your players to make the hat level-appropriate.

Chrono22
2010-05-22, 04:21 AM
Maybe he was bald and self-conscious about it?

Starscream
2010-05-22, 04:33 AM
Well, if he was trapped under a boulder and being crushed to death by the weight, and his first thought was to retrieve his hat, then perhaps it would have allowed him some means of escape?

Like it allows him to Dimension Door, or would have given him enough strength to lift the boulder. Or maybe he could have used it to call for help, like it had a Planar Ally spell attached. Or even a wish. Could be a hat of three wishes, and he was going to wish himself to safety.

Serpentine
2010-05-22, 04:40 AM
I just had in mind Indiana's willingness to risk life and/or limb to retrieve his headwear just because he liked it and it had sentimental value, but that's a pretty great angle. Dimension Door would be handy.

cheezewizz2000
2010-05-22, 04:41 AM
Well, if he was trapped under a boulder and being crushed to death by the weight, and his first thought was to retrieve his hat, then perhaps it would have allowed him some means of escape?

Like it allows him to Dimension Door, or would have given him enough strength to lift the boulder. Or maybe he could have used it to call for help, like it had a Planar Ally spell attached. Or even a wish. Could be a hat of three wishes, and he was going to wish himself to safety.

I dunno. Depends on how true to Indiana Jones she wants to go. I like the idea of a hat of dimention door, though. You'd just sort of climb through it to where you want to go, and then pull the hat through behind you.

You could make the hat provide quite powerful (IE, Starscream's suggestions) but also cursed to be easily lost on a reflex save (say 25% chance of falling off when the character makes a reflex save, reflex save DC 20 to retrieve the hat).

Serpentine
2010-05-22, 05:46 AM
Hmm... How about, something like:

Archaeologist's Hat.
This is a worn brown leather broad-brimmed hat.
Dimension Door 3/day
Blink, Immediate Action 4/day
+1 luck bonus to all saves (except to catch the hat, below).
Any violent movement, falling any distance, or any wind heavier than a light breeze has a 25% chance of blowing the hat off in the most inconvenient direction. Reflex DC 20 to catch it. Will DC 25 to track it down and retrieve it if it is not caught. +5 bonus to the Will save if retrieving it will involve certain or near-certain death. If it is not retrieved, there is a 50% chance it will "luckily" return to its owner.

Irreverent Fool
2010-05-22, 05:47 AM
From the moment I saw Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm), I thought "Indiana's Hat". Of course, the item has to be magical in the first place, so let's say something like a "luck" item (of which there are several in D&D), allowing him a reroll of any die (in his case, usually a skill check) one or more times per day (I would argue Indiana probably has luck feats as well).

With his hat as an item familiar, it is completely reasonable for him to go through outrageous lengths to hang onto it.

obnoxious
sig

ka_bna
2010-05-22, 10:27 AM
You could make the hat an intelligent item, speaking telepathically with the wearer. It would explain why he reached for the hat and it gives an explanation how the hat can "luckily" return to the owner:smalltongue:

dextercorvia
2010-05-22, 12:38 PM
That hat should probably grant the feat Font of Inspiration, and I second the idea of it being an item familiar. But with FoI it would make sense to want to retrieve it, because losing the last FoI feat hurts, especially if you have alread spent insp. pts that day.

Serpentine
2010-05-23, 05:28 AM
Y'know what? You're right. This will be an Item Familiar. I'll tweak it a bit, though, to make it more simple.

Archaeologist's Hat.
This is a worn brown leather broad-brimmed hat.
Dimension Door 2/day
Blink, Immediate Action 3/day
+1 luck bonus to all saves (except to catch the hat, below).
Item Familiar: This hat is the Familiar of the mage-adventurer, and grants its master various benefits. It is Intelligent, but if it is worn by anyone other than its master it gives no indication of this and grants only its magic item abilities. It will, however, attempt to escape and return to its master. Any violent movement, falling any distance, or any wind heavier than a light breeze has a 25% chance of blowing the hat off in the most inconvenient direction. Reflex DC 20 to catch it.

How's that?

Yora
2010-05-23, 05:34 AM
Or he could want the hat for a much more simpler reason (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0434.html).

Serpentine
2010-05-23, 05:44 AM
Heheh. That's why he got the hat in the first place :smallwink:

Lev
2010-05-23, 05:47 AM
If he loses his hat, he gets +4 on all checks/saves to attempt to get it back.

The hat grants +1 Cha to the first cha based check he makes on any one particular thing.

Cieyrin
2010-05-23, 03:23 PM
I think Ruin Delver's Fortune (SpC or the old version (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20041022a), scroll to the bottom) would be more appropriate than Blink, given Blink doesn't exactly do that much as an immediate action. Dim Door would make more sense as an Immediate, making it as Abrupt Jaunt (which Dr. Jones probably has as the described Mage-Adventurer :smallbiggrin:).

Either that or as a refluffed Luckstone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#stoneofGoodLuckLuckstone) as its base would work equally well. :smallwink:

Keld Denar
2010-05-23, 09:08 PM
Epic Hat is Epic

http://jephdraw.com/random/omgharrison.png

QC used to sell a tshirt with this graphic, but I think its out of print. Epic.

sofawall
2010-05-23, 09:46 PM
Is this giving anyone else Morrowind memories?

Also, Happy B-Day, Serp. Your avatar informed me :P

holywhippet
2010-05-23, 11:05 PM
Since Indy is so good at spotting danger I'd say the hat gives it's own automatic spot checks for traps with a skill of 15. So if there is a trap, and the player hasn't noticed it, roll a D20, add 15 and see if it beats the DC for spotting the trap. If so, the player is warned - this also applies to other dangers like incoming boulders.

However, the hat has a 25% chance of falling off the wearers head after spotting danger in this fashion, picking it back up is a move equivalent action.

Cieyrin
2010-05-24, 06:27 PM
Since Indy is so good at spotting danger I'd say the hat gives it's own automatic spot checks for traps with a skill of 15. So if there is a trap, and the player hasn't noticed it, roll a D20, add 15 and see if it beats the DC for spotting the trap. If so, the player is warned - this also applies to other dangers like incoming boulders.

However, the hat has a 25% chance of falling off the wearers head after spotting danger in this fashion, picking it back up is a move equivalent action.

You don't generally spot traps, you search for 'em. By that token, perhaps giving an auto-search feature for traps, like the elven ability. Though, honestly, it may be overpowering the hat a bit.