Dr paradox
2011-08-18, 04:34 PM
hallo, all! I'm stuck on a bit of a conundrum here, regarding the loot in an abandoned magicians guild.
you see, in the old empire, magic worked a little differently; specifically, people tended to rely on mechanics and science more for day to day problems. wagons, horses, airships, pulleys, et cetera, because Magic wasn't yet specialized enough. as a side note, because so much less magic was used, magic started to build up. eventually, it ended up being let out rather explosively in an event called the Mage Wars, but that's beside the point.
back at this time, magic tended to lack subtlety. it dealt in powerful absolutes - there was little to no middle ground between no magic, and a roiling fireball as hot as the surface of the sun. the difference between magic then and magic now is the difference between a drill and a sledgehammer. the hammer is REALLY good at making holes quickly, but you can't really make a small hole with it.
the question is, what sorts of magic items would the party find down there? I'm looking for flavor more than crunch, but if anyone has anything specific, it's D&D 4e.
so far, I have two of them, both of them rings.
the "Ring of Tragic Ends" kills the wearer for one week, and if at the end of that week, they're still wearing the ring and haven't been, say beheaded or drained of all blood, they come back to life.
the "Ring of the Heat Sink" provides the wearer with a resistance to fire, but a vulnerability to ice, and once per day, they can allow the ring to absorb a certain large amount of fire damage, but also take cold damage. sometime soon, they can then release the heat as a spell like ability. basically the ring absorbs all ambient thermal energy.
any other ideas?
you see, in the old empire, magic worked a little differently; specifically, people tended to rely on mechanics and science more for day to day problems. wagons, horses, airships, pulleys, et cetera, because Magic wasn't yet specialized enough. as a side note, because so much less magic was used, magic started to build up. eventually, it ended up being let out rather explosively in an event called the Mage Wars, but that's beside the point.
back at this time, magic tended to lack subtlety. it dealt in powerful absolutes - there was little to no middle ground between no magic, and a roiling fireball as hot as the surface of the sun. the difference between magic then and magic now is the difference between a drill and a sledgehammer. the hammer is REALLY good at making holes quickly, but you can't really make a small hole with it.
the question is, what sorts of magic items would the party find down there? I'm looking for flavor more than crunch, but if anyone has anything specific, it's D&D 4e.
so far, I have two of them, both of them rings.
the "Ring of Tragic Ends" kills the wearer for one week, and if at the end of that week, they're still wearing the ring and haven't been, say beheaded or drained of all blood, they come back to life.
the "Ring of the Heat Sink" provides the wearer with a resistance to fire, but a vulnerability to ice, and once per day, they can allow the ring to absorb a certain large amount of fire damage, but also take cold damage. sometime soon, they can then release the heat as a spell like ability. basically the ring absorbs all ambient thermal energy.
any other ideas?