Help me fill my dragon's hoard!

[Zeborazor]

So in an upcoming game my PCs are gonna find a dragon's hoard. The dragon(well actually a kobold, but that's irrelevant) is trapped in a demiplane, which has now begun to open. The PCs are going in to find a rare magical item their handler wants(an efreeti bottle, hence the kobold in charge). So the demiplane is closed for good once they leave which brings me to an interesting question: what should I include in the hoard? The party(lvl8 Barbarian, Witch, Wizard, Fighter) only has two 250lb bags of holding. So rather than putting out piles of gold for them shovel into their bags what type of interesting loot should I include? Maybe a few objects of significant value and weight, just to force some tough decisions on them?

Otherwise what other interesting items should I throw in? Was thinking maybe some anachronism, like a flash light or something. Anything so it's not the "loot room." (Not to interested in the WBL restrictions, so anything interesting. Also this is Pathfinder, if it matters.)

Ideas?

[Big Fau]

A quick note: A typical dragon's hoard, even towards the late-levels, does not have a huge pile of coins. Even using nothing but CP for the whole thing won't make a pile big enough for a Large dragon to sleep on (as they are described as doing in several books).


Most of the hoard should be magic items that the "dragon" uses during combat. After all, what good does having it do you if you get killed before you can use it all? I do not recommend using the Efreeti Bottle though, as it can lead to infinite wish loops.

[Zeborazor]

A quick note: A typical dragon's hoard, even towards the late-levels, does not have a huge pile of coins. Even using nothing but CP for the whole thing won't make a pile big enough for a Large dragon to sleep on (as they are described as doing in several books).


Most of the hoard should be magic items that the "dragon" uses during combat. After all, what good does having it do you if you get killed before you can use it all? I do not recommend using the Efreeti Bottle though, as it can lead to infinite wish loops.

I'm more looking for suggestions to make it interesting as opposed to just handing them coins(which is why I referenced the piles of gold) and a +3 great sword. The Efreeti bottle is part of the story, and the Efreet gives rather corrupt wishes so I don't see that becoming an issue.

I'm trying to make it memorable! I was thinking maybe a room with racks of dragonbane weapons, from all those annoying heroes who tried and failed. A deed to the "Red Dragon's Delight" Tavern, whose flaming hot ribs are area famous? etc. The more creative the better :smallsmile:

[JoeYounger]

I'd do a char audit or have your players do one and tell you what their total wealth is, then set the hoard to bring em to where you want. You have a lot of options, for example if you want em to have the whole hoard, have the most expensive item be stashed in a portable hole or an enveloping pit (Mic) and be hidden under a rock or something!

What level is everyone?


Edit: you said level 8 let me think a min...

[Zeborazor]

I'd do a char audit or have your players do one and tell you what their total wealth is, then set the hoard to bring em to where you want. You have a lot of options, for example if you want em to have the whole hoard, have the most expensive item be stashed in a portable hole or an enveloping pit (Mic) and be hidden under a rock or something!

What level is everyone?


Edit: you said level 8 let me think a min...

As I've said the Wealth by Level is less important to me. My players arn't likely to carry with them a dozen +1 dragonbane swords just because I put them there. And how much they can carry in this case is a limiting factor. Obviously any loot they would actually use is going to be level appropriate, but I'm looking for everything else, basically!

[JoeYounger]

Ok, to start, I would talk to your players and ask for feedback. Give them the option of having a smaller hoard now, and normal.treasure, or fluffing it to where this hoard takes them all to appropriate wealth for level 10-11 and they only gain minimal treasure til they're right again.

Then I'd recommend a dedicated write (players guide to faeron I think) and a dust of sneezing and coughing (dmg). If they find out, that dust will be the best item they ever have, and if they don't it will be a HUGE wild card. Also include a necklace of adaptation for the party. Marvelous pigments are really cool too. Maybe a couple feather tokens (tree and swan are my favorite. If you'd like more just message me, I'm driving and don't wanna keep texting lol

[Rubik]

Give lots and lots (and lots) of interesting but otherwise near-useless magic items that don't have an actual price attached. Stuff they can use with some imagination, but otherwise may never ever have a use for.

A rod of some translucent super-strong green glass-like substance that telescopes down to a 1' rod for storage (or when you try to use it as a weapon), but otherwise locks in place, and always stands on end when placed on the floor.

A waterskin that immediately turns whatever liquid is placed into it into apple vinegar.

An inch-diameter marble (on the ceiling) that rolls upwards to the highest point it can reach, like gravity is reversed, except it never actually falls through empty space.

A magic ball that can be used to answer various questions using divination, except only when it regards a person's love life, hygiene, or eating habits.

A ring that produces 1 oz of ink (of any color) 1/hour.

A tightly-coiled spring that can be used in a manner similar to a Slinky, except it 'walks' until picked up by a creature. If it hits a solid object that it can't go over (ie, is more than 6" high, and isn't a slope), it rebounds and walks in another (randomly determined) direction.

A stick that produces a pleasurable tingle when it touches the skin. The tighter it's held the better it feels.

Crystal vials filled with strong but pleasant perfume.

A locket and a picture frame that animates whatever paintings or other pictures are placed within them. Any creature displayed prominently in the picture has the personality of the actual creature. If the creature is fictional (or if it's of a person that otherwise doesn't exist, such as a random fictional human), the resulting personality is randomly assigned. *coughNPCcough*

A stoppered bottle that plays various types of music when uncorked. If broken, it makes a horrible noise.

A few 1-ounce globs of quintessence (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Quintessence) coating random nick-knacks, such as rusted keys and snow globes.

Some exotic animal skulls decorated with beads and bright-colored string and feathers.

Nonmagical jewelry and clothing that is extremely well-crafted, and decorated with common materials, such as animal teeth and sea shells. Valuable mostly for whatever tribes they came from, as they belonged to some of the victims of whatever critter this place belonged to.

Several bottles storing various types of elementals. They're not bound to do anything once released, but won't attack the one who releases them (since they're grateful for release) unless that person was the one who trapped them there.

Candies that have small magical effects, such as changing one's hair and skin color for an hour, or that makes you belch out small clouds of brightly colored gas that form into butterflies that fly away for a short time. One that makes your tongue grow to three times its normal length (but has no actual mechanical effect other than giving you a lisp), and one that gives you small glistening dragonfly wings for a day (which are too small to be functional).

[Zeborazor]

Tons of awesome stuff

That's the type of stuff I'm looking for! Anything to make it interesting. I saw in another thread to include a lot of paintings by a famous artist which have previously been unseen. Near them is a charred corpse and bottles of open paint. Obviously the dragon new the paintings would be worth more with the artist dead!

Keep em coming :D

[Esprit15]

A waterskin that immediately turns whatever liquid is placed into it into apple vinegar.


*uses skin to turn acid/lava into vinegar*

Bottles of oddly colored liquid that stain anything they touch the opposite color.

A sturdy lightbulb that glows when exposed to darkness.

A small ball that lightly repels anything that it approaches.

[Rubik]

That's the type of stuff I'm looking for! Anything to make it interesting. I saw in another thread to include a lot of paintings by a famous artist which have previously been unseen. Near them is a charred corpse and bottles of open paint. Obviously the dragon new the paintings would be worth more with the artist dead!

Keep em coming :DJust remember that most of these won't be worth much at all, unless they happen to find someone interested in buying it all. And that may be more trouble than it's worth.

So no adjustment to WBL is needed.

A very large box that causes any coins placed in it to always land on edge, and any coin placed on a side stands up. They always face North/South for some reason. Always.

A big box lined with lead, with a felt interior. This could be very very handy, if anything needs protected from scrying, but not much else.

An airtight patent leather bag that's big enough for a Medium creature to enter, and any living creature inside the bag has no need to breathe for the duration of its stay.

Dozens of alchemical glowsticks of various colors. Not bright enough to cast light to see by, but bright enough that you can see the person wearing it when it's dark.

A soft piece of cloth about 1' square, that self-cleans when folded or wadded up. It can be used to wipe things up, and then it's perfectly clean afterwards (a la Prestidigitation).

Self-hammering nails, both regular and piton-size.

A bookmark that, when placed in a book, works as normal. If you touch it and think of a passage, a page, or a subject that exists within the book that it's in, it causes the book to open to a relevant page. If the information is not in the book, it does nothing.

A whistle that makes various rude noises (including insults) when blown.

Seeds of various mundane plants, in labeled packets. If planted and watered while in the packets, they grow 10x as fast as normal until they reach maturity and flower/produce fruit for the first time.

Several pairs of sundark goggles (immune to bright light effects, and a +2 vs gaze attacks -- worth a whopping 10 gp each).

A foot-long tube that constantly sucks air (or liquid, if it's placed in it) through one end and out the other, rather vigorously. Makes a decent fan in hot weather. Tapping a finger in the gilded red circle on the side of the tube reverses the direction of the suckage/blowage.

An umbrella made of papier mâché chain links that feels flimsy, but will protect you from anything falling from the sky regardless of what it is. However, anything that would cause actual damage destroys it automatically, but spares the wielder from its effects. Duration effects are negated for 1 round before the umbrella crumbles.

A key that will lock any locking mechanism once, but will not unlock anything. Also casts Arcane Lock once, but crumbles to dust after.

[J-H]

Oversized (dragon-hand-size) Potions?

With some work (they are heavy) these could be rendered down into normal human-sized doses.

In the meantime, what happens if you overdose on a Potion of Speed?

[Rubik]

*uses skin to turn acid/lava into vinegar*It'd destroy the waterskin, and it'd only do what managed to seep inside of it before it was destroyed.

Note that a lot of it isn't useless, but it requires some exercise in creativity to make it work.

[Zeborazor]

Animated skeletons of small animals? They act and sound exactly like the living versions, their just pearl white skeletons. Creepy and adorable!

A sword that screams monty python-esque insults at your opponents(player provided, or it ceases to function) "and your mother smelled of elder berries!) DC 12 will save, or become insulted suffering a -1 morale bonus to all d20 rolls for the next round.

Dragon sized cook-ware, he liked to cook in his dragon form.

[Diefje]

A reversible robe that is different every time you pull it inside out (disguise bonus, maybe random roll a cha bonus/penalty 1d8-4 or something, 3/day when you run out of uses the robe stays the same when you reverse it)

An endless golden apple, you can eat from it as much as you want but the flesh regrows. (will sustain you with food&water, +4 bonus resistance vs poison?)

A curious shoulderguard that has a slot in it on the arm side. It can be attached to any armor. When worn it allows you to "sheathe" your shield into it as a free action with a specific arm movement, the shield will loosen and disappear into the shoulderguard. Then you can draw the sheathed shield as a free action and it will appear from the sheath fastened to your arm. You can only either sheathe or draw once during your turn, and it only holds any one shield.

A left handed mace (wait for it.... )

A bag of marbles with eyes painted on them. When a matching pair or eyes is placed in the eyesockets of a deceased creature, the corpse transforms into a piece of taxidermy.

A standing mirror that moves when you touch the mirror surface. If you pass through you enter into a mirror plane that is exactly like your normal plane but everything is mirrored. Left is right and right is left. You can pass back whenever you wish.

A magical piece of leather-wrapped wood. It can be attached to any melee weapon. When the command word is spoken, the weapon becomes a reach weapon with 10ft reach (or +5 ft if the weapon is already a reach weapon). Upon speaking the word again, it shrinks back to a normal size.

[Rubik]

Animated skeletons of small animals? They act and sound exactly like the living versions, their just pearl white skeletons. Creepy and adorable! They're not ACTUALLY skeletons; it's just that all their flesh except their bones is invisible. Oh, and they aren't just domesticated; they love people, and act like they're frolicking with Snow White any time they're around them.

A music box that, when cranked, causes everyone within a 1 mile radius to randomly break into song and dance routines as part of the natural order of things. Nobody really seems to notice, and nothing happens that shouldn't...except the song and dance routines. Even spells work fine, except the verbal and somatic components are...you guessed it! Song and dance routines!

[Zeborazor]

A statue of two people in the 'act.' Actually a couple who got turned to stone by the angry husband of the woman, who just happened to have two flesh to stone prepared that day. (It's gonna be awkward if the Wizard tries to dispel them...)

A hat that narrates all your actions. "The hero lifted the dull brown hat and placed it upon his brow and exclaimed in wonder when he found it spoke!" (Obviously Morgan Freeman features as the voice of the hat)

A locked spellbook. No way to open it. Ever.

An ordinary cheese grater, slightly gilded, with a faint magical aura. If someone asks "What do you think it does" it replies in a high-pitched, aggravated voice "GRATE CHEESE YOU DULLARD."

[Baroncognito]

A locked spellbook. No way to open it. Ever.

No, it's just remarkably difficult to open, and when it finally is opened, it is revealed that the spellbook has been hollowed out to make room for a flask of moonshine that the wizard distilled.

Edit: I wonder what it'd be like playing a wizard with a flask as bonded item.

[RedWarrior0]

A couple of coins that, upon a command word, project (solid!) images of hugenormous piles of gold coins around them.

A chainsword. Because rule of cool.

A colossal artifact maul (CW I believe... basically a huge 2-handed warhammer). Should have suitably awesome effects, even though nobody can carry it, much less wield it.

The King's Pepper Grinder from Tome of Artifacts (a 3rd party sourcebook).

A book that, while perfectly mundane, has rather horrifying images in it. Readers must make a Fort save or be nauseated for a minute and then sickened for an hour.

A half-full bottle of Brain Bleach, sitting next to the aforementioned book.

A number of rather rare and disgusting ingredients, but with the ability to augment creatures.

Edit: Of course, I forgot my favorite: a bottle of alcohol, 210 proof.

[Zeborazor]

No, it's just remarkably difficult to open, and when it finally is opened, it is revealed that the spellbook has been hollowed out to make room for a flask of moonshine that the wizard distilled.

Edit: I wonder what it'd be like playing a wizard with a flask as bonded item.

With just enough of text within for the party Wizard to tell the spells were amazingly powerful and rare. Love it!

A pile of gold coins which when given to someone turn to copper. "Hey, you trying to cheat me or what?!"

[Diefje]

The Unholy Bananapeel of Slapstickery. When placed in a square, the next person to enter the square must succeed in a DC 20 Balance check or fall prone.

A paperclip, a piece of string, and a vial of glue. When properly assembled, they combine into an Apparatus of Kwalish.

A cursed magic broom. It will never fly handle side first, but it works fine in reverse.

A bottomless roll of duct tape.

[Lither]

An ordinary cheese grater, slightly gilded, with a faint magical aura. If someone asks "What do you think it does" it replies in a high-pitched, aggravated voice "GRATE CHEESE YOU DULLARD."

This is a fantastic idea. Just wait until you see the looks on their faces...

[Rubik]

A self-folding blanket. Unfortunately, it folds itself regardless of what you might want it to do. And heaven help anyone actually sleeping under it when it does so.

Ghost pheremones. People who get it splashed on them should count themselves lucky that the ghosts it attracts don't actually have bodies.

A 'sample container' that sings 'I'm a little pee cup short and stout!' whenever it's used for its intended purpose.

A never-ending bag of fortune cookie fortunes. All of them are bad, and even though the fortunes themselves are non-magical, they have an odd penchant for coming true.

A beekeeper's hat that spawns a small rain cloud that rains on you and zaps you, not enough to hurt, but still causes static tingles. You can direct it at other nearby creatures if you like, but it comes back once you stop concentrating. The one useful thing it does is that it tends to zap (non monstrous, non swarm) vermin and keeps them away.

A bag of infinite prophylactics and assorted paraphernalia.

A cloak of blending. Unfortunately, it's because it has knives inside.

A bag of cuckolding.

[Zeborazor]

A bag of cuckolding.

Scared to ask!

The hoard is starting to fill out nicely, but keep em coming! I'm loving reading what you guys come up with :smallbiggrin:

[Rubik]

A self-nailing hammer.

Parachute pants of holding. They hold your legs.

A self-buttering loaf of bread. But once you eat it, it's gone.

A life-sized limestone statue of a cow that actually gives milk.

Thumb tacks. No, they're actually made from thumbs.

A book entitled, "1001 uses of dragon diamonds."

A lute with a 1" radius Silence effect, so that it makes no noise whatsoever, no matter what you do with it. Strum the strings, bang it on a wall, no noise.

A book that provides a +10 competence bonus on Knowledge checks regarding the mating habits of Far Realm denizens. With pictures!

A fake ID. You place your thumb on a small oval on the back, and the picture on the ID changes to match your face.

Half-dragon farspawn tarrasque repellent.

Dust of wheezing and smoking.

[Zeborazor]

You're a machine Rubik! haha.

What about some cursed items? Annoying, and aggravating, but not necessarily threatening. We've already had some, what about others?

[Rubik]

You're a machine Rubik! haha.

What about some cursed items? Annoying, and aggravating, but not necessarily threatening. We've already had some, what about others?A dagger that looks real and has a really powerful magical aura. Identifying it one time reveals the use of the dagger, but not HOW to use it. You have to Identify it twice to get the description of how to use the weapon. It's actually a stage dagger that pushes back into the hilt and springs back into place when you stab something, and deals no damage. However, it casts Charm Person on the wielder (which is the part Identify doesn't tell you at first), with the creature you stabbed being the 'caster' for the purposes of the effects of the spell. CL is 10, and the save DC is 10 + 1/2 the wielder's HD + the wielder's Cha mod. If wielded backwards (hand on the blade), it does the same thing in reverse, charming the creature you stab.

A cursed belt that projects the wielder's most intensely amorous fantasies into illusory scenes around his person, especially when he's around someone he feels attraction for. They're translucent and harmless, and shine light equal to a torch, and are perfectly visible to everyone within line of sight. Seeing these images are especially arousing to the user (since they spring from his own mind), and so require a Concentration check (DC 15+1 per day the belt is worn) to ignore; otherwise, the images get more vivid and intense, and apply a cumulative -1 penalty to Hide and Diplomacy checks each day of the curse. After one week, the scenes develop their own soundtrack, imposing a -10 penalty to Move Silently checks. The belt can be removed easily, which stops the projections for one week. However, the projections begin anew after one week (belt or not), with DCs increasing as though the belt had been on the entire time. Removing the curse is impossible unless the wielder is actively wearing the belt.

[Zeborazor]

A cursed belt that projects the wielder's most intensely amorous fantasies into illusory scenes around his person, especially when he's around someone he feels attraction for. They're translucent and harmless, and shine light equal to a torch, and are perfectly visible to everyone within line of sight. Seeing these images are especially arousing to the user (since they spring from his own mind), and so require a Concentration check (DC 15+1 per day the belt is worn) to ignore; otherwise, the images get more vivid and intense, and apply a cumulative -1 penalty to Hide and Diplomacy checks each day of the curse. After one week, the scenes develop their own soundtrack, imposing a -10 penalty to Move Silently checks. The belt can be removed easily, which stops the projections for one week. However, the projections begin anew after one week (belt or not), with DCs increasing as though the belt had been on the entire time. Removing the curse is impossible unless the wielder is actively wearing the belt.

That is hilarious, now I wonder which of my party is gonna put that on...

You're mean Rubik, a genius, but oh so mean! haha

[J-H]

The infamous Dagger of Healing (inflicts 1d4 damage, 1d4 healing on-hit).

[Rubik]

The infamous Dagger of Healing (inflicts 1d4 damage, 1d4 healing on-hit).Well, you could have it do what the charming dagger does, only it heals the one at the blade and harms the one at the hilt...

Or if you have a high enough Str penalty, take 1d4-3 points of damage and heal 1d4...

[Diefje]

An extending ladder. You can extend it up to 200 feet, and otherwise seems perfectly stable and sturdy. However, it slips when you get to the top and you will fall.

A cursed wand of cure X wounds. When used it heals fine, but during the next night the recipient of the healing will suffer 1 hp loss per charge received permanently and irreversibly.

A spellbook that goes "A-B-C-D-E-F..." whenever you use it. Concentration check DC 15+spell level to learn a spell from it.

A scroll with Explosive Runes

A hat that looks very fancy and gives you a Cha bonus, but drains Wis and Int every day you wear it.

Boots that seemingly give you better sneaking, but when you attempt any Move Silently check, you temporarily go deaf and autofail the check.

[Rubik]

That is hilarious, now I wonder which of my party is gonna put that on...

You're mean Rubik, a genius, but oh so mean! hahaAnd this is how the party learns that the barbarian is in lust with the party fighter...

Not the best way to start a relationship, is it.

[Tvtyrant]

A magic coin that has something akin to the splitting property. When flipped and a side is called its magic is activated; if the correct side is called a second gold coin is created. If flipped and the wrong side is called the coin will not function until fed a goin coin. As long as the coin is consistently called correctly it will keep making money, but if called falsely it will eat it.

[Mantarni]

A large dragon's tooth with gold overlay on the root, and runes spiraling down the tooth. Analysis shows that when it pierces something it casts resurrection once. When activated, it resurrects the dragon whose tooth that belonged to (it was its last-ditch plan).

A medium hollow box that can never be broken into or locked, must be opened manually by hand, but it is never openable the same way twice. The more it's used, the more inanely complex it becomes until the user can't open it anymore (opening it will eventually go from normal box to trick box, to rubix cube, to math calculations to figure out the number and locations of where you need to tap it, to imaginary number calculations, to worse). Changing owners makes whatever was in it disappear forever.

A 1' length or rope that ties and unties itself at vocal command (an old but good item).

A spoon where the inside reflects 5 seconds in the past, while the back reflects 5 seconds in the future.

A 4' tall collapsible chair that won't break but collapses down to a small 6"x4"x1" rectangle after exactly 20 minutes. 1 full day after that, it will reappear in the last backpack/bag it was taken out of (if that is full, it quietly pushes enough items out for it to fit).

[NNescio]

A statue of two people in the 'act.' Actually a couple who got turned to stone by the angry husband of the woman, who just happened to have two flesh to stone prepared that day. (It's gonna be awkward if the Wizard tries to dispel them...) ...
You can't dispel Flesh to Stone since it's an instantaneous effect. Break Enchantment would work though.

[Gwendol]

Can't stop laughing! Really great stuff!

A dwarven made compass; shows the direction to the closest cask of ale

The One Ring (why not?)

A "cursed" intelligent enchanted bow: it talks when used, giving helpful advice in a supportive, coaching, manner ("Come on, you know the drill, fire; then pull another arrow. There you go! Just a little more to the left... now fire away! Aaaauw, a miss. Don't worry; you'll get him next time. Careful now, check your breathing.") etc

[Zale]

To expand on the Locked Spell book idea.

After lots of trying, when they manage to open the spell book and sit down to read it..

"Guess what spell I prepared today?"

It's filled with explosive runes.

[ILM]

Obligatory reference to the Alexandrian's 101 Curious Items (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/7246/roleplaying-games/101-curious-items-reflections).

Also, this awesome site (http://nine.frenchboys.net/) has a treasure generator (http://nine.frenchboys.net/treasure.php) which I like to use for inspiration when I want to add something quirky and magical, but mostly useless. Unless it actually has a meaningful effect, I just price it as nonmagical treasure.

There's also this one here (http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=sworddesc) for swords, though you could easily adapt it to other weapons.

[Lither]

The Belt of Overused Comedy: Acting like a Belt of Giant's Strength (choose the magical bonus), it however has the unfortunate habit of making your pants fall down when you try and move, gluing itself to your legs (DC 15 Reflex save to avoid making a DC 20 Balance check each round you try to move afterwards or you fall prone). After one minute, it may be pulled up again.

The Crossbow of Anti Casters: This magically reloading (never runs out of ammunition) heavy repeating crossbow fires five shots at any caster who tries to cast a spell within 100ft using the wielder's BAB or +20 if nobody is wielding it at the time. Seems like a good idea until the party mage tries casting.

A box which has a handle on the side. Anybody who turns the handle enough times is dealt 1 point of nonlethal damage as a boxing glove on a spring pops out and punches them in the face.

[Kyouhen]

For cursed items, a small platinum coin. It causes any pebbles within 1" of it to polymorph into gold coins while they stay within 1" of it, and for 1 minute after. This effect can be dispelled from a pebble by biting it.

In addition, any gold coins that come within 1" of the platinum coin are polymorphed into pebbles for the same duration as the first effect. This cannot be dispelled.

Laugh when the party puts the coin in their cash bag and find nothing but pebbles later. :smalltongue:

[Diefje]

Gnomish X-ray goggles. They can see through all clothing, but also turn the wearer's clothes invisible. You will never notice until someone tells you, since you just think it makes you see through your own clothes.

Dwarven armor. This set of armor is very well made and grants +1 AC on top of any enhancement bonus it has. However, the wearer will instantly grow a glorious long full beard.

[Kane0]

A small box that contains a permanent animated hand, which closes the box every time you open it.:smallcool:

A magical dagger with an abnormally large hilt and a name on the blade. If you happen to kill that person with the dagger it grows slightly and another name appears. It grows and becomes more powerful with every three named people you slay with it. This continues until it reaches its full size and power as a Greatsword, which can then switch sizes between a Dagger, Shortsword, Longsword or Bastard Sword at any time. Personally one of my favorite mini-quest items :P

[Zeborazor]

A small box that contains a permanent animated hand, which closes the box every time you open it.:smallcool:

Love it :smallbiggrin:

That's the thing that will drive my players insane. To the point where they'll destroy it...or treasure it forever. Hard to tell sometimes.

[Rubik]

A floating animated ball that stays within 10', 100', or 1000' of the user (users choice), and has several settings for speed and maneuverability (which alters the ball's effective AC and touch AC). It's indestructible by any known means. Its purpose is to assist with weapons target practice. It returns to the user (and only the user) when the command-word is called. Practicing for 1 hour with the ball and a single weapon when the ball has an AC of 10+ the user's attack bonus bestows proficiency with the weapon chosen, as well as Weapon Focus for the same. This effect lasts for 23 hours, starting at the end of the practice hour, and using more than one ball (or the same ball more than once) dispels the old feats and replaces them with the new ones.

[Zeborazor]

A floating animated ball that stays within 10', 100', or 1000' of the user (users choice), and has several settings for speed and maneuverability (which alters the ball's effective AC and touch AC). It's indestructible by any known means. Its purpose is to assist with weapons target practice. It returns to the user (and only the user) when the command-word is called. Practicing for 1 hour with the ball and a single weapon when the ball has an AC of 10+ the user's attack bonus bestows proficiency with the weapon chosen, as well as Weapon Focus for the same. This effect lasts for 23 hours, starting at the end of the practice hour, and using more than one ball (or the same ball more than once) dispels the old feats and replaces them with the new ones.

Big Star Wars fans over here in Texas, so I know that will go over very well. Moreso when it has a fairly useful effect!

[Kane0]

Oh how about a small bag that makes loud nomnomnom sounds when coins are put inside and closed. You wont ever see those coins again. It then animates and speaks for a small time as in intelligent magic item. Whether what it says is useful, understandable or helpful or depends on how much it was fed.

Over time it will express desire to eat certain magic items. If you feed it these items it slowly accumulates decent powers in both communication and divination.
If you treat it like a pet it will cease to say anything good/nice/useful.

[J-H]

A magical Rubix cube with a moderate magical aura. Once solved (Int check?), each side can be used to cast a single spell once, as a 6th-level caster. Once all 6 spells are cast, it re-scrambles itself (with progressively more difficult checks & times required to solve).

White: Gust of Wind
Blue: Fly
Orange: Scorching Ray
Green: Entangle
Yellow: Searing Light
Red: Cure Moderate Wounds

[Pokonic]

Humanoids: A Lifetime, also known as "Everything you wanted to know about the lesser folk but where afraid to ask." The memors of a very well known brass dragon with a mastery of transfomation magic, this normal-sized book (Albit it is bigger on the inside, by magical means) tells of his experiances of living the life as a number of many races, from being anything from a orcish chieftan that made peace with the local dwarves to a human nursemade that helped raise a king. As a whole, his advice to young dragons is that humanoids, as a whole, are strange beings, but are worth knowing simply because of the exitement they bring into ones life.

The Great Big Book Of War. A great big, self-editing volume that recoreds every known major conflict, its heros, and the locations at where it was located, one can study it for one hour to find a individual war or battle through its ever-shifting pages, and can get a +10 bonus to any history check on the subject for a full week. Unfortunatly, attempting to memorise another battle makes one lose the bonus if they have not expended it.

Ghoulish Servent: A rather well-dressed undead, this ghoul speaks with a rather posh but respectful manner, and will always attempt to please its currant "owner" in everything besides combat. He is finely dressed, and he has managed to keep on to mast of his still brown hair. Assuming that the PC's gain the Ghouls trust (considering your going thru his masters hord, not a easy thing to do), he explans that he was once a butler for a fine nobleman, until said nobleman was turned into a vampires slave. Rather than simply killing him, he apperciated his willingness to serve, so he changes him into a free-willed ghoul. Around a few years ago, said vampire was staked by a group going thru his domain, so, after relising his skills, practised after many centuries was all he had left to offer to the world, decided to find a respectable person to serve. As it turnes out, serving a dragon was much like serving a vampire prince, exept with less blood-preparing and more gold counting. It has been a year since he has seen the dragon, so now wishes to follow the PC's around until he finds a place to work, or perhapes he would like to maintain the PC's home base. Pehapes balance there funds.

[Lord Bingo]

What about including at least one small note that reads something like: "guess what spell I cast this morning..."?

I would also include some books on obscure lore, that grants a circumstantial bonus to some knowledge rolls.

Artworks such as sculptures, paintings and furniture are always nice additions to a hoard.

Any dragon with respect for itself keeps slaves, so have a human or elf slave be present. I know this dragon is an impostor but everybody needs slaves to torment...

Last but not least I would include the pile of coins because your party will not be able to carry it out of there. I think decisions about what to bring and what to leave behind are great dilemmas around which to roleplay.

[Zeborazor]

What about including at least one small note that reads something like: "guess what spell I cast this morning..."?

I would also include some books on obscure lore, that grants a circumstantial bonus to some knowledge rolls.

Artworks such as sculptures, paintings and furniture are always nice additions to a hoard.

Any dragon with respect for itself keeps slaves, so have a human or elf slave be present. I know this dragon is an impostor but everybody needs slaves to torment...

Last but not least I would include the pile of coins because your party will not be able to carry it out of there. I think decisions about what to bring and what to leave behind are great dilemmas around which to roleplay.

I love those suggestions. Actually the kobolds were the dragon's slaves, although whose to say they didn't collect any?

And that's one thing I'm still thinking on. I want to put in several things, of which they can only take a few, just to make them think. Thanks for the very relevant post! Any other suggestions? Piles of coins will be there, of course. But they have no clue what their handler is looking for! So it's up to them to decide whether or not they collect as many trinkets as possible, or just load up on treasure. I'm interested to see what they do!

[Rubik]

Add in an eternal wand of Detect Magic, so they can tell what's magic and what's not. It even has 'Wand of Detect Magic' engraved on the handle.

Then have an uberly-massive (but incredibly beautiful) pink and white marble archway to nowhere sitting in the middle of the room/cavern/whatever, with everything cleared away from it. There is a small chunk of the same kind of stone sitting on the ground next to it, and it cannot be moved more than 20' away from the archway, as it immediately teleports back to the foot of the archway when someone attempts to do so. When they Detect Magic on it, it shines so brightly that it blinds the one using the spell, and the space within the archway shimmers as though there's something just out of sight within it.

It turns out that the arch, despite being huge and made from what appears to be super-dense and very heavy stone, is very very very light.

A DC 10 Knowledge (Arcana) or Bardic Lore check reveals a well-known tale about an archway that leads to every plane of existence, a la Plane Shift and Greater Teleport, even to places that technically don't exist. It's called The Gateway, and it was an artifact made from the leftover remnants of magic from the dawn of creation, and can bypass any and all protections against planar travel, including dead magic zones and even dead magic planes. A smaller chunk of stone was the key to using it.

The tale specifies that trying to identify it fails unless you cast the spell using a 10,000 gp dragon pearl to unlock the secrets contained therein.

However, it turns out the archway is purely decorative, and the enchantments are to make this massive stone archway light as a feather. Identifying it normally works as normal. The small chunk of stone was just a piece that chipped off that the dragon enchanted to teleport back to the arch so he could fix it when he got around to it; he didn't want to lose it.

[Lord Bingo]

... Any other suggestions? Piles of coins will be there, of course. But they have no clue what their handler is looking for! So it's up to them to decide whether or not they collect as many trinkets as possible, or just load up on treasure. I'm interested to see what they do!

While I can totally follow why you would want to make this treasure memorable, I would recommend you do not invest yourself too much in its specifics. If your players are anything like mine, they will appraise the stuff and then bring back whatever is most valuable so they can sell it off.

If you want them to collect (largely worthless) trinkets in an attempt to make sure they get the right item back with them, pull something like the thing with the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. There Indiana has to find the right cup amongst many. Similarly the kobold might have hidden the artifact amongst hundreds of similar items which has all been enchanted to register as if the were magic. If you choose to do this, however, make sure that there is a way to identify the right item, so that even if the heroes do not think of it, their handler will have an idea what to do.

-edit-
btw, you could hide clues in the artwork, books, etc. that is part of the treasure. The slave might know something useful, if asked and properly coaxed.
Also, while the heroes do know know what the properties of the item they are there to collect are, they should know enough about it to be able to identify it correctly if they apply themselves to it. If you present them with a wast and enticing treasure and then force them to bring home 200lbs of worthless crap they will feel like you are railroading them. Keep that in mind:smallwink:

[Zeborazor]

Thanks for the insightful post! I will certainly be taking what you've said in mind in this upcoming game. And no, I'm not going to throw everything in this thread into the hoard, I was just looking for some ideas to make it memorable.

The dungeon actually has several clues as to what they're looking for, so if they are perceptive (which will be largely a first! haha) they'll know what to look for.

And my players, surprisingly, aren't so much treasure hoarders. I could almost guarantee that if I put all this stuff in there, they would be walking out with two bags of holding full of odds and ends and I would have to throw them some sell-able treasure just to keep them competitive with the monsters! So yes there will be a profit to be made, and no I'm not putting nothing but trinkets in the hoard. Just some stuff to spice it up, know what I mean?

Thanks again though, for the advice :D!