Designing the One Ring

[Nettlekid]

Going back to what inspired much of the great D&D that we know and love today, I want to design that special artifact which all covet and loathe, the Ring of Power. I'd like to be able to make a magic item which has the characteristics known to us of the Ring of Power, and maybe make it sentient as well? Imagine making it a player character.

The base would have to be a Ring of Greater Invisibility, of course, continuous, which is 224,000 gold right there. It should also subject whoever wears it to the Miser's Envy spell, though perhaps it could instead have a permanent rune of that spell (as crafted by a Runecaster) so that the subject is affected by touching the ring, and so will eventually fail their save no matter what. That's another 20,000 gold, assuming a level 5 Divine Bard is the Runecaster.

You could make the ring an Intelligent Item (or possibly an Item Familiar). If an Intelligent Item it should probably be maxed out, with Int and Cha 19 and Wis 10 (the Ring strikes me as clever, deceitful, and beguiling, but it lacks foresight and judgement.) I don't know what appropriate Lesser and Greater powers for it would be. What else does the Ring do, besides turn you invisible?

An Item Familiar might be a good choice for it, actually. Invest Life Energy is like the Ring's gift of longevity. It has the potential to get the same abilities as an Intelligent Item, which gives it that versatility. I don't know how the spells would work out, though.

Another thought occurs. Could a powerful Psion get an Item Familiar and then True Mind Switch into it? Now the Ring is a powerful Psion. Which doesn't really fit the flavor at all, but if that is possible then it would also be possible to get nearly any creature's mind into the Ring, and who knows what possibilities that opens?

[Duke of Urrel]

If the One Ring was anybody's item familiar, it would be Sauron's and nobody else's. All the other powers it bestowed would be tools to enslave somebody else for Sauron's own purposes.

The One Ring would most certainly be an artifact, not an ordinary magic item. Sauron was something of an undead demi-god, if I remember my Tolkien lore correctly. So the One Ring is not subject to the ordinary rules of magic item creation.

[dascarletm]

Going back to what inspired much of the great D&D that we know and love today, I want to design that special artifact which all covet and loathe, the Ring of Power. I'd like to be able to make a magic item which has the characteristics known to us of the Ring of Power, and maybe make it sentient as well? Imagine making it a player character.

The base would have to be a Ring of Greater Invisibility, of course, continuous, which is 224,000 gold right there. It should also subject whoever wears it to the Miser's Envy spell, though perhaps it could instead have a permanent rune of that spell (as crafted by a Runecaster) so that the subject is affected by touching the ring, and so will eventually fail their save no matter what. That's another 20,000 gold, assuming a level 5 Divine Bard is the Runecaster.

You could make the ring an Intelligent Item (or possibly an Item Familiar). If an Intelligent Item it should probably be maxed out, with Int and Cha 19 and Wis 10 (the Ring strikes me as clever, deceitful, and beguiling, but it lacks foresight and judgement.) I don't know what appropriate Lesser and Greater powers for it would be. What else does the Ring do, besides turn you invisible?

An Item Familiar might be a good choice for it, actually. Invest Life Energy is like the Ring's gift of longevity. It has the potential to get the same abilities as an Intelligent Item, which gives it that versatility. I don't know how the spells would work out, though.

Another thought occurs. Could a powerful Psion get an Item Familiar and then True Mind Switch into it? Now the Ring is a powerful Psion. Which doesn't really fit the flavor at all, but if that is possible then it would also be possible to get nearly any creature's mind into the Ring, and who knows what possibilities that opens?

Wasn't it that only the halflings and such were getting invisibility because they were naturally sneaky? Doesn't the one ring amplify the wearers power, and give special abilities based off that?

[ddude987]

I would say the ring would be a "cursed" item. As such I would say the base cost of greater invisibility should be lowered. Also maybe anybody that is affected by the greater invisibility is subject to a scry spell or sauron, ring wraiths etc automatically know the wearers locati pi n relative to theirs.

[Asteron]

Wasn't it that only the halflings and such were getting invisibility because they were naturally sneaky? Doesn't the one ring amplify the wearers power, and give special abilities based off that?

No, because Isolder (I'm pretty sure it was him) was killed while fleeing from orcs when the ring slipped off his finger, making him visible.

[Nettlekid]

Wasn't it that only the halflings and such were getting invisibility because they were naturally sneaky? Doesn't the one ring amplify the wearers power, and give special abilities based off that?

I thought it also gave the human king whose name slips my mind (was that Isildur?) invisibility, so that when it left him he was visible to the orcs who were shooting at him.


I know that in the canon the Ring of Power is Sauron's alone, and it doesn't actually do anything good for anyone else. But since in most D&D campaigns where Sauron doesn't exist, but either the DM wants to throw in the Ring for a fun reference or a player wants to play a character obsessed by the Ring, it would be fun to make it an option. Obviously you could just homebrew an artifact that has all of the Ring of Power's abilities, but it's more fun to design it as a magic item that could exist within the rules.

[Mcdt2]

Alright, time to nerd out here, with the LOTR Wiki page (http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/One_Ring) for reference.

According to the wiki, the ring's power was varying depending on the user. First off, this suggests to me that building the Ring in a manner similar to a legacy weapon would be apprpriate.

To be exact, the One Ring does not make one invisible, per se. The Ring causes one to be shifted into the spirit world, which was invisible to most. While in this world, very bright sunlight could cause you to leave the most imperceptible shadow. Beings of the spirit world (wraiths such as the Nazgul, presumably imortals such as the Valar) would be able to percieve them. The best way to emulate this would be something like a cross between the ethereal and shadow planes. Definitely some sort of tranisitive plane, at least.

Other powers of the Ring the domination of wills. This was most effective on other bearers of Rings of Power, but a skilled user could manipulate others as well.

It also amplified the powers of those who wore it. Lesser beings became invisible, but powerful beings such as Sauron became nigh invinceable. It was also implied that the Ring of Power could convey the ability of telepathy, as Galadrial suggested to Frodo.

Finally, at times the Ring causes the weilder to appear incredibly powerful and menacing. When Samwise wore the Ring in Mordor, he appeared as a powerful warrior cloaked in shadow "[holding] some nameless menace of power and doom." The orc in fornt of him was so afraid that he fled. Frodo appeared to Gollum as a "figure robed in white... [and] it held a wheel of fire."


In DnD terms, it's power should probably include Dominate spells, some sort of Illusion/Fear spells, grant telepathic ability, buffs such as Divine Power, as well as be intelligent. I suggest a special purpose of "Return to Sauron", unless you intend to play Sauron, in which case "Protect Sauron". In any case, I would suggest statting it out as an artifact, and not bothering to try and cost it. Your choice, though.

[Pally din]

The One ring should be inteligent yes, but not have d&d's speech.

It should gradualy, with saves per use, change the user's alignment to evil. (This might even be something like a reverse will save, where it is harder to save the higher level you are, whereas a hobbit can save several times. Gandalf and the elf lady both feared touching the ring. Yet, Golumn fell.)

Will save to volontarily remove or put down the ring?

It should gradualy corrupt the form of the user, but in such a way that does not harm charisma.

It should give a huge bonus to dominate, charm monster, suggestion versus any of the other ring wearers. Yet, Gandalf and the elf lady had some of the other rings. The dwarves and men fell, but in different ways.

Now for a tricky bit. What is it about the One ring that aside from the command, invis, and long life that makes it SO powerful? How about something like: for each ability point transfered into the ring, the user gains 2 of the same ability points only so long as they wear the ring. Ability points are per user. This would have allowed the elf lady to bump her charisma up to queen of the world levels, and also explains how Sauron lost some power when he lost the ring.

What would mimic the link the ring has to its creator? Clairvoyance? Telepathy?

Having the ring forcibly removed from you turns you into gaseous form?

The ring needs an ability to move on its own. Telekinesis 1/year or animate object (self)?

Edit: It is obviously an artifact that can only be destroyed in Mount Doom.

Meh, I don't think d&d models the One ring well.

[Duke of Urrel]

According to the wiki, the ring's power was varying depending on the user. First off, this suggests to me that building the Ring in a manner similar to a legacy weapon would be appropriate.

Yes. And I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) some powers of the One Ring decreased or increased with Sauron's own power and knowledge. While Bilbo had the Ring, Sauron couldn't do much to corrupt him, because the Dark Lord was both weak (comparatively speaking) and unaware of the Ring's rediscovery, but by the time the Ring passed on to Frodo, Sauron was much more powerful, had "heard of hobbits and the Shire," as Gandalf feared, and could subject Frodo to much greater temptation.

It seems also that Sauron's soul was mystically bound up with the Ring, so much so that he himself was vanquished when the Ring was destroyed. So perhaps the One Ring was something like a lich's phylactery.

[Nettlekid]

Hm, well then, how might you go about making something totally indestructible, like the Ring was save for the fires of Mount Doom? I know that major artifacts are automatically indestructible like that, but if someone was making their own version of it (let's call it the Ikea Ring of Power from now on, to emphasize the character-designed aspect and disassociate it from all the canon of the Ring of Power) how might they reinforce it against destruction, magical or mundane?

[TuggyNE]

Hm, well then, how might you go about making something totally indestructible, like the Ring was save for the fires of Mount Doom? I know that major artifacts are automatically indestructible like that, but if someone was making their own version of it (let's call it the Ikea Ring of Power from now on, to emphasize the character-designed aspect and disassociate it from all the canon of the Ring of Power) how might they reinforce it against destruction, magical or mundane?

Ask Xykon for some tips.

Hardening, obscure object, matter manipulation, making it out of obdurium, putting an unrelated artifact inside so anyone disjoining it has a chance of losing their spellcasting and angering some random Outsider, make it out of livewood so it's immune to disintegrate, and so on and so forth. Some of that doesn't work on a Construct/intelligent item, though, but fortunately, you get some additional options like energy immunity (no permanency on that one, though).

[Razanir]

No, because Isolder (I'm pretty sure it was him) was killed while fleeing from orcs when the ring slipped off his finger, making him visible.

Isildur, but yes.


It should gradualy, with saves per use, change the user's alignment to evil. (This might even be something like a reverse will save, where it is harder to save the higher level you are, whereas a hobbit can save several times. Gandalf and the elf lady both feared touching the ring. Yet, Golumn fell.)

Gollum, and the elf lady is named Galadriel.

Also, it's not that it becomes more difficult to save, it's just they're more scared of what a fall would be like.

[Telonius]

I'd recommend looking into Heroes of Horror for some of the rules on Taint. The Ring's effects fit fairly neatly into the Corruption and Depravity effects. (For example, Gollum was probably on the Aggressive/Treacherous/Murderous Depravity track, while Frodo was on the Disoriented/Hallucinating/Paranoid track).

EDIT: The Tainted Minion template would be appropriate for Nazgul.

[Flickerdart]

Check out the Orbs of Dragonkind artifacts - the Gold orb allows its user to dominate users of the other orbs, which seems pretty close to what the ring can do.

[rexreg]

from Mcdt2 -

...Beings of the spirit world (wraiths such as the Nazgul, presumably imortals such as the Valar) .

The Valar are gods; the 9 Nazgul were not originally immortals.

The Nine Rings were given to men, 3 of them Lords of Numenor. These men gained great power as kings, sorcerers, and warriors, but in the end succumbed to the influence of the One Ring & were held in thralldom by it. They became forever invisible except to he who wore the One Ring; they entered the land of shadows. — paraphrased from The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"

[zorenathres]

Check out the Orbs of Dragonkind artifacts - the Gold orb allows its user to dominate users of the other orbs, which seems pretty close to what the ring can do.

I would argue that a power like that was exclusive to Sauron, who had total mastery of the ring, when he wears the one ring, he can scrye on any other bearer of a ring of power & corrupt/ dominate them. in the books, upon his immediate creation of the one ring, the elf lords immediately sensed his presence & took theirs off, the dwarves did likewise (but less of them resisted, corrupting some), the humans were completely corrupted.

The elf lords refused to wear their rings of power until the alliance was formed to defeat Sauron, after which they resumed with their use (celeborn, galadriel, & elrond?). For a mortal to use this power would require complete mastery over the one ring, IMO.

& for those asking, i believe the one ring is the key component of his phylactery, which is linked to the foundations of barad-dur, the tower of the lidless eye, the reason the tower fell at the end was from the result of the foundations crumbling once the one ring was toast.

[Lapak]

I would argue that a power like that was exclusive to Sauron, who had total mastery of the ring, when he wears the one ring, he can scrye on any other bearer of a ring of power & corrupt/ dominate them. in the books, upon his immediate creation of the one ring, the elf lords immediately sensed his presence & took theirs off, the dwarves did likewise (but less of them resisted, corrupting some), the humans were completely corrupted.Yes and no on the 'exclusive to Sauron' part. The main danger he feared when the Ring was found was not that it would be destroyed - Sauron literally could not conceive of something doing that - but that it would be claimed. Someone like a Hobbit couldn't do so successfully, but someone who was a power in their own right - a Galadriel, a Gandalf, an Aragorn - could hope to wrest ownership of the Ring from Sauron through a contest of will. All of the power that he had invested in it would pass to them, they would gain all of his powers of domination and mastery, and he would be diminished beyond hope of recovery. The whole point of the "let's march up to Mordor with way too few troops" plan was to gull him into thinking that someone HAD the ring and was using it but hadn't fully claimed it yet so that he'd throw absolutely everything he had into getting it back before it was too late.

So a Legacy item-style setup would indeed be appropriate, with a (very high level, possibly Epic) legacy ritual allowing the user to truly claim the Ring.

EDIT: Incidentally, the Appendices in TRoTK make it clear that the dwarves were too independent to be controlled; none of them fell to Sauron directly and that's part of why he ended up working to reclaim the Dwarf-rings immediately. What the Dwarf-rings DID do was cause a lust for ever-greater amounts of precious metals in the bearer that could not be sated; it didn't cause them to serve Sauron directly but did corrupt them to evil ends in that way.

[gurgleflep]

I've got a book called "Treasures of Middle Earth" back from the days of AD&D, it was made by I.C.E., and it contains the One Ring, plus all the rings that were made to control the elves, dwarves and humans, and countless other items.
Think it'd be safe to list what it does?

[zorenathres]

Someone like a Hobbit couldn't do so successfully, but someone who was a power in their own right - a Galadriel, a Gandalf, an Aragorn - could hope to wrest ownership of the Ring from Sauron through a contest of will.


This reminded me of something,
I also played the MECCG card game, which had a special Balrog set featuring the Balrog as a "ringwraith" player (simply fighting for the dark side in game terms), & the Balrog could ascend, once in possession of the one ring & completion of a ritual would result in the Balrog becoming the new lord of darkness in ME. I guess a mortal could do the same, but they better be epic yeah?

Argh, my bad on the dwarves, been a while since i looked up on this material, but good looking out on the appendices.

[Shining Wrath]

It's an artifact.

First - the Ring gives power according to the wielder.
Second - the Ring requires time to master.
Third - the Ring is irredeemably evil.
Fourth - the Ring longs to be reunited with its maker.
Fifth - Sauron's powers were in crafting (he was originally a Maiar of Aule), transformation (in the Simarillion he took the form of a werewolf to attack Luthien, and after the fall of Numenor he took up his Ring and reshaped himself into the Lidless Eye), and mind control. He's a conjurer / transmuter / illusionist.

So: the Ring (eventually) DOUBLES caster level for spells in the schools of conjuration, transmutation, and illusion. The invisibility is a minor ability related to illusion. If the Ring is a main battle tank, invisibility is the headlights on the tank - nice to have, far from the most powerful aspect.

The Ring requires a series of contests of Will to gain full control of its powers. It doesn't grant full power in a day. Something like 30 consecutive days of wearing it and making a DC 30 Will save each day is required to gain full use of its power.

The Ring requires a daily Will save at DC equal to ECL (the more power you have, the more it tempts you) to avoid an alignment shift toward LE. Not an instant change, but sooner or later you'll get there. If you wear the Ring, add 5 to the DC and make an additional save. If you use the powers of the Ring, add twice the spell level of the spell augmented by use of the Ring and make a save. The number of missed saves required to become LE depends on starting alignment. If you give up possession of the Ring (Bilbo) your alignment starts moving back, very slowly.

The Ring will betray a wielder who has not gained full control of its powers if the Ring believes doing so will allow it to return to Sauron (Isildur, Gollum).