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Maquise
2013-05-06, 09:09 AM
Due to the prevalence of magic items in DND, how do you go about introducing them to your characters in game? I find the idea of just telling them OOC what bonuses the items get to be boring and take the fun out of finding them, so is there a good way to describe them in all their shiny goodness, while at the same time telling the players what they just got?

Rhynn
2013-05-06, 09:24 AM
Depends entirely on the game and the ability.

D&D 3.X, I tell them once they identify them. Otherwise I apply the bonuses secretly. Sorry D&D 3E, you're the vidya game of D&D editions.

In older D&D editions, identify tends to be less useful, and my players just trial-and-error things. Eventually I'll get sick of remembering to secretly work in those bonuses for armor and weapons and tell my players so they can keep track.

In other RPGs, magic items are often nothing so simple as bonuses to rolls, and this makes them much more interesting. (Although many items in old D&D are like this, too.) The players have to figure out what they do on their own.

JoshuaZ
2013-05-06, 02:03 PM
Due to the prevalence of magic items in DND, how do you go about introducing them to your characters in game? I find the idea of just telling them OOC what bonuses the items get to be boring and take the fun out of finding them, so is there a good way to describe them in all their shiny goodness, while at the same time telling the players what they just got?

It depends on the item and context. I try to generally make the items have some history (especially because the setting if fairly low magic) but often they don't care much about the items, unless it somehow fits with their backstory or the like (e.g. one player got a diadem that is magically connected to her goddess which hasn't been worshipped in hundreds of years).

Lord Torath
2013-05-06, 03:16 PM
Keep your backstories short and sweet when it comes to magic items. For example, the swords in The Hobbit (Sting and Orc Biter if I recall correctly) got about two lines of background, but they instantly felt powerful and old. No need for a long list of previous owners and battles.

I've heard many people (on this and other boards) suggest using the background of the magic item suggest new adventures. (This amulet has an image of the long lost Keep of Lostness on the back, which is rumored to be over 100 miles away, and which hasn't been seen in over 250 years. Wonder how it got here?)

I would also either name or have your players name anything of +2 or greater enchantment. Characters can get very attached to a named item.

On the original topic of communicating abilities, I'm quite happy to go with the Order of the Stick. "It's okay you can just say +5 sword here." (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0297.html) But I make them wait until they've used it in combat, or identified it before giving them that information. Making them decode "a 10% increase in accuracy" or whatever gets tedious. Naming the item, and giving it a brief history will keep them from going "oh. another sword+2. woo hoo."

Maquise
2013-05-06, 03:28 PM
I quite enjoy naming magic items, as well as adding little touches here and there to make them stand out more. For example, I like giving them 1-day level-1 spell uses, or similar things.

Lord Torath
2013-05-06, 03:36 PM
The one-off powers are a nice touch.

I think another nice feature is a Something's Different feature. This sword has a nick in the blade, three-quarters of the way down. Don't even need an explanation as to why. Or the cross-guard looks like a snake, or there's a small gem embedded somewhere (don't go too crazy with this one. If every sword has a gem embedded, it quickly gets old).

But keep it to one oddity. Maybe two for a really powerful item (unless the oddity is a clue to a new plot). Too many and the players start rolling their eyes or blanking out during your description.

Jay R
2013-05-06, 05:07 PM
If they get an object with wishes on it, I start listening very carefully to their words. I've had one person find out what his ring was when he said, "I wish we had a Bag of Holding."

More amusingly, I had a fairly new player trying to convince me that Brigandine armor should protect him as well as plate mail. He finally said, "I just wish it did what I thought it would when I bought it."

"OK," I said, "It works as well as plate mail." The other players were astounded at my generosity. Not one of them considered the possibility that the magic sword he'd just picked up had anything to do with it.

They were talking about it two adventures later, and he said, "I wish I knew what happened back there."

So I explained, "You suddenly realize that you have a sword of three wishes, and had made a wish for brigantine that worked like plate, and a wish to know what happened. You have one wish left."

Matticussama
2013-05-06, 09:03 PM
I usually only add unique backgrounds to specific magic items to help flesh out a particular part of the story. If you make every magic item a unique, named item, then that looses its appeal. If you only do it for certain magic items, however, it makes it seem more special.

For example, say the characters are in a ruined castle that has been infested by demons. A successful Knowledge: History check might reveal that the last King of this land is said to have inspired his troops to great acts of heroism, and managed to slay a vast horde before eventually falling. Legends say that after his castle fell, the King's sword was lost to history; his sword was said to be exceptionally sharp, and managed to pierce through the strongest shields his enemies possessed and deafen his enemies when its full wrath was brought to bear.

I used this particular scenario when introducing a new sword for the Warblade in my group. It was a +2 Adamantine, Keen, Thunderous Longsword that, once per week, could activate the Heroism spell on a number of allies equal to 2 x character level. If I had just given them the stats then the Warblade probably would have thought it was a cool enough sword. However, since his character wants to establish his own kingdom, by taking this king's blade he can now claim a certain amount of legitimacy by the authority this relic holds - in addition to it helping in large battles he would need to lead in order to establish his own kingdom.

Slipperychicken
2013-05-06, 11:07 PM
If you're fond of trial-and-error, one thought I had is assigning a code to each magic item they acquire. That way, you can just keep a reference sheet and when someone says "I wave Longsword X2-93 in the air", you can tell them what happens, instead of waffling on it for a few minutes and making up new stats because you forgot.

Rhynn
2013-05-07, 04:51 AM
the swords in The Hobbit (Sting and Orc Biter if I recall correctly)

Glamdring and Orcrist. Sting isn't even a sword! :smalltongue:

Mastikator
2013-05-07, 07:31 AM
If it's a game like D&D 3+ where everyone and their dog has a magic item then I just tell them roughly what it does without identify, and exactly what it does with. I don't bother with giving the item a backstory.

If it's a game where magic items are rare and the characters are more likely than not to never get a magic item then I make it special.

Players also tend to not care about the fluff of anything, so I just keep things consistent and short, if I add lots of fluff I do it for my sake, I'd say "and because a player asked", but that's never happened. Most DMs look shocked when I ask about the item's backstory.

Rhynn
2013-05-07, 09:18 AM
Players also tend to not care about the fluff of anything, so I just keep things consistent and short, if I add lots of fluff I do it for my sake, I'd say "and because a player asked", but that's never happened. Most DMs look shocked when I ask about the item's backstory.

Players don't care if it doesn't matter to them, basically.

If the players really, really hate the Murgobund Dwarves and they come across a magical Murgobund axe, they're liable to hate the axe, too. If they have good reason, from past experience, to fear Glibanese magic, they're liable to fear a Glibanese magic staff. It's about connecting the items and the players to the same world.

If magic items are common, their histories probably plain don't matter. If they're not, the item's past may actually inform their abilities, making it a matter of interest to players - especially if there's no identify spell. In MERP/Rolemaster, knowing that the sword you found was forged in Gondolin is going to give you an idea of its power level (probably +20 to +30) and abilities (orc-slaying for sure, probably more). Obviously, this requires consistency from the GM and the world.

This actually applies to other genres and types of items, too. My players probably wouldn't pick up an East European or Chinese weapon (except, of course, AK series rifles) in CP2020 because, being a 1980s vision of the future, it runs with the "commies manufacture crap" meme. But tell them that a gun is Heckler & Koch and they'll trust it to do their taxes, babysit their kids, and chaperone their squeeze.

Beleriphon
2013-05-07, 09:31 AM
Glamdring and Orcrist. Sting isn't even a sword! :smalltongue:

That would be in Westron Foe-Hammer and Goblin-Cleaver. Sting is an oversized letter opener.

I do agree that adding just enough detail to the magic items can be fun. The Wiki's description of Orcist for example is two sentences long one of which explains which book the sword appears in, while Glamdring's is slightly longer since it appears in more books.

Then again Narsil's entry is seven paragraphs, but most of them explain why the sword in the movies looks different that the description in the books anlong with how Tolkien named the thing. The actual in universe history of the sword is less than a paragraph. Even at that just the name Aragorn gives it adds a huge amount of character; Andúril means "Flame of the West" after all.

Slipperychicken
2013-05-07, 11:38 AM
That would be in Westron Foe-Hammer and Goblin-Cleaver. Sting is an oversized letter opener.


Give him a break, it was just an excuse for Bilbo to get some properly-sized loot. :smalltongue:

Lvl45DM!
2013-05-07, 11:50 AM
Playing a high level game in 1st ed changes it somewhat to low level stuff i think. Playing a level 5 game you find a sword thats well made, cast detect magic "It radiates weak/moderate/strong" magic its a +1/+2/+3 sword. When you're level 15 you shouldn't be getting a +5 instead of a +4 sword you should be getting some really epic stuff. Everytime we get loot in one game I just tell the DM I'm casting Legend Lore on all of it at some point, so start writing histories that let me figure out the magic.

Jay R
2013-05-08, 11:42 AM
A weapon with a name and a history is probably a +3 Plot Hook of Sharpness.