Help with a magic item idea

[Invader]

In the campaign I'm running my PC's are searching Eberron for a set of magical keys. There is 4 in the set and so far they've obtained 1. The one they currently have conjures an iron door into place when the key is held out and turned like its in a lock.

I'm looking for ideas for what the next 3 keys can do and also for a final power that they can activate when they posses all 4 keys, though I have an idea for that I'm open to more.

Ideally each keys power would be slightly more powerful than the one before it. One Idea I had is to have two of the keys work together similar to a set of ring gates where when they were both used in different locations a portal would open up allowing passage between the two spots. The only thing I don;t like about that is the PC's will be getting the keys one at a time so they won't really have a use for the first one until they get the second one.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Darth Stabber]

Make one of the keys create a door in a wall.
one of the keys opens any planar gate (maybe have them make a know:planes roll or caster level or something first)
and the 4th key just makes planar gates (or make that the final ability).

Maybe have a demiplane that some wizard closed off to anyone except someone with all 4 keys, and they find it full of all the crap a highlevel tippy wizard would have, just laying around. The tippy wizard got board and ascended to a higher plane of existance or something along those lines, but before he did he scattered the keys for intrepid adventurers to find the horde that he couldn't take with him.

[Nettlekid]

What does the iron door do? Is it just a door out of nowhere that doesn't go anywhere, so you can use it basically like a mini Wall of Iron?

I think a fun thing to do with the keys is to make each one open a "door" in something. Each key they find opens a more powerful "door." The first key, the one they have, maybe can be used to open any literal, locked door (perhaps exclude magically locked things, or not if you feel safe with that). A Rogue's best friend, but although cooler, it's not really anything more special than an infinite item of Knock.

The second key they find will be able to open a door in any surface. Simply insert the key into the surface, give it a twist, and a door-shaped opening will open out from the surface. Most of the time it'll open into whatever corridor or room is next to the surface, but if the wall's too thick or if there's nothing there (like if they do it on the ground), it should pull out a plug of the surface in a thick door shape, leaving an imprint that they could then go into and use the key again. Again, kind of cool, but it's just an infinite item of Passwall.

The third key is the cooler one, since it allows you to make doors between any two points in space. Simply push it into thin air, turn it, visualize your location, open the air, and you'll have a small portal leading to your destination. This is the sort of thing the party will expect by this time, and this will be greatly useful, although once again, it's basically just an infinite item of Greater Teleport (or Gate, since the door will stay open for a while, letting things through. You could allow it to be interplanar if you wanted.)

The fourth key is the really special one that you might want to save for like, level 18 or something. I dunno how far your campaign's going. Don't introduce it unless you're fine with your plans getting shot to pieces, because crazy things will happen. The fourth key allows you to create a door in time itself. By pushing it into thin air and turning it, you open a door which leads into an extradimensional space containing only a huge helical staircase. When you close the door behind you, you can still see through to where you were. When you run up the staircase the door follows you, and you can see time regress through the door. As you run down the staircase, you can see time continue on through the door. It will take you whenever you want to go, if you're willing to run up and down the stairs, but does not change where you are.

Now, maybe you might want to change it so that the fourth key allows interdimensional travel, and putting them all together leads to time travel. Or maybe you don't like time travel at all. But it's just what came to my head.

[ProfessorWoland]

For the love of all that is holy, please make one of them a keyblade.

[The Trickster]

Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of the Breath of Fire games from the super Nintendo. I am almost tempted to ask that you make an earthquake key :smalltongue:

[Jett Midknight]

You could have all 4 of them work together to open some ancient prison. It could be a trap, they think using them together will open a portal to help them, but it actually unleashes some ancient evil, which is why they were separated in the first place and hidden.

[Invader]

Thanks guys, I see a couple goods ideas I might use or alter a little bit and use. I don't want to say what incase any of my players are lurking around :smallbiggrin: