Favorite magic items you never use

[Person_Man]

Simple question. What magic items (or psionic items, alchemical items, whatever, from any edition or game system) that you think are cool and would like to use in a game but rarely or never do for some reason?

I've noticed that there are a lot of such items that are either overpriced or too powerful or have poorly written crunch or whatnot, and want to look for ways to fix them and incorporate them into my games.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[Hopeless]

Celestial Armour, I saw it being used in a you tube video where literally every other character had this if they couldn't use some form plate mail.

Read up on it and thought oh it allows you to fly and only good casters can make it... its never turned up in any game I've played in... had a character buy a Ring of Mind Shielding at points had access to a Ring of Wizardry I (later returned to the rogue as I left the group and he asked me so he could have his character multi-class as an illusionist because the dm forgot what that ring does... he's got my character sheet and its been about 4-5 years now but I still remember!:smallmad:).

Lets not bring up the bone ring my character picked up only to be told later another PC had it ignoring the fact the dm said whoever declared first actually had it... another rule he ignored later sorry now remembering the old wounds from that campaign!:smallfrown:

My character had to buy his own +1 suit of full plate and a +1 bastard sword of sure striking... sure its no longer applicable under 3.5 but the week I got back and found they had swapped my cleric of Helm's bastard sword for an intelligent longsword they didn't want their character to use...:smallfurious:

Then the guy who played my character apparently asked what sure striking does... just after the party got their backsides kicked by a pair of golems... and for those that don't know that effectively +1 special ability makes that bastard sword function as a +5 weapon when used against anything with a DR... still remained the only character wielding that weapon when I moved...

Never use? never use again!

[Fax Celestis]

Shift weave is mine. I generally buy it: 500gp for five outfits you can change at-will as a swift action is a great augment to a cap of disguise.

Unfortunately I never get a cap of disguise as I generally have different things to do with my head slot. So the shift weave turns into a curiosity instead of a tool.

[SimonMoon6]

I love the versatility of the Rod of Lordly Might. But 70k for that? No thanks.

At best, it can be a +4 battleaxe. That's not terrible. But it's not 70k good.

And all of it's other little effects (like hold person on a touch attack with a save DC of 14, becoming a ladder, or being a compass) are fairly trivial abilities.

[Vortenger]

I've always found the Orb of Mental Renewal a great item to never use. You're glad you have it if you're a caster, but if you never use it, you're doing it right.

[Brookshw]

Apparatus of Kwalsh (pretty sure I misspelled that).

[Bakeru]

I love Gloves of Object Reading (no, you can't drive your GM crazy with them, the MIC states exactly how and what informations you get, and gives the GM a few escape clauses for why an object has no infos on it), but I happen to play a charismatic, diplomacy-based beguiler in a campaign with (often mindless) undead being the main enemies. You can probably guess how often I get to do intrigue stuff.

My character is also wearing the already mentioned Shiftweave, and as a changeling (Eberron, not Pathfinder), he doesn't have to get a cap of disguise just to change his face. But again, undead don't care what you're wearing.

(Luckily, my group doesn't care for optimisation. Otherwise, my char would be as good as useless. This way, he's still a decent buffer and a great party face.)


The other items I like, but never even bought:
The Robe of Eyes? Cool, being able to see everything. But costs to much.
Mirror of Life Trapping. Yes, 200k gold for something avoidable with an DC 23 will save is overpriced for use in combat, but if you think of it as an inescapable portable prison, it's suddenly ... still overpriced, but at least fun!
Spectral Dagger sounds fun, too.

[Regis_is_a_bro]

Rod of Wonder, if you have a pranky character, it's perfect (though there are some side effects... obviously). Otherwise, pretty useless, and doesn't seem to get used much. Not sure of the price, but I think it's between 10-20 thousand gold. Not worth it really, unless, well you REALLY want it.

[Rubik]

Deck of many things. It could be an amazing item, if you get the right cards, but the potential side-effects are terribly screw-overy.

[Sith_Happens]

Mirror of Life Trapping. Yes, 200k gold for something avoidable with an DC 23 will save is overpriced for use in combat, but if you think of it as an inescapable portable prison, it's suddenly ... still overpriced, but at least fun!

It might be worth it for a sufficiently perverted Evil character, seeing as anyone trapped by it explicitly leaves their clothing behind.

[Regis_is_a_bro]

Deck of many things. It could be an amazing item, if you get the right cards, but the potential side-effects are terribly screw-overy.

Deck of many things is hilarious, it's been in a couple of the campaigns I've played, and someone -always- gets screwed over.

[Harrow]

Any and all alchemical items. By the time I have enough money to be able to justify buying them they've become virtually useless. About three times now I've built low level characters that have a ton of them because they made them in their backstory for cheap, but each time I haven't been able to use the character.

Although I guess those aren't exactly 'magic' items.

For that, it would be chaos flasks, shapesand, and marvelous pigments. Yes, yes, all of these things are awesome with a thousand uses. A thousand none-combat uses. And again the fates have been against me, as every time I happen to have one of those things the game has suddenly turned into 'roll dice to kill goblins'.

[Yorrin]

The Rod of Ropes from Complete Scoundrel.

The idea of self-propelling grappling hook in my back pocket has always seemed fun to me, but I rarely have a character who doesn't have some superior mode of transportation by the time I can justify buying one. I suppose for a party that is super under-optimized it could be a useful way of scaling walls and crossing chasms, but flight negates the need for either, and even one strong flying party member can service as well as the poor rod of ropes.

[Harlot]

Aboleth mucus. I always carry it around but for some reason never get to use it. Its very cool though.
One item I like to use (a lot) is the Feather Token Tree. Whenever do you NOT want an instant tree?

[Socksy]

Rings of Wizardry. I hate, hate, hate writing out memorized spells.

Also, that outfit-changey thing sounds so badass. Give a wilder one and you have yourself a magical girl!

[Rubik]

Most epic items (with a few exceptions). The vast majority are horribly inferior to stacking multiple non-epic items together.

How about +2-+5 weapons and armor? Why would anyone use those when Greater Magic Fang, Magic Vestment, and Greater Magic Weapon spells exist?

[bekeleven]

Shift weave is mine. I generally buy it: 500gp for five outfits you can change at-will as a swift action is a great augment to a cap of disguise.

Unfortunately I never get a cap of disguise as I generally have different things to do with my head slot. So the shift weave turns into a curiosity instead of a tool.

I generally buy Glamered Armor, which is just better, if slightly costlier. Hat of Disguise + Glamered Armor is great, and Glamered Armor is a good supplement for mundane disguises as well, since it has no will save.

For an unarmored character I built recently I put it onto my bracers of armor.

[Malimar]

Mundane, not magical, but I still gotta mention the noble 10' pole (and its cousins, the collapsible pole and the quarterstaff). Every time I make a skillsy character, they pack a pole of some description, but only once* have I ever actually used one for any of their alleged many purposes.

*I used a quarterstaff to probe some old, mold-covered floor that we suspected of being unstable.

[Seerow]

Commander Armor. The flavor is cool, and it's dirt cheap so in theory it should be easy to get. But I've never seen a DM drop it, and for some reason every time I have gold to spend I think of other things that would be more practically useful.

[Bakeru]

I generally buy Glamered Armor, which is just better, if slightly costlier. Hat of Disguise + Glamered Armor is great, and Glamered Armor is a good supplement for mundane disguises as well, since it has no will save.

For an unarmored character I built recently I put it onto my bracers of armor.As I (and my DM) understand Glamered Armor, it emulates the look of one set of clothes, and which that is can't be changed later on. Shiftweave, however, switches between five, so it has more versatility (and gives no will-save, either, nor does a changeling's Minor Change Shape).

[Telonius]

Bagpipes of the Damned, from Libris Mortis. The image of some Necromancer-Bard playing Amazing Grace, and making all of his minions stronger, is just so creepily absurd (or absurdly creepy, not sure which).

[Max Caysey]

Ioun Stones are da bomb!

[Vhaidara]

Bag of Tricks. For why, read the attached comic

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[bekeleven]

As I (and my DM) understand Glamered Armor, it emulates the look of one set of clothes, and which that is can't be changed later on. Shiftweave, however, switches between five, so it has more versatility (and gives no will-save, either, nor does a changeling's Minor Change Shape).

The text is slightly ambiguous. "On command, it looks like a normal set of clothing..."

If that's all it did, however, there are an incredibly large number of ways to duplicate that.

Given that the price of Glamered Armor is Hat of Disguise * 1.5 (for fitting into another body slot), I assume it allows more than one form.

[Amphetryon]

I really like the idea behind what the SRD calls the Sustaining Spoon, but it's very rare that this level of detail matters in campaigns I'm in.

The Sword of Subtlety is a very nice idea that, in my experience, is rarely worth the expense compared to other options.

[bekeleven]

I really like the idea behind what the SRD calls the Sustaining Spoon, but it's very rare that this level of detail matters in campaigns I'm in.

There are significantly cheaper ways to get this type of thing, like the everlasting ration, survival pouch, travel cloak, etc.

[Doorhandle]

Apparatus of Kwalsh (pretty sure I misspelled that).

You and me both.

Honestly, It's something you want to throw in their laps at level one, just to watch them fumble around with it for the rest of the campaign.


Bagpipes of the Damned, from Libris Mortis. The image of some Necromancer-Bard playing Amazing Grace, and making all of his minions stronger, is just so creepily absurd (or absurdly creepy, not sure which).
Both, naturally.

[Amphetryon]

There are significantly cheaper ways to get this type of thing, like the everlasting ration, survival pouch, travel cloak, etc.

Yet another reason it almost never sees use in my experience. . . .

[KillianHawkeye]

Apparatus of Kwalsh (pretty sure I misspelled that).

I was gonna say that, too! Really cool idea, too bad it's not as good as you'd expect and super expensive.


Mirror of Life Trapping. Yes, 200k gold for something avoidable with an DC 23 will save is overpriced for use in combat, but if you think of it as an inescapable portable prison, it's suddenly ... still overpriced, but at least fun!


It might be worth it for a sufficiently perverted Evil character, seeing as anyone trapped by it explicitly leaves their clothing behind.

Huh, never noticed that line before. Now I have naughty thoughts.... :smallwink:


How about +2-+5 weapons and armor? Why would anyone use those when Greater Magic Fang, Magic Vestment, and Greater Magic Weapon spells exist?

The main downside to those spells that the bonus is capped by caster level in such a way that you can probably find or buy an item with a permanent bonus higher than the temporary bonus provided by the spell. I'd expect to be using a +5 weapon and armor well before 20th level. These spells are really only useful if you always play high level games and you can get your +1 with all the special abilities and turn it into a +5 with magic. Or if the DM is incredibly stingy with magic items.

[Seerow]

The main downside to those spells that the bonus is capped by caster level in such a way that you can probably find or buy an item with a permanent bonus higher than the temporary bonus provided by the spell. I'd expect to be using a +5 weapon and armor well before 20th level. These spells are really only useful if you always play high level games and you can get your +1 with all the special abilities and turn it into a +5 with magic. Or if the DM is incredibly stingy with magic items.


Even outside of very high level with a maxed bonus from GMW it's still useful. At level 12 would you rather have a +5 weapon, or a +1 weapon with +4 worth of special abilities increased to a +3 weapon via GMW?

Basically anytime you're past level 8 or so, GMW is something you want to take advantage of. Also if you get your hands on a Bead of Karma, you can add an extra +1 enhancement during your start of the day buffing.

[MesiDoomstalker]

As a Cleric who routinely casts Magic Vestments and GMW (with Rod of Chain Spell) for his group, everyone loves the bonuses. In our last session alone, at least 5 attacks were either hits or death blows due to the bonuses, and at least 3 incoming attacks blocked by the increased AC.

[Sketchopotamus]

Magic carpet!

[Keldrin]

Daern's Instant Fortress. Not SO expensive, but always gets passed over for other, more essential things.

One day though...


Robe of Eyes, that I've finally, actually crafted one with my current character. Just in time to avoid Yuan Ti assassins. "Eye" see you, bwhahaha!

[Rubik]

I know it's sacrilege, but Quaal's feather tree tokens. I can see how they're incredibly useful and fun to use, but I avoid all but the cheapest expendable items (such as 1st and 2nd level scrolls and power stones and a few craftible alchemical items), so tree tokens are a bit out of my price range, even at high levels. I much prefer to spend money on permanent items, instead.

Now, if we had an item that produced tree tokens, or a reusable one...

[Lord_Gareth]

Marvelous pigments, yo.

[FirebirdFlying]

I'm a sucker for any and all alchemical items; shapesand, bottled air, firmament stones. I also like interesting mundane things; when making characters, I tend to give them soap, matches, twine, insectbane candles, etc. Lots of potential for creative uses, but they just end up taking up space.

[Vogonjeltz]

Everything that costs over say 20k in the DMG. By the time I can afford them (rather than an awesome random drop) they're less than impressive. For example, a ring of invisibility would be fantastic... Until everything has some form of detecting invisibility on demand.

[Tetraplex]

The Rod of Ropes from Complete Scoundrel.

The idea of self-propelling grappling hook in my back pocket has always seemed fun to me, but I rarely have a character who doesn't have some superior mode of transportation by the time I can justify buying one. I suppose for a party that is super under-optimized it could be a useful way of scaling walls and crossing chasms, but flight negates the need for either, and even one strong flying party member can service as well as the poor rod of ropes.

Oh my friend! You are looking at this all wrong! It's not a grappling hook for moving, it's for tripping people by shooting both ends into walls, for bull rushing people from range, for punching through stuff with that bull rush, wake boarding over grease with your familiar...just a sample of what my Eldritch Theurge did with it. It's my favorite item TO use.

Favorite item not to use is either Liquid Sunlight or the Deck of Many Things. Depends on whether you mean use as intended or not at all.

[The Trickster]

Deck of many thing - mostly because I am too much of a wimp to use it.

Rod of Wonder - I am planning of playing a Wild Mage in 3.5 as soon as possible though, partly because of this item.

Anything else worth more then 40k gold - I rarely get that high, and when we do, it is a "low magic game".

[Sir Chuckles]

Deck of many things. It could be an amazing item, if you get the right cards, but the potential side-effects are terribly screw-overy.

I love the deck, and I use the deck fairly often. It's usually for less serious campaigns, or at least campaigns were I have a feeling where everyone is dead anyway.

Though it's extremely sought after in my group. We'll spend an hour just drawing, redrawing, dying, being saved by it from another card, and so on. I even went as far as to quickly hash together a "God of Gambling" who owns it.

Last time I used it, one player leveled four times, and one guy died twice.

Aside from that, I have a tendency to constantly give Marvelous Pigments to my players. Because I love them and am rarely a player.

[Harrow]

I know it's sacrilege, but Quaal's feather tree tokens. I can see how they're incredibly useful and fun to use, but I avoid all but the cheapest expendable items (such as 1st and 2nd level scrolls and power stones and a few craftible alchemical items), so tree tokens are a bit out of my price range, even at high levels. I much prefer to spend money on permanent items, instead.

Now, if we had an item that produced tree tokens, or a reusable one...

Did you know that one Dragon Magazine has an orb that produces Marvelous Pigments every day?

I say this because I'm in the same boat as you. Yes, I can see how a tree token could be used to make just about any situation better. But I cannot see how it justifies the cost, short of preventing a TPK

So finding something that gives daily charges of something as diverse as Marvelous Pigments was a godsend. Er, it would have been, if it wasn't from Dragon Magazine (looked down upon in many groups), broken (Marvelous pigments -> expensive goods -> year of downtime -> PROFIT), and hidden behind a pricetag in a range I'm never going to be able to afford (90K IIRC)

'Nother entry for the thread : intelligent items. I love them, but the price is rarely worth their ability and the rules for them almost seem like they're designed to derail plots. Which I don't mind so much, but every attempt to include one so far has faced massive backlash from the group that just wants to hawk it for gold, or, barring that, just leave it in a ditch.

[Venger]

Most epic items (with a few exceptions). The vast majority are horribly inferior to stacking multiple non-epic items together.

How about +2-+5 weapons and armor? Why would anyone use those when Greater Magic Fang, Magic Vestment, and Greater Magic Weapon spells exist?

greater weapon crystals, annoyingly, require that the weapon you jam them into be at least a +3. this is the only reason to have a magic weapon with greater than a +1 enhancement in 3.5.

as far as magic items I love the idea of but never use, I'd have to say blast disks.

I adore the idea of planting little IEDs for my enemies to find, but it's problematic for a number of reasons:

1) even if you do get the drop on your enemies, do you really have enough time to set up little bombs?
2) even if you do, you can't know who's going to step where
3) the damage (5d6 fire) sucks, the save is too low, and they're too expensive at 500gp a pop

[Rubik]

greater weapon crystals, annoyingly, require that the weapon you jam them into be at least a +3. this is the only reason to have a magic weapon with greater than a +1 enhancement in 3.5.The MIC says the weapon augment crystals require an "actual enhancement bonus" of a certain level, rather than an "effective enhancement bonus" (which it defines as a +X weapon with multiple special weapon abilities). The actual enhancement bonus of a +3 weapon is +3, regardless of the source of that +3, so you can attach any weapon crystal that applies.

[Sith_Happens]

Huh, never noticed that line before. Now I have naughty thoughts.... :smallwink:

My first thought when I noticed it myself.

>Be DM.
>Place in random villain's lair, with a number of victims already inside.
>Victims, when questioned, will all tell the party that the villain "never even tried to talk to me... He just stared."
>Laugh evilly in response to players' looks of disgust and/or horror.


I know it's sacrilege, but Quaal's feather tree tokens. I can see how they're incredibly useful and fun to use, but I avoid all but the cheapest expendable items (such as 1st and 2nd level scrolls and power stones and a few craftible alchemical items), so tree tokens are a bit out of my price range, even at high levels. I much prefer to spend money on permanent items, instead.

Now, if we had an item that produced tree tokens, or a reusable one...

Same boat here. If I were to ever actually have a Tree Token, my "too awesome to use" instincts would take over to the point that I never actually used the thing.

[Rubik]

Same boat here. If I were to ever actually have a Tree Token, my "too awesome to use" instincts would take over to the point that I never actually used the thing.You too, eh? I'm like that. I saved up all of the elixirs in Final Fantasy VI because recovering all HP and MP was an amazing deal, and I wanted to use them in emergencies. Even when I ended up with a party wipe, I didn't use them, thinking I'd need them later.

I defeated Kefka at the end of the game and hadn't used a single one.

[Sith_Happens]

You too, eh? I'm like that. I saved up all of the elixirs in Final Fantasy VI because recovering all HP and MP was an amazing deal, and I wanted to use them in emergencies. Even when I ended up with a party wipe, I didn't use them, thinking I'd need them later.

I defeated Kefka at the end of the game and hadn't used a single one.

Do you still spend MP in the first place in games where it doesn't replenish automatically over time? Because I don't, at least not against normal enemies. Gotta save that stuff for the boss.

[Rubik]

Do you still spend MP in the first place in games where it doesn't replenish automatically over time? Because I don't, at least not against normal enemies. Gotta save that stuff for the boss.Generally just when I'm stuck somewhere without tonics or potions, and taking down an enemy with MP could be done in a round or two (Invisibility + Death/X-Zone) rather than ten minutes of melee combat (which would suck MP away much faster).

[Sith_Happens]

Of course, just to emphasize the irrationality of it, I still did that in Paper Mario, even though I knew there would always, always be a heart block before the boss, as well as sprinkled just liberally enough throughout the rest of the game to not run out of FP as long as I didn't go crazy with them.

In retrospect, this made my decision to go mostly casters in FFIII particularly facepalm-worthy.:smallredface:

[Rubik]

Of course, just to emphasize the irrationality of it, I still did that in Paper Mario, even though I knew there would always, always be a heart block before the boss, as well as sprinkled just liberally enough throughout the rest of the game to not run out of FP as long as I didn't go crazy with them.

In retrospect, this made my decision to go mostly casters in FFIII particularly facepalm-worthy.:smallredface:Now try that with Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. Damn, but that series was hard. It almost never dropped MP-replenishing silver orbs, they were incredibly expensive to buy, and you had to hemorrhage MP just to survive.

Or maybe I missed something.

[Bakeru]

The text is slightly ambiguous. "On command, it looks like a normal set of clothing..."

If that's all it did, however, there are an incredibly large number of ways to duplicate that.

Given that the price of Glamered Armor is Hat of Disguise * 1.5 (for fitting into another body slot), I assume it allows more than one form.I see the ambiguity, but still...

There are more differences then just the price - the Hat is a full and proper "Disguise Self"-spell, including a changed face and a saving throw that's going to be ridiculously easy with it being a caster level 1 item casting a 1st level spell. The armor, on the other hand, only affects itself and is explicitly called out to be absolutely indistinguishable from whatever clothes it imitates, it doesn't even allow a throw.

But even if I read "a set of normal clothes" as "any set of normal clothes"... well, what are "normal clothes"? The Shiftweave can be made to switch between any five of the sets of clothes listed in the PHB, while Glammered could also be read to only allow regular street clothes.


But then, this thread isn't there to discuss mechanics, so I guess "Glammered is ambiguous, Shiftweave is cheap" sums it up pretty well.

[Togo]

Ring of shooting stars. Every game I stare longingly at this flavourful and fun item, and every time I can't justify the cost.

I have made use of shape sand, flying carpets, glimmered armour, feather token (tree) and even the +3 weapon.

[Sith_Happens]

any five of the sets of clothes listed in the PHB

Darn, and here I was thinking that Shiftweave would be a great item for my Bard. The above restriction kills it though; his wardrobe is highly customized and even more ostentatious.

[Bakeru]

Darn, and here I was thinking that Shiftweave would be a great item for my Bard. The above restriction kills it though; his wardrobe is highly customized and even more ostentatious.The actual wording on Shiftweave is "any of five specific outfits designated during its creation", so you're probably good to go. I only said "any in the PHB" to empathise that Glammered can be read as "normal everyday getting-picked-on-by-nobles street clothes only" (one set of clothes states that any diplomacy check against a noble while you're wearing "normal" street clothes suffers a -2 malus).

[Person_Man]

Same boat here. If I were to ever actually have a Tree Token, my "too awesome to use" instincts would take over to the point that I never actually used the thing.

There was definitely a decade or so of gaming for me where I almost never used magical ammo, scrolls, potions, or consumables of any type (in video games or tabletop) unless absolutely necessary, because I was always concerned that I might need them more later.

Then I read an article by some game designer, where he said that he incorporated automatically regenerating health (avoid taking damage for 3-10 seconds and you get all your health back) specifically because a sizable sub-population of players refuse to use consumables, make the game much more difficult for themselves, and horribly cluttering inventory screens, which terribly skewed their play test results.

And I thought to myself, duh, if a modern game designer includes consumables in his game, he wants you to consume them. 1980's Megaman style games where you might never be able to beat a certain boss if you don't save up your energy tanks do not get made any more, and were made Nintendo Hard because designers wanted to stretch the playing time of their game and assumed that you were an 8 year old with OCD and infinite amounts of time.

So now I love to buy consumables, and use them all the time.

[Stegyre]

For me, it's the Folding Boat. I love this item. It would easily make my Top Ten List for "Magic Items You'd Like for Real Life."

But how often would you actually use it in a campaign? :smallsigh:

[Person_Man]

For me, it's the Folding Boat. I love this item. It would easily make my Top Ten List for "Magic Items You'd Like for Real Life."

But how often would you actually use it in a campaign? :smallsigh:

I've never seen it in a game. And I think it's typical of many magic items which don't have a direct combat use. It has no real added value for the character, unless the DM wants to specifically reward the player for having it. Which is a shame, because I feel like campaigns should have more of a sandbox feel to them when possible, so that players can play what they want to play and then deal with the consequences of their choices. Don't have a boat? Well, good luck figuring out a way across the piranha infested river on your way to the dungeon.

[Malimar]

Which is a shame, because I feel like campaigns should have more of a sandbox feel to them when possible, so that players can play what they want to play and then deal with the consequences of their choices. Don't have a boat? Well, good luck figuring out a way across the piranha infested river on your way to the dungeon.

That exact situation came up in a couple of my games. One party had enough flying characters that they came up with a solution that way. Another built a raft that started to fall apart halfway across the piranha-infested river. A folding boat would've been useful to them.

[Venger]

I've never seen it in a game. And I think it's typical of many magic items which don't have a direct combat use. It has no real added value for the character, unless the DM wants to specifically reward the player for having it. Which is a shame, because I feel like campaigns should have more of a sandbox feel to them when possible, so that players can play what they want to play and then deal with the consequences of their choices. Don't have a boat? Well, good luck figuring out a way across the piranha infested river on your way to the dungeon.

Folding boat is one of my favorite items to actually use.

then again, it's in an eberron game, which actually has a number of legitimate reasons not to just teleport everywhere (as listed in the explorer's handbook), so it is atypical for a dnd game in that respect.

I bought one at lvl 6 and it's an important part of my party's shared mythos and daily affairs even at level 16 three years later.

it's useful for moving around large numbers of NPCs (ship's crew) and large amounts of trade goods, which teleport is not great at. if you're in the sort of game where that stuff matters, it's a great item that'll pay for itself in no time.

[Roga]

Boots of Gravity from the Planar Handbook. Most people liked Spiderclimb or flying, but I love the ability to say "That way is down now." I used a pair on a joke character, with regeneration and an effect to be immune to nonlethal for a time, to navigate a forest at record time doing my best impression of a pachinko ball.

Dust of Dryness. I loved using Dust, especially with a sling, but I guess I annoyed a DM by foiling a puzzle with it. He had all the pellets "go off" after I fell 20 ft, even though they were in my bag of holding. The bag was ruptured and I was sent to the astral plane 1d100 miles from my nearest possession. He even included a couple of grafts I had as possessions.:smallannoyed:

Grafts! I love the flavor, and some of them are pretty cheap for how awesome they are. Sadly most of the really cool ones are either too expensive or have too much of an "ick factor" for most players.

[Togo]

I'm very fond of sandals of harmonius balance. Unfortunately they're expensive enough to appear at a time in the game where you might as well go for flight. I used them in an epic game, and they were great, but I really wanted to get them used in regular D&D

I'm fond of swan boats, folding boats and similar. However, I never get to use them. I've more often used actual boats that don't in any sense fold. They were a lot more useful than I expected, simply as a place to store cargo, NPCs, animal companions that don't play well with cities, and followers who might otherwise risk being killed.

[Rubik]

I wanted to run a seagoing game at one point where the party consisted of children who'd been lost at sea and washed up on a time-stasis'd island due to a massive magical storm. I'd intended to give them an item that consisted of a shrunken ship inside of an indestructible glass bottle that expanded and contracted with the proper command word and was operated by a skeleton crew.

Alas, that never happened. But I would've loved to have been involved in that campaign.

[Agent 451]

Seerow, where is the Commander Armor from? What does it do?


Bagpipes of the Damned, from Libris Mortis. The image of some Necromancer-Bard playing Amazing Grace, and making all of his minions stronger, is just so creepily absurd (or absurdly creepy, not sure which).

First thing I thought of reading this was "I'm sure I've seen an Iron Maiden shirt or cd with that exact image." Couldn't find it though, but then I remembered this gem:

http://images.t-shirts.com/products/17616/4-9/dropkick-murphys-vintage-skeleton-t-shirt-logo.jpg

[Bakeru]

Seerow, where is the Commander Armor from? What does it do? Magic Item Compendium, +2 on Diplomacy and -5 on hide for you, +1 on Will-Saves for nearby allies. I need to get this and a ring of arming for my diplomancer-beguiler.

[Seerow]

Seerow, where is the Commander Armor from? What does it do?

Magic Item Compendium. It gives a minor boost to diplomacy, and all allies gain +1 morale to will saves. You take a -5 to hide checks. I like it not because of any of that, but because in the description it explicitly always stays brilliantly clean, regardless of what happens to it or what the conditions you're in are. Just a neat little detail that sticks out about the property.

Also it's only +2000gp, so like I said it's dirt cheap to add on, I just always seem to find something else that makes me go "oh shiny" and then next thing I know I'm down to sub 1000gp and can't get the little fun property.

[Der_DWSage]

Daern's Instant Fortress is at the top of my list. Just once, I'd like to use it in a way that isn't abusing the fact that it deals 10d10 damage.

Decanters of Endless Water are a close second. They're fun! It's just...I've never actually used them. Ever.

[Person_Man]

Daern's Instant Fortress is at the top of my list. Just once, I'd like to use it in a way that isn't abusing the fact that it deals 10d10 damage.

Decanters of Endless Water are a close second. They're fun! It's just...I've never actually used them. Ever.

I love the Decanter. It was one of the first magic items I found back when I first started playing 1st edition. I have a very clear memory of my 12 year old self feeling like the cleverest person on the planet when I used it to flood a dungeon in order to kill everything inside. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought through the need to breath underwater, so we never were able to explore that dungeon.

[RustyArmor]

Odd enough for me its all the little one use items. We have two DMs which is me and other, the other one runs the game like a penny pincher. We get magical items but not really enough gold to throw around. So I save up for bigger better items when I can and never buy them useful one shot items that can save your life in a pinch.

[Zalos93]

That would be the Scarab of Death.

My group rotates DM's a lot - we have a lot of free time so we play a lot of campaigns. One policy I've noticed we all have is that killing PC's is not smiled upon - granted the occasional death happens, but for the most part we don even used cursed items or anything.

Just once I'd love to see this little bugger come to life and eat a character's heart in 6 seconds flat. It's stupidly powerful, and it's underused in my circle.

[Person_Man]

That would be the Scarab of Death.

My group rotates DM's a lot - we have a lot of free time so we play a lot of campaigns. One policy I've noticed we all have is that killing PC's is not smiled upon - granted the occasional death happens, but for the most part we don even used cursed items or anything.

Just once I'd love to see this little bugger come to life and eat a character's heart in 6 seconds flat. It's stupidly powerful, and it's underused in my circle.

After playing too much Skyrim, I specifically made a house rule that allows players to plant poisons and alchemical items on enemies with Slight of Hand and allows it to take effect with a delay. And now I'm kicking myself for forgetting about the Scarab.

[Venger]

After playing too much Skyrim, I specifically made a house rule that allows players to plant poisons and alchemical items on enemies with Slight of Hand and allows it to take effect with a delay. And now I'm kicking myself for forgetting about the Scarab.

does the scarab of death exist in 3.5 or is it a pathfinder only item?

[Bakeru]

does the scarab of death exist in 3.5 or is it a pathfinder only item?It's even in the (regular 3.5) SRD.

[Person_Man]

I have a new one to add to the list: Legacy Weapons. The cost you have to pay is not worth it for the benefits that you get. But the idea of a signature magic item that levels up with you is a great one.

[The Viscount]

The necklace of fireballs is a nice concept, and I'm not opposed to some consumable explosions on demand, but every one is far too expensive for its effect.

[SimonMoon6]

I've never seen it in a game. And I think it's typical of many magic items which don't have a direct combat use. It has no real added value for the character, unless the DM wants to specifically reward the player for having it.

I was in a campaign where the DM included it (or the module he was running included it). But he (or one of the other players) called it a "floating boat" by accident and that made a joke of the thing that we couldn't stop laughing at.

However, I think it was only in the adventure to lure us into a lake inhabited by a black pudding.

[atomicwaffle]

Casting Gloves from the Spell Compendium

They're like Gloves of Storing, except you can use and activate whatever is stored in them without recalling them to your hands. I keep my Leomund's Secret Chest replica in my left glove and an Orb of Storms in my right. I tell you, i avoided a metagaming stupid gnome's retardation thanks to this setup. Put my REALLY valuable magic items in my chest, and its replica in my glove. Did this just before he Permanency + Arcane Sight'ed himself

Having a Leomund's Secret Chest replica in a casting glove helps against thieves and metagamers alike.

Also a Ring of Sustenance is GG. 3300 gold for 2 hours of sleep = 8 hours and continual nourishment (ie: not needing food or water). 6 hours of sleep is equal to a full days bed rest, or you can just sleep for 2 hours and fake sleep for the rest if you're paranoid of rogues and metagaming gnomes.

[Ydaer Ca Noit]

Mirror of Life Trapping. Yes, 200k gold for something avoidable with an DC 23 will save is overpriced for use in combat, but if you think of it as an inescapable portable prison, it's suddenly ... still overpriced, but at least fun!
Spectral Dagger sounds fun, too.

We actually had to use most of our wealth to get a lesser version of this item (it would trap only 3 creatures and cost 40k) to trap a mind flayer and a demon, in order to keep them in check till we brainwash them to good (the DM said it wouldn't happen, but the city authorities would execute them. We are exalted good, meaning we will keep them till they turn good anyway)

I would say Marvelous Pigments. For some reason I never see anyone using them.

[Rubik]

I forget if it's in the A&EG or Dungeonscape or somewhere else, but I seem to recall an item that consists of rust monster larvae-onna-stick, which is used to rust any metal items within reach. Nice for ruining weapons, armor, locks, and safes of (nearly) all kinds.

[Invader]

Immovable rods, lots of them. They have a thousand uses but for some reason by the time I have enough to buy a few of them I always need something else more. It's still one of my all time favorite items though.

[Rubik]

Immovable rods, lots of them. They have a thousand uses but for some reason by the time I have enough to buy a few of them I always need something else more. It's still one of my all time favorite items though.I like adding the rods' properties to a set of gauntlets. So useful in so many situations.

[Invader]

Also dust of choking and sneezing. I think I just feel guilty using something so cheesy.

[Rubik]

Also dust of choking and sneezing. I think I just feel guilty using something so cheesy.What, the item that is basically instadeath to anything not explicitly immune, with no other possible defenses whatsoever?

[Invader]

What, the item that is basically instadeath to anything not explicitly immune, with no other possible defenses whatsoever?

Don't forget dirt cheap.

[Segev]

I wanted to run a seagoing game at one point where the party consisted of children who'd been lost at sea and washed up on a time-stasis'd island due to a massive magical storm. I'd intended to give them an item that consisted of a shrunken ship inside of an indestructible glass bottle that expanded and contracted with the proper command word and was operated by a skeleton crew.

Alas, that never happened. But I would've loved to have been involved in that campaign.

I'd be all over playing this. If the crew were literally skeletons, I'd even play my creepy-friendly dread necromancer in it!

[Rubik]

I'd be all over playing this. If the crew were literally skeletons, I'd even play my creepy-friendly dread necromancer in it!The party lived in the boughs of a massively giant, hollowed-out tree growing in the bay they'd washed up in, with liana vines forming rope bridges in the branches and their apartments in hollowed-out portions of the upper sections. One half of the island had been ruined beyond livability by the goblinoid races living there, while the half of the island they lived on was lush and green, protected by deadly swamps inhabited by grippli and their trained monsters, which were allies. The island itself was in a time-dilated bubble, and the outside world (in which time passed far faster) had been devastated a few thousand years ago by a magical apocalypse, which was the source of the storm that blew their ship into the stone spires surrounding their beach home.

I had it all planned out and everything.

[Segev]

Sounds like it's an exploration/rebuild-the-world campaign.

[Bronk]

Dust of Dryness. I loved using Dust, especially with a sling, but I guess I annoyed a DM by foiling a puzzle with it. He had all the pellets "go off" after I fell 20 ft, even though they were in my bag of holding. The bag was ruptured and I was sent to the astral plane 1d100 miles from my nearest possession. He even included a couple of grafts I had as possessions.

Yeah, he had it in for you, since the pellets only activate when 'hurled' down, not just some random fall, especially from inside the bag. Plus, the astral gate thing is only supposed to happen if you put a portable hole inside a bag of holding. On the other hand, in the case of a regular rupture, everything would have been lost for good, and it sounds like you found some of your stuff eventually...

[Silva Stormrage]

The legacy weapon Caput Mortem. Gets you nearly infinite unseen servants that can't die. I have ALWAYS wanted to use it but never have actually managed to get it in a campaign since I normally dm or play pathfinder.

[Rubik]

The legacy weapon Caput Mortem. Gets you nearly infinite unseen servants that can't die. I have ALWAYS wanted to use it but never have actually managed to get it in a campaign since I normally dm or play pathfinder.Couldn't you basically get this from a collar of perpetual attendance (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c)?

[Silva Stormrage]

Couldn't you basically get this from a collar of perpetual attendance (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c)?

Not quite, the scythe turns every enemy you kill into an unseen servant that follows you around and regenerates. The collar only lets you have one at a time. The scythe lets you mess around with having about 100 servants moving objects and doing stuff for you at once.

[Rubik]

Not quite, the scythe turns every enemy you kill into an unseen servant that follows you around and regenerates. The collar only lets you have one at a time. The scythe lets you mess around with having about 100 servants moving objects and doing stuff for you at once.Actually, the collar lets you use Unseen Servant at will, each use of which lasts for a whole hour.

Per-round servants equals 600 per hour.

[Silva Stormrage]

Actually, the collar lets you use Unseen Servant at will, each use of which lasts for a whole hour.

Per-round servants equals 600 per hour.

Huh missed that. Okay well you can add the collar to the list of items I never get to use then :smalltongue:

Still I think the scythe's cooler just because they are always active and you don't need to worry about standard action activation time on the item.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I forget if it's in the A&EG or Dungeonscape or somewhere else, but I seem to recall an item that consists of rust monster larvae-onna-stick, which is used to rust any metal items within reach. Nice for ruining weapons, armor, locks, and safes of (nearly) all kinds.

They are in Complete Scoundrel actually.