Items!

[NorseFox]

I am looking for items for the following styles of shops. I am running my first campaign and have limited access to books with interesting fun new toys. I do have my basic list and a few things that I have found that I like and will use. I just know there are tons of way more experienced people here.

A Wizard's Magic shop: looking for items, wands, and scrolls
Smithy: Armor, Weapons
Apothecary: Fun potions and poisons

[sideswipe]

do you have the magic item compendium?

and the arms and equipment guide.

[NorseFox]

do you have the magic item compendium?

and the arms and equipment guide.

Have them yes....Have access to them not so much. They are in storage in the VERY back. The Quest to find them would be, well interesting to say the least.

[sideswipe]

Have them yes....Have access to them not so much. They are in storage in the VERY back. The Quest to find them would be, well interesting to say the least.

there is........ another way..... to view them.....

[NorseFox]

there is........ another way..... to view them.....

Teach Me oh wise one

[sideswipe]

Teach Me oh wise one

you will have to look deep within your soul, is it correct? is it not? and then type the names of what you want followed by PDF into the all-knowing oracle known as google.

it shouldn't weigh heavy as you own them already. but some outright hate it.

[NorseFox]

you will have to look deep within your soul, is it correct? is it not? and then type the names of what you want followed by PDF into the all-knowing oracle known as google.

it shouldn't weigh heavy as you own them already. but some outright hate it.

I fly the Jolly Rodger often enough. It does not bother me. Though I am also asking for favorites of others. Fun little nasty surprises that one might not think to use.

[sideswipe]

I fly the Jolly Rodger often enough. It does not bother me. Though I am also asking for favorites of others. Fun little nasty surprises that one might not think to use.

in the alchemists shop have some aboleth mucus. its crazy good (for its price)

[NorseFox]

in the alchemists shop have some aboleth mucus. its crazy good (for its price)

Oh now that is just fun

[jaydubs]

Two lists I like to draw from:

Bunko's Bargain Basement (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=350.0)

Essential Magic Items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items)

[NorseFox]

Two lists I like to draw from:

Bunko's Bargain Basement (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=350.0)

Essential Magic Items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items)

<3 Thank You

[ericgrau]

Personally I would get a hold of Magic Item Compendium somehow and start rolling randomly. Get it at all costs; it's worth it. Lots of cheap items can let you do more interesting things than one big one. Plus lots of cheap niche items are worth it because you can pull a toy out of the grab bag and find a clever way to overcome a challenge. Even/especially if it's a one-off, since you were only going to use it once anyway and it's cheaper that way. A big expensive niche item OTOH is begging to be sold rather than saved to be used just that one time.

Rolling up lots and lots of cheap and random wondrous items, scrolls and potions are going to be your go-to items. Pull up random level 1 and 2 spells from spell compendium and the PHB for scrolls and potions. If you roll a spell other than utility or a buff, then reroll.

Honestly for wands there aren't many options besides cure light wounds (or lesser vigor) and invisibility. You want wands that are spammable outside of combat or it will be very hard to use all 50 charges and it won't be worth it. Even between combat it's hard to use 50 charges. If the party has a rogue or some such then that's an exception, because he can UMD spells that he has no other way of casting. Then you can give him a lot more wands that are useful to rogues, like grease (a sneak attack trigger), or useful in general like nerveskitter. You can look for good level 1 & 2 wand spells in the PHB and spell compendium, but you have to dig through them; you can't be random.

Poison is highly underrated. They are quite good from levels 5-10. Especially drow poison, but most injury poisons are ok. People look at only the effect of the poison all by itself and thinks it sucks. But so does 1 damage and a 1 out of 20 chance of hitting, or 1d6 damage. Yet people buy +1 or +1d6 all the time. The key part is the +. You get to do it multiple times a round and you get all your regular damage too. If you google you can probably find a poison guide somewhere with all the better poisons.

Weapons and Armor: Honestly these are like the fantasy equivalent of cars or houses so there's not much you can buy here on a whim. Instead, randomly roll up a bunch of enchantments from MiC and give players the option of paying an NPC magic smith to upgrade their existing weapons and armor with them. MiC weapon/armor crystals are nice too. The other exceptions are ammunition like arrows and shurikens. Adamantine, cold iron, silver and bane are some examples. There are also special individual magic items like sleep arrows. I forget if it was arms and equipment guide or what book has it, but there are special mundane arrows like bludgeoning arrows (for skeletons) and so forth somewhere too. If the party has an archer he can become the Green Arrow.

[WeaselGuy]

pretty sure this is the right link (http://donjon.bin.sh/) for don-jon... it's a multipurpose d&d tool, includes random shop generators.

[Grooke]

Two more lists to draw from:
The Utility Belt (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=ev3q1knhojtskcr0ekh350jo82&topic=4400.0)
Shax's Indispensible Haversack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?148101-3-x-Shax-s-Indispensible-Haversack-%28Equipment-Handbook%29)

Second one in particular has an enormous list of alchemical items for all price ranges.

[OldTrees1]

The MiC really is a great book. Whenever I make a martial character, I reread the MiC front to back to catch items I had forgotten about. Example from the first chapter:

Blurring Armor Enhancement [+1] 3/day Swift action to blur for 5 rounds
Upgrade to a Minor Cloak of Concealment[12K] rather than Greater Blurring[+3]

Death Ward Armor [+1] 1/day Immediate action to ignore 1 death effect or negative energy effect

(using the Arms and Equipment guide to put the effects on the bracers)
+1 Bracers of Freedom [+5] Freedom of Movement
+1 Bracers of Mobility [+1] Mobility feat

Quickness Armor[+5K] +5 enhancement to land speed

Lesser Crystal of Arrow Deflection[2.5K] +5 untyped bonus to AC against ranged attacks
Restful Crystal[500] Rest in the armor does not make you fatigued

[NorseFox]

I think everyone is misunderstanding me. I am not needing ways to get lists of stuff. I am asking as a fellow DM what are your FAVORITE items to put in a game to make it interesting. What random toys do you always put in a shop or as a reward for something just for your amusement.

[OldTrees1]

I think everyone is misunderstanding me. I am not needing ways to get lists of stuff. I am asking as a fellow DM what are your FAVORITE items to put in a game to make it interesting. What random toys do you always put in a shop or as a reward for something just for your amusement.

Oh,
Enchanted Quivers/Bags/Gloves of unlimited ammo (the quiver is enchanted like a weapon but at a markup).

[Surpriser]

Are you looking for powerful / necessary items or interesting ones? Or, in other words: Will your players be able to buy the items they need anyway (at the local MagicMart) or are the items in these shops the only way to buy magical items?

In the second case, the previously mentioned lists already contain most of the items to include. Add some more (rather boring) number-boosters (Rings of Protection, Vests/Cloaks of Resistance, +X weapons and armor and so on) and you are done.

For the first case:
Weapon and Armor crystals (MIC) are really nice low- to mid-level gimmicks. They are usually fairly cheap, so they can be bought on a whim, and provide some flavourful effects.
Consumables like Wands, Scrolls and Potions are probably better suited as loot. At least in my groups, such things rarely get bought, because no one thinks about using them (with the exception of healing potions/wands).
For the apothecary, consider alchemical items. There are a lot more than just those in the core rules and some of them have really cool effects.

[Phelix-Mu]

I like hiding intelligent items that are secret plot hooks on the shelves of shops. Hehe. Guilty pleasure for DM-sama.

Also, Nolzur's marvelous pigments.

Murlynd's spoon, but not creating the gruel, but something else comical or appropriate for flavor.

If not PF, reasonably priced items granting use-activated access to cantrip, from x/day to unlimited. Cantrip is the source of amazing player creativity, as long as you don't look at it too closely (as it is worded in a somewhat problematic manner).

Well-described items at the smithy. While many magic items are inherently cool (apparatus of kwalish or the like), swords and armour are often quite ho-hum. This is problematic because several player classes are based around those items (*cough* fighter *cough*). So jazz it up. Add lots of description, exotic appearance, and other fluffy stuff to swords and armour. Pictures or illustrations (custom if drawing is your thing) are welcome! Let google image search be your friend!

Also, make stuff special in other ways. If the player wants a custom change made to something in the book, have there be a scene with the npc working on it, a discussion of appearance, function. Think the wand-buying scene in Harry Potter. Shopping for magical gear shouldn't be mundane, and ordering special stuff made is a special occasion (think the crafting of Wulfgar's hammer in the Drizzt books). I don't mean there should be a quest, but invite the player to make a sketch/google an image of the desired appearance, maybe name the item, talk about the crafting process. These details can make it more than a chunk of mechanical numbers with an associated gp-value. This also lends itself to upgrading items instead of replacing them, which I usually try to encourage (to reduce the impression that there is easy liquidity in the magic items market, something I usually reserve for high magic settings).

[Fizban]

Seconding advice to get the Magic Item Compendium. It's basically the standard by which all items are judged for 3.5. Lots of items cheap enough to use at low level, but you still can't afford all that much so be careful. MiC doesn't have as many high level items, but the plain DMG has plenty and you'll want to invest in a lot of flat bonuses at those levels to keep up. Since the Magic Item Compendium's tables include those from the DMG, you can just roll there are call it good.

From my list of specific items for interesting-ness:
spicy
Nightblade of Arvandor (Book of Exalted Deeds, 50k, shoots stars out of the blade. Can easily drop the price to 20-22k, it's not that strong).
Talon Scepter (Magic Item Compendium, 10.3k, it's a flaming mace that shoots fire beams like a quickened spell every round).
Manticore Greatsword (MiC, 6.3k, shoots spikes like a Manticore up to 6/day)
Spined Shield (DMG, 5.6k, also shoots spikes 3/day)
Lion's Shield (DMG, 9.2k, bites people for an extra attack 3/day)
Meteoric Knife (MiC, 2.8k, throw and explode 1/day, barely any increase in cost over a normal +1 dagger)
Mithralmist Shirt (MiC, 3.4k, best light armor and fog your square for concealment 7/day, cheap)
Travel Cloak (Magic of Faerun, 1.3k, all your traveling needs in one item)
Ring of Might (Magic of Faerun, 4k, lets you punch people effectively without being a monk)

problem solving
Beruto of the Carp Dragon (Dragon Magic, 2.2k, swim and breathe water but not air)
Kodate of the Spirit Dragon (DMa, 6.5k?, turn ethereal and fly through walls 2 rounds/day)
Pick of Piercing (MiC, 9.3k, destroy [force] effects 3/day)
Grasping Hook (Dungeonscape, 500gp, high enough bonus you can actually throw a grappling hook)
Rod of Ropes (Complete Scoundrel, 4k, it's a hookshot basically)

power
Amulet of Tears (MiC, 2.3k, variable temporary hit points without wasting your turn, excellent ablative defense item)
Stunshot Sling (MiC, 7.8k, 3/day stun a guy with save DC based on damage dealt)
Sword of Virtue Beyond Reproach (MiC, 9.3k, it's basically a holy sword cheaper than a holy sword, raw value if you're actually a good guy)
Viperblade (MiC, 6.3k, variable uses/strength of poison per day, one of the only ways to actually use poison in this game)
Toxic Gloves (MiC, 6k, the other, better 3/day poison item)
Owlfeather Armor (MiC, 8.2k, effectively the cheapest flight item since it's bundled with other goodies)
Ring of Draconic Zeal (Dragon Magic, 2-6k, 1/day hit lots of people at once)
Night Caller (Libris Mortis, 7k, 1/week zombie a guy out of the ground at night)

And of course, the item so ubiquitous I hate it and want it to not exist:
Healing Belt (MiC, 750gp, daily healing averaging 27 points if used out of combat, or 18 points if you use it all at once in an emergency [but it's d8's so it's pretty random]). It's broken but in a way that makes everyone's life easier. . . so easy I'd rather just give them Legend of Zelda heart drops or something.

A note about magic item shops: in 3.5, there's a table that says how high the buying limit goes for each size of town, and you can basically buy anything you want under that limit. It doesn't many any bit of sense but that is the default rule so you should make sure your players know if you're changing it. If you're willing to put in the effort (and the existence of the thread says you are), then for smaller towns it's totally cool to figure out what NPCs in town can even craft items, then decide what (very) few items they actually have sitting around. Then if they want something not listed they have to get someone to make it for them.

Finally, if you and your players expect healing potions to be a thing, I would recommend reducing the price. The standard potion formula of 50gp X spell level X caster level is stupid expensive, but buying wands is annoying because we expect healing potions. Drop the price to 15gp X spell level X caster level so it matches wands and you won't break the bank: basic Cure Light Wounds (1d8+1) or Lesser Vigor (1hp per round for 11 rounds) would be 15gp.

[atemu1234]

Use the custom magic item rules from the DMG fot truly unique items.

[Seclora]

I have always wanted to pick up one of those Ring of Solar's Wings from Book of Exalted Deeds.
Heward's Handy Haversack, Ring of Sustenance, and Decanter of Endless Water are all items I try to pick up on every character. Also marbles.

The one item I tend to fall back on for custom items though is my Cloak of the Sirine. A continuous effect Sirine's Grace spell, as the Spell Compendium. It's hella expensive, but you get a lot of good stuff out of it, even if you never see a body of water. Great for bards, crazy good for anyone else with Charisma, pretty neat for anyone else.

All said and done though, a good magic shop is one that takes commissions. Let your players ask for what they want, figure out if it's insane, then work with them to get it to them.