The Magical Mage's Menagerie 1: Nonsensical Novices

[inuyasha]

Nonsensical Novices

Welcome to the first in an upcoming series of competitions based around building magic items!

1. For this first contest, you will be creating a magic item that a spellcaster would give to their apprentice, whether it be an alchemist's errand, a high cleric's acolyte, or even a Paladins knight in training

2. Submissions are due by 23:59 Central Standard Time (USA/Canada) on May 11th, at this time they should be completed, fully fledged magic items complete with (even minor) descriptive text, abilities, costs, and crafting requirements

3. The magic item must follow all rules present in official D&D 3.X material for creating custom magic items, though minor "fudging" would be allowed for items that replicate something that can't actually be done, this is where common sense would be needed.

4. The magic item can include any official 3.5 or 3.0 material, including Dragon and Dungeon articles if the exact number can be given this is also including homebrew if a link is provided and the original author is okay with this use of his or her materials, this does not however include material from 3rd party publishers, such material will be disallowed

5. Plagiarism is not allowed, and items that are obvious clones of something existing (no "Excaliburs" or "Stings") should be avoided, though parodies are alright. Try to keep your magic items original in description and ability. Anyone who is blatantly plagiarizing will be disqualified from the competition and will have their post reported.

6. Only one entry per person is allowed, unless they are a set of magic items specifically meant to go together (like the sets present in the Magic Item Compendium)

Just a note of importance: The item may be written in any format you wish, as a few have been present over the years, though remember to keep it readable, and have it make sense.

Here is the discussion thread, remember to critique honestly (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?409120-Magical-Mage-s-Menagerie-Discussion-thread-I-Makin-Majesty-from-Malign-to-Musical&p=19106038#post19106038)

So remember everyone, give your Apprentice something cool or they might leave for a different college of magic!

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Robe of the Precocious Student
Description
Under Construction

Game Mechanics
Every Robe of the Precocious Student retains a magical bond to the spellcaster who created it. Whenever the bonded spellcaster casts an Arcane spell with a range of Personal while within sixty feet of the wearer of the Robe of the Precocious Student, the wearer may copy the caster's natural talent to cast his or her own spell. To do so, the spell being copied must appear on the wearer's class spell list, and be of a level higher than the highest level of spell the wearer is currently able to cast. The wearer than sacrifices an Arcane spell slot three or fewer levels lower than the spell being copied. If he or she does, he or she may duplicate the initial spell, targeting him or herself instead of the original caster and using his or her caster level in place of the original caster level.

Example: Tor Golingar, a 20th level Wizard, gives a Robe of the Precocious Student to his 13th level apprentice Talia. He then proceeds to cast Foresight, a 9th level personal buff, on himself. Talia (who cannot cast 9th level spells yet) then immediately receives the option to sacrifice a 6th or 7th level (or 8th, were she 15th level) spell slot to cast a Foresight on herself, at caster level 13.

[Zaydos]

Ring of Battle's Tutelage

This magical ring comes in a paired set. Typically they appear as two plain iron bands inscribed with runes. In each set one ring is the Master Ring and one the Student Ring. Originally created for the great dwarven warrior Doric Klunthang to teach his three sons the family trade, these rings were adopted by other warriors to teach their apprentices and later to augment their allies.

Mechanics: Each ring in the pair can be activated by its wearer 1/day as a swift action with a command word. When either is activated the wearer of the Student Ring's Base Attack Bonus increases to equal that of the wearer of the Master Ring (if the wearer of the Master Ring has a lower BAB the wearer of the Student Ring's BAB does not change), and they gain the benefits of all weapon proficiencies the wearer of the Master Ring wears and the benefit of any (Greater) Weapon Focus, (Greater) Weapon Specialization, or Improved Critical feats the wearer of the Master Ring possesses. These benefits last for 5 rounds. During this time the wearer of the Student Ring must make a Wisdom check (DC is the Master Ring wearer's Charisma score) to cast any spells, use psionic powers, or perform any other act that requires concentration save for Martial Maneuvers and the Combat Expertise feat. Removing the ring ends its effect prematurely. These rings function across any distance even interplanar ones.

Price: 18,000 GP (pair).
Cost to Create: 9000 GP plus 720 GP.
Body Slot: Ring (for each wearer)
Caster Level: 11th.
Aura: Moderate; (DC 20) evocation.
Activation: Swift (command).
Weight: -
Prerequisites: Forge Ring, Divine Power, and Status.

[wooglycakes]

ARMIGER'S TABARD

Price (Item Level): 7,500 gp (3th).
Body Slot: Torso.
Caster Level: 10th.
Aura: Moderate; (DC 20) transmutation.
Activation: —
Weight: 2 lb.

This tabard is in the colours of your order, emblazoned with its crest, folded with care. It feels warm to the touch, as the lessons your knight has taught you throughout your training come into clearer focus.

When you wear an armiger's tabard over your armour, it grants you heightened awareness on the battlefield. You gain a +2 competence bonus on initiative checks. In addition, each knight or order imbues their armiger's tabards with mystical insight into an iconic martial technique to help their squires grasp it faster — during the tabard's creation, the crafter designates one combat feat that they possess. As long as you meet that feat's prerequisites and are wearing the armiger's tabard, you gain it as a bonus feat.

If you are a knight (PH2 24) or a paladin, you are treated as being 2 levels higher to calculate the effects of your knight's challenge or smite evil class feature. When you are within 30 feet of a knight or a paladin ally, your camaraderie inspires you to greater heroic acts — you are treated as 4 levels higher instead.

Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, any one combat feat, righteous might or transformation.

Cost to Create: 3,750 gp.


The Armiger's Tabard, Classes, and You
As written, a knight or a paladin has the most to gain from wearing an armiger's tabard. However, the tabard is appropriate for any knight-in-training or knight-like figure. Consider allowing blackguards to benefit from wearing an armiger's tabard for their smite good feature, as well as other classes with similar class features.

For players, wearing an armiger's tabard means the following changes:

If you are a knight, you gain an additional use of your knight's challenge, and the DCs of your test of mettle and daunting challenge increase by +1.
If you are a paladin, you deal 2 additional points of damage with your smite evil class ability.
Note that as long as you are next to another knight or paladin ally, these bonuses are doubled.

[Eldan]

Egg of the Emergency Envelope

Combining many features into one, the Egg of the Emergency Envelope (3E) is intended to be given to especially careless students as an emergency measure, especially those who dabble in summons or the construction of magical creatures such as homunculi, or when a student is sent into dangerous locations.
Though details vary, the 3E is made from the shell of a chicken's egg, hollowed out, then filled with magical ingredients and inscribed with a circle of tiny magical runes in blazing ink.
Though looking fragile, the egg can only be broken by conscious effort or under a variety of special circumstances: it will break if hurled against a surface, but only with the intent to break it and never by accident. It also activates if the person carrying it is violently knocked unconscious, is reduced to below 0 hp or is pinned by a grappling check.
Once the egg is broken, the following effects are activated:

-The last wielder is teleported ten feet into a random direction, so that they land on a safe surface. While teleporting, they leave behind any bindings or grappling foes.

-Sanctuary, as the spell, for one minute, upon the last person to hold the egg.

-Protection against Evil, likewise and also for one minute.

-A loud noise likewise rings out, which is audible for at least 500 feet in any direction and doesn't stop for one minute. The type of sound can be set when the egg is created, but alarm bells are usual.


To create: Craft Wondrous Item, CL 5, Sanctuary, Magic Circle against Evil, Alarm, any conjuration (teleportation) spell. 500 GP
Cost to buy: 1000 GP (rough estimate)

[Xefas]

Feather Boa of the Dutiful Understudy

Usually taking the form of a scarf made from a long knot of feathers dyed bright pink, the Feather Boa of the Dutiful Understudy is a favored implement for ensuring the diligence of a Bard's apprentice, be they musician, actor, orator, storyteller, or otherwise.

The first function of the Feather Boa is to impart useful skills to the apprentice, such that they may manage the Bard's day-to-day chores in an efficient and satisfactory manner. To this end, it may produce a Prestidigitation and Mending spell three times per day each, activated merely by having the apprentice attempt one of the tasks the spells' effects fall under. For example, when the apprentice begins cleaning the Bard's camp, the Feather Boa grants them a Prestidigitation so they may clean with supernatural alacrity. When the apprentice attempts to mend the sole of their master's shoe, it grants them a magical Mending.

The second function of the Feather Boa is to uplift the apprentice's meager skills in the Bard's trade, only so much as to aid their master in his performances, until the apprentice grows into their own. When the wearer of the Boa uses an Aid Another action to aid a Perform check made by the crafter of the Boa, they gain a +2 circumstance bonus on the DC 10 check that determines if their aid is actually helpful or not.

The third function of the Feather Boa is to ensure absolute obedience, as obviously demanded by all Bards. It projects a minor, penetrative telepathy into its wearer, requiring that the apprentice make a DC 13 Will save every time they speak a direct and knowing lie to the crafter of the Boa, or whenever they speak ill of the crafter under any context, in order to hide their disrespect from the item. Should they fail such a save, the Feather Boa responds by releasing a summoned Spider Swarm, which pours forth from the folds of the Boa, crawling across the apprentice's body, and focusing all of its efforts on devouring the impudent student alive. The swarm remains for 5 rounds, then vanishes, though its wounds remain as a mark of disobedience, even in the unlikely event of the understudy's survival. The swarm will only spawn once per day.

The fourth, non-magical, function of the Feather Boa is to remain attached to its charge. The center of its length has a locking mechanism that fits as a collar around the wearer's neck, which opens for a perfectly mundane key crafted at the same time as the Boa. Removing the Boa requires a DC 35 Escape Artist check, or a DC 30 Open Lock check.

Learning to survive the Boa through creative, indirect deceit, and eventually escaping it, is the first true step an apprentice takes in becoming a true Bard. The final, of course, being the murder of their master. In time, the new Bard will craft their own Boa and find their own apprentice, for there must always be two Bards in the world. One master. One apprentice.

Faint Conjuration and Transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item; Mending (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mending.htm), Prestidigitation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/prestidigitation.htm), Summon Swarm (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/summonSwarm.htm); Price: 10,000gp (5,000gp and 400xp to create)

[dragonjek]

Apprentice’s Endgame

A young practitioner of the arcane lacks staying power, and is all too quick to run out of spells; with that in mind, masters of magic have passed these weapons down to their apprentices in hopes of letting them live long enough to pass magic on to the next generation.

Apprentice’s Endgame initially appears to be an ordinary +1 dagger, its hilt and blade decorated with an unusually high number of runic inscriptions. However, when wielded by an arcane spellcaster, this changes.

Add together all of the caster’s arcane spell slots, treating slots of each spell level as a number of slots equal to that level; when the spellcaster has used up at least ½ of these slots, it becomes a +2 dagger. Faint lights can be seen tracing the runes, and the dagger’s critical threat range increases by 1 when used as a thrown weapon (applied after any other threat range increases).

When the caster is reduced to 0 arcane spell slots, it becomes a +2 returning dagger, many different colors passing through the engraved symbols. The dagger gains an enhancement bonus equal to the highest level of arcane spell the wielder is capable of casting; this does not stack with, but might replace, the existing enhancement bonus.

These additional benefits are only available to arcane spellcasters. 0 level spells are not taken into account for purposes of this weapon. Should the wielder regain spell slots, the Apprentice’s Endgame’s benefits revert to those appropriate for the new number of slots.

Moderate Transmutation; CL 9th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor; Greater Magic Weapon, Passwall; Price: 15,000 gp (7,500 gp and 600 xp to create)