Uniforms

[soc0ut]

As part of a campaign I've been creating, I need to come up with an item I can give all my players. We're starting at level five, but I intend to carry it on for some time. The thing is I need an item that the players will wear like a badge of honor, or possibly not want to be without its magical effect; all of this without breaking the game. The idea is for the party to become entwined with their patron in the people's eyes. Their actions should be linked with the patron's renown.

The item can be home brewed or a port from outside 3.5. Any ideas?

[Hazrond]

What about an Amulet of Protection From Evil/Law/Chaos/Etc.
basically just whichever alignment the organization opposes, then it is a quite useful item, at least in my eyes (Immunity to mental control AND +2 ac and saves against most enemies i will be fighting? Yes please.)

[AmberVael]

So you want something that all players can benefit from, something they'll keep using for quite some time, and something they'll want to use.

Well first, it needs to give them a very universal benefit of some kind, so either a bonus to a stat useful to everyone (hit points or saves), or have an effect that is generally useful (the ability to reroll dice, perhaps?). Further, since it needs to stick around a while, it needs to not conflict with any other things they might get, especially stuff that might be better than it. So it needs to be a rare, unique, or stacking bonus/effect, and preferably take up a slot they can do without, not take up a slot at all, or just be better than anything else that they could get in that same slot. Since you don't want it to be too powerful, an unslotted effect is probably better.

I like the idea of a reroll (once or twice a day, reroll a d20?)- its something useful to anyone, and a d20 reroll can really save your butt in bad situations so they'll want to have it, but its not really breaking anything. The title is uniforms, but I'd discourage taking up a big slot, so perhaps you could make this a literal badge of honor, a nice little coat of arms or symbol or something they can wear nice and prominently on top of whatever else they decide to wear or use. Probably make it a slotless magic item.

[Know(Nothing)]

Make it slotless regalia, slightly altered to the style/outfit of each class/character, that confers a minor bonus to social skill checks in situations involving Good npcs, or npcs from a certain region(whichever fits best). +2 to Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, etc. Maybe a reduction on prices from vendors in that region.

[Uncle Pine]

If it's slotless (i.e. a badge you can pin to your armor or clothes) they'll keep it, even if it's something barely noticeable like a +1 luck bonus to AC.

[Afgncaap5]

You could figure out a language that none of the party speaks and have the item confer the ability to understand that particular language.

It'd hardly be game breaking, but it's also the kind of knick-knack that a player wouldn't want to be without if there's no problem with it. ("Ugh, the ONE day I don't wear the thing that lets me speak Gnoll, THIS happens." *Gnoll-Titan speaks an ancient riddle, filled with insights that make all who heed the words content but eager for the prophecy to come true, all while the mists of confusion begin to pour through the streets* "Yeah, yeah, blah-blah, guys can I borrow yours, please? Hank, didn't you say you were studying Gnoll anyway?")

[WeaselGuy]

In our last campaign, our group got sent on a mission from the King or Duke or whatever of a decent sized nation. We were supposed to travel into a borderland area to find some missing scouts. Anyway, to show that we were on an official mission (and declare our allegiance to said ruler), we were all given Tabards of Resistance (basically a Vest of Resistance) that increased based on what level we were (I forget the original math, but I think it was something like +1 from levels 1-4, +2 for 5-8, +3 for 9-12, +4 for 13-16 and +5 for 17-20). The Vest slot is one that is rarely filled, and even still, +Resistance is something that is useful for pretty much every character.

[frogglesmash]

You could have it confer immunity to some sort of environmental danger that is common in your campaign settong. For example my current DM did something similar where he had a valley in which people aged rapidly so we had to wear special amulets to avoid this. I don't know what kind of campaign you're running so I don't know what if anything would be appropriate, but some hazards off the top of my head could be immunity to wild/dead magic zones, invisibility vs unintelligent undead (for undead focused campaigns), or immunity to poisonous gases. instead of providing a magical benefit you could instead/also have it grant a limited amount of legal immunity, or maybe let them use it to grant them access to some otherwise restricted locations.

[Seruvius]

Something they will want to keep on always, helps everyone but isn't OP so it derails your game? How about a good ol' cloak of resistance but as a slotless item, say a badge or a magical stamp/tattoo or similar.
As others have already noted, if it uses a rarely filled slot or even better is slotless, they will have little or no reason to discard it. Tie it in to roleplay-shenanigans (get recognised favourably, lets them get better deals/easier access/ get out of jail free card for the CN dude that gets caught) and hey mechanics and roleplay combo to give them a load of good reasons to love your mini-mcguffin

[Honest Tiefling]

What if the Patron is willing to slap on additional enchantments onto the doodad if the party does well? That will give some reason to do very well in missions, and a reason not to ditch the object. Classes that require that slot (Such as charisma focused people and their cloaks) can have their cake and eat it too as the charisma enchantment can be added on top of say, a resistance bonus to saves.

[Andreaz]

As part of a campaign I've been creating, I need to come up with an item I can give all my players. We're starting at level five, but I intend to carry it on for some time. The thing is I need an item that the players will wear like a badge of honor, or possibly not want to be without its magical effect; all of this without breaking the game. The idea is for the party to become entwined with their patron in the people's eyes. Their actions should be linked with the patron's renown.

The item can be home brewed or a port from outside 3.5. Any ideas?If you want a combat benefit, what about a scaling temporary HP bonus that is readily available? Something like 2*hd temporary HP, heals itself at a rate like 10/minute.
Or some really useful spell, like a potion. Melee types just love a couple minutes of enlarge person, wraithstrike or shield.

Or a discount to buy goods and services from affiliated people. This one is only really good if such people include someone capable of making magic items they can afford.

[Yukitsu]

I think I'd want to know more about who the patron is before I would think about what it would do. This sort of item I think should be heavily thematic, but I'd include the following at the very least.

1: I'd make it an official badge that allows them to do something or go into places other people cannot. If they have this for example, they can shove aside the low level city guards and investigate something they're trying to cover up.
2: I'd make these things illegal to wear if you aren't associated with the right group. This makes it impossible or difficult to sell at any reasonable rate since no one else can wear one.
3: I'd make it such that they can use this in place of normal social skills. "By the authority granted by my office and all of its duties, and through the power of my patron, I hereby demand your cooperation with our investigation." sort of thing rather than a traditional diplomacy check to get them on board.
4: The patron has to be capable of revoking their badge and authority and that should be clear so as to limit abuses.

[frost890]

In a red hand of doom campaign I had some favors created. The favors were just a cloth sash that had a perminate protection from arrows. Minor bonus, but it helped a lot when an army starts shooting at our group that was flying above them. We may have also been dropping jugs of alchemist fire on them. I think it made them mad.

[soc0ut]

Thank you all so much! I went with a badge that confers a luck bonus 1/day. Hopefully that will suffice!