AirBreather
2016-05-13, 09:23 PM
I have looked many places online and their doesn't yet seem to be a single, unified source list of every 'living' item in D&D. What prompted me to post was a room in 'Die Vecna Die':
70. The Forbidden Library
...
"In addition, the racks and display cases hold as many powerful and intelligent magical weapons as the DM cares to include here. (We suggest one of every type of weapon in the DMG's treasure tables.) However, all are coated with the same poison as covers the items above. Each weapon collected by Vecna is intelligent and has a purpose."
Table 108: Weapon Type (D6): arrow, axe, battle axe, bolt, sling bullet, dagger, dart, flail, javelin, knife, lance, mace, military pick, morning star, pole arm, scimitar, spear, sword, trident, warhammer.
Table 110: Special Weapons (D10): Arrow of Direction, Arrow of Slaying, Axe +2 (Throwing), Axe of Hurling, Bow +1, Crossbow of Accuracy (+3), Crossbow of Distance, Crossbow of Speed, Dagger +1 (+2 vs. Tiny or Small creatures), Dagger +2 (+3 vs. larger than man-sized), Dagger +2 (Longtooth), Dagger of Throwing, Dagger of Venom, Dart of Homing, Hammer +3 (Dwarven Thrower), Hammer of Thunderbolts, Hornblade, Javelin of Lightning, Javelin of Piercing, Buckle Knife, Mace of Disruption, Net of Entrapment, Net of Snaring, Magical Quarterstaff, Scimitar of Speed, Sling of Seeking +2, Cursed Backbiter Spear, Trident of Fish Command, Trident of Submission, Trident of Warning, Trident of Yearning, Sun Blade, Sword +1 (+2 vs. magic-using & enchanted creatures), Sword +1 (+3 vs. lycanthropes & shape-changers), Sword +1 (+3 vs. regenerating creatures), Sword +1 (+4 vs. reptiles), Sword +1 (Cursed), Sword +1 (Flame Tongue), Sword +1 (Luck Blade), Sword +2 (Dragon Slayer), Sword +2 (Giant Slayer), Sword +2 (Nine Lives Stealer), Sword +3 (Frost Brand), Sword +4 (Defender), Sword +5 (Defender), Sword +5 (Holy Avenger), Sword -2 (Cursed), Sword of Dancing, Sword of Life Stealing, Sword of Sharpness, Sword of the Planes, Sword of Wounding, Sword (Cursed Berserking), Sword (Short, Quickness, +2), Sword (Vorpal Weapon).
It's a lot!
What I wanted to do was list (ideally from every D&D version prior to 4th, though the later versions and Pathfinder are fine) every unique and/or non-randomized/non-DM-created:
- Intelligent item.
- Living item.
- Item that contains a bound soul/life-form/intelligence in it.
- Item that through its use reveals a life-form.
- Any named/specifically referred to life-form that can be used as is as an item, weapon, accessory, etc.
- Some version or variant of above that fits the spirit/letter/theme.
So that would exclude generic items like an Ebony Fly, magic effects designed to Gate/Summon unnamed creatures, species/classes designed for possessing items, etc.
They could be novel sourced (as some of the examples below are), but I'm more looking for items that are obtainable via canon pre-placement in modules/adventures.
Brief Name List:
- Acorn of Wo Mai
- Aggarath
- Axe of the Emperors, The
- Baba Yaga's Hut
- Blackrazor
- Blackjammer's Cutlass
- Crown of Horns, The
- Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard
- Dragonking's Eye, The
- Ebonbane
- Maleffluent
- Scepter of Savras, The
- Sever
- Starym Moonblade, Darkmoon
- Silencer of Bodach, The
- Wave
- Whelm
Full Item Details (Still a Work in Progress)
Acorn of Wo Mai
"The Acorn of Wo Mai is a large lead vessel, dull gray in color. As its name suggests, it is fashioned to look like an enormous acorn, almost three feet in height. Two golden bands, inscribed with arcane characters, encircle it from bottom to top, where they meet under a large seal of a dragon coiled around a sword. Although it appears to be tremendously heavy, the artifact can be carried by a strong individual with ease. It sometimes makes faint thumping noises, and is warm to the touch."
- NOTES: It is "the prison of a powerful fiend who once ruled and terrorized a great empire at the edges of the eastern lands." "The fiend trapped within the Acorn is
an evil demi-god..."
Aggarath
A silver dagger.
- NOTES: Gem of the dagger becomes a themed Darklord's Domain.
- Adventures: shows up in 'Castle Spulzeer' (FR), turns into a Domain at end and detailed in 'The Forgotten Terror' (Ravenloft).
Axe of the Emperors, The
"The Axe of the Emperors is a double-bitted, two-handed war axe. The head is of the brightest adamantine, forged so that it looks like a rising phoenix, the talons wrapping around the socket to clutch a sizeable ruby. The bird's wing feathers form the serrated edges of the blades. The haft is a rod of black crystal wrapped in bands of silver. The crystal enlarges at its base into a carving of a coiled dragon, a great sapphire clutched in the creature's mouth."
- NOTES: Can dominate the user/wielder. "[I]s imbued with a spirit of intense evil (Int 18, Ego 17)." Krynn/Dragonlance.
Baba Yaga's Hut
"Baba Yaga's Hut looks like a small, hexagonal hut with a thatched roof that is no more than 12 feet high and 10 feet across. A rickety chimney juts from the top. At a distance it seems to be mounted on stilts, though closer inspection reveals that they are giant chicken legs, fully another 12 feet long. It has a single door and two windows. The Hut is almost always found in the deep woods, surrounded by a picket fence topped with skulls."
- NOTES: Has legs, will travel. :D
Blackrazor
"Blackrazor is a negative-energy entity that exists by absorbing positive life energy levels from those it kills."
- NOTES: chaotic neutral sword +3, intelligence 17, ego 16. Purpose: to suck souls.
- Adventure: White Plume Mountain.
Blackjammer's Cutlass
"Blackjammer's Cutlass is a distinctive weapon of an outdated style. The blade is fashioned from a nonreflective black crystal, clearly not metal. The hilt is silver and fitted with an enormous basket depicting a sailor being keel-hauled. For all of its apparent size, it is far lighter than an ordinary cutlass. The cutlass is usually found in SPELLJAMMER® campaigns."
- NOTES: "The Cutlass is imbued with a strong free-booting personality (Int 19, Ego 20). It can speak, doing so often and loudly, preferring bawdy songs and coarse jokes."
@ Dragon Magazine #159
Crown of Horns, The
"The Crown of Horns, in its original form, was an electrum helm fully covered with small horns with a row of black gems around its edge; since its reformation, the Crown is an electrum circlet with four bone horns mounted around its edge and one large black diamond centered over the wearer's brow. While black as obsidian, the stone is
translucent, and weird energy dances within the faceted gem."
- NOTES: Created by Myrkul, the god of the dead. Can be used to restore his personality and memories to a wearer.
Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard
"Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard is an ancient relic of chaos and evil. This vile artifact appears as a 1-foot-long, four-sided, pulsating crystal that is tapered like an icicle."
- NOTES: Forged from the living essence of seven liches. Capable of influencing users. Fate of it was to buried under snow in the Icewind Dale area. 'An utterly evil, power-craving intelligence that serves the cause of pure chaos."
Dragonking's Eye, The
"The Dragonking’s Eye is known in many crystal spheres by a variety of names: the Eye of Doom, the Eye of Chaos, the Eye of Woe, the Eye of Sorrow, the Fiend’s Eye, the Eye of Evil, the Eye of Darkness, the Eye of Night, and many similar terms. The Dragonking's Eye resembles a short wand of scepter with a large yellowish gem set at one end. When the devices' powers are activated, the gem acquires a black, slitted, pupil-like opening, from which it derives its name."
- NOTES: Holds the essence of an incredibly ancient, evil god. "The god's avatar is reputed to be vaguely manlike, resembling a great, eight-legged dragon standing upright, with vast, dark wings." Can be encountered in the Marco Volo trilogy.
- Adventure encounterable: Marco Volo: Arrival
Ebonbane
- NOTES: Evil, intelligent sword that can control the weather around Shadowborn Manor. Referenced to in RR1 Darklords. An ACTUAL DARK LORD of RAVENLOFT!!! Had an extraplanar being contained within the sword, which can be fought also.
- Adventure: Bane of the Shadowborn (From Dungeon Magazine #31)
Maleffluent
Intelligent battle axe.
- NOTES: Speech and telepathy, domination, evil, etc.
- Adventures: Obtainable from the Domain in 'The Forgotten Terror' (Ravenloft).
Scepter of Savras, The
"The Scepter of Savras is a 4-foot-long staff of carved, smoky gray duskwood inlaid with nine star sapphires along the shaft. A 1-inch-diameter diamond engraved with the symbol of Savras the All-Seeing caps the base of the scepter, and a 3-inch-diameter diamond (reputed to have 1,000 facets) that is engraved with the symbol of Azuth tops the staff."
- NOTES: "Azuth defeated Savras the All-Seeing and imprisoned his essence within a powerful artifact he had constructed prior to the conflict." Savras was released at the end of the Time of Troubles, but the Scepter vanished again at that point, taking with it the majority of the power it had absorbed.
Sever
- NOTES: Evil, intelligent battle axe. Owned by Geryon the Arch Devil.
- Adventure: A Palidin in Hell, wielded by Geryon.
- To be confirmed.
Starym Moonblade, Darkmoon
"This dark-hued blade has a straight edge and is engraved on each side in silver filigree with identical sets of five elvish runes."
- NOTES: Various references to its greed and sentience.
Silencer of Bodach, The
"The Silencer of Bodach is a mighty two-handed broadsword almost 7 feet in length."
- NOTES: DARK SUN item. "The Silencer is a powerful and evil weapon that deludes its owner to dreams of glorious conquest and righteous destruction."
Wave
- NOTES: neutral trident +3, 14 intelligence, 20 ego. Purpose: Conversion to a sea god.
- Adventure: White Plume Mountain.
Whelm
- NOTES: lawful neutral hammer +3 (+5 for dwarves), intelligence 15, ego 18. Purpose: kill all trolls, giants and goblin-types.
- Adventure: White Plume Mountain.
=======
13/05/2016 - First release.
~AB
=======
Anybody have some ideas/contributions?? :)
70. The Forbidden Library
...
"In addition, the racks and display cases hold as many powerful and intelligent magical weapons as the DM cares to include here. (We suggest one of every type of weapon in the DMG's treasure tables.) However, all are coated with the same poison as covers the items above. Each weapon collected by Vecna is intelligent and has a purpose."
Table 108: Weapon Type (D6): arrow, axe, battle axe, bolt, sling bullet, dagger, dart, flail, javelin, knife, lance, mace, military pick, morning star, pole arm, scimitar, spear, sword, trident, warhammer.
Table 110: Special Weapons (D10): Arrow of Direction, Arrow of Slaying, Axe +2 (Throwing), Axe of Hurling, Bow +1, Crossbow of Accuracy (+3), Crossbow of Distance, Crossbow of Speed, Dagger +1 (+2 vs. Tiny or Small creatures), Dagger +2 (+3 vs. larger than man-sized), Dagger +2 (Longtooth), Dagger of Throwing, Dagger of Venom, Dart of Homing, Hammer +3 (Dwarven Thrower), Hammer of Thunderbolts, Hornblade, Javelin of Lightning, Javelin of Piercing, Buckle Knife, Mace of Disruption, Net of Entrapment, Net of Snaring, Magical Quarterstaff, Scimitar of Speed, Sling of Seeking +2, Cursed Backbiter Spear, Trident of Fish Command, Trident of Submission, Trident of Warning, Trident of Yearning, Sun Blade, Sword +1 (+2 vs. magic-using & enchanted creatures), Sword +1 (+3 vs. lycanthropes & shape-changers), Sword +1 (+3 vs. regenerating creatures), Sword +1 (+4 vs. reptiles), Sword +1 (Cursed), Sword +1 (Flame Tongue), Sword +1 (Luck Blade), Sword +2 (Dragon Slayer), Sword +2 (Giant Slayer), Sword +2 (Nine Lives Stealer), Sword +3 (Frost Brand), Sword +4 (Defender), Sword +5 (Defender), Sword +5 (Holy Avenger), Sword -2 (Cursed), Sword of Dancing, Sword of Life Stealing, Sword of Sharpness, Sword of the Planes, Sword of Wounding, Sword (Cursed Berserking), Sword (Short, Quickness, +2), Sword (Vorpal Weapon).
It's a lot!
What I wanted to do was list (ideally from every D&D version prior to 4th, though the later versions and Pathfinder are fine) every unique and/or non-randomized/non-DM-created:
- Intelligent item.
- Living item.
- Item that contains a bound soul/life-form/intelligence in it.
- Item that through its use reveals a life-form.
- Any named/specifically referred to life-form that can be used as is as an item, weapon, accessory, etc.
- Some version or variant of above that fits the spirit/letter/theme.
So that would exclude generic items like an Ebony Fly, magic effects designed to Gate/Summon unnamed creatures, species/classes designed for possessing items, etc.
They could be novel sourced (as some of the examples below are), but I'm more looking for items that are obtainable via canon pre-placement in modules/adventures.
Brief Name List:
- Acorn of Wo Mai
- Aggarath
- Axe of the Emperors, The
- Baba Yaga's Hut
- Blackrazor
- Blackjammer's Cutlass
- Crown of Horns, The
- Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard
- Dragonking's Eye, The
- Ebonbane
- Maleffluent
- Scepter of Savras, The
- Sever
- Starym Moonblade, Darkmoon
- Silencer of Bodach, The
- Wave
- Whelm
Full Item Details (Still a Work in Progress)
Acorn of Wo Mai
"The Acorn of Wo Mai is a large lead vessel, dull gray in color. As its name suggests, it is fashioned to look like an enormous acorn, almost three feet in height. Two golden bands, inscribed with arcane characters, encircle it from bottom to top, where they meet under a large seal of a dragon coiled around a sword. Although it appears to be tremendously heavy, the artifact can be carried by a strong individual with ease. It sometimes makes faint thumping noises, and is warm to the touch."
- NOTES: It is "the prison of a powerful fiend who once ruled and terrorized a great empire at the edges of the eastern lands." "The fiend trapped within the Acorn is
an evil demi-god..."
Aggarath
A silver dagger.
- NOTES: Gem of the dagger becomes a themed Darklord's Domain.
- Adventures: shows up in 'Castle Spulzeer' (FR), turns into a Domain at end and detailed in 'The Forgotten Terror' (Ravenloft).
Axe of the Emperors, The
"The Axe of the Emperors is a double-bitted, two-handed war axe. The head is of the brightest adamantine, forged so that it looks like a rising phoenix, the talons wrapping around the socket to clutch a sizeable ruby. The bird's wing feathers form the serrated edges of the blades. The haft is a rod of black crystal wrapped in bands of silver. The crystal enlarges at its base into a carving of a coiled dragon, a great sapphire clutched in the creature's mouth."
- NOTES: Can dominate the user/wielder. "[I]s imbued with a spirit of intense evil (Int 18, Ego 17)." Krynn/Dragonlance.
Baba Yaga's Hut
"Baba Yaga's Hut looks like a small, hexagonal hut with a thatched roof that is no more than 12 feet high and 10 feet across. A rickety chimney juts from the top. At a distance it seems to be mounted on stilts, though closer inspection reveals that they are giant chicken legs, fully another 12 feet long. It has a single door and two windows. The Hut is almost always found in the deep woods, surrounded by a picket fence topped with skulls."
- NOTES: Has legs, will travel. :D
Blackrazor
"Blackrazor is a negative-energy entity that exists by absorbing positive life energy levels from those it kills."
- NOTES: chaotic neutral sword +3, intelligence 17, ego 16. Purpose: to suck souls.
- Adventure: White Plume Mountain.
Blackjammer's Cutlass
"Blackjammer's Cutlass is a distinctive weapon of an outdated style. The blade is fashioned from a nonreflective black crystal, clearly not metal. The hilt is silver and fitted with an enormous basket depicting a sailor being keel-hauled. For all of its apparent size, it is far lighter than an ordinary cutlass. The cutlass is usually found in SPELLJAMMER® campaigns."
- NOTES: "The Cutlass is imbued with a strong free-booting personality (Int 19, Ego 20). It can speak, doing so often and loudly, preferring bawdy songs and coarse jokes."
@ Dragon Magazine #159
Crown of Horns, The
"The Crown of Horns, in its original form, was an electrum helm fully covered with small horns with a row of black gems around its edge; since its reformation, the Crown is an electrum circlet with four bone horns mounted around its edge and one large black diamond centered over the wearer's brow. While black as obsidian, the stone is
translucent, and weird energy dances within the faceted gem."
- NOTES: Created by Myrkul, the god of the dead. Can be used to restore his personality and memories to a wearer.
Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard
"Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard is an ancient relic of chaos and evil. This vile artifact appears as a 1-foot-long, four-sided, pulsating crystal that is tapered like an icicle."
- NOTES: Forged from the living essence of seven liches. Capable of influencing users. Fate of it was to buried under snow in the Icewind Dale area. 'An utterly evil, power-craving intelligence that serves the cause of pure chaos."
Dragonking's Eye, The
"The Dragonking’s Eye is known in many crystal spheres by a variety of names: the Eye of Doom, the Eye of Chaos, the Eye of Woe, the Eye of Sorrow, the Fiend’s Eye, the Eye of Evil, the Eye of Darkness, the Eye of Night, and many similar terms. The Dragonking's Eye resembles a short wand of scepter with a large yellowish gem set at one end. When the devices' powers are activated, the gem acquires a black, slitted, pupil-like opening, from which it derives its name."
- NOTES: Holds the essence of an incredibly ancient, evil god. "The god's avatar is reputed to be vaguely manlike, resembling a great, eight-legged dragon standing upright, with vast, dark wings." Can be encountered in the Marco Volo trilogy.
- Adventure encounterable: Marco Volo: Arrival
Ebonbane
- NOTES: Evil, intelligent sword that can control the weather around Shadowborn Manor. Referenced to in RR1 Darklords. An ACTUAL DARK LORD of RAVENLOFT!!! Had an extraplanar being contained within the sword, which can be fought also.
- Adventure: Bane of the Shadowborn (From Dungeon Magazine #31)
Maleffluent
Intelligent battle axe.
- NOTES: Speech and telepathy, domination, evil, etc.
- Adventures: Obtainable from the Domain in 'The Forgotten Terror' (Ravenloft).
Scepter of Savras, The
"The Scepter of Savras is a 4-foot-long staff of carved, smoky gray duskwood inlaid with nine star sapphires along the shaft. A 1-inch-diameter diamond engraved with the symbol of Savras the All-Seeing caps the base of the scepter, and a 3-inch-diameter diamond (reputed to have 1,000 facets) that is engraved with the symbol of Azuth tops the staff."
- NOTES: "Azuth defeated Savras the All-Seeing and imprisoned his essence within a powerful artifact he had constructed prior to the conflict." Savras was released at the end of the Time of Troubles, but the Scepter vanished again at that point, taking with it the majority of the power it had absorbed.
Sever
- NOTES: Evil, intelligent battle axe. Owned by Geryon the Arch Devil.
- Adventure: A Palidin in Hell, wielded by Geryon.
- To be confirmed.
Starym Moonblade, Darkmoon
"This dark-hued blade has a straight edge and is engraved on each side in silver filigree with identical sets of five elvish runes."
- NOTES: Various references to its greed and sentience.
Silencer of Bodach, The
"The Silencer of Bodach is a mighty two-handed broadsword almost 7 feet in length."
- NOTES: DARK SUN item. "The Silencer is a powerful and evil weapon that deludes its owner to dreams of glorious conquest and righteous destruction."
Wave
- NOTES: neutral trident +3, 14 intelligence, 20 ego. Purpose: Conversion to a sea god.
- Adventure: White Plume Mountain.
Whelm
- NOTES: lawful neutral hammer +3 (+5 for dwarves), intelligence 15, ego 18. Purpose: kill all trolls, giants and goblin-types.
- Adventure: White Plume Mountain.
=======
13/05/2016 - First release.
~AB
=======
Anybody have some ideas/contributions?? :)