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View Full Version : Very evil (but not powerful) magic item ideas?



gadren
2016-07-02, 03:33 AM
Hey all, I need some ideas for magic items for a low magic fantasy campaign that have an effect that is evil but the mechanics of which wouldn't be very powerful in terms of adventuring.
Example: A wand that makes it so the target no longer receives any joy from the thing it enjoys most in life. Duration: until the day it dies.

Braininthejar2
2016-07-02, 04:06 AM
A cup that casts prying eyes for the user once a day - but it works by transforming fresh humanoid eyeballs that need to be deposited into the cup before casting.

goto124
2016-07-02, 04:21 AM
Example: A wand that makes it so the target no longer receives any joy from the thing it enjoys most in life. Duration: until the day it dies.

Sounds useful for curbing addiction... unless it kills your loved ones. Then it makes addiction worse.

Inevitability
2016-07-02, 04:41 AM
A cup that turns the blood of sentient creatures in delicious beverages.

An axe that can only hurt feelings. It passes harmlessly through living material, but those hit by it get progressively sadder.

A pair of shoes that makes you unheard and incapable of triggering traps, but only if you're walking on the corpse of someone you killed yourself.

Berenger
2016-07-02, 05:03 AM
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Quill

Draconi Redfir
2016-07-02, 05:11 AM
A sword with a hollow glass tube running down the center of the blade. When wielded, the hilt digs a spike into the wielder’s hand and begins to drain blood.

Deals an additional 5-10 damage when hitting an opponent, but causes a permanent 2 con drain when wielded (un-equiping the sword removes this effect) and drains 1d4 HP with every swing, even if the attack fails to hit.

Optional bonus effect for more evil: It is impossible to remove the spike from the wielder’s hand (and thus un-equip the weapon) until the sword has been directly responsible for the death of at least 5-10 living creatures. Attempting to forcibly remove the blade has a 80% chance to deal 6d6 damage to the wielder and cause 1d4 con drain that remains until healed.

goto124
2016-07-02, 05:58 AM
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Quill

I've always thought of it as the Blood Quill...

erikun
2016-07-02, 10:39 AM
Evil, as in morality-evil? Or evil, as in unusually cruel?

A magical pouch which creates fresh and tasty steamed bread once for each meal... but uses up a ration of water from a nearby waterskin each time. No way to turn it off, outside getting rid of it or not carrying water.

A cursed shield which permanently attaches itself to your hand until it is uncursed. Can't let it go, can't carry other items with that hand.

A bag of holding which will steal one minor item from a pack nearby each night.

A cursed hammer which gives a +2 circumstance bonus to every skill check, but appears in your hand and MUST be used with every skill check. When all you have is a hammer...

[EDIT]
A magical brooch which provides immunity to Detect Lies and Zone of Truth and similar spells, but causes its wearer to auto-fail and checks opposed to Sense Motive and be sensed as lying.

Inevitability
2016-07-02, 11:30 AM
A seed that, when buried, grows into a giant evil plant monster. The only problem: it takes a few centuries to grow.

An incarnate construct animated water clock that is filled with Agony (see BoVD). Every second it experiences incredible pain, but you can't remove the source without killing the clock (which by the way looks like a fleshy mass filled with dark fluids). The clock itself is fully sentient, and screams every hour.

D-naras
2016-07-02, 11:57 AM
A beautiful comb that causes the user's hair to fall a day after use.

A mirror that shows an unattainable you.

A suit of armor that gets tighter by the hour to the point of crushing you.

A cursed ring that burns your finger if you betray the one that gave it to you.

gadren
2016-07-02, 01:34 PM
An item the records the most recent kill the wearer made, allowing him to fully relive the experience of the kill whenever he wishes.

p_johnston
2016-07-02, 03:17 PM
A +5 sword of child slaying. The sword can only be used to slay children, of any race.

A dagger of betrayal. Killing someone with the dagger heals the user for 3d10. The dagger passes harmlessly through anyone and anything that is not a close friend of the user.

A Mirror of Regrets. It shows you only scenes of horrible injustices that you can never reach in time to prevent.

Roiyal-T
2016-07-02, 03:26 PM
Leather armor made of human flesh,
Adds to charisma unless someone can tell what it's made of then negates any charisma for that person or anyone they tell.

Crown of Hands,
A crown made from hands of fallen victims. That decays slower than normal and they can become animated for 1 hour.

Cleaver of pleasure,
Any one who ever uses this cleaver cannot feel any pleasure unless used to take the life of one they are intimate with.

Mask of no man,
Once worn removes any recognizable features from wearers face permanently.

Actual items from a campaign I just played.
My character had the Cleaver and mask, he compinsated by wearing the face of his last "victim"

Draconi Redfir
2016-07-02, 07:14 PM
Dart of Suffering:

This 1d2 damage dart is cursed in such a way that when thrown at an opponent, whatever part of the body it hits will errupt into pain, about as bad as stubbing your toe. This pain will not go away, but may occaisionally numb or increase in pain as times goes on to prevent the afflicted from getting used to it. Remove curse will NOT remove this affliction.

goto124
2016-07-02, 08:29 PM
A bag of holding which will steal one minor item from a pack nearby each night.

Bag of Kender!


A mirror that shows an unattainable you.

Nothing's unattainable when the players put their heart to it! Next thing you know they actually rule over the entire multiverse! :smalltongue:


An item the records the most recent kill the wearer made, allowing him to fully relive the experience of the kill whenever he wishes.

Not sure how this is evil :smallbiggrin:

Spamotron
2016-07-02, 09:52 PM
Dagger of Festering Wounds: A small knife that is appears to be nicked, rusty, and stained with old blood. Wounds inflicted by this dagger are impervious to non-natural sources of healing (ie magical healing, psionic healing, the touch of a unicorn's horn etc.). Even regular healing takes 5 times as long as usual and they daily chance of infection is doubled over ordinary wounds (though magical/supernatural treatment of the infection itself does work). Finally healed wounds always have hideous scarring.

This may sound powerful and it is in some game systems. But in D&D for example it doesn't really affect most encounters all that much. Monsters generally have much less access to magical healing than adventurers do and even when they have some most optimized tactics guides will tell you that in combat healing is a waste of an action 90% of the time. Most monsters die in their very first encounter with the players anyway and 9 times out of 10 monsters that get away are never encountered again. So for a D&D adventuring party its effectively acts as an ordinary dagger that inflicts terrible suffering on critters that get away to very little tactical benefit. Of course in enemy npc hands most players will despise it because their adventurers do rely on magical healing a lot.

Mastikator
2016-07-02, 10:21 PM
- A necklace that chokes you to death if you try to take it off or say something true or nice. It can only be taken off if you kill someone you love or if you die.

- A self driving chariot that always runs off a cliff.

- A magic truth telling mirror that only tells half truth to create conflict and misery.

DCraw
2016-07-03, 12:48 AM
Crown of the Despot: An elaborate golden royal crown. Casts Mind Blank on wearer once per day. Curse: Permanently renders the wearer unable to feel regret, remorse, or empathy.

Obviously you can tone down or remove the primary effect to suit your campaign, leaving the curse.

TheIronGolem
2016-07-03, 12:55 AM
A pair of shoes that makes you unheard and incapable of triggering traps, but only if you're walking on the corpse of someone you killed yourself.

Great, now all I have to do is kill a couple of pixies and strap one to each sole.

DCraw
2016-07-03, 01:24 AM
Ring of Wound Transfer: An iron ring engraved to look like a chain, flaked with blood coloured rust. Speaking a command word while touching the ring to a pair of masterwork manacles forms a link. Any wounds, damage, poison, or illness suffered by the wearer of the ring is transferred to the wearer of the manacles. Damage that would be fatal to either party is still transferred (up to the remaining health of the unfortunate party), but breaks the link.

Think Dorian Grey, but with an actual human victim as the recipient. While it seems powerful for adventuring, remember that the party would need to source a LOT of 1HD commoners for even a basic dungeon - and even then they're only soaking 1d4 damage from each trap.

quinron
2016-07-03, 01:30 AM
In my game, I recently used a sword that gets more powerful along with its wielder, but its powers are completely useless unless it has blood spilled on it once per day. At base level, you can just nick your finger on it, but over time you have to start actually killing innocent, sentient creatures to awaken it.

Inevitability
2016-07-03, 03:31 AM
A decanter of endless sweat. The sweat is drained from random creatures nearby, including the user.

For more fun, make it a decanter of endless vomit, a decanter of endless spinal fluid, or a decanter of endless blood.

Starbuck_II
2016-07-03, 10:22 PM
Hey all, I need some ideas for magic items for a low magic fantasy campaign that have an effect that is evil but the mechanics of which wouldn't be very powerful in terms of adventuring.
Example: A wand that makes it so the target no longer receives any joy from the thing it enjoys most in life. Duration: until the day it dies.

It is fairly powerful I guess in low magic, but over all weak:
1) Bag of Dirty Tricks, grey
Price (Item Level): 4000 GP
Body Slot: - (Carried)
Caster Level: 3
Aura: Faint; (DC:xx) Conjuration
Activation: -
Weight: -

This appears to be a regular grey Bag of Tricks, but instead it summons horrifying out of control monsters. As usual when a ball is removed from the Bag and tossed up to 20' away it summons a creature for 10 minutes. However the creature is in a berserk fury, and attempts to kill everything in sight beginning with the first thing it sees, which will probably be you. As an immediate action, a Cha DC 15 allows it to ignore you for one round.
Like Bag of tricks, up to ten can be drawn from the bag each week.
Roll on the following table to see what you get:

01-10: Fiendish Cat, CR 1/2
11-20: Fiendish Giant Frog CR 1
21-30: Fiendish Wolf CR 1
31-40: Small Fire Elemental (any) CR 1
41-50: Lemure CR 1
51-60: Golden skeleton CR 1
61-70: Fiendish Goblin Dog CR 1
71-80: Kyton, Augur, CR 2
81-90: Fiendish Weasel CR 1
91-00: Fiendish Eagle CR 1/2

Mr Beer
2016-07-04, 01:04 AM
Candyman Hook

An iron prosthetic hook, slightly rusted, pitted with age and with traces of dried blood staining the leather stump.

When the user says 'Candyman' 5 times while looking into a mirror, the hook will silently fly off at the speed of a galloping horse. It will infallibly home in on and impale the nearest tasty sweet treat being held by a child and then fly it back to it's wicked master.

There is rumoured to be a cursed version that only brings back candy corn and milk duds.

Bulhakov
2016-07-04, 09:04 AM
"Sadist's crown"

A skull cap helmet that slightly heals the wearer whenever he/she observes the death of a sapient creature. The healing is accompanied by a rush of pleasure comparable to an orgasm (requires a concentration check) and becomes addictive after several uses (small penalty on all rolls if no deaths were observed in the last 3 days).

gadren
2016-07-04, 02:31 PM
Candyman Hook

An iron prosthetic hook, slightly rusted, pitted with age and with traces of dried blood staining the leather stump.

When the user says 'Candyman' 5 times while looking into a mirror, the hook will silently fly off at the speed of a galloping horse. It will infallibly home in on and impale the nearest tasty sweet treat being held by a child and then fly it back to it's wicked master.

There is rumoured to be a cursed version that only brings back candy corn and milk duds.

Hey, candy corn does NOT belong in the same category as milk duds!

Inevitability
2016-07-05, 01:16 PM
'Evil never sleeps', a small piece of jewelry. Whenever evil acts are committed nearby, the item starts buzzing and telepathically tells its owner the location of the injustice.

However, after a few days, the item starts buzzing at even slight incidents and incidents located far away. The buzzing becomes more frequent until at last the wearer hears nothing but endless noise that prevents sleep, concentration, or rational thought. The owner is subtly affected by an enchantment that makes him believe that if he just rights one more wrong the buzzing will stop.

Wearers typically either go mad with over-exertion and guilt or die from exhaustion within the first week.

Bulhakov
2016-07-05, 03:34 PM
"Foulberries" - eating just a single one, makes all food taste vile for several days (maybe has potential as a diet pill?)

"Dagger of a broken heart" - anyone wounded by the blade completely forgets the person they loved the most in their life (again I see potential for people paying to be stabbed)

Whyrocknodie
2016-07-05, 06:13 PM
A magic potion distilled from something with audience sympathy, the imbiber has their alignment changed to Evil. Furthermore, the potion removes the memory of the potion itself from the imbiber.

Ideally this has a very long duration, but isn't permanent so that it can wear off and allow for remorse. Let's say three years.

snacksmoto
2016-07-05, 07:48 PM
A suit of armor that gets tighter by the hour to the point of crushing you.

Instead of getting tighter by the hour, how about the armour quickly getting tighter when it gets wet. For example, from sweat during combat. It needs time to dry out in order to return to normal, which doesn't help the owner mid-combat after quickly removing the armour in order to breathe.

How about an item which is useful but causes the owner to start becoming very suspicious, perceiving everyone as threatening and untrustworthy.
That kind healer has to be up to something nefarious. Why are my companions defending him? They must be imposters. Who's involved in getting them replaced? They were at the market yesterday, a perfect place for them to be ambushed. The store owner has to be involved, probably has a hidden dungeon under the store. The healer and store owner have to be in league with each other, planning another kidnapping. Where did they take my real companions. I can't trust these imposters. I have to find my companions.

This will probably work best in an area that the characters frequent. How about a finely crafted money pouch that slowly generates minor denominations of currency, typically identical to the real currency carried. This fake currency is generated in any container, mixing in with existing currency. By all appearances it is normal money but only while it is in close proximity to the pouch. After a short period of time away from the pouch, the currency begins to degrade eventually crumbling into dust.
If the currency is used, merchants would start spreading word around that the characters are not trustworthy, paying with bogus money. The characters will have to figure out how it works and how to separate the real currency from the fake.

Braininthejar2
2016-07-06, 10:55 AM
A skinning knife that can be used to scalp a face off a victim, creating a one use "alter self" item

Braininthejar2
2016-07-06, 11:01 AM
a harp with strings made of tendons - it can turn bardic music effects into fear effects against whatever species was used for the strings.

an armor that secrets combat drugs, allowing the user to frenzy at will (but not calm down at will)

Braininthejar2
2016-07-06, 11:09 AM
an amulet with 3 tear-shaped gems (the kind giving extra HP depending on charges used) but created by a priest of [insert local misfortune goddess] so it doesn't recharge at dawn - instead it needs a real tear (one per day from a given person) to restore each charge, and only tears of grief will do.

Segev
2016-07-06, 03:40 PM
A food chest which keeps food in it fresh and edible indefinitely, but does so by magically transferring the spoilage to the nearest food NOT stored therein. Food already spoiled doesn't count; it moves on to fresher food if some is already rendered inedible.

A bath which makes those who bathe within get a year younger for each hour spent therein. However, for every year they get younger, they lose a year of their earliest memories.

A weapon (possibly +1 in a D&D-like game) which turns the area around injuries it inflicts to stone. Without a cure for petrification, the damage done cannot be healed.

A mask which causes you to appear to onlookers to be their most trusted friend to whom you bear a reasonable physical resemblance. They feel unreasonably generous towards you for the first minute, and then start resenting the kindnesses they showed in that time.

A musical instrument which makes those who hear it feel inspired and refreshed, performing tasks for the next hour or so much better than they otherwise would. But after benefitting from this a few times, when they're NOT benefitting from it, they start to become despondent, and feel any efforts they make are futile, until they hear it again. The penalties and hopelessness worsen with each exposure, while the bonuses remain the same regardless. The musician is NOT immune to any of these effects.

Spore
2016-07-06, 06:44 PM
Ruby of Hellish Contracts: You can summon an imp for any minor task (not involving fights, less than one day, including being bound as a familiar) but in exchange you damn a single HD 1 creature in your vicinity to be killed and drained by the imp. You are in this contract once you use the item since the contract was clearly written (in tiny infernal letters) onto the ruby's chain.

If you kill the imp, his superiors will take MORE lives. You can however choose who to kill. If you bind the imp as a familiar to control it you forfeit a tiny part of your soul to the imp.

ATHATH
2016-07-06, 08:44 PM
[Weapon] of Loss: Whenever this weapon strikes a target, Life's Treasure Lost (BoVD) is cast on the target at CL 5. The target is instantly aware of what has been lost and why.
[Weapon] of Misery: Whenever this weapon strikes a target (which will be referred to as the "target" for the rest of this description), Love's Pain (BoVD) is cast at the target at a CL that depends on the alignment of the creature (which will be referred to as "creature A" for the rest of this description) that is most dear to the target. If creature A is Good, Love's Pain is cast at CL 3. If creature A is Neutral (on the Good-Evil axis), Love's Pain is cast at CL 2. If creature A is Evil, Love's Pain is cast at CL 1. The target is instantly aware of who has been harmed and why.

ATHATH
2016-07-06, 08:49 PM
Ruby of Hellish Contracts: You can summon an imp for any minor task (not involving fights, less than one day, including being bound as a familiar) but in exchange you damn a single HD 1 creature in your vicinity to be killed and drained by the imp. You are in this contract once you use the item since the contract was clearly written (in tiny infernal letters) onto the ruby's chain.

If you kill the imp, his superiors will take MORE lives. You can however choose who to kill. If you bind the imp as a familiar to control it you forfeit a tiny part of your soul to the imp.
This item seems ripe for Bag of Tricks synergy/abuse.

Hawkstar
2016-07-06, 11:37 PM
Malevolent weapons come to mind - Mechanically, they're +1 or +2 weapons. But they have a blackened, spiked appearance (With a sinister red glow), and constantly whisper dark thoughts into the mind of the wielder - and those accuracy and damage bonuses are from the weapon enthusiastically seeking the vulnerable bodies of any the wielder uses it against, and it fills the wielder with a euphoria every time they kill someone (Especially if that person's an innocent). And, the nature of the evil the weapon encourages could vary based on the weapon - A dagger is one of subterfuge, whispering about how helpless, pathetic, and vulnerable those you look at are, and where to strike most easily for the most pain. A sword would call for blood, happily dancing between gliding slices and eager thrusts into foes. A mace, hammer, or axe would appeal to brute force and domination.