Magic items that got dumped in a ditch

[Coffee_Dragon]

Sometimes we give out items hoping they'll get players excited, but this fails to happen. Share your stories of the items you thought might have turned into signature items for a character but which just weren't accepted.

The party ran into a bad guy carrying a flashy magic sword and a sentient harp which in his hands had powerful hypnotic powers. After they beat up the bad guy and took the harp into custody, it was going to start off with some low-level spell functionality to be boosted later on, also as a source of information and with a personal agenda that would align with that of the party in a later stage of the adventure. However, the party bard refused to attune to the harp because sentient magical item, and they ended up trading it away along with some other things.

As part of the trade with the harp, a mage sympathetic to the party's cause gave each of them a potentially powerful item with a dormant plot hook and tiers of unlockable bonuses. The druid's item started out as a +1 quarterstaff functioning as a druidic focus and also giving a bonus to initiative rolls. (In due course the staff could have been completed into a very powerful trident capable of shooting energy beams.) However, the druid refused to use it because we've house ruled staffs to be two-handed and he'd have to lose his shield. (I asked him how he handled his druidic focus and apparently he didn't.) Later he tried to push the staff onto the party monk despite the fact that it required attunement by a druid.

[ThurlRavenscrof]

I gave out a pipes of haunting an eyes of charming one time. One player took both of them, then promptly forgot and never used them the whole campaign

[Naanomi]

My party found an intelligent crossbow once that was pretty strong but it was a jerk and wouldn't talk to them usually (still could use its powers) but they hated it and stowed it in the bag of holding for the rest of the campaign

[Cl0001]

I gave out a +1 AC adamantine helmet that had 6 quarter sized indentations in the forehead. They sold it for 500 gold. Little did they know it was a powerful helmet that was simply missing 6 gems. It was modeled after the infinity stones from the marvel comics. Each gem gave a permanent +4 to a star along with other bonuses

[Mith]

I gave out a +1 AC adamantine helmet that had 6 quarter sized indentations in the forehead. They sold it for 500 gold. Little did they know it was a powerful helmet that was simply missing 6 gems. It was modeled after the infinity stones from the marvel comics. Each gem gave a permanent +4 to a star along with other bonuses

That's when you have a BBEG complete the helmet and becomes a Deadly solo encounter.

[Coffee_Dragon]

I gave out a +1 AC adamantine helmet that had 6 quarter sized indentations in the forehead. They sold it for 500 gold. Little did they know it was a powerful helmet that was simply missing 6 gems. It was modeled after the infinity stones from the marvel comics. Each gem gave a permanent +4 to a star along with other bonuses

That's a pretty epic thing when completed if it would allow stats to break the 20 barrier. Did you have them come across any of the stones later on?

[Naanomi]

I gave out a +1 AC adamantine helmet that had 6 quarter sized indentations in the forehead. They sold it for 500 gold. Little did they know it was a powerful helmet that was simply missing 6 gems. It was modeled after the infinity stones from the marvel comics. Each gem gave a permanent +4 to a star along with other bonuses
Ha! I had a set of 'turn this stat to 19' items that the team kept finding on cultists that if anyone wore all of them it would set all their stats to 22... they never tried to wear more than one at once despite clearly being described as a set

[90sMusic]

In the homebrew campaign world I created and run adventures in all the time, there is a character who was a former paladin with an extreme hatred of all things from the lower planes, fiends of all kinds. He has a powerful legendary item from the shadowfell that grants him an assortment of powers including creating magical darkness, seeing through all darkness (including magical) as if it were bright light, being able to shadowstep through darkness, creating a flying steed made of shadows, and even being able to spend his hit dice during a short rest to create minions out of shadow that he uses as scouts to seek out fiends to hunt down and destroy.

So this guy is always in my campaign and players from different parties sometimes interact with him or run across him for various reasons, but during one campaign in particular they had a tiefling in the party who was undergoing a quest to try to become more like her devil ancestors to become more powerful and when this guy found out about it, he attacked the party.

They ended up killing him and they found that shadowy artifact that would've made one of them very powerful if they had used it, especially a rogue type character, but they were so scared of it being cursed they didn't want to even touch it. They ended up digging a hole and pushing it down into the hole with a sword because they were so paranoid about touching it.

I found the whole thing rather funny.

[90sMusic]

My party found an intelligent crossbow once that was pretty strong but it was a jerk and wouldn't talk to them usually (still could use its powers) but they hated it and stowed it in the bag of holding for the rest of the campaign

Haha, that reminds me of a sentient sword I put in my game named Ghandi. It is a +5 vorpal sword but it is a pacifist and refuses to fight. Anytime you try to swing it, you have to beat it in a charisma contest to try to make an attack with it, otherwise it manages to stop you. There is a way, much much later in the campaign, where it is possible to make this weapon work all the time but so far, no one has discovered how to do so. Usually they consider it to be a trash weapon and sell or discard it.

[Cl0001]

That's a pretty epic thing when completed if it would allow stats to break the 20 barrier. Did you have them come across any of the stones later on?
It raised the cap as well so it was uber powerful and unfortunately they got mad at me like 2 sessions later because my campaign "lacked direction and motivation". So they never saw it's true power. And I did everything but straight up tell them that it was a really powerful item.

[Arcangel4774]

My dm gave me some enjeweled sword. I had to make a save when I picked it up (at level 3) so I wrapped it in clothe and stowed it away until level 5. We leveled slowly doubley so because we were all new, and wed play every other week By that point the dm forgot about it and had to dig up papers on what it did. Apparently it sapped the enemies strength to boost my own. Apparently It can backfire but it hasn't yet.

[Vaz]

Are you called Grog?

[Sigreid]

There's a running theme in this thread that makes me happy. Apparently lots of people hat sentient magic items as much as I do. As soon as I know a magic item has a will of its own, I have no use for it. :smallfurious:

[Talwar]

There's a running theme in this thread that makes me happy. Apparently lots of people hat sentient magic items as much as I do. As soon as I know a magic item has a will of its own, I have no use for it. :smallfurious:

Every sentient magic item I've encountered has been a first-class jerk.

[mephnick]

You really need to be obvious with weapons that unlock further powers. That's cool that it will eventually free cast cone of cold in 5 levels and all...but right now all I see is a sword with a bit of cold damage and I need the cash.

[90sMusic]

You really need to be obvious with weapons that unlock further powers. That's cool that it will eventually free cast cone of cold in 5 levels and all...but right now all I see is a sword with a bit of cold damage and I need the cash.

That is life though. You don't know what a weapon might do in the future anymore than you know the future fate of any random NPC you encounter. Some DM's don't like to make everything obvious and spell out everything to their players because it makes it that much more interesting if they discover things for themselves. Maybe you sell the best weapon in the game for beer money. That's just a consequence you'll have to live with. Maybe one day if you ever realize it, you can go on a quest to try to recover it.

[Corran]

That is life though. You don't know what a weapon might do in the future anymore than you know the future fate of any random NPC you encounter. Some DM's don't like to make everything obvious and spell out everything to their players because it makes it that much more interesting if they discover things for themselves. Maybe you sell the best weapon in the game for beer money. That's just a consequence you'll have to live with. Maybe one day if you ever realize it, you can go on a quest to try to recover it.
This sounds suspiciously similar to a trust exercise.

[furby076]

This sounds suspiciously similar to a trust exercise.

Rule of thumb: i trust the dm to make a fun adventure. That is all.

[Tanarii]

Rule of thumb: I expect the DM to make an adventure that challenges me. That is all.

The hard part about 'fun' is its so different for everyone. :smallamused:

[Zanthy1]

That is life though. You don't know what a weapon might do in the future anymore than you know the future fate of any random NPC you encounter. Some DM's don't like to make everything obvious and spell out everything to their players because it makes it that much more interesting if they discover things for themselves. Maybe you sell the best weapon in the game for beer money. That's just a consequence you'll have to live with. Maybe one day if you ever realize it, you can go on a quest to try to recover it.

If my players ever neglect an item or a NPC that I worked hard to create, or has potential to be plot relevant, I always make sure it comes back. Oftentimes against the party, but I've had times where the party sold a magic book they did not want (wanted cash for blackjack and hookers), and later the book turned up in the arms of an NPC archmage quest giver. The players felt silly, but it was a good laugh.

Alternatively, I had a new player join a campaign at higher levels and had him start off with a rejected magic item.

[MrStabby]

There's a running theme in this thread that makes me happy. Apparently lots of people hat sentient magic items as much as I do. As soon as I know a magic item has a will of its own, I have no use for it. :smallfurious:

Too often sentient weapons are just an excuse for a lame DMPC. Hard to inflict that on players if they keep it in a bag and never let it out.


I have given my players access spells before, spells that seemed to me to be powerful for their spell level. As it was the Wizard didn't memorise it because it didn't appear in any of the online Wizard guides he had read. The paladin didn't use his because he only ever used spell slots for smiting enemies. The Druid didn't want to use any spell that conflicted with his conjure animals spell.

[Sigreid]

Too often sentient weapons are just an excuse for a lame DMPC. Hard to inflict that on players if they keep it in a bag and never let it out.


I have given my players access spells before, spells that seemed to me to be powerful for their spell level. As it was the Wizard didn't memorise it because it didn't appear in any of the online Wizard guides he had read. The paladin didn't use his because he only ever used spell slots for smiting enemies. The Druid didn't want to use any spell that conflicted with his conjure animals spell.

For me it's that what I want my character to do, who he chooses to fight or not fight, if he chooses to fight or charm is not something I want up for negotiation with his equipment. The Gandhi sword listed earlier is a fine example of an item that will wind up abandoned on a beach somewhere or something. I don't care if it's the only item capable of killing the demon prince that is after me. The first time it interferes with my decision, it's gone.

The spell thing seems a little weird to me. I play a lot of casters and while I do have a spell load out that could be considered my favorite, I do acknowledge that for the preparation casters a huge bit of their power comes from flexibility. And for following guides? I may read them to see if I'm missing something, but I'm not playing my character for whoever wrote them.

[Tanarii]

Given one of the (probably many) inspirations for sentient swords was Elric of Melnibone's sword, it's hardly surprising they were originally designed as almost as much of a curse as a blessing.

[Sigreid]

Given one of the (probably many) inspirations for sentient swords was Elric of Melnibone's sword, it's hardly surprising they were originally designed as almost as much of a curse as a blessing.

Considering that particular sword was guaranteed to kill everyone you love, I'd call it far more of a curse than a blessing.

[Vaz]

Or even the One Ring, which had some rudimentary form of sentience. "The Ring wants to be found."

[Naanomi]

Lilarcor from BG2 was a fun intelligent weapon though, he and Minsc hung out together for a long time in my first play through

[Scathain]

Too often sentient weapons are just an excuse for a lame DMPC. Hard to inflict that on players if they keep it in a bag and never let it out.


I have given my players access spells before, spells that seemed to me to be powerful for their spell level. As it was the Wizard didn't memorise it because it didn't appear in any of the online Wizard guides he had read. The paladin didn't use his because he only ever used spell slots for smiting enemies. The Druid didn't want to use any spell that conflicted with his conjure animals spell.

Oh my god, this is exactly why I don't homebrew spells anymore. I understand that not everyone has the desire to playtest my material, or even memorize new spells but this would happen in ALL MAGE PARTIES. I used to expand spell lists with new and borrowed spells from other lists all the time, but stopped because nobody cared to use them.

C'est la vie.

[Slipperychicken]

Is the moral of the thread that I need to use every dumpy little +1 sword for multiple levels in the hope that it might turn out to be the superweapon wielded by my PC's dragon-slaying illegitimate grandfather?

[mephnick]

Eh. I cast Identify, tell me what it actually is.

[Fach]

Is the moral of the thread that I need to use every dumpy little +1 sword for multiple levels in the hope that it might turn out to be the superweapon wielded by my PC's dragon-slaying illegitimate grandfather?

No, the moral is that DMs have to be careful with how they introduce magical items to players.

[Naanomi]

Eh. I cast Identify, tell me what it actually is.
Or legend lore sometimes.

I'm actually surprised at how neglected identify is this edition in most games I've played in. Back in 2e it was half the reason to have a wizard at low levels

[mephnick]

Or legend lore sometimes.

I'm actually surprised at how neglected identify is this edition in most games I've played in. Back in 2e it was half the reason to have a wizard at low levels

It's the first ritual I take on any character that can get it. It's literally a free "tell me everything about this sh*t". I can't believe anyone wouldn't take it but here we are. I guess I'm biased because we play without that stupid short rest identify BS

[Naanomi]

It's the first ritual I take on any character that can get it. It's literally a free "tell me everything about this sh*t". I can't believe anyone wouldn't take it but here we are. I guess I'm biased because we play without that stupid short rest identify BS
Even if the GM says 'identify doesn't work on this' it gives you a ton of info (not to ditch it to begin with)

[mephnick]

Even if the GM says 'identify doesn't work on this' it gives you a ton of info (not to ditch it to begin with)

Unless it's a WotC module and the writers just couldn't think of anything.

"Uh..yeah. If the PCs use identify or detect magic on the Vodinod, just..uh..tell them it's magical or something. I don't know."

Great guys. Glad I paid $70 for this.

[Desteplo]

Wand of web
It has 7 charges a day
A month in game and 4 lvls. Not one use

[Logosloki]

I shunted a magic bow into my warlock's pact weapon space and forgot about it. I was reminded about it when I was attuning a new weapon and it popped out beside me.

[MrMcBobb]

I once dolled out a magical bearded greateaxe that was covered in carvings that made it look like it was covered in hair and it made the wielder exceptionally hairy. Sadly the fighter took it and not the barbarian, because the magical hair that you grew whilst wielding the axe raised your unarmored ac by +1 once it was thick enough. Shame :(

Not the most imaginative weapon ever but I thought the idea of a stupendously hairy barbarian rollicking around the battlefield was too much to pass up.

[mr-mercer]

I haven't received any custom magic items yet (as we only semi-recently departed from LMOP into the meat of the campaign) and I haven't offloaded anything into a ditch, as such, but when we received Talon (the +1 longsword) it was automatically given to me because, as the fighter, I was the only one who could use it. The trouble is that I was going for a polearm character and had forgotten that longswords could be wielded in two hands, so I never actually used it because from my misunderstanding it looked like a slightly more accurate weapon with less reach that dealt less damage. By the time I'd figured out that two-handing it was an option, I'd already had my halberd upgraded to +1, so I never really had a use for the weapon. I later offloaded it to the paladin when they joined our group, so it's seeing more use than none at all now.

On the subject of sentient weapons, I actually quite like the idea. I'd love to have a sword that has its own thoughts on the situations we're in, though this is mostly brought on by liking Nightblood so much while I was reading Warbreaker. I'm less at home with weapons that stop you from attacking or take over your body, though with the latter I'm more willing to accept if it's only a temporary thing. I do, however, think both of these drawbacks can be mitigated for one simple reason: if the weapon is sentient, it can likely be negotiated with. The pacifist sword can be convinced that its use in battle is for the greater good, while the berserker armour can be tricked into believing that its goals will be better accomplished if its wearer isn't drowned in bloodlust. This would vary from DM to DM, of course, but an object having intelligence opens up the door to more options than just using it or leaving it behind.

[nickl_2000]

I once dolled out a magical bearded greateaxe that was covered in carvings that made it look like it was covered in hair and it made the wielder exceptionally hairy. Sadly the fighter took it and not the barbarian, because the magical hair that you grew whilst wielding the axe raised your unarmored ac by +1 once it was thick enough. Shame :(

Not the most imaginative weapon ever but I thought the idea of a stupendously hairy barbarian rollicking around the battlefield was too much to pass up.

Can you imagine giving that to a dwarven barbarian? He would be tripping on his beard



We are pretty low level in a campaign we are playing, but we were giving a wand of shocking grasp (~2 uses per day). We pretty much immediately sold it off. Our DM complained, "what you are going to just sell it, I spent a whole 3 minutes designing that." I'm pretty sure we are safe that it wasn't meant to grow with us.

[Corran]

In a recent campaign, the DM gave us a semi-sentient magical map. You could ask ''it'' the current location of anyone you wanted, and the map would essentially tell you where they are and it would give you directions on how to get to them. Pretty handy item, yes?

There were three main drawbacks, though.
1) Magic was hunted down with extreme prejudice in that setting (and that meant bad things even for someone who just carried around with him magic items -which they were almost non-existant btw).

2) We were a stealth group (every freaking one of us had stealth proficiency). Kinda ninja squad. This didnt play well with he fact that the map had to shout as loud as humanly possible every time it was answering a question.

3) The interaction with the map was based on ''Dora the Explorer''. You had to say ''map'' like two times, then you had to sing along with it the ''I'm the map, I'm the map...'', and then it would start giving you directions in its ''funny'' voice after repeating what you had asked to know but in a 'statement form'.

........ Yeah.......
A couple of sessions later, we (the PCs) went to the NPC king, and we were like, ''Dude, we just found this weird map, must be magic or sth, and you have banned magic, right? So we brought it to you to see what you want to do with it.''. The king took the map, and we never saw or heard (thank the gods) from it again....

[Sigreid]

Can you imagine giving that to a dwarven barbarian? He would be tripping on his beard



You'd have to nickname him Cousin It.

[VariSami]

Oh, yes. The player of a Lizardfolk (Kobold's Press's Southland Heroes version) Barbarian grappler was moaning that their DPS was not up to snuff since the fluff they had chosen for their character was that the use of weapons was weakness. Thus, I decided to plant an intelligent, reptilian weapon made of bone to facilitate character growth (an intelligent item could be thought of more as a partner than a tool and bone is an organic material like their own teeth). Here are the stats for the item (https://raakamahcityofmonsters.obsidianportal.com/items/vitriol). The character did find the item when it was beckoning to them telepathically but decided to nope because of this thing's bloodthirst and left it to rot at home without ever even attempting to communicate back. Eventually, I just had a random encounter Folk of Leng (Tome of Beasts) ask if they had found an intelligent bone dagger when they returned to the area. He then traded a Vicious Hand Crossbow to the party's bard for it. Such a waste.

[Draco4472]

My party went through White Plume Mountain and got Blackrazor. I thought the fighters in the party would be rolling for it, but no one wanted it due to the whole 'I want souls' issue the weapon has.

So now we have a halfling Monk wielding it.

They gave it to the person who was the worse mechanically to give it to so that the sword would have difficulties getting the souls it wants.

[Vaz]

My party went through White Plume Mountain and got Blackrazor. I thought the fighters in the party would be rolling for it, but no one wanted it due to the whole 'I want souls' issue the weapon has.

So now we have a halfling Monk wielding it.

They gave it to the person who was the worse mechanically to give it to so that the sword would have difficulties getting the souls it wants.

Until you sleep.

[Joe the Rat]

magical bearded greateaxe
I see what you did there.

I am so going to use this.


My party went through White Plume Mountain and got Blackrazor. I thought the fighters in the party would be rolling for it, but no one wanted it due to the whole 'I want souls' issue the weapon has.

So now we have a halfling Monk wielding it.

They gave it to the person who was the worse mechanically to give it to so that the sword would have difficulties getting the souls it wants.
Yeah, to head that off I decided to replace Stormbringer Blackrazor with Moonglum (radiant, anti-shapeshifter, bad pun). Between the Haunted Axe and the Wicked Scythe taken from a redcap, the NecroCleric really doesn't need another evil-themed weapon.

[Mith]

I once dolled out a magical bearded greateaxe that was covered in carvings that made it look like it was covered in hair and it made the wielder exceptionally hairy. Sadly the fighter took it and not the barbarian, because the magical hair that you grew whilst wielding the axe raised your unarmored ac by +1 once it was thick enough. Shame :(

Not the most imaginative weapon ever but I thought the idea of a stupendously hairy barbarian rollicking around the battlefield was too much to pass up.

Stealing this idea.

[BestPlayer]

During one adventure I had the players come across a clearly magical golden sword inlaid with gems which was encased in what seemed to be an impenetrable crystal shard. This was to be the genesis of their next mission as this item was what they would need to defeat the next big bad and they were to spend several sessions trying to get it out of the shard. Instead they hit the shard with their weapons, threw it on the ground, and when it didn't open they gave up and left it there.

[xroads]

Or legend lore sometimes.

I'm actually surprised at how neglected identify is this edition in most games I've played in. Back in 2e it was half the reason to have a wizard at low levels

Probably because identify only exists on the bard & wizards spell lists. Not too mention it's no longer as necessary as it was before, since you can attune to learn an item's abilities.

As for magic items our group rarely uses, I rarely use our driftglobe. It's not that I can't find use for it. It's just I tend to forget about it and when I remember it, I don't need it.

[Tanarii]

Probably because identify only exists on the bard & wizards spell lists. Not too mention it's no longer as necessary as it was before, since you can attune to learn an item's abilities.Also because the component costs 100 gp. With competing stuff you need more (especially for the bard) you're probably not getting it to third level. So most wizards (and let's be honest, only wizards take it) choose to take Comprehend languages or detect magic or alarm. Yknow, useful rituals instead of ones that merely do what a short rest already gives you.

[nickl_2000]

Also because the component costs 100 gp. With competing stuff you need more (especially for the bard) you're probably not getting it to third level. So most wizards (and let's be honest, only wizards take it) choose to take Comprehend languages or detect magic or alarm. Yknow, useful rituals instead of ones that merely do what a short rest already gives you.

The components may cost 100GP, but it's a 1 time cost. If you look at the spell, it doesn't say that they are consumed like it does the other spell components with cost.

[Tanarii]

The components may cost 100GP, but it's a 1 time cost. If you look at the spell, it doesn't say that they are consumed like it does the other spell components with cost.I never implied it did.

Unless your DM uses the variant rules instead of short rest identification, it's a worthless spell in regards to that. So why spend 100 gp (which is ~1/5 of your typical 1 to 5 wealth) and a free spellbook spell on something that only has use in identifying spells on someone/someplace? That's useful, but other rituals require less investment.

About the only characters I've seen with Identify are Knowledge Clerics, who get it for free. And even then they almost never use it. Most players seem to consider it a 'dead' free domain spell slot.

[MrMcBobb]

Can you imagine giving that to a dwarven barbarian? He would be tripping on his beard

Yea, it was from an ancient race of dwarves that fought naked but had so much hair they were basically armored. I had been watching LoTR and Gimli talking about dwarven women being mistaken for men really tickled me. So I wanted a race of dwarves that were all hairy as f****ck as the PHB lady dwarf has no beard (though maybe she'd just shaved)

[solidork]

I just remembered a pretty amusing story where an item actually got literally dumped into a ditch:

In this campaign I was playing an Arcane Trickster Rogue, around level 6 iirc. I had taken the Shield as one of my spells, and you can't cast it if you're holding something in each hand. I also liked to mix it up and do both ranged and melee combat depending on the situation, sometimes switching mid combat. The end result was that I was constantly doing stuff. I would drop my bow so I could draw my rapier and then attack, or draw my offhand, attack with it and then drop it onto the ground so I would have a free hand.

This never backfired... until I decided (after much agonizing, mind you) it was safe enough to drop our Wand of Lightning Bolt with three charges left at the edge of a battlefield in a muddy ditch in order to not waste a turn getting my bow out. Unbeknownst to us, we were being followed by an invisible Hag Eye, and they stole it and used it against us when we tracked them down.

[Matrix_Walker]

I once dolled out a magical bearded greateaxe that was covered in carvings that made it look like it was covered in hair and it made the wielder exceptionally hairy. Sadly the fighter took it and not the barbarian, because the magical hair that you grew whilst wielding the axe raised your unarmored ac by +1 once it was thick enough. Shame :(

Not the most imaginative weapon ever but I thought the idea of a stupendously hairy barbarian rollicking around the battlefield was too much to pass up.


In a recent campaign, the DM gave us a semi-sentient magical map. You could ask ''it'' the current location of anyone you wanted, and the map would essentially tell you where they are and it would give you directions on how to get to them. Pretty handy item, yes?

There were three main drawbacks, though.
1) Magic was hunted down with extreme prejudice in that setting (and that meant bad things even for someone who just carried around with him magic items -which they were almost non-existant btw).

2) We were a stealth group (every freaking one of us had stealth proficiency). Kinda ninja squad. This didnt play well with he fact that the map had to shout as loud as humanly possible every time it was answering a question.

3) The interaction with the map was based on ''Dora the Explorer''. You had to say ''map'' like two times, then you had to sing along with it the ''I'm the map, I'm the map...'', and then it would start giving you directions in its ''funny'' voice after repeating what you had asked to know but in a 'statement form'.

........ Yeah.......
A couple of sessions later, we (the PCs) went to the NPC king, and we were like, ''Dude, we just found this weird map, must be magic or sth, and you have banned magic, right? So we brought it to you to see what you want to do with it.''. The king took the map, and we never saw or heard (thank the gods) from it again....

These are "WTF" items. A ditch is way too good for them.

[Naanomi]

I once dolled out a magical bearded greateaxe that was covered in carvings that made it look like it was covered in hair and it made the wielder exceptionally hairy. Sadly the fighter took it and not the barbarian, because the magical hair that you grew whilst wielding the axe raised your unarmored ac by +1 once it was thick enough. Shame :(

Not the most imaginative weapon ever but I thought the idea of a stupendously hairy barbarian rollicking around the battlefield was too much to pass up.
What happens when a lizardman uses it? Or... can you make a long-hair tabaxi with it?

[Waterdeep Merch]

A DM in a game I played tried to design some sword that was the host of a blue dragon's soul. I've heard it's something from a Pathfinder adventure, though I'm not sure if that's true. He spent a lot of time describing it, its personality, its backstory, and the reason it's bound to the very one who drew it, and only they may bring out the full power of the sword for a cost that-

The back line warlock drew it because the actual sword fighters of the group were being cautious (I was one of them). Once he learned what it did, he sold it. There was no reason to use a weapon he didn't have proficiency in to fight in a place he wasn't designed to fight and possibly put up with the thing trying to vie for dominance. Guess it's screwed now that the only person it could talk to is miles away.

[mephnick]

I never implied it did.

Unless your DM uses the variant rules instead of short rest identification, it's a worthless spell in regards to that. So why spend 100 gp (which is ~1/5 of your typical 1 to 5 wealth) and a free spellbook spell on something that only has use in identifying spells on someone/someplace? That's useful, but other rituals require less investment.

About the only characters I've seen with Identify are Knowledge Clerics, who get it for free. And even then they almost never use it. Most players seem to consider it a 'dead' free domain spell slot.

Short rest identify was such a stupid idea. I can't believe it's the main rule and not a variant.

[Telwar]

What happens when a lizardman uses it? Or... can you make a long-hair tabaxi with it?

...the lizardman grows feathers, in all sorts of colors.

[Dudewithknives]

1. In a pathfinder game, I am playing a Warrior of The Holy Light Paladin. Lawful Good to the core. While exploring a ruined church to my God, literally stars aligned and the light opened up a hidden vault. Inside was an ancient rusted longsword and shield. A ghost of the long dead paladin appeared and told me that it was now my job to redeem the sword and shield.

The group's response, "Nope, we don't care what your god's servant said, sell that junk and come on, we are starting a mercenary group."

Entire plot line and whole character arc ignored, because the rest of the group are just CN criminals, both in and out of game.

The DM made it up to me by just making me play a different character for 2 games while my paladin went on his mission, came back with a holy avenger and a holy defender shield that gave me 8 AC and immunity to crits.

He then told the rest of the group to stop being a-holes just because they are not the center of a story arc.

2. In 5th edition, I was playing a Rogue Swashbuckler who was an evil assassin masquerading as a school of blades bard the whole time. 3 times in the game the group was given an Instrument of the Bards because the GM kept forgetting I was only faking being a bard.

3. In 3.5, we random rolled so many +1 longswords that nobody would use, we started using them as tent stakes.

4. In a certain module in 3.5, only a certain plot weapon longsword could kill the main villain. Our group had nobody who could even use a longsword...

[Sigreid]

Long ago back in AD&D I was playing a rogue that refused to carry any magical items. Wouldn't even pick them up. One outing we were hiding from a drow raiding party that would have totally wiped the floor with us and one of the drow did something to help find us. The DM went around the table "he points at you, and he points at you ..."and then the DM got to me and blurts out "#$%* you". The drow was using detect magic to find everyone but couldn't find me. :smallbiggrin:

[Tanarii]

Short rest identify was such a stupid idea. I can't believe it's the main rule and not a variant.Yeah it seems kinda back to front to me too.