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S@tanicoaldo
2018-03-19, 11:37 AM
One thing I really about high fantasy is how boring magic items are. Here have a generic bag of holding or a flame sword +2, to me that really ruins magic items, they should be interesting, have character and backstories.

Do you guys do that in your games?

Two good examples that I used that come to my mind are:

Sword of fire blood: This sword used to be a normal iron sword, but it was found in the corpse of a knight who killed a fire giant with it, when he pirced the giant's hearth with this the magical blood of the creature enchanted the metal of the sword making it capable of spurting flames.

Bag of holding: This bag was used by a vile dark creature that feed of children, he sued to seek misbehaving children and abducted them to ritualistically feed of their corpses to increase his powers, this magical bag was used by him to hold the little kids and it has no limit to its capacity.

Aren't these items much more original and interesting?

SirBellias
2018-03-19, 12:07 PM
Indeed.

Here are some of mine from my current game:

Kommen’s Coin:

Casts Daylight on Sun side, Casts Darkness on Moon Side for 10 minutes each when flipped.

Kommen was a hero of war for much of Cromat’s rule, and would have been honored as such if it weren’t for his constant games of chance and his strange superstitions. As he aged, he thought he could see the future in things around him to predict whether his ventures would fail or not. He would often decide what to do with his men in the war based on how he faired in his dealings the night before, or even on a simple coin flip. This baffled his senior officers, and while he did evade many of the Foot Binder’s traps in this way, it was probably a coincidence. Eventually MOLAG fell on the whim of the dice, and Cromat slew him, cursed his name, and took his coin as a trophy. The coin bore the curse, and made sure that there was always a silver lining for those willing to flip it.

ATTUNEMENT: You must rely on the whim of the dice/coin to make a major decision in your quest. If this coin is used, it does not have its normal effects.

The bearer of this coin sees omens and portents in many things, and may act on them with purpose and folly. Any time you make a check of any kind, you may choose to grant yourself advantage or disadvantage on it. If you do so, you must take the other on the next similar check, or the curse strengthens.

You have advantage on the next roll after deciding between two different Actions with a coin toss.

Whenever you have the opportunity to gamble, flip a coin. Heads, you do it. Tails, you have a choice.

Yablug’s Tiding:

This necklace is a gift Cromat gave to Yablug, his last Marshall. Yablug had a give for commanding troops; he had them up and about in no time at all. Eventually, as his powers grew, even the dying began to obey his orders unquestioningly. When they died and still kept going, no one questioned it.

Eventually he grew to the point of being able to alter the physiology of his subjects, bending their very bodies to better suit his purposes. The mutability of goblins made this his favorite way of organizing troops. As he used his powers on himself, he started to gain a range of psychoses, which may have contributed to growing tactical errors near Cromat’s fall. Yablug died by his side, gibbering with rage as limb after limb was hewn from his body.

ATTUNEMENT: Subjugate a goblinoid and make it your servant, through intimidation or trickery.

Stage 1: You may cast Command as a bonus action on a number of goblins equal to the number of stages you have attuned to this amulet. They must carry this action out immediately (on your turn). They gain advantage on the save after they’ve successfully saved once. A goblin can choose to fail this save. DC 12+Staging. Gain one Psychosis.

Stage 2: You may now command another form of goblinoid of your choice when you get to this stage. Also, your goblinoid followers keep fighting beyond 0 hit points. This isn’t because they are unnaturally strong; it’s because their bodies keep fighting after they have died on the inside. Goblinoids that reach half of their hit point value become undead creatures, and return to their full hit point value. They may only act under your direction, but gain all the immunities of zombies. You may only have a number of zombies in this way equal to the number of goblins you can control at once. Gain one Psychosis.

Stage 3: Double the number of Commands you may give per stage. Choose another goblinoid type to be able to command. Choose one of these options:
A) Claws that Bite: Add one damage die to all of your living minions’ attacks. Your undead minions become resistant to nonmagical damage.
B) Likeness of Marble: Your minions don’t look like mindslaved goblins and zombies. They can appear as anything reasonable of the same size, though there is still a vague sense of goblin attached.
C) Chilled Blood: All your undead minions can function normally on their turns. All your minions become undead upon their conscription.
Gain one Psychosis.

Stage 4: You gain the ability to make Snatcher Goblins. These lower their damage dice by one size, but may make ranged attacks out to 60 feet by growing their limbs on others bodies and laying waste to them. You may do this as well, and choose another option from stage three. These boons apply to you as well. Choose another goblinoid type to be able to command. Double the number of minions you may command per turn. Gain two Psychoses.

Cromat’s Blade:

This dagger is all that remains of Cromat’s grimsteel blade, pulled from the Mountain Prison of Yamun-Keth. It’s edge gleams as a lustrous glass, though the majority of the blade is of a bronzish brown color. The dagger holds the last vestiges of Cromat, and with the guiding hand of Yurtrus he is slowly returning to the world.

Cromat was a proud king, wanting his people to embrace his claim to the throne and live in concordance with each other. The only that could be maintains was if the empire was constantly expanding, as it gave the Host something to do besides kill each other. Some of his guile and will was imparted upon this blade, and it is not truly whole…

ATTUNEMENT: Sink the dagger into a goblinoid corpse. The blood reforms it into a +2 shortsword that bypasses resistances as cold iron and silver. Each day at dawn, choose a charisma based skill to add your proficiency bonus to. This may be one you already have proficiency or expertise in.

The blade remembers the conquest of the elves, and reacts to their presence accordingly. Whenever the attuned is within 30 feet of an elf, a slavering, whining noise can be heard, imposing disadvantage to stealth and persuasion checks, and sounding suspicious to say the least.

The blade cannot be removed from the attuned while they live. (I sense a quest!)

Eluvia’s Bowcaster:

There once was a dryad like no other. While her sisters were content to see to their patch of woods and dream away their days, she saw portents of a darker future, where the Pyrefas was covered in sickly purple brambles and spider webs choking the wood into shadow. She moved quickly, making a pact with Heruidos the volcano spirit to grant her the powers to melt the earth and burn away her enemies.
The spirit marked her as one of his own, though the threat never came. She was shunned by the others of the glade, as it was clear she was disturbing the natural order with her presence, and she was desperate for a reprieve from the burning sensation she had felt ever since the pact was made. She called further, desperate for a buyout, and found solace in an offer from a seemingly friendly wood spirit. It offered freedom from the volcano’s furor for a fruit from her tree. She accepted hastily, and all was good for a time. Then the blight she dreamt of returned in a rising wave through her tree, which rose as a spirit of Shreal, the Gloomlady and began rotting the very earth beneath their feet. The final pact she made was one with Heruidos again. Eluvia’s tree burst into flames, magma welled form the rotting earth and destroyed the entire grove, and the forest became the domain of the Volcano God, whom Eluvia joined as consort and emissary. And still she burns.
Once attuned, a dull burning sensation begins in the bearer’s heart, and slowly spreads to the rest of their body. Their veins look scarlet under their skin as the Consort’s influence reaches them, and their eyes gleam a firey orange.

ATTUNEMENT: Double-cross someone for a noble end, or light something on fire for fun.

While attuned to this crossbow, you may ignore any loading qualities it had. You may spend a move action and take 1d6 cold damage to generate a Fire Bolt, drawing the power from your blood. On your next attack, the Fire Bolt explodes wherever it lands, dealing 2d6 fire damage to whatever it hits and 1d6 damage in a 5 foot radius around it. Reflex DC 15 half. This ignites flammable objects. Your emotions run rampant, and take disadvantage on Deception.

Some are better than others. Some legends are greater than others.

S@tanicoaldo
2018-04-02, 11:16 AM
I came up with a grow size potion that respects the conservation of mass rule, so instead of the mass coming from nowhere it drians the matter out of non-living and non-magical materials around the person who drinks.

It was really fun. ^^

Kaptin Keen
2018-04-02, 11:39 AM
... Aren't these items much more original and interesting?

Mechanically, they do seem to be identical to the 'normal' items. Not that I disapprove, story is half the fun.

And furthermore, I'm not necessarily any better at inventing interesting magic items. In the one game I currently GM, there are:

A psionic ring, found in a burned out fort, that lets the wearer add +1d6 of energy damage to his attacks.

A set of crossbow and rapier - both +1 as I recall, but any target hit by one increases the other to +3. Or um ... any of the two is +3 against any target hit by the other. You get what I mean. Useful if you get to shoot the crossbow before closing to melee.

Orduar - the only named item - the spear of a fallen einherjar who was thrown from Asgard for dying without glory. It basically just doesn't need confirmation to crit.

Celestia
2018-04-02, 12:52 PM
I came up with a grow size potion that respects the conservation of mass rule, so instead of the mass coming from nowhere it drians the matter out of non-living and non-magical materials around the person who drinks.

It was really fun. ^^
That seems rather abusable.

"Hey, here's a door with like a million traps on it. How do we get past?"
"I know, I'll stand next to it and drink this growth potion!"

It's an enlarge person with a free disintegrate on the side.

S@tanicoaldo
2018-04-02, 04:01 PM
I guess I'm lucky my players are not meta gamers who abuse the fluff.

Besides they have no cotnrol over what gets drained.

Celestia
2018-04-02, 04:29 PM
I guess I'm lucky my players are not meta gamers who abuse the fluff.

Besides they have no cotnrol over what gets drained.
It's not meta gaming when the characters see an effect happen in game and then use it to their advantage. That's just regular gaming.

Avonar
2018-04-02, 05:26 PM
I like 13th Age's True Magic items, aside from some very interesting abilities they also confer a personality quirk upon whoever attunes to them.

Darth Ultron
2018-04-02, 09:03 PM
I do add lots of custom items. So you can find just a 'bag of holding', but the Bag of Zarlon is a unique item with unique magic.

FreddyNoNose
2018-04-04, 09:30 PM
Potion of Second Chance: for duration and only once per round, you may reroll tohit, savings throws, or damage dice.

Goaty14
2018-04-04, 10:39 PM
The best magic items are the ones that you can screw around with, because they have no direct purpose such as the "Decanter of Endless water" or the "Immovable Rod" or the "Swan Boat coin-thingy", etc. I mean, a +1 sword is a +1 sword that you hit people with, but the lowly immovable rod gets countless threads dedicated to its use.

FreddyNoNose
2018-04-04, 10:46 PM
The best magic items are the ones that you can screw around with, because they have no direct purpose such as the "Decanter of Endless water" or the "Immovable Rod" or the "Swan Boat coin-thingy", etc. I mean, a +1 sword is a +1 sword that you hit people with, but the lowly immovable rod gets countless threads dedicated to its use.

which imo makes the immovable rod an item that shouldn't exist.

Fiery Diamond
2018-04-05, 12:00 AM
which imo makes the immovable rod an item that shouldn't exist.

Why? I don't follow.

Celestia
2018-04-05, 12:18 AM
The best magic items are the ones that you can screw around with, because they have no direct purpose such as the "Decanter of Endless water" or the "Immovable Rod" or the "Swan Boat coin-thingy", etc. I mean, a +1 sword is a +1 sword that you hit people with, but the lowly immovable rod gets countless threads dedicated to its use.
I love the decanter of endless water. It might just be my favorite magic item ever.

FreddyNoNose
2018-04-05, 01:41 PM
Why? I don't follow.

Too cheesy. If something is on too many "pcs must have lists" then it is suspect. Too many people want to abuse it.

Consensus
2018-04-05, 02:43 PM
Too cheesy. If something is on too many "pcs must have lists" then it is suspect. Too many people want to abuse it.

or it's fun and promotes creativity? I mean yeah there's cheese but its popular because its fun to think of uses for it.

Celestia
2018-04-05, 03:36 PM
Too cheesy. If something is on too many "pcs must have lists" then it is suspect. Too many people want to abuse it.
Getting rid of things because people like them is the opposite of what you should be doing.

FreddyNoNose
2018-04-05, 04:57 PM
Getting rid of things because people like them is the opposite of what you should be doing.

Kid, I have DMing since 74, don't tell me how to run my game.

JNAProductions
2018-04-05, 06:03 PM
Kid, I have DMing since 74, don't tell me how to run my game.

I’m gonna side with Celestia here. If it’s fun, it should stay. Maybe need it a little, if it’s too good, but why make the game less enoyable for players?

Fiery Diamond
2018-04-05, 06:31 PM
I can see giving it artifact status and making it harder to get a hold of, but removing it entirely seems... overkill? I mean, removing things because they are easily abusable is one thing, removing things because they are popular to the extent that people have uncovered potential abuses that aren't readily apparent is just ... poor sportsmanship.

Celestia
2018-04-05, 07:50 PM
Kid, I have DMing since 74, don't tell me how to run my game.
I'm just saying that the point of playing a game is to have fun.

Lesser_Beholder
2018-04-07, 08:54 AM
I've made a couple of special items for my best RP's. For reference, our PC are all in an adventuring guild and have guilds for their specific class, (Fighter, Magic users, Theif etc.).

Thief:

Cloak of Shadows
This allows the wearer, twice per day (moonset), to become enveloped by the smallest shadow, even the width of a finger. "It is said these cloaks were grafted from the scales of a shadow dragon. The Founder of the thieves guild, Marcus Sneekus, was so gifted he stole the dragons hoard and even the scales off his back." This was gifted to our halfling thief after he reached 5th level. Requires attunement. The cloak has never been formally used, seeing as the cloak was made for all races, and they had not had a halfling thief... ever.
Unfortunately, He needed to trade it to a slave merchant in the City of Brass to buy back the freedom of one of the PC who made a pact with a... less than honest Drow, surprising.

Hammer of Khuzdûl
This great hammer is wielded by the current king of the Dwarves. That is, after the PC found it at the bottom of the ruined city of Dwarves overtaken by orcs, An evil Gnome illusionist, and a Hydra.
This is a 3+ great hammer, and hit casts Thunderwave, 3 charges. To recharge, The hammer must be held by a priest of Tempus and prayed over for 1 hour. This is not necessary if the wielder is a Dwarf. The hammer also has the ability to give the non-Dwarf wielder darkvision for 60 ft., fluency in Dwarvish, and a 50% chance to grow a full beard every dawn.