Does anyone imagine their items are special in any way?

[Protato]

I'm coming up with a character for a game that's been in planning for months (the GM is busy but has prepared the game, they just need time to run) and my Barbarian has a +1 Maul to start with. However, in the interest of making him a more memorable character and fleshing him out a bit, I decided to write a flavorful name/description of his weapon. His +1 Maul is called "Earthshatterer" and it has engravings of my character on both sides, with one depicting him staring down a necromancer and his army, and the other depicting him crushing a dragon's skull. He commissioned it after saving up enough to hire a smith of some renown to make it for him, doing odd jobs for months to finally afford it. It serves as a sort of motivation for him, showing the kinds of feats he wishes to be capable of and known for one day.

This got me thinking, does anyone else have weapons, clothes, armor, or even mundane items that look "different" or have a backstory versus "off the rack" items? If so, what motivated you/the DM to make it different?

[Jerrykhor]

Generally, nobody cares what your items looks like. If its a +1 Maul, its just a +1 Maul. You can describe your item in great detail, the backstory and all, but i can guarantee your party members will forget it by tomorrow.

But if you say that your maul deals an extra 2d6 damage plus activate Haste on hit, you can bet everyone will remember that.

[JoeJ]

Generally, nobody cares what your items looks like. If its a +1 Maul, its just a +1 Maul. You can describe your item in great detail, the backstory and all, but i can guarantee your party members will forget it by tomorrow.

But if you say that your maul deals an extra 2d6 damage plus activate Haste on hit, you can bet everyone will remember that.

I don't know about that. I still remember a campaign of almost 20 years ago where another player ran a dwarf who had an enormous wide-brimmed hat that had embroidered figures playing leap-frog all around it. He also had a magical beer mug that would hold about twice what it appeared to.

[xroads]

I don't know about that. I still remember a campaign of almost 20 years ago where another player ran a dwarf who had an enormous wide-brimmed hat that had embroidered figures playing leap-frog all around it. He also had a magical beer mug that would hold about twice what it appeared to.

That sounds fun! Was the hat designed like a phénakisticope? In other words, if spun did the figures animate?

[Snowbluff]

Me and this other paladin I play with in AL actually have the same +1 longsword from HotDQ. We joke about it being from an alternate dimension or timeline.

[smcmike]

If you want to make something memorable, you need to focus on a couple of memorable details, and bring them up all the time. Basic branding.

Giving it a name is a good start - just remember to use the name in every case. Never attack with your maul, always attack with Earthshatterer.

The engraving is nice and all, but it is not memorable. Same with the backstory - getting something commissioned? Might as well buy it off the shelf. Focusing on the heroic motivation is good, and makes sense with the engraving and the commission, but you would really have to play it up to make it stick I think.

The magic is obviously boring. To make it more memorable, I’d ask for some sort of ribbon ability. You say it’s called Earthshatterer - make it shatter earth, with bonus damage to earth and stone objects and creatures.

[DarkKnightJin]

My Dragonborn Death Cleric had a hooded cloak to start with. Did nothing, except hide his face, and compliment the Reaper feel he was going for.

Then we had a random encounter with an Owlbear, we skinned the sucker, and turned it into part of his cloak. Because a 7 foot 4 Silver Dragonborn just isn't britches-wettingly terrifying enough on his own. He needs an Owlbear Cloak to make it worse.

We also used the meat to feed what was left of the village after we killed the monster attacking it.

The cloak still does nothing, mechanically, but it looks flippin' badass.

[KorvinStarmast]

Generally, nobody cares what your items looks like. You are wrong about that.

In our first 5e campaign, our bard had a guitar/axe that the player described in some detail. We all liked it. After a near party wipe, where a lot of our stuff got taken by baddies, we arranged a session where our whole purpose was to get our stuff back, and in particular, to get that axe/guitar back.

[DarkKnightJin]

You are wrong about that.

In our first 5e campaign, our bard had a guitar/axe that the player described in some detail. We all liked it. After a near party wipe, where a lot of our stuff got taken by baddies, we arranged a session where our whole purpose was to get our stuff back, and in particular, to get that axe/guitar back.

Similar thing with that same Dragonborn Cleric of mine. Started with a level of Fighter, for Heavy Armor Proficiency. Starting weapons: Halberd, fluffed as a scythe, and a rapier, for tunnel/trench combat.

The DM specifically disallowed me from flavoring the rapier as proportional to his size. That's hiw he ended up with Arya Stark's Needle hanging from his belt. I stil smirk a bit every time it is brought to bear.

[thoroughlyS]

His +1 Maul is called "Earthshatterer" and it has engravings of my character on both sides, with one depicting him staring down a necromancer and his army, and the other depicting him crushing a dragon's skull. He commissioned it after saving up enough to hire a smith of some renown to make it for him, doing odd jobs for months to finally afford it. It serves as a sort of motivation for him, showing the kinds of feats he wishes to be capable of and known for one day.
Overall, I think this is a fun characterization to make. However, I personally think "Earthshatterer" is a mouthful, I would recommend something more like "Earth Razor" "Splinterstone" or "Fissure".


If you want to make something memorable, you need to focus on a couple of memorable details, and bring them up all the time. Basic branding.

Giving it a name is a good start - just remember to use the name in every case. Never attack with your maul, always attack with Earthshatterer.

The engraving is nice and all, but it is not memorable. Same with the backstory - getting something commissioned? Might as well buy it off the shelf. Focusing on the heroic motivation is good, and makes sense with the engraving and the commission, but you would really have to play it up to make it stick I think.

The magic is obviously boring. To make it more memorable, I’d ask for some sort of ribbon ability. You say it’s called Earthshatterer - make it shatter earth, with bonus damage to earth and stone objects and creatures.
I agree completely with smcmike. "Whenever this maul hits an object made of stone, the hit is a critical hit."



On topic, my first character and his party once got into a scuffle with two horned devils. After taking one down, I cut off its tail and tried to throw it at the other devil. That plan... didn't work out. Long story short, we eventually took down the other one, and I took its tail barb too. I eventually had them forged into a set of shortswords which I used until I died.

[JeffreyGator]

As a GM, almost all of the magic items are unique in some way with quirks and such from the DMG and now Xanathars.

This helps make magic be special. It also lets me equip enemies with magical items that the players will refuse to keep or sell.

One of my latest campaigns started at level 3 and my character started with a celestial mithril shirt with pangs of conscience and silver rapier that could produce light. The rapier had a name.

I will often find or build pictures of the character to have a better idea of what they are.

[Vogie]

If there's a reason that something should feel special, I wouldn't mind giving something like a +1 weapon an additional ability that adds flavor or an out-of-combat niche ribbon.

Maybe the holy weapon won't ever touch the ground, always floating a bit off the surface it was set on. Maybe it's always cold, even on the hottest of days. Perhaps the weapon is supremely balanced, so it will stand on end effortlessly.
This infused dagger, if placed in a mug of hot water, will turn into tea.

This warhammer is actually a cast iron pan with an longer-than-normal handle.

[Amdy_vill]

I'm coming up with a character for a game that's been in planning for months (the GM is busy but has prepared the game, they just need time to run) and my Barbarian has a +1 Maul to start with. However, in the interest of making him a more memorable character and fleshing him out a bit, I decided to write a flavorful name/description of his weapon. His +1 Maul is called "Earthshatterer" and it has engravings of my character on both sides, with one depicting him staring down a necromancer and his army, and the other depicting him crushing a dragon's skull. He commissioned it after saving up enough to hire a smith of some renown to make it for him, doing odd jobs for months to finally afford it. It serves as a sort of motivation for him, showing the kinds of feats he wishes to be capable of and known for one day.

This got me thinking, does anyone else have weapons, clothes, armor, or even mundane items that look "different" or have a backstory versus "off the rack" items? If so, what motivated you/the DM to make it different?

this is a very RP thing so RP parties do this a lot and more fight/ game mechanic parties don't do this much. I play in a More RP party so we all have items with cool histories and descriptions and some of them are weapon our characters had made.

[JoeJ]

That sounds fun! Was the hat designed like a phénakisticope? In other words, if spun did the figures animate?

Sadly, no. He had that hat because he commissioned a sporty new hat when we were in town one time, and he wasn't completely specific about what it should look like. The DM had fun. The player was happy with it too, so it worked out.

[Samayu]

Every character needs a good tagline. Even if that tagline is visual.

But I seldom have one. My current character is a wild sorcerer. His tagline is becoming, "no, not again!"

[mr-mercer]

I have three different examples of this, some of which are really basic and some of which are fairly involved: I really love the trope of custom weapons. To start with, the halberd wielded by my half-orc fighter (henceforth known as Silas) was made by his late uncle, who was a blacksmith of some renown in life. The weapon was specifically forged for Silas shortly before his uncle's death, late in his life and after he had lost some of his skill with the forge, but before he age rendered him unable to continue his work and forced him to retire. Every weapon Silas's uncle made was made of a strange ash-white metal, with a red insignia stamped somewhere on it of a wolf with an extended tail ending in a curved blade. In addition, because this halberd was Silas's baby and he wouldn't give it up for anything, I negotiated with the DM to gain magic items in the form of upgrades for the halberd instead of replacements for it. I believe I named the halberd Ashen Ivory.

Second (and least involved) is the greatsword wielded by my dragonborn paladin (henceforth known as Seath). Seath was created as a guest character for a friend's campaign (in which I am proud to say I made my presence known) and the greatsword was a homebrew thing made by the DM: +1 to hit and damage, plus a once-per-day ability to force an enemy to make a constitution save, taking 2d8 radiant damage and being blinded on a failed save or taking half as much damage and not being blinded on a success. I still don't know very much about the sword itself, but design-wise I'm certain that it has a perfectly flat tip (like an executioner's sword, except bigger and more ornate). I'm still not sure exactly as to why, though: either it was a much bigger sword that got broken in the past, or the person who forged it just really, really wanted to drive home the point that it's not made for thrusting. I've decided to dub the sword Sunraiser, after a not particularly plot-relevant Shardblade from The Stormlight Archive.

Finally is another greatsword, this time wielded by my elf barbarian (henceforth known as Aesir). When I made this character the DM successfully predicted that I would want a big giant sword (because I'm incredibly un-subtle like that). I put forth a fun idea I'd been tossing around for a while - the idea that Aesir believed that he had seen a vision of the future, while leaving it up to the DM as to whether or not this belief was accurate - and they were very much taken with it, working with me to determine the exact nature of the alleged vision and how it came about happening. The greatsword, as it turns out, is a major part of it, appearing to have been the catalyst for this vision and seeming to have some minor magical properties (primarily being impossibly heavy for anyone that isn't Aesir). My DM dubbed this sword Vir'Vhenas and came up with pretty much everything about its design and nature, both mechanically and flavour-wise (and I have to say that they did an incredible job of it).

[Nuclear]

My favourite weapon thus far had to be the family heirloom shortsword that my Bard/Cleric used. Note: His family line was of nobility, and they were all spellcasters of some form or another.

It went by many names over the generations,
"Flametongue" (Grandfather), "Frostbite" (Mother), "Windfury" (Sister, she only had it for 2 years though) and finally "Warsinger"

It was a relatively unremarkable blade statwise. It was literally just a normal shortsword in terms of damage (1d6, woot), but if you had the War Caster feat, you could attune to it to use it as a spellcasting focus. That means for me it was a musical instrument, and boy was that fun to roleplay. You bards have a lyre? How about a singing sword.

It was so gloriously hilarious and fun that I never replaced it, even when obviously better magic items showed up.

[Wryte]

My gnome eldritch knight was a temple knight in a holy order dedicated to Titania. Her holy vestments were a harness that hung a pair of gossamer wings off her back, and a circlet with a pair of bobbing "antennae" on the front. She also had a habit of purchasing/acquiring any interesting or unique knicknacks from every place the party visited as souvenirs to bring home to her wife after the campaign, which sadly never finished. She also bought a pony halfway through the campaign, then a headdress with a sculpted unicorn horn for her.

When my troll bladelock's party found a Sun Sword, because we were lacking characters who would get he most out of it (our party consisted of two warlocks, two druids, and a barbarian who already had a magic axe), he allowed us to turn it into a Sun ______ of any weapon of our choice. As the only other melee character, and because I lacked a magic weapon, I was given the choice... and thus was born the Sun Maul: a large, radiant rock entangled in the roots of a small tree that formed the haft (a reference to both my Archfey patron, and to my trollish method of making weapons by ripping blunt objects out of the ground to hit people with). It became my pact weapon, and I wielded it for the rest of the campaign. She also acquired a wedding dress around the 3/4 point that she insisted on wearing, despite the fact that it was made for a woman roughly 2.5 feet shorter and 200lbs lighter, which had the end effect of making the dress much more risque than it had been designed as all the seams split in the process of forcing it on. Also, not an item, per se, but around the midpoint of the campaign our party found ourselves in a town where the jerkish captain of the guard had a monstrous, cursed arm. My warlock immediately became enamored of the freakish appendage, and every time she encountered him from then on, would try to persuade him to trade arms with her. Eventually he kidnapped the noblewoman we were protecting, and wound up chained up in a church at our mercy. At this point, my warlock calmly picked up an axe, gave him a disappointed look, informed him that this was his own fault for not agreeing when she was asking nicely, and chopped his arm off. She then chopped her own arm off, stuck his on the stump, and to my surprise, the DM actually went with it and let me keep the arm. I had 100% expected it to just fall back off, my warlock would be momentarily disappointed, and then forget about it and move on, but instead the arm took on a barklike texture to match my Archfey patronage, and I kept it for the rest of the campaign, giving me advantage on all Strength checks I made using the arm and the ability to cast Produce Flame.

My halfling barbarian was an outlander raised by an orc tribe beyond the reaches of civilization. As such, she quickly turned out to be a very resourceful little bugger, who would scavenge her kills and environment to construct useful items. For example, she once got frustrated with not being able to see in a subterranean dungeons, so after the party killed a mad druid, she looted his antler crown, stuck the glowing mushrooms from the cave walls on its prongs, and made herself a headlamp that provided her with 10 feet of dim violet light. Later, the party encountered and killed a roper, and she harvested its tentacles to craft a whip with a 20 ft reach. She also once fashioned a camelpak out of a beer keg, and had a habit of skinning interesting things she killed to fashion new and exciting bikinis out of. By the time the game petered out around 4th level, her wardrobe included an allosaurus hide bikini with red wyrmling scale accents, a black dragon leather bikini, and a dire wolf fur bikini (for those arctic environments, y'know).

My current character is a dwarf "monk" in the sense that as a former tavern wench, she's quite proficient at brawling. She started the game with a "mace," which was the frying pan her grandfather hammered out of his battleaxe when he finally retired from soldiering, and later got the party's wizard to embroider her oven mitts with runes that turn her unarmed attack dice into fire damage. She also keeps a steady supply of cooking ingredients, spices, and special alcohols on her at all times in order to boost our short rest healing, as the closest thing we have to a healer in the party is one ranger. The DM has also seen fit to give me a set of Mithril Lingerie worth a +1 to unarmored AC, and the entire party acquired cloaks of monster hide in the last dungeon that grant +2 AC and fire resistance. She's fashioned hers into an apron.