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KyleG
2019-08-06, 04:20 PM
I play a game with the kids (10,10,8) who were originally comprised of a thief, shepherd and beastmaster. I supplemented this with a champion to offer support, guidance but keep him pretty low key. Well the shepherd died and was replaced by a monk and it got me thinking that the party is lacking in both healing and arcane magic. (Note they are level 4)

Originally I was going to write out my champion and introduce a spellcaster of sorts but friends suggested magic items to cover the short fall which I love the idea of. Is this a good idea.

Rangers Panther will get an item that will give it a healing lick of some value x times per day.
Ranger will get some magic arrows perhaps (web? sleep powder?)
Thief needs something that encourages the player to not abandon combat for looting which he is prone to do.
and our new tabaxi monk I had this idea that when is uses his feline agility maybe it creates a concussive force pushing back everyone within 10ft. Or perhaps a "necklace of the wild" and it calls forth a stampede of spectral animals which might cause enemies to be frightened when they pass thru them as they charge forth in a 20ft wide line?

Your suggestions on the above or other items would be appreciated.

erikun
2019-08-06, 05:15 PM
That actually sounds interesting. I'm a fan of the more utility or fun magic items, as opposed to just stronger ones.

I do like the idea of the animal companion being a sort of "healer", especially if you as GM have partial control. Especially if you could choose what actions the panther takes at times. Maybe, rather than an item, have some sort of spring where drinking the water will bestow the ability to lick wounds for some healing amount. Perhaps 1d4+? several times per day. You could even let the PCs get that ability, although depending on maturity, you might just restrict it to animals to avoid having the players annoy each other by trying to lick each other all the time.

As for the thief, a single throwing/returning dagger should be nice to encourage them to keep using it even if they aren't right next to an enemy. With just a single dagger, they shouldn't be going overboard with tossing damage around, but it would give them a reason to stay in the fight and use their new toy.

As for the ranger, perhaps some sort of voice projection arrow? As in, they fire the arrow, then have a magic whistle (or something) which would cause their voice to be coming out of the arrow. Or, perhaps, a magic whistle which they can prepare with an arrow to have that property, to avoid needing to retrieve the arrow. I'm a bit hesitant to be handing out something complicated like Web if the players are unsure about using spellcasters. Maybe sleep arrows should be okay, since you'll be the one determining who or what falls asleep. Perhaps a limited number, to ensure the player won't have an overly powerful spell available forever.

As for the monk, Boots of Striding and Springing is always amusing. Triple jump distance is always a fun thing for a player to have. Bag of Tricks is also a neat one to play around with. (Although maybe that might be more appropriate for the ranger.)

False God
2019-08-06, 08:22 PM
I had a thief like yours. I gave them the "Midas Dagger", if they confirmed a crit (ie: rolled a 20 twice) their target was turned to solid gold (like the flesh to stone spell). It gave them incentive to keep fighting and rewarded them with awesome loot.

KyleG
2019-08-07, 12:49 AM
I had a thief like yours. I gave them the "Midas Dagger", if they confirmed a crit (ie: rolled a 20 twice) their target was turned to solid gold (like the flesh to stone spell). It gave them incentive to keep fighting and rewarded them with awesome loot.

I reckon he might become a murder hobo lol. At the very least i think he would stop mid combat to collect the loot based on previous battles and body looting mid battle.

KyleG
2019-08-07, 02:56 AM
"Bowl of Restoration" a creature who drinks from this will gain the ability to heal others by licking wounds for 1d8+prof.
Lol wonder if they will realise ive left that open ended for some weird interactions lol

My current murder hobo daughter who doesnt stop to talk to people, or does but tries to kill them i think could get this, "Heart patch" when sewn onto a sleeve acts of kindness will empower the individuals attacks upto +2. Whilst acts of cruelty will reduce their effectiveness upto -2. ( -2/-1/0/+1/+2)

For tabaxi monk i like the bit of crowd control. Perhaps "boots of concussive force" when an enemy is charged from beyond 30ft a concussive force is released as they sound barrier is broken all creatures within 10ft of the target make a dex save or be knocked prone. Target automatically fails and takes 1d6 bludgeoning or the "necklace of the wild" and it calls forth a stampede of spectral animals which might cause enemies to be frightened when they pass thru them as they charge forth in a 20ft wide line?

Thats leaves the loot loving thief whom i dont want to turn into a murder hobo.

RNightstalker
2019-08-13, 05:33 PM
In Masters of the Wild, there are various Arrows of Healing, which are technically in since they didn't get updated to 3.5.
Also, possible to upgrade the Ranger's panther to a Unicorn? Those have healing spells available.

For the Rogue, how about a Rogue Blade?

Monk, maybe Boots of Speed or something from Gharyn's Monastic Array?

erikun
2019-08-16, 08:32 AM
I considered Boots of Speed, but if I'm reading it right, those don't stack with the Monk's magical bonus speed in D&D5e. And they certainly won't in D&D3e. I'm not actually sure which version of what game is being used here.

Ring of the Ram is a fun one for shoving people around. I'm not sure if you'd necessarily want to deal with all the particulars of magic charges and a ranged attack and a separate attack bonus and damage, etc., which is why I didn't mention it initally. But if you wanted to change it into something slightly different, then just 3-6 charges per day to get basically the same effect on an unarmed attack (push back, bonus to destroy an object) would probably be something fun for the monk player. You might also invent an item like "Boots of Ensnaring" which stop enemies from moving past the monk when standing directly next to them, or allow the monk to attack when something moves by and stop their movement if it hits. (Look at the Sentinel feat in D&D5e for what I'm talking about, or the Fighter ability in D&D4e.)

As for the murderhobo ranger(?), part of the problem is that D&D really encourages killing stuff to get stuff and she's probably figured that out, so you're working against the system a bit in order to encourage her to not do so. D&D really is a "play however you want and here's the rules for murdering everything" which can be tricky if a player wants to play a murderhobo and the GM is trying to avoid that. To avoid restricting or punishing her, your best bet might be to make the characters friendly or otherwise useful if still alive - a RP solution for a RP problem, really. I'd still give her some magical toy since everybody else is getting one, maybe something like a collar/bracelet pair that will allow her to Dimension Door (teleport) to where her animal is would be something neat for a Beastmaster Ranger to have. Perhaps put it on a cooldown requiring a short rest between uses, to avoid overuse. You could even pull some GM trickery like "you've found yourself attuned to the bracelet even more, you can now use it as much as you want" if you wanted to change the item into a more-than-once use later in the game.

As for the thief, I'm not sure how exactly the best way to resolve this one is because I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. I mean, I get the general idea (abandoning battle to loot corpses) but I'm not sure if this stems from wanting items, or putting a priority on collecting the loot, or not feeling effective in battle, or something else. I could come up with a dozen different solutions that address each different concern, but might not be practical if the problem is actually something else. And the other players might feel jealous if you just shower the thief in tons of magical gear, hoping to hit on the proper one. A few solutions that I can think of are:

A magic weasel, effectively a familiar, which bonds with the thief and likes running off to collect those shiny gems and coins while the thief is in combat.
An invisible dagger, or near-invisible dagger (just with a transparent blade) that allows them to sneak attack without being in flanking/advantage with one attack each turn.
A ranged option (like the throwing/returning dagger) so that the thief isn't as worried about being beaten to a pulp by getting into a fight.
Some method of healing or escaping that will allow the thief to safely return to the party. Something like a Potion of Healing that refills 1/day (to steal a Dark Souls idea) or a Minor Invisibility Cloak that allows the thief to become invisible for just one turn, avoiding all reaction attacks. Note that the second will probably just get them into even more trouble, though.

darkrose50
2019-08-20, 08:19 AM
There is a floating cube, made of tan stone, around 8' on each side, with runes on each side. The cube organizes and cleans anything within 120' via telekinesis. Basically it would constantly make everything orderly. It turns out that this cub is a powerful artifact of ORDER, but the wizards of the tower don't know this and just assume it is for tidying up after them and reshelving books.

Mutazoia
2019-08-20, 09:34 AM
As far as your thief goes, instead of (or in addition to) trying the carrot method, try using the stick. Looting corpses takes time and concentration. Turning your back on a group of enemies during combat so you can rifle through their dead friends possessions, isn't very smart, and would invite them to attack while his back is, quite literally, turned. He forfeits his dex bonus to AC and is considered flat-footed. Hit him a few times and he'll learn to wait until all the bad guys are dead before looting.

Sometimes you have to let your kid burn his hand, to learn not to play with fire.

ZeroGear
2019-08-23, 10:24 AM
If you're familiar with the Dark Souls series, just give them the equivalent of an Estus Flask.
In more simple terms, give them a flask that allows them to use 5 minor healing positions per day. Feel free to adjust the doses or potency of healing the bottle ultimately gives at your discretion, but I think 5 should be a good number, possibly allowing them to find ways to upgrade the flask as they gain levels.

KyleG
2019-08-25, 03:40 AM
If you're familiar with the Dark Souls series, just give them the equivalent of an Estus Flask.
In more simple terms, give them a flask that allows them to use 5 minor healing positions per day. Feel free to adjust the doses or potency of healing the bottle ultimately gives at your discretion, but I think 5 should be a good number, possibly allowing them to find ways to upgrade the flask as they gain levels.

I went with a Gem of Brightness for the Rogue who is human. Gave it additional benefits of causing blindness but uses extra charges.
Ranger got a quiver of tricks, pulls a magic arrow based on table roll. Had it she could return it and choose again but slowed things down too much so might have a simple take that arrow or take a basic arrow option. Not sure whether to remove that option if an arrow is used or let it be repulled later. Her companion got the bowl of restoration. No ones tried to use it themselves yet. =)
Monk got gloves of clapping, basically the boots from earlier post tweaked a little.
The fighter i control that works with them i gave a simple axe of returning, they are loving the stormbreaker comparison.

King of Nowhere
2019-08-25, 03:16 PM
I made a custom magic item that may fit your needs: the cleric-in-a-bottle

It is the ghost of a long-dead cleric whose major goal in life was healing people. Nothing different from a doctor, but this guy was really so dedicated, he spent his time doing nothing else. once there was a major battle, and he was of course healing the wounded. and he run out of magic pretty fast, because he wasn't powerful, and he kept on with mundane means. On and on he went healing, uncaring of the needs of his own body, until he collapsed dead from exhaustion.
But his dedication to healing others was strong enough to keep him tied to the mortal realm. his spirit remained, and he kept all his healing magic, which he uses freely on anyone in need.
Some say that he feels guilty for having failed to heal everyone, and he will eventually move to the aftelife after he feels he has healed enough.
Others believe that he's just happier that way than in any afterlife.

The spirit inhabits a discarded glass bottle (hence the name), but he's not bound by it, and could choose to leave if, for example, it fell into the hands of an evil party.
It can cast healing spells as a 3rd level cleric (though of course you can change that) with the healing domain, the augment healing feat and a wisdom score of 15. it cannot directly interact with the world in any other way.
Getting healed is a free action, as it's the spirit that acts, not the pc. So once per round the cleric-in-a-bottle can heal someone, if called.
The cleric can manifest and talk, but he rarely does so, as it costs him energy that he'd rather spend healing; he reserves that for something important. he is vaguely aware of the outside world, and can decide to heal the party, or other people around, on his own.
the cleric is exhalted good. He doesn't expect others to live up to his strict standards, and he will stay with the party as long as it's mostly good. he will try to sabotage the party if he thinks they are up to no good, though