Need ideas for a possessed Ring of Mind Shielding

[Maelynn]

I'm calling on the creative hive mind for aid! I need an interesting NPC whose soul is occupying a Ring of Mind Shielding. I've been toying with this one idea I had, but think it scores a 'meh' at best and now I 'm stuck.

What I'm looking for is something that provides mostly entertaining banter (bit like a talking sword), but with the potential of giving a quest later on when the wearer earned the soul's trust or when it has considered them competent enough. I don't want the soul to dominate the party's decisions or become their primary source of information, so either it shouldn't be too powerful/knowledgeable or it should have a reason to flat out refuse. Struggling a bit with this, because there has to be some power/knowledge involved in obtaining the ring in the first place, but I don't want the soul to be some kind of uppity arsecandle either.

The only restriction I have is that it can't be an evil aligned soul.

Anyone have some good ideas? I'd love to hear them! :3


The party ventured into the long abandoned hideout of a wizard who lived almost a century ago. After battling a few monsters and finally a Spectator guarding the wizard's vault, they discovered quite some interesting magic items. One of these items was a Ring of Mind Shielding. Little do they know, the ring already contains a soul. The Divination Wizard who has taken the ring only attuned with it at the end of last session, so there hasn't been any interaction opportunity as yet. Now that she's started wearing it, though...

[BloodSnake'sCha]

A scholar that learned a lot on the plans and aberrations.

Give him a +9 to knowledge about the plans and aberrations and a +1/3 to everything else.

Make his greater enemy a demon scholar and make him refuse talking about demons, devils are ok but not demons.
Demons give him PTSD and make him go mute for the day/X time.

If he will see they are strong enough he will sand them to his secret library full with artifacts and knowledge and magic stuff and send them to stop the demon scholar from wreaking havock.

[J-H]

The soul of an aging and half-senile warrior king who was soul-trapped during a coup by his grandson two hundred years ago. The kingdom has since fallen, but he still has plenty to say about battle, how to lead, how to fight, and about 1-2 specific enemy types (giants, monstrosities, etc.).

He will sometimes mis-remember, conflate details, or completely lose track of his train of thought. When the latter happens, he'll just get really quiet because he's trying to remember what he's thinking about. This can also lead to occasional upset on his part if he gets things crossed up.

Okay, yeah, that's maybe a little too close to real world Alzheimer's..... :-/

[stoutstien]

Someone's soul that has been trapped in the ring for so long their sanity has been shattered. It has prolonged conversations with the multiple personality that it formed over the years. The soul in the ring cant realize that the player wearing the ring is not just another one of its many schizophrenic personalities.

[pragma]

You could go with a twist on the basic formula: make the ring's resident a willing and somewhat enthusiastic occupant.

For instance, the soul in the ring could belong to a hermit or scholar who really wanted some time alone to think about stuff. Such a person would have had reasons to own anti-divination items and, eventaully, motivation to merge into them. As a result, the ring is somewhat standoffish and uninterested in conversing with the wearer, but now the ring is stuck hearing all the bearer's thoughts. The ring just jumps in with advice whenever he gets bored of hearing the same thing too much.

On the flipside, the soul in the ring is supremely knowledgeable about it's area of study and enthusiastic about talking about that topic and almost none other. Pick one skill for which the ring can make knowledge rolls with expertise, and make it so that it won't shut up about demons or botany or whatever it's preference is.

The quest could eventually be telling the party where to find a replacement ring so that it can go back to having peace and quiet.

[willdaBEAST]

My instinct would be to make the trapped soul irrationally paranoid. Any and everything is out to betray/take advantage of/deceive the wearer of the ring. Hidden in that chatter will be true observations about potential threats and as the bond between the PC and item strengthens, paranoid fantasies become more easily separated from actual danger. Could even end up giving the PC a free “alert” feat as a mechanical reward.

[dragoeniex]

The easiest way to keep the ringed spirit from being too prominent too quickly is to make communication difficult from their end- not the party's. Imagine a fallen captain whose soul was caught in this ring- whether by intention or mistake, perhaps even she's not sure. But there's something pressing on her mind. Something she's sure was worth sticking around for. If only she could keep her consciousness long enough to remember.

But it's hard work to rouse one's mind after so long spent dormant. The spirit's first introduction is a yawning, slightly confused greeting. Some curiosity is expressed over the party before she drops back to sleep mid conversation.

An object or event reminiscent of her last, important quest comes up among the party. There's a soft, "I've seen this. I know this. I can almost... remember where..."

Maybe she occasionally gives a drowsy battle tip or reassurance to the wearer before slipping back down into the warm, familiar dormant state. And it's only as the party goes along, perservering hardships and interacting among themselves, that she's able to keep herself awake for longer stretches. Whether that's because they're noble or noisy may vary. But after a little time where she's been roused enough to quietly, actively observe them (perhaps even staying completely silent to make sure she doesn't influence their decisions), she speaks up. It's the first time she's spoken with such clarity, and she introduces herself in earnest- by rank, regiment, and history. She gives her assessment of the party's skills and humbly requests they help her keep her final vow/find the forgotten thing/warn the endangered people/etc.

This captain could either be an old friend of the tower's owner, or someone who died fighting against that mage. And sleepy, unprompted observations lend themselves to humorous moments.

[Vogie]

I like the idea of the Ring of Mind Shielding that is just the other soul's interference. Whenever someone attempts to read your mind, alignment, et cetera, they instead read those things of the stored soul.

It'd be even more amusing if the stored soul is NOT an adventurer. It's something like an accountant, or pastry chef.

[Maelynn]

Oh, so many good ideas. Love it! By all means, keep them coming. :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:


It'd be even more amusing if the stored soul is NOT an adventurer. It's something like an accountant, or pastry chef.

That's similar to what I had been thinking about initially - a gosspiy middle-aged woman, who'd have an opinion on just about everything. Bit like a neighbour everyone has had at least once in their lives. I just couldn't come up with a good reason why she'd ever be able to get a Ring of Mind Shielding. Or how she'd end up getting herself killed. I'm liking the ideas in here a lot more already.

[Contrast]

I'm going to suggest a particularly dim stone giant.

He occasionally interrupts conversations to go 'GRARG JUST SMASH THEM' and is generally endearing but slow.

If asked about why he is trapped in the ring, he was cursed such that his thoughts would constantly be telepathically broadcast to those nearby. His tribe, fed up of the constant barrage of his inane thoughts drove him out so he went on a quest to find a way to stop his thoughts being broadcast and after some adventure found it in the ring.

Any hints to your main quest could relate to his adventuring or the original curse. Of course whatever help he can give will be filtered through a dim giant.

Giant: HEY GUYS I THINK I REMEMBER THIS PLACE THERE WERE TRAPS
Player: ...I've told you before you don't need to shout, I can hear you fine. What sort of traps?
Giant: Painful ones. They really hurt.
Player: Great but where and what were they.
Giant: THEY WERE HERE, I JUST TOLD YOU THAT. ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN HEAR ME?

[Wizard_Lizard]

Or you could make the ring have four souls, one is evil one is good, on is chaotic, and one is lawful, every time you interact with it, roll a d4 to see which one.

[Droodicus]

I'd go with the gossipy lady. Just tell random old wives tales, some accurate, some partially right but slightly twisted and some just flat out wrong. That way you can feed as much or as little as you like.

Why is she in the Ring? Her neighbour was a quiet young family man who's young family, wife and kids died mysteriously. She took him over some tuna casserole and when he wasn't home she took it as an excuse to let herself in and do some snooping. Turns out he was an evil sorcerer experimenting on the creation of magic items. She touched a half constructed ring and her soul was sucked into it.

The evil sorcerer was chased out of town after her body was found in his home, all his equipment was sold off to pay for his families funeral. Her quest might be to track him down and bring him to justice for his family's murder.

[Maelynn]

Giant: HEY GUYS I THINK I REMEMBER THIS PLACE THERE WERE TRAPS
Player: ...I've told you before you don't need to shout, I can hear you fine. What sort of traps?
Giant: Painful ones. They really hurt.
Player: Great but where and what were they.
Giant: THEY WERE HERE, I JUST TOLD YOU THAT. ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN HEAR ME?

Oh, this is brilliant. Thanks for the laugh. Even if I end up going with another type of soul, I'll make sure to include some of this kind of misunderstandings.


I'd go with the gossipy lady. Just tell random old wives tales, some accurate, some partially right but slightly twisted and some just flat out wrong. That way you can feed as much or as little as you like.

Why is she in the Ring? Her neighbour was a quiet young family man who's young family, wife and kids died mysteriously. She took him over some tuna casserole and when he wasn't home she took it as an excuse to let herself in and do some snooping. Turns out he was an evil sorcerer experimenting on the creation of magic items. She touched a half constructed ring and her soul was sucked into it.

The evil sorcerer was chased out of town after her body was found in his home, all his equipment was sold off to pay for his families funeral. Her quest might be to track him down and bring him to justice for his family's murder.

I like this take. It could also work with just a finished ring, where she finds it and decides that grumpy old wizard wouldn't appreciate such a pretty ring anyway. Or, even more embarrassing... she comes to visit him, notices the ring, and declares that 'oh, it's so lovely! You really shouldn't have, oh it would fit so wonderfully well with her new dress!' and then the wizard doesn't have the guts to tell her no.