Alternatives to boxes.

[weckar]

So, I have a box problem. 90% of all my original magic items either are boxes, or are inside boxes. I try to hide it by making them interesting shapes, but ultimately a box is a box.

It has gotten to the point where if I even so much as mention a box, the words "a box, must be important!" can be heard around the table.

How do I break my box habit, and what alternatives do I have to boxes?

[Knaight]

Instruments are a classic option, especially flutes. That can extend out to other items of craft, from your fairy tale approved magic paintbrushes to a set of chisels. Light sources are also a classic, with lanterns, torches, candles, and even stationary lamps all being an option. There's also other tools, both in the sense of period tools and modern tools reimagined as magic items. Magical food also works well for more limited use effects.

Then there's the random detritus of the world that just happens to be magic. The soup stone is a classic example of this, as something that looks like an ordinary rock but magically makes food (based on a story involving a fair bit less magic, but I digress).

[MisterKaws]

Make the evil god's weapon a puppy. A +6 Mortalbane Human-Bane Unholy Surge Mace that just so happens to also be a living puppy.

Watch as the players panic over whether to destroy the artifact and seal the evil god's powers, killing a puppy in the process, or keep the pupper as a pet that just so happens to also be an evil relic of godly power.

[BWR]

Spend a few hours going around the house or a store or something, look at everything and ask youself "what sort of magic items can I make out of this?"

[pabelfly]

You could just make your next box a mimic.

[denthor]

Are you attempting to hide the magic item?

So 3 decades ago you defeated/ ran off some bugbaers.

In the room you find an old chair, old tattered rug, raging fire in a fireplace. Next to the fireplace is small pile of kindling to one side of that is large pieces of wood.

Notice there is not a box.

Ok playground role play time your characters next move.

What do you want more descriptive, I want what your characters are and what they do.

Hint: There is a magic item in the room.

[Bronk]

How do I break my box habit, and what alternatives do I have to boxes?

Well, you could use alternate types of containers, like bags, pouches, cases, chests, banks... that sort of thing.

The loot could also be in use, or on display.

Otherwise, you could hide the loot and just ask for searches and search checks and so on, then describe whatever hidden trapdoor type thing they have to open and what the contents are.

[animewatcha]

Why not use Mimics?

[EisenKreutzer]

I have to ask.. Why boxes?

[weckar]

I think it started with how, in my opinion, jewelry boxes and music boxes feel inherently magical.
I'm also a fan of including a variant of tessellated armor at least once in any campaign (often intelligent).
Hinged wooden boxes with tiny teleportation circles in there also made for a great communications network.

From there, it is a small jump to a box habit.

[Vaern]

If you give us some examples of effects you would like to put on magic items we could more easily give you suggestions for alternatives to boxes.

For communication, for example, MIC has Sending Stones. They're made in pairs, and once per day while holding one you're able to speak to the carrier of the other stone as though with the Sending spell. Perhaps you could create more than two Sending Stones on a single network... my suggestion for this is that each additional Sending Stone should cost the same as the original pair (700 gp), and in order to attune a new stone to an existing network you must have one of the original two stones present at the time the new stone is being crafted.

As an alternative to Sending Stones, I once suggested in a thread for cheap homebrewed magic items that one might substitute them with magical slates. They would function similarly to the Sending Stones, except that the message would be in written form rather than spoken. If a box with a tiny teleportation circle is being used to pass notes around, this would be a good alternative form of written communication. If you want it to function more than once per day you just need to bump up the market value a bit.

[weckar]

The advantage of the telecircle box method was that it also allows transferal of tiny objects. Or, on one occasion, a polymorphed character. I like keeping things multi-purpose.

[Vaern]

The core books have Ring Gates, a pair of rings that are connected to each other on an extradimensional level. Anything passed through one ring comes out the other one. There's a bit of a limitation to their use, but it probably won't come up at all unless you really go overboard using them.
They are rather expensive, but they are described as being used for exchanging items, messages, and even small creatures. Their crafting requirements could probably be adjusted to reduce the price significantly without affecting their abilities. For example, they have Gate at CL 17 as a crafting requirement. Switch that to Dimension Door at CL 7 and you've just cut the cost of the item down to about 1/5, or about 8,000 GP. 1
The rings are 18 inches in diameter by default, but you can rewrite that bit to make them whatever size you need. 6 inches would be plenty wide enough to pass a scroll through and would make them large enough for a variety of other small items. There are two methods by which you could use this size adjustment to decrease the price - and mind you, I'm completely talking out of my ass at this point.
The first method is by diameter - the smaller, adjusted version is 1/3 as wide and should therefore cost 1/3 as much. Congratulations, you now have a set of customized Ring Gates with a market value of about 2650 GP. 1, 2
The second method is by area - the smaller, adjusted version covers a total area that is about 1/10 the size of the original and should therefore cost 1/10 as much. Congratulations, you now have a set of customized Ring Gates with a market value of about 800 GP. 1, 2

1 Some numbers rounded for simplicity. The actual price ratio was closer to 2/11 and I try to avoid working with repeating decimals.
2 Prices determined by adjusting the cost of Ring Gates proportionally with the requirements of the substitute spells. These were not calculated using the guidelines for a new or unique custom item.

[weckar]

I'm aware of ring gates. I based the pricing/value of the message boxes on those.

[Vaern]

Ah. I figured that the boxes would be priced as a less expensive alternative. Something that you can have sprinkled throughout the world for flavor, but without the PCs being able to make a small fortune off of them.

Alternatively, you could have your teleportation circles carved onto tablets or small wooden placards. Kind of like a box... but, like, without the sides or the lid.

[weckar]

Alternatively, you could have your teleportation circles carved onto tablets or small wooden placards. Kind of like a box... but, like, without the sides or the lid.
That's actually a pretty good idea. I'd worry about them being used for really long thin things, but otherwise that'd work.

For future reference, though; I am quite well acquainted with Core, MIC and the Complete series/Races of series. Please assume that anything in there has already been considered.