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Burley
2008-01-29, 11:44 AM
This is a subject that I don't think gets enough thought. When it comes to Race or Class, there are tons of options...but, also tons of restrictions. And, yet, all I ever read about is race-class combinations.
If you'd like to contribute, I'm looking for fun Item combinations. Not just the Synergy items from the Magic Item Compendium, but things that your character may have crafted in the game, or something that you've always wanted to try to make work, but have never told anybody because they may think you're a freak and that it's not generally accepted by the public even though they're all just closed minded lemmings and wouldn't know true genious if it bit them on the...Anyways, you get the idea.

I've got two to start with:
The first is simple. My character is a warlock who fires his eldritch blast our of wooden guns, which double as small "clubs" if the need arises.
The second is a bit sillier. Get a magnifying glass (100gp?) and something with Light or Daylight cast on it permanently. Strap them together at the right angle and Viola! You have Searing Light or Sunbeam or something.

Of course, these are all up to DM approval. Lets just pretend that s/he okayed it. :smallwink:

Ready? BREAK!

daggaz
2008-01-29, 12:00 PM
Hmm... nah, magnifying glasses don't work that way.. It focuses the light into a point and then spreads it out very quickly. I'd let you start fires tho with it, but using it in battle would be way too tricky to get the distances and aiming right.

Cant think of anything too cool myself at the moment, but I may come back with an edit.

Person_Man
2008-01-29, 12:07 PM
Every character I've ever played since 1st ed carries a bag filled with chalk. You can use it to mark walls, or you can throw the dust into a square to cover an invisible enemy (or at least see its footprints as it tries to move through it).

Any nature themed PC I play will also usually buy dogs and train them for guarding and hunting. They can also be used to set off traps. Wildly useful and cheap.

Dr Bwaa
2008-01-29, 12:08 PM
In a "short side quest" (read: 11-hour role-playing marathon) my friend DMed for me and another one of my friends in this now-high-level-campaign, we were infiltrating this Gnomish factory trying to figure out who was holding up the works on this dragon-sized jacuzzi they were building for a dragon we were hanging out with. It was a couple days before this invention competition, so we got to participate by making our own inventions. I don't recall what my friend made, but I created a box with a crank handle that, when turned, played some (bardic) music (which also inspired competence, to make my "performance" better at the competition--not that I had a chance, I was competing against a psychic adamantine golem, among other things) and spawned delicious cookies endlessly from a spout on the front.

BadJuJu
2008-01-29, 12:16 PM
Decantor of Endless water. You can never have enough water. Also a Ring of Mindshielding. Bye bye detect evil.

sikyon
2008-01-29, 12:36 PM
Hmm... nah, magnifying glasses don't work that way.. It focuses the light into a point and then spreads it out very quickly. I'd let you start fires tho with it, but using it in battle would be way too tricky to get the distances and aiming right.

Cant think of anything too cool myself at the moment, but I may come back with an edit.

You could make a telescope with reflective insides that would allow you to adjust lense distances thereby controlling the focus.

Chronos
2008-01-29, 01:43 PM
Every character I've ever played since 1st ed carries a bag filled with chalk. You can use it to mark walls, or you can throw the dust into a square to cover an invisible enemy (or at least see its footprints as it tries to move through it).If we're going to be bringing in mundane items, you'll never find my favorite item in the rulebooks.

Burrs. You know, those weeds that get the little round seeds with Velcro-like hooks all over them? They're great to stick spells on, since they stick on contact to clothes, or hair, or fur. Cast Silence on a burr, and then stick it to the back of the wizard's robes: A lot easier to make the touch attack than to get through his Will saves. Or cast Arcane Mark on a burr before attaching it to an escaping villain, for ease of scrying. Or any other spell which can be cast on an object.

Guinea Anubis
2008-01-29, 02:14 PM
Cast explosive runes on a Birthday cake.

Theli
2008-01-29, 02:17 PM
Cast explosive runes on a Birthday cake.

Now that's just mean.

nargbop
2008-01-29, 04:22 PM
Torval's Tinted Glasses of Ineffable Coolness : +2 CHA, -1 to Spot and Search. Functions and costs like the Cloak of Charisma, but instead of sticking extra cost to the non-standard item placement I put in minor skill reductions.

Periapt of Torval's Interminable Itch : cast Torval's Interminable Itch on anyone within 30 feet. The spell is a cantrip that causes personal itching for a short time, not annoying enough to cause a reduction to any game mechanic, but good enough to communicate annoyance. Bonus : give it to everyone in the party, and no PC will ever know who's giving him temporary fleas.

Mephisto
2008-01-29, 06:42 PM
Every character I've ever played since 1st ed carries a bag filled with chalk. You can use it to mark walls, or you can throw the dust into a square to cover an invisible enemy (or at least see its footprints as it tries to move through it).

Chalk dust should also give a circumstance bonus to Climb.

ShneekeyTheLost
2008-01-29, 06:53 PM
Get a magnifying glass (100gp?) and something with Light or Daylight cast on it permanently. Strap them together at the right angle and Viola! You have Searing Light or Sunbeam or something.

This is an example of something I call 'McGuyvering', after the famous '80's show McGuyver who could get out of any situation using improvised materials and fuzzy science.

You can always tell a McGuyver by their HHH full of assorted odds and ends, which are clearly listed on their inventory sheet. Then they get into a situation and do stuff like "Well, I pull out a magnifying glass and cast Light on it, the magnifying glass will turn it into a searing light to do (insert appropriate damage for a Searing Light spell cast by the character for the target) to the mummy! Or pulls things like "Well, I pull out a vial of acid and a vial of lye and throw them both at the opponent. The resulting exothermic reaction should fry him good!".

They always used to annoy me. Then, I decided to put an end to it by getting nasty. I would tell them exactly what happened, which generally wasn't anything like what they wanted to happen... results were amusing... to me at least.

mostlyharmful
2008-01-29, 07:29 PM
The Hoop of Sleep. It disgorged a steady stream of sheep, about one every other second. They lasted about an hour, more than enough time to trigger traps, slow persuit or fill up the nasty gribbly to the point of catatonic overfeeding and easy knifing.:smallbiggrin: Plus occassionally useful to combat insomnia provided you had a handy fence to set it up next to.

Farmer42
2008-01-29, 08:01 PM
I once had a bag of holding that contained a cursed pile of assorted used panties in it. And I mean assorted races and sizes. when the pile is removed from the bag, it followed the players around, a day or so behind them, just appearing, then disappearing. There were five pairs in the bag at any given time after the initial disposal. The thing was, not only did they follow you, but if you ever purposely took possession, such as removing a pair from a pocket that a PC might have put there, what ever happened to that pair happened to the undergarments you happened to be wearing. The player who tried to use a giant's pair as a sling was sorely disappointed (or maybe just sore) with the results.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-01-29, 08:08 PM
I once had a bag of holding that contained a cursed pile of assorted used panties in it. And I mean assorted races and sizes.

Now that's just meany-meany mean. Poor mah kinsbag.:smallsigh:

AmberVael
2008-01-29, 08:17 PM
This is an example of something I call 'McGuyvering', after the famous '80's show McGuyver who could get out of any situation using improvised materials and fuzzy science.

You can always tell a McGuyver by their HHH full of assorted odds and ends, which are clearly listed on their inventory sheet. Then they get into a situation and do stuff like "Well, I pull out a magnifying glass and cast Light on it, the magnifying glass will turn it into a searing light to do (insert appropriate damage for a Searing Light spell cast by the character for the target) to the mummy! Or pulls things like "Well, I pull out a vial of acid and a vial of lye and throw them both at the opponent. The resulting exothermic reaction should fry him good!".

They always used to annoy me. Then, I decided to put an end to it by getting nasty. I would tell them exactly what happened, which generally wasn't anything like what they wanted to happen... results were amusing... to me at least.

My DM had a different approach to it- he allowed us to use the skill Craft (McGuyver).
Then again, his campaigns were never very serious. They were pretty fun though. :smalltongue:

As for Fun Items, the very same DM once allowed us an amulet which would transfer the wearer into a puddle and back whenever they wanted. We were at a loss of how to use it until one of us found a spraying mechanism in one of the manuals...
Squirtgun + Liquid warrior = very surprised enemies. Didn't give much advantage, truthfully, but the idea of a spraying someone in the face with a fighter never really got old.

shaggz076
2008-01-29, 08:18 PM
Once, while playing a Wilder in 2nd ed created a flying machine. I sat one person and had continual lights mounted on the front. There were two points at the front that fired magic missles once per round each, if desired. It was powered by levitate and gust of wind spells and had a little box he had a cleric create that upon command generated any snacks he wanted (Create food and water). The problem with this fine little invention was that I rolled a wild surge whilst creating it and as such the spirit of a 4 year old boy had been drawn into the item making it an (arguably) intelligent item.

Oh the fun that caused, especially when it decided it liked one of the other PCs and would hover over top pressing the pc to the ground or when it would have a temper tantrum (Had plenty of bashing damage from being inside it when those happened)

Ulrichomega
2008-01-29, 08:18 PM
One of my chararcters once had a magic crossbow that resembled a miniature ballistae. It fired small rocks and did a little more damage than a sling. The cool part was that twice per day it could Enlarge the rock, causing it to act like a real ballistae (the rock was enlarged after exiting). I forget what level it was, but it was a nice weapon at the time. The best use I got was using it to push an enemy off of a cliff with it. I ran up, pointed it at him from 5 feet away, smiled, and pulled the trigger. Good times...

Farmer42
2008-01-29, 08:32 PM
Now that's just meany-meany mean. Poor mah kinsbag.:smallsigh:

Oh, the players had fun with it. There were two bards and a beguiler in the party. Imagine the havoc they brought to a ball they needed to infiltrate and get through to get to the BBEG.

zerombr
2008-01-29, 09:07 PM
my favorite item is the Survival Pouch!
6 times a day it can produce
- rope
- a shovel
- a campfire!
- a tent
- daily rations
- 2 gallons of water
- a mule

Baerdog7
2008-01-29, 09:09 PM
My favorite custom item, and something that has become a staple in any of our roleplaying sessions: the Stylish Hat. It conveys a +2, +4, or +6 enhancement bonus to CHA like a Cloak of Charisma but takes up a head slot instead of a back slot. So useful.

Shraik
2008-01-29, 09:16 PM
Put a kobold in a sack then cast Daylight into it once.
Used a Daern's Instant Fortress as a projectile to kill a Kobold.
A psionic pimp that has his/her psycrystal as a ring.

Yami
2008-01-29, 09:25 PM
A few of my favorites would be the dagger of slaughter. Upgrades one's cleaving capacity, homebrewing beyond greatcleave to allow a step after a succesful cleave, not to mention the keened and vicious critical enhancements. Oh, and a will check to aviod going into an Erythnul worshipping high.

Great for an NPC to have, and once the players kill the menace threatening the streets of thier fair city, well, they get to decide what to do with the cool loot.

And then there's the glove of disintigration. Cone of disintigrate 30 ft in front, line of disintigrate from the user's square going backwards 60 ft. Used by an undead horde on the party. Oddly enough, kept and still used by the party after winning that fight.

Kantolin
2008-01-29, 10:01 PM
My favorite two items have got to be the Boots of the Winterlands and the Ring of Substenance, in both cases for their secondary effects.

I hardly care about walking on snow, but I like the boots for the intrinsic endure elements.

I hardly care about the 'you don't have to eat' (I usually do anyway), but I like the ring for the 'only have to sleep two hours'.

Both of these are more flavor things than anything else: It's fun playing an orc that's tough enough that he only needs a little sleep, and can walk through the snow without a shirt on with no real problems. I usually ask the DM if I can spend the money, and make both of those effects (flavor-wise) intrinsic to the character and not intrinsic to the items. It may give me a slight edge if they're stolen, I suppose, but that hardly ever comes up.

Fun times. I usually have said half-orc complain he's hot while in snow.

Darkxarth
2008-01-29, 10:32 PM
Presto Stick!: The Presto Stick is a +1 Club. It is inscribed with many different runes and glows with different colors, shifting between saffron, fuchsia, chartreuse, sapphire, and many others. Its purpose is not really that of a weapon, as much as it is a magical tool. It can use Prestidigitation only when it hits an object. Not necessarily hard enough to deal damage, although it certainly can deal damage if the wielder makes a normal attack roll; otherwise, if hitting a creature that is hostile, make a touch attack, and if you hit, you may choose any of the following effects:
- Lift the target 1 foot per round.
- Change the color of the target.
- Clean or soil the target.
- Change the target’s smell, though not enough to hinder combat.
- Chill or warm the target, though not enough to deal damage or grant resistance.
If it touches non-living material, including Undead, it can also flavor the target.

Neat, possibly useful, and fun to use.

The Presto Stick has been used to embarrass many an evil warlord, effectively de-throning him without the use of violence. Not many hardened mercenaries are going to listen to a dingy, rainbow-colored warlord that smells like maple syrup and dirty socks.

Lord Tataraus
2008-01-29, 10:44 PM
I originally posted this in the Magical Junk thread, I guess it fits here too. The PCs were lost in a cave complex that was completely empty (they got teleported in). After wondering around a bit they enter a huge room that is stuff with all sorts of stuff and they can feel the magical energy tingling. As they gawk and walk in they notice a gnome busily tinkering with a wand. They inquire as to what he is making to which he prompting replies "I have no idea, want to help me find out?" Basically, this gnome is crazy and makes all sorts of random magical stuff, but he is cursed with a strange memory loss so he has no idea what the item will be (he was once a god of magical crafts). So the PCs took a bunch of crap and experimented until some one drank the Unspeakable drink and then someone else put on the Thunderous Garment.

So let's see, there was the...
Baton of the Benevolent Berserker - 3/day summon Bob the berserker (str 28, dex 12, con 20, int 30, wis 24, cha 16 *other stuff*)

Metallic Baton - roll d% to determine what the object hit is turned into from mercury and tin to mitril and adamantine (20 charges)

Baton of Fish Summoning - each charge summoned a tiny-sized fish (could be aimed to deal 1d2 damage) (50 charges)

Baton of Silver Chain - conjured up 20ft of silver chain that lasted for 2d6 minutes (as in the chain was made of silver and could hold about 5 lbs before breaking) (10 charges)

Immovable Harpsichord - +30 to perform, however, it is impossible to move besides wish which turns it into a normal harpsichord

Monstrous Spectre's Tower Shield of Sludge Beams - masterwork tower shield that could fire a beam of nasty smelling sludge 3/day, didn't do much but make the person smell bad

Quilted Armor of the Exorcism of Deflect Timelessness - +1 padded armor, all effects that would otherwise deflect or end a time-related spell or ability (such as time stop or a monk's timeless body class feature) are countered

Dire Scintillating Ointment - an ointment that caused what ever it is applied to to glow in scintillating patterns, causing everything within line of sight of the object to take a -40 on all spot and search checks and need to make a DC15 will save or be dazed until the ointment wares off, lasts for 1d4+1 rounds

Past Immovable Throwing Knife of Mud Negation - +5 returning dagger with the ability to travel in time when thrown as well as automatically cast Mud to Rock at CL20 when it makes contact with mud, it cannot be moved or it becomes a normal dagger with a -2 penalty to melee attack rolls

Lotion of Chameleon Calling - a large number of chameleons are summoned onto the creature who wears the lotion, completely covering the creature. All spells and attacks hit one or more chameleons instead of the creature who is covered (counts as total cover), more chameleons are immediately summoned if some of the chameleons die, the chameleons cannot take any actions. All of the creature's speeds drops to 0ft. The lotion lasts for 1d6+1 minutes.

Savage Human's Elixir of Barbarism - the human who drinks this elixir has his intelligence and wisdom modifier reduced to 1 and his strength modifier increased by the largest penalty taken to int or wis. The human is considered raged but gains no additional strength bonus or constitution bonus. The human's strength is return to normal after the rage ends but the intelligence and wisdom penalty persists and recovers as normal.

Spectral Slayer's Throwing Axe of the Infamous Fish - +10 Ghost Touch Slaying Returning Throwing Axe, once thrown the axe turns into a small tuna dealing 1d8 damage. The tuna is considered ghost touch, but all other magical properties are lost (the +10 to hit and damage as well as the slaying ability) until the axe returns the next turn in its normal form. Using the axe in melee does not cause this transformation, but if the creature hit fails a DC24 fortitude save, both the creature hit and the user are killed and the axe shatters into a swarm of minnows. If a small tuna is caught with one of the minnows, the rest dissappear and the former user appears holding the axe (formerly the tuna), no other spell or ability can bring either victim of the slaying back to life. The hit creature does not return but may now be resurrected.

Bullet of Charisma - a standard sling bullet, when hit, the creature takes twice the normal damage and receives a +2 bonus to charisma.
Device of Good Sludge - A strange and intricate device, at will it will produce a disgusting smelling and tasting sludge that will provide nourishment and stave off thirst as a single meal. However, eaters must make a DC16, 18, 20, and 22 fortitude save. Failure on any save will cause the creature to be nauseated for 24 hours. If the creature succeeds at least until the DC20 save, it gains the nourishment, otherwise the creature does not.

Happy Dwarf's Sling - if a dwarf wields the sling it becomes a +2 sling that deals damage as a large sling, however, if the dwarf is ever not truly happy (DC20 bluff check to pretend) the sling begins to strangle the dwarf. The sling has a +25 grapple modifier and deals 3d10 non-lethal constriction damage each round it grapples the dwarf. If the dwarf is knocked unconscious, the sling stops grappling and becomes dormant.
Insane Snake's Coat of the Sigil of Sanity - The coat has a number of charges equal to the wearer's wisdom modifier. The wearer may use a charge to remove confusion and insanity effects immediately or spend 2 charges to automatically succeed on a will save. Each charge used permentally drains 1 point of wisdom, the wearer immediately knows the coat's abilities except for the wisdom drain and never realizes the loss in wisdom (in fact he does not act any differently while wearing the coat). Once the coat runs out of charges (and the wearer drops to 0 wisdom) the coat takes over the creature's body and becomes an insane NPC.

Pyramid of Lizard Calling - 1/day the pyramid will summon a fiendish dire lizard of legend right in front of the user. The lizard may not attack of move from its original location on its own behalf. The only actions it may preform are intimidate checks for which it has a +20 modifier or speak, otherwise it follows all instructions of the user. The lizard speaks only in a strange dead language, but understands all languages. If the user makes a successful DC15 untrained speak language check he accidentally commands the lizard to speak telepathically and thus the lizard can be understood.

Pill of the Gods' Spell of Death - the taker of the pill is erased from all existence as if the creature never existed (so he obviously "dies" and can't be restored to life, all memories are lost, all children of his are removed as well, etc.)

Unspeakable Ruler's Shield of Absorbs Springing - +1 heavy steel shield causes all jump checks within a 50ft radius of it to automatically fail except for the user's jump checks which gain a +40 bonus

Yellow Atal - +1 atal deals double damage to green things

Blasphemous Gown of Wonderful Copper - a beautiful wedding gown made entirely of rust-free copper. If worn, the wearer and one target selected by the wearer is effected by a blasphemy spell CL20 every round the gown is worn. Nothing can destroy the gown or stop the effects except a Holy Word spell.
Prismatic Claymore - +2 greatsword, when it deals damage roll a d% and the claymore deals the indicated damage type instead of slashing: 01-15 sonic, 16-30 cold, 31-45 fire, 46-60 acid, 61-75 negative, 76-90 positive, 91-00 force

Scintillating Shield of Deflect Magma - +2 heavy steel shield, the user takes no damage from lava

Suit of Conjure Cold - at will the wear can cause the suit to freeze, dealing 20 points of cold damage each round to the wearer as well 1d10 cold damage to any opponent attacking the wearer with a non-reach melee attack. A successful fortitude save DC16 to take half damage (both an attacker and the wearer)

Thunderous Garment - whenever the wearer moves or takes any action requiring movement or is hit with any type of attack he becomes deafened and all those within a 60ft radius must make a DC20 fortitude save or become deafened. All sonic damage within a 60ft radius of the wearer is doubled. The wearer cannot take off the garment due to the extremely load noise, if someone forces it off, the wearer takes 100d10 sonic damage and becomes permanently deafened which cannot be removed without epic magic.

Cursed Stranglers' Contraption of Health Negation - a garrote that causes the wielder to take damage whenever he would normally be healed. Once wielded it may not be put down.

Sharp Machine of Ooze Bolts - the device creates 4d6 +1 acidic crossbow bolts. Taking a bolt deals 5 slashing, 5 piercing, and 5 acid damage per bolt taken.

Shirt of Security Control - this red shirt provides a -10 to AC and removes all damage reduction. After every combat if the wearer is alive he must succeed a DC14 will save or die. 1/day the wearer of the shirt may cause all enemies to attack him and only him for 1d2 minutes. If the wearer would be killed during that time he is immediately resurrected as true resurrection CL20 1d4 hours later.

Vorpal Anklet of Slime Assault - all weapons the wearer wields gain the vorpal magical ability. Each time the wearer makes an attack roll, roll a d%, on a result of 95 or more the anklet becomes a green slime taking up the space the wear occupies and grappling the wearer.

Pyramid of the Exorcism of Everburning Conjuration - at will the pyramid will dispel all continual flames and other continual illumination effects within a 20ft radius.

Thundering Bar - 1/day the user and one target become deafened for 1d4+1 hours.

Unspeakable Drink - the drinker becomes permanently mute, removable only via a wish or miracle

Blowgun of Fish Calling - this acts as a normal blowgun except that it does not require darts, but rathe shots out small fish that deal non0lethal damage. Any darts loaded into the blowgun turn into fish but retain all magical properties.

Happy Monk's Cube of Seduce Ogre - when used by a happy monk, all ogres have their attitude changed to friendly towards the user. This effect does not work if the monk is not specifically happy though a DC26 bluff check can fool the cube.

FlyMolo
2008-01-29, 10:49 PM
Immovable rods. Fun to macgyver with. Also, bags of holding and portable holes. Also fun to macgyver with. Vials of acid. Etc etc.

The best combination ever? Ah, Schrodinger's Haversack. You put coinage equal to the value of some commonplace item in a little purse in the side, and the probability of the useful item you are thinking about being inside it goes to 1. Avoids the "I have a 12.5 foot pole!" "No you don't!" "Yes I do!" entirely. Also does simple non-masterwork weapons.

Balkash
2008-01-29, 11:02 PM
Speaking of immovable rods. I definatlely had a character who was absolutely top-notch with the crossbow. Not only did he have a custom crossbow with a spy glass as a "zoom" feature, but he would set up in some bell tower. Put two immovable rods in the exact location he needed them. Then he would place the crossbow into the "mount" for a perfect line up. Then using Knowledge (Physics), he would calculate exactly what he needed to do to get a critical shot through the eye. Obviously, this requires a lot of homebrew and a more than willing DM who was very interested in detailing EVERYTHING. but it was pretty fun.

RS14
2008-01-29, 11:17 PM
Baton of Fish Summoning - each charge summoned a tiny-sized fish (could be aimed to deal 1d2 damage) (50 charges)


The best part about this is the sneak attack.

"Eat cold sardines, alien scum!"