Sunday, January 4, 2015

Yet More Magical Treasures

More things that might make braving the dungeon worth it:
  1. Brass Saddle - No mount can fall while you ride in this intricate, decorative saddle.  Neither gaping wounds nor small scrapes will have any effect on your steed until you dismount.
  2. Skull Rattle - Shake this and all your enemies must change the target of their attacks.
  3. Meddler's Coffer - Say a name, open this small coffer, and you will be able to rummage through that person's things.  Anything in chests, purses, cupboards, or baskets can be seen and picked through.  Nothing can be taken through the coffer, but one might awkwardly read letters, study a map, or inventory items.
  4. Selfish Chisel - Use as you normally would a chisel, but arrows, inscriptions, or beautiful decorations made are only seen by you.
  5. Bone Comb - Use this simple comb to clean gore from your hair and reflect on your actions immediately after a battle and you will learn twice as fast (2x xp for that battle).
  6. Spider Brooch - When you are still (not moving, not fighting) this stylized copper spider comes to life and, with bites and webs, sees to your wounds (2hp per turn healed). 
So,  4 would have been good for the solo magic item list and I'm worried that 5 and 6 are too powerful.  The spider brooch is basically a limited ring of regeneration.  You might limit the bone comb similarly by requiring the grooming take 3 turns or an hour, the rest of the party might be less willing to wait around that long.

6 comments:

  1. T. -

    As for #8 (which I like quite a bit), you could use something like the side-effects mentioned by Jez over at http://gibletblizzard.blogspot.com/2012/03/random-table-healing-from-spider-god.html. I find for most things, side-effects can quickly deter abuse. :)

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  2. Thanks to both of you.

    @Derek: You're right, side-effects could be a good counterbalance. I'm trying to keep all these as simple as possible. Maybe a way to do it is the descriptions above with a notation Mild Side-effect I or Serious Side-effect II, which players would roll up on finding/using-- like the first edition artifact powers/effects. Then you wouldn't need to worry about the effects until the player found one of these.

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  3. Doesn't take much, I've got 2-3 pages of side effect tables in Ye Olde Binder. Some (like from the above link) are for "specific" genres (e.g. spider things) others are pretty general. Just takes a moment to grab the correct Red Tab of Pain and roll a couple dice. I just have to know that any spider-god cleric spell or spider-y item gets a roll. My bad memory makes each use a calculated risk by the players who wonder if I'll remember to roll or not.

    One player doesn't like another, they remind me. :)

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  4. I'm really digging the chisel. My kind of tool.

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  5. What if you could use the bone comb in a moment, but it took special soap and careful cleaning to reset?

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