Idea For Cool Magic Bag Or Thief Item

[JohnTaber]

Hi FH Gang: I need a magic item for a "second story man" thief character in my campaign but I want something different and cool. My initial thought was some type of magical bag but I don't want a generic bag that holds a lot.

Any cool ideas?

Rep comin' for any replies. :)

[Cancer]

An idea:

It is a bag that can hold up to a breadbox volume of stuff in the usual bag sort of way (liquids, gases, fine powders will leak). There's a homing token for it; you have to keep the token in the bag. If you give it the command word, the bag phases out, leaving the token behind. The bag is no longer in our Universe in any way. The bag reappears exactly 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds (the sidereal day) later, around the homing token. Nothing you can do will bring it back sooner or later than that time interval. And it returns to the homing token, so if you lose that, the bag's gone.

Not sure if time passes or doesn't pass during that interval for stuff in the bag. I can think of cool plot reasons why it wouldn't, but there are other reasons why that might not be good. (Put a time bomb of any sort -- weaponized Ebola culture, suitcase nuke, whatever, with a 10-second delay fuse on it -- in the bag, leave the token in a target city and then get out of Dodge, and you have a weapon that cannot be defended against. Might not be something you want in your game.)

[teh bunneh]

How about a little beltpouch that has whatever useful small tool in it that you need. Need a skeleton key? Reach into the bag, and it's got one. A small jimmy? Reach in the bag, and there it is. A pinch of pepper? A couple of copper pieces? Any "thiefy" thing that would fit in the palm of your hand and wouldn't cost more than a few silvers, you can find in the pouch.

In game terms, it wouldn't be much more than a +1-+3 "Character uses good equipment in connection with the Skill Roll" bonus to your thieving skills. But it could be a cool little bit of flavor. :)

[Cancer]

Another idea is Magic Fake Clay.

Touch a mass of Magic Fake Clay to any item of its mass or less. An equal mass of the clay will split off and become a perfect replica of the item. You can leave the fake item in the place of the real one. The fake will remain indistinguishable from the original for some short time (like a day)? Or perhaps it will degrade "slowly" over time so that by a few days it's clear something is very fishy about the item.

At the end, the clay slumps into a heap that has lost all its magic.

[Lord Liaden]

Shrinking dust. Sprinkle it on yourself to become tiny enough to slip through small openings or dart past guards undetected. Sprinkle it on large objects you want to steal to render them small enough to conceal and carry off on your person.

[JohnTaber]

Wow gents...nice. :) I think the clay or dust idea would be the best for this particular PC although I love the token/bag too! :D

Wait a sec!

The clay idea fits the person who currently has the item the thief will get perfectly! He is sort of an evil craftsman who plays with small models. I could see him having the clay! Ohhh...nice...[wheels are turning in GMs head]... :thumbup:

[JohnTaber]

Alright...what about some writeup for a magical bag of clay as described above...I think I know how I would write it up but I want to see if anyone else has some ideas I had not considered. ;)

[DRThrush]

An item I used in a game years ago was a backpack that held an unusually large number of items, sort of a backpack of holding to put it in terms we all know. No matter how you packed it the item you needed was always on top, sort of a 'Fast Draw' backpack.

[DRThrush]

Here is the way I would stat out the the clay. If I did it at all. I find it funny how some long time Hero players are practically fetishistic about stating out everything in the game, especially heroic level games.

Magic Fake Clay: Minor Transform 2d6 (Clay into a duplicate item, Being soaked in water) (10 Active Points); 4 Charges (-1), No Range (-1/2) Real Cost: 4

The clay has four charges that recover in one week. I like the idea that some non-adept would be able to the make the stuff because it is more skill than art. Kind of a 'magic as minor science' approach in this case.

[JohnTaber]

I have a twist but I think it could be done in a similar way using transform or maybe with a VPP. What if the user could make any non-living item out of the clay even if they don't have an original? That way they could whip up a lockpick, a spike, a doorstop, a lock, etc. I was thinking of a tiny VPP with charges. Nice gents. :)

[BubbaDave]

I'd do it with Images vs Sight group and Touch Group (maybe smell?). Continuing Charges (2x 1 Day), Obvious Accessible Focus (bag), Extra Time 1 Turn (the clay gradually takes on the form of the object to be impersonated, while beads of sweat form on the thief's forehead and the footsteps of the patrolling guard come closer and closer....), No Range and Difficult to Alter. 22 Active Points, 5 real points.