Magic Items Thread

[SCUBA Hero]

This one is based on an item that one of the characters in my Harn campaign acquired (yes, this is the same character in the 'Quotes' thread - "You keep suggesting that I take weapons skills. That makes me nervous.").

 

They keep getting into combat situations, and the character (a sage, of sorts) was given this by his mentor:

 

Medallion of Swordsmanship: Weapon Familiarity (Common Melee Weapons) (2); 3 - 5 minute Continuing Charges (-1/4), OIF (Medallion) (-1/2); (1) plus +2 HTH Combat Skill Levels (10); 3 - 5 minute Continuing Charges (-1/4), OIF (Medallion) (-1/2), Levels Do Not Stack With Existing Levels (-1/4); (5); Totals (6) [3 CC]

 

Description: Despite its name, the Medallion of Swordsmanship provides its user with a reasonable amount of skill in any common melee weapon. However, it's power is limited - any Skill Levels the character already possesses will not stack with the medallion, so an experienced fighter with +2 or more Skill Levels does not benefit from it. It is used to give people who are normally non-combatants a fighting chance. The medallion has a sword inscribed on the front and a rune representing fighting prowess on the back; it glows obviously when in use. It also has special GM permission to add to DCV or Damage Class as well as to OCV (5ER, p. 54).

 

Notes: I considered -1/2 and -1/4 on the Do Not Stack Limitation, deciding to go with the -1/4 as there will usually be a non-skilled person who can benefit from it. This would vary, depending on how strict the campaign was with Combat Skill Levels. I left out a feature that's in the Harn item - it can be used more than three times a day, but the strain on the body and the mind of using muscles in an unacustomed way can cause physical or mental pain - probably modeled as more Charges with a Side Effect with a continually lowering Activation Roll (the Side Effect probably being a Drain on a random Characteristic [sTR, DEX, INT] with some Delayed Return Rate on it), but the logistics of it have stumped me for now. I also want to make the Side Effect not take place until the end of the Continuing Charge - I like the heroism of, "Okay, I have to risk it, this is too important to fail... Yes! I triumphed in the hour of need... oh no, this is going to HURT!!!"

 

Please post your own magic items, and any suggestions on how to build the Side Effect are welcome.

[Curufea]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

I don't know if you actually need to express explicitly how side effects function. Just a description will do, rather than making them rules compliant.

 

Ring of Holding: Major Transform 2d6 (Inanimate object into Gem on

ring, Reversed by Dispel Magic, Ring Destruction, Removing Gem and

breaking it), May not store more than four gems/items (-1/2) (30

Active Points); 3 Charges (-1 1/4), OIF (-1/2), No Range (-1/2),

Spell (-1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4) Real

Cost: 6

[Outsider]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Nice item Scuba... the same idea could be used for other skills as well. A Medallion of Manners might provide the wearer with the ability to interact with basic proficiency in polite company, for example. The High Society skill so gained would probably be locked in to the time/society where the amulet was made, of course. A wearer using a 50 year old amulet might be noted as being particularly old fashioned in his manners, for example.

[SCUBA Hero]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

I don't know if you actually need to express explicitly how side effects function. Just a description will do' date=' rather than making them rules compliant.[/quote']True... I'm just one of those folks who likes statting things out.

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

I don't know if you actually need to express explicitly how side effects function. Just a description will do' date=' rather than making them rules compliant.[/quote']

 

Ah, but what SCUBA Hero described is not a question of "how" or "what," but of "when."

 

From the old Rules FAQs, http://www.herogames.com/SupportFAQs/rules/POWER%20LIMITATIONS.htm

 

Q: When do Side Effects affect a character? Could a character define a Side Effect as occurring when he stops using a power?

 

A: Typically Side Effects occur (or are rolled for) when the character activates/uses the power. With the GM’s permission, a character could define Side Effects as occurring after use stops, but only if the Side Effect always occurs. In the GM’s discretion, this may reduce the Limitation by 1/4 less Limitation value, since it’s not quite as restricting as a Side Effect that occurs when the character activates or uses the power.

 

So yes, stating out the "after the power ends" bit is important.

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Dimensional Bag

 

Extra Dimensional Movement (one location); Usable as Attack (+1), Zero END (+1/2); Independent (-2), Always On (-1/2), Can only move object that can get through a "perimeter" of 90cm (-1/2), Will not allow "intelligences" to pass to the other plane (they land up in the bag in this plane) (-1). Basic/Active/Real: 20/50/8

 

This looks like an ordinary cloth sack, about 60cm deep with a mouth about 45cm wide. It leads into a very small plane (or dimension), but no "intelligences" can go through. In other words, a person could stick his arm through to rummage through the stored goods, but could not stick his head through to visually search; his head would end up in the cloth bag.

 

You could add a Limitation based on volume &/or mass that can be stored. However, IMO the Lim should be small --- if an amount similar to a full backpack can be stored, I'd call that a -0 Lim. YMMV.

 

GM's can come up with a large number of variations: bags with Charges instead of 0 END, ones that aren't Independent, ones with Incantations &/or Gestures, ones Triggered by the presense of the owner, even cursed ones (Linked HKA, or similar; Activation so it doesn't always go off). You can also have ones with Activation or RSR and a Side Effect "Same Power, But To A Different Plane That Can Never Be Reached Again"

[gojira]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

So, uh, you can't store your hirelings and followers in there?

 

Too bad.

[Lethosos]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

I've always wanted to do that. Just toss food & water in, and you're set for life.

[Outsider]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

I've always wanted to do that. Just toss food & water in' date=' and you're set for life. [/quote']

 

Not a reader of Knights of the Dinner Table, I see.

[Curufea]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

I have the ring thing rather than bags of holding only because I don't have a multiverse of dimensions in my setting

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

So, uh, you can't store your hirelings and followers in there?

 

Too bad.

No way to restore the air, either (except opening the bag), so they'd sufficate even if you could put 'em in.

 

I've always wanted to do that. Just toss food & water in, and you're set for life.

See last answer.

 

Anyway, I'm not sure such a thing could be opened from the inside. Be a pain to go into your little hidey-hole, and not be able to leave.

 

I have the ring thing rather than bags of holding only because I don't have a multiverse of dimensions in my setting

NP. Set up your campaign the way you like.

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Chain of Storage

This is somewhat like the Dimensional Bag described earlier. However, it is in the form of a light golden chain with clasps on each end. Clasping the ends together activates the XDM which is, as with the Bag, to a VERY small plane. Large enough, however, to serve as a room for a human being (or a few rooms, if the GM wants).

 

Unlike the D-Bag, "intelligences" can pass through, so it is possible to enter the other plane. Note that since the OAF does not, itself, pass through, it is impossible to "close the gate" from the mini-plane; if the owner tries to retreat from danger, that danger can follow him.

 

Also note that if the unclasped chain is tied in a knot, or a fed through a ring/medallion/etc., that clasping the ends will not activate the power. This makes it possible to disguise the Chain of Storage as an ordinary piece of jewelry (this is taken as a -0 Lim, Not If Disguised As Jewelry). Also note that the "perimeter" is distinctly larger

 

Chain of Storage: Extra-Dimensional Movement (one location); Usable as Attack (+1), Zero END (+1/2); Independent (-2), Can only move object that can get through a "perimeter" of 175cm (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Not If Disguised As Jewelry (-0).

Basic/Active/Real: 20/50/11.

 

Note that some GMs may require it to take Trigger (+1/4). If so, then the costs become:

Basic/Active/Real: 20/55/12.

[Curufea]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

You could always just define the pocket dimension as "some place with unlimited food and air"

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Stone of Finding

The magic item, usually in the form of a stone about the size and shape of a crab-apple (though amber is frequently used, as is bone, and other substances) has a hole trough it and is threaded on a fine chain, a rawhide thong, or a bit of twine.

 

It is used by holding it between the hands, and speaking a magic word (different for each Stone of Finding). The user then concentrates on everything he knows about the target. The Stone of Finding, if it works, will then let the user know the location of the target; this takes but a moment, and the Stone gives no more information than location. Note that only living (more or less) beings that can be said to have a mind (in the most generous sense of the term) can be located. This item only works twice per day.

 

 

Stone of Finding: Mind Scan, 5d6, +15 on ECV Roll, both Human and Animal Classes of Minds; 0 END (+1/2); Incantations (-1/4), 2 Charges (-1 1/2), Instant (-1/2), OAF (-1), Independent (-2), Gestures (-1/4), Must Achieve EGO+20 Result "Mentalist knows exact location of the target" (-1), Only For Location, Cannot Use Other Powers Through The Link (-1/2).

Base/Active/Real: 65/97/12

 

Note that if an EGO+20+20 result is obtained, the Mind Scan will be undetectable by the target.

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

In reference to the Dimensional Bag...

 

You say that no intelligence can enter the bag. Thus, if you stick your head in it, you die?

 

Also... could you put your entire body in it if you leave your head sticking out?

 

Inquiring minds want to know!!

[Ternaugh]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

And for those with a need to talk to their opponents before killing them, presenting:

 

St. Roddenberry's Ring of Parallel Development

 

Working on the theory that every humanoid species is somehow related (and probably interfertile), St. Roddenberry developed this magic item so that the various species could communicate more freely (that is, without the use of subtitles).

 

St. Roddenberry's Ring of Parallel Development: Universal Translator 16- (25 Active Points); Independent (-2), OIF-Ring (-1/2), Only to translate spoken language between humanoids (-1/4) Real Cost: 7 points.

 

JoeG

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

In reference to the Dimensional Bag...

 

You say that no intelligence can enter the bag. Thus, if you stick your head in it, you die?

No. Sorry, I thought I was clear, but perhaps not.

 

An intelligence cannot enter the other plane; an attempt leaves the intelligence in the bag in "this" plane of reality.

 

Also... could you put your entire body in it if you leave your head sticking out?

 

Inquiring minds want to know!!

Yes, you could. Now, if you "jumped in", leaving your head sticking out, and then tried to pull you head through to the other plane, well....

 

The result I'd leave up to the GM. Perhaps all of you suddenly returns to "this" plane, inside the bag, which would be a tight fit since it's two feet deep and a foot-and-a-half wide. Or, the bag rips apart, with who-knows-what effect on the XDM power (probably lost forever).

 

A truly cruel GM might rule that your head lands up in the bag in "this" plane, while the rest of you stays in "the other" plane. :eg:

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

The Cord of True Hearts

 

Upon creation, this item looks like nothing more than a piece of leather cord, about 25 cm long, with a loop tied in each end with a slip knot. The creator of the Cord brings together any two people who consider themselves to be truly in love with each other, and who are willing to take on the Cord.

 

The caster puts one of the loops over the finger of each of the two people, completes the spell, and cuts the cord between the two. If the two people both believe themselves to be in love, and are truly willing, the cord cuts with ease; within a few minutes the ends of cord fade away, and from then on there's only a thin band of unbroken leather. Note that if either person is not in love, or not willing, the cord cannot be cut. It is important to remember that the "rings" are not actually such; they are a physical alteration, and connot be removed.

 

If the connection is somehow forcibly disrupted, it will restore itself as soon as the disrupting power is removed or overcome.

 

If successful, from then on each of the two will be able to mentally contact the other, across any distance and even between planes. Note that the Cord of True Hearts continues to function even if the two people involved fall out of love or even become enemies. Since all mental powers can be transmitted through the connection the two have, if love turns to hate, each is highly vulnerable to the other.

 

 

 

The Cord of True Hearts

The item itself: Mind Link, One Specific Mind, Psychic Bond, Any Distance, Through The Dimensions; Inherent (+1/4); Always On (-1/2). Base/Active/Real: 20/25/17

 

How the creator "casts" it; the above becomes the basis for a UOO power:

Base cost 17 points; Usable As Attack (+1), Delayed Effect (+1/4); One Charge That Doesn't Recover (-4), OAF (-1), Independent (-2), Only If Both Persons Are In Love, And Willing (-1/2).

 

B/A/R: 17/38/4

 

 

It is done as "Usable As Attack" rather than "Usable By Others" because the creator/caster does it to the two people, rather than giving the two the power to do it to themselves, when and if they want.

 

You might want to add Gestures to the UOO part. It's up to you.

[Blue Jogger]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Dimensional Bag

 

GM's can come up with a large number of variations

 

Favorite one that I saw was a Rubix cube, the owner hadn't master the skill, so she would be constantly summoning random things out of it as she played with it. "Oh dear, I know I put it in here somewhere."

[Fenixcrest]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

From my campaign based on the Legend of Zelda/Hyrule:

 

The Corrupted Glove

One thousand years ago lived Bonavin the True, who, it is said, was so pure that no lies could be told in his presence. He precided over the Sancturary of Truth, a vast, pristine temple to Nayru, goddess of Wisdom.

One day, the tale is told, Bonavin was approached after his service one day by a man in a crimson robe. "Your temple is beautiful," said the man, "But it is missing something. Let me help you to make it perfect."

Bonavin, knowing that no lie could be told to him, agreed, and thus began his relationship with the man in crimson. First, they say, the changes started small. At first nobody noticed it. One by one, the holy man replaced every white candle in his sanctuary with a black one. Next, he moved to the great statue of Nayru, her arms outstretched, her face smiling warmly. At his new companion's instruction, he took the chisel to it, and her smile become a cold frown. The fountain at its base became a great granite slab. Soon, his sermons became different; no longer did he preach the virtues of truth and wisdom, but rather he began to beseige his followers with long, angry rants about the dangers and punishments for their mistakes and failings. He covered the mighty entry arch of the temple with a massive iron door, and the ranks of his flock began to dwindle. Fewer and fewer people came to his services, and the changes he made to the temple continued. Around the time he carved great circles around the triforces in the walls and floor of the sanctuary and had the great statue of Nayru pulled down (as it turned out, the man in crimson had noticed that it really didn't look like her, anyway), people stopped coming to his services entirlely.

One day, he came into his sanctuary from his morning washings, and was shocked. The man in crimson knelt upon the granite slab, a twisting steel knife clutched in his hands. Great X's had been violently torn into the stone through the each holy Triforce symbol in the room, and a great flaming circle, accented about its edges by strange signs and patterns which glew with an unearthly light, flickered over desecrated Triforce in the center of the sanctuary floor.

Bonavin's hand tightened around the longsword hanging at his waist. "What... what is this? You've broken the sacred sign of the Goddesses!"

The man in crimson drove the knife into the stone upon which he sat. It cleanly entered the slab, as though the great table of granite was not even there. "So," he chuckled, "It seems that even the holiest of the holy may be corrupted by our power. I will tell you this, friend Bonavin: Not a word I have said to you since 'Your temple is beautiful' has been the truth."

"How?" replied the priest, drawing his blade, "How can the power of the Goddesses be defied so?"

"I told you that I could show you how to make your temple perfect. So determined were you to create the ultimate shrine to your precious Nayru..." grinned the man, as Bonavin turned pale, "That you forgot that 'perfect' is a word that only a god can truly use. Your holy way has been cast completely aside by the very force you had purged yourself of!"

The man in crimson, pulled a hood up over his head, and stepped forward. "The Dark God of Lies has already scribed the contract for you, brother Bonavin," he said, motioning toward the burning circle. "Won't you please sign it, and complete this lovely renovation of ours?"

 

It is said that on that night, for just a few moments, the full moon took the appearance of a great, bulging eye, which darted its gaze around from its perch in the sky, and fixed straight down on the sanctuary, as the very world itself bucked and roared, and swallowed the structure in a great, rolling sea of broken earth.

 

Deep in that buried shrine, a single steel longsword lies embedded in the stone. Gripping its hilt is a single black glove, a cracked crystal triangle adorning its back.

 

The Corrupt Glove is able to add a DRAIN BODY 10d6 to any attack with a weapon, ranged or hand to hand, which is considered to be a part of that weapon during that attack. It has the following disadvantages: x2 END, Activation Roll 11-, Side Effects (if roll fails): 2d6 energy KA to the user, Drain CON 2d6 to the user, recovers once per day. The Corrupt Glove's power manifests as a freezing cold, crackling field of negative energy, which lashes out from the glove's crystal and surrounds the weapon being used. If the activation roll fails, then this energy surrounds the user, instead, and then explodes in a burst of black and red.

[Curufea]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Potion of Youth

The potion has one use, and when imbibed will reduce the age of the user by 10 years. If only partially drunk, this change will only be cosmetic (they'll look young, but not be young).

If the drinker spends time in sacred places, churches etc, then the effect wears off quicker (twice as fast, in fact). One month in a church is equal to two months outside.

Only works on Humans.

 

The effects are cummulative, so if two potions are drunk, they will get 20 years younger.

 

Reverse Aging: Major Transform 5d6 (Human into Human 10 years younger, Normal Healing (Accelerated by contact with sacred ground/temples/churches)), Partial Transform (+1/2) (112 Active Points); OAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -2 1/4), Independent (-2), 1 Charge (-2), Limited Target (Humans only; -1/2)

Real cost: 14pts

 

Western Shores cost - 58 pounds 16 shillings to create. Figure two to four times the cost on the black market.

[Basil]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Potion of Youth

{snip}

Reverse Aging: Major Transform 5d6 (Human into Human 10 years younger, Normal Healing (Accelerated by contact with sacred ground/temples/churches)), Partial Transform (+1/2) (112 Active Points); OAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -2 1/4), Independent (-2), 1 Charge (-2), Limited Target (Humans only; -1/2)

Real cost: 14pts

Why Normal Healing? That's not going to be too useful, nor too popular. I'd go for an all-or-nothing healing. Say, if BODY, STUN, or END Drained. Or if subject to accelerated aging.

 

Just a suggestion.

[Outsider]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Or just use Life Support on a really long charge (difficult to dispell, of course)

 

That would be more of a age-stopping effect than a age reversing one, though.

[Alibear]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Heroblade.

 

This weapon was designed to increase in power the more heroic the wielder was.

 

It starts of just a sword without the real weapon disadvantage but increased in power proportionately with the character. It would remove the wielders NCM among other things.

 

Anyway it is a GM's device that allowed me to hand out 1 magic weapon which didn't need to be upgraded as the character got more powerful, I would just make the sword more powerful to keep up with him.

 

Also when the player realised that his sword would get more powerful the more heroic he bacame it was great way to get the character interested being a good guy not just a DND kill the monster take his stuff type thing.

[Curufea]

Re: Magic Items Thread

 

Why Normal Healing? That's not going to be too useful' date=' nor too popular. I'd go for an all-or-nothing healing. Say, if BODY, STUN, or END Drained. Or if subject to accelerated aging.[/quote']

 

The purpose of this potion is to NOT be an instant, no frills, perfect solution.

It is also slightly addictive.

Normal healing (as with other transforms on living creatures) gives a time period of suitable length and is actually more useful to the elderly, than the young (who tend to be more physical with a higher REC)

 

Or just use Life Support on a really long charge (difficult to dispell, of course)

 

That would be more of a age-stopping effect than a age reversing one, though.

 

Yeah - this is for people who are already old. You don't want to be age 60+ for the next hundred years

 

The potion is highly illegal, highly sought after and a wonderful plot point.