Sample magic items
From AJS.COM
The Perl program that I wrote to generate random treasure can generate some excellent magical treasure for a Dungeons & Dragons game, but it just generates the typical, bland item descriptions of the SRD 3.5. In order to improve this, I've come up with the following list of special items that have some more detail to them.
Contents |
Armor
The Gryphon's Robe
Conflict between the Scarlet Brotherhood and the Free City of Greyhawk has always been a matter of power plays and secret dealings. In some cases, this has involved the need for Greyhawk's agents to move deep into Brotherhood territory. In cases like this, it is not uncommon for such an agent to wear one of these "Gryphon's Robes". They are so named because of the gryphon's status as a symbol of Greyhawk and because the typical appearance of the armor is that of a mundane robe, appropriate in the lands of the Brotherhood. When a command word is issued, the robes show their true nature as a brilliantly polished suit of steel armor. To further protect the wearer, a magical barrier that is impervious to much of the damage done by most mundane attacks has been placed over the suits.
medium [glamered, invulnerability] +2 full plate armor (27,700gp)
Description
The appearance of the robe is that of a well-made, but simple travelling robe, the like of which is used in nearly all warm climates. When unglamered, the armor is a fuil suit of mail (taking the usual amount of time to take off and put on). Its surfaces are all polished to a nearly perfect reflectivity, and the joints remain perfectly lubricated, even when not cared for for weeks at a time.
Rings
Alabar the wise
Alabar is a djinni, which is bound to a ring. It goes about its life on the elemental plane of air, but is always vaguely aware of the prime material plane through the ring. Whenever it senses that the bearer of the ring might be in a compromising situation, it dutifully informs them via an empathic nudge.
The ring was designed by the great dwarven king, Denekatar who, though quite wise, tended toward the paranoid. Therefore, he had his mages craft a ring which would attempt to determine when he was being lied to, and inform him. This worked well until a rakshasa with a large supply of potions of glibness lead him into committing not only troops, but his own safety to what turned out to be a drow ambush, deep in the Underdark. Denekatar never returned, but his ring is seen on the market every 100 years or so. Some say that it is cursed.
ring of djinni calling intelligent: (130,001gp value)
int: 12, wis: 12, cha: 10, ego: 8
Alignment: lawful good
Communication: Empathy
Powers:
Item has 10 ranks in Sense Motive
Description
The ring is a simple band, made of a material that looks like gold, inset with mithral, but even heavy weapon blows have never damaged it. The mithral relief shows a billowing figure, flowing over the surface, and though no movement is apparent, no two viewings show the figure in the same pose.
Rods
Pamareen, Spellbreaker
Pamareen was an Ur-Priest who lived over 300 years ago. When her time was nearly over, she realized that she could not bring herself to face death. A lesser being would have swooned to the dangerous siren song of magic, and transform themselves into a mockery of life: a lich. Pamareen, however, had spent her life, enjoying the feel of her boot as it crushed such magic-tainted horrors. She was not about to become one of them!
Turning to her training in divine item creation, she created a rod of cancellation (one of her favorite tools) of surpassing quality, and then called upon Hextor to bind her soul to the device.
rod of cancellation intelligent: (16,001gp value)
int: 10, wis: 12, cha: 12, ego: 3
Alignment: neutral evil
Communication: Empathy
Powers:
Item has 10 ranks in Knowledge (religion)
She continues to grant those who weild the rod the benefit of her knowledge by subtly indicating her preferences to them. However, when handled by a spell-user, she will typically attempt to maneuver them into dangerous situations.
Description
The rod is about one foot in length, and has the symbol of Hextor engraved at one end. It is made of some sort of metal, but what sort is not clear.
Weapons
Wraith Woe of Barraig
Barraig was a knight who fought against the Empire of Iuz during the Greyhawk Wars. A dozen men under his command were killed by a trio of malevolent ghosts, summoned by one of Iuz's fearsome wizards.
Before returning to the battle, Barraig had his bastard sword, a magical weapon that delivered a burst of electrical damage on contact, imbued with the ghost touch ability. He dubbed this weapon "Wraith Foe", and returned to enemy territory with several mages and paladins to find and kill the ghost-summoning wizard. They were partially successful. The blade did its job, and all of the ghosts were dispatched, but much to everyone's shock, Iuz himself was meeting with the wizard at the time. As Barraig delt the fatal blow to the summoner, Iuz retaliated with lethal force.
The sword was confiscated and sent back to Iuz's horde, but never arrived. Some say it was stolen back by spies, deep in Iuz's territory. Some say that the ghost of Barraig himself claimed it in order to hunt down servants of the Old One.
medium [ghost touch, shock] +3 sword, bastard (50,335gp)
Description
Wraith Foe is a wide-bladed behemoth that most warriors find near impossible to weild effectively. Its blade is lined with runes in ancient Flannish that read, "the power of the sky parts my way."
Wondrous items
Yvonissie's shroud
Yvonissie was a powerful druid, and the matriarch of her rather extended family. When one of her granddaughters (also named Yvonissie) reached maturity, she was given this shroud as a gift with the expectation that she would follow in her grandmother's footsteps as a druid. She did not, however, and when she left her home in order to make her way as an adventuring bard near Verbobonc, she sold the exquisite vestment in order to purchase appropriate gear for her chosen path. Decades later Yvonissie, an experienced adventurer and hero of the Kron Hills, decided to try to find her grandmother's gift, but alas it had long since been sold to an adventurer who was lost in the underdark, attempting to find a rumored drow treasure cache.
vestment, druid's (10,000gp)
Description
This eleganct shround is an intricate work of embroidery on a combination of cotton and wool. There are figures depicted in the embroidery that are in various stages of aminal transformation while dancing in woodland settings.
Notes
This is a perfect item to use as a plot hook for a party with a druid. Yvonissie's name is likely intervoven inobtrusively into the embroidery. Anyone who sought her out would find her living in the Kron Hills. She would be willing to trade very valuable information for the shroud, and probably knows of many promissing tales of treasure caches that could lead an adventuring party into just about any plotline a gamemaster could want.
