One of my favorite DM tricks these days is to take an existing magic item and change its physical form, often into something less useful or more finicky. It’s not only limits the power level of certain items, it adds a lot of personality the campaign. Often these items become treasured not just for their powers, but for their uniqueness and character.
For your pleasure, here are a few examples:
Hookah of Healing – I think this is the first one I did. It operates as a normal staff of healing, healing 1d6 of damage to any number of individuals, but each target can only be so affected once per day. Unlike the staff, the hookah requires a bunch of setup time and is more bulky and fragile. I created this after watching my players use a staff of healing in a long running campaign, and I noticed it often got passed around at the camp site after a day’s adventuring. I thought it would be funny to reinforce that usage and limit the actual combat usefulness in a later campaign by introducing the hookah of healing.
Plate Mail of Water Breathing – I think this usually comes in ring form, but this enchantment just feels so obvious for plate armor. It’s always the heavily armored fighters that get very skittish around water. They’d love magic armor that solves that problem, right? And yeah, it is basically an old-timey scuba suit – it’s not like it weighs less or makes you an expert swimmer, but you can slowly walk across the bottom of a lake. In my campaign, it was heavily styled to resemble a crab.
Plate Mail of Feather Fall – This one just hit me as I was writing up the previous one. The water breathing armor came from a real campaign, but feather fall also feels like a natural enchantment your heavy armor wearer might like. Hm, what other rings can we turn into plate armor?
Thorned Crown of Regeneration – I know, it’s a bit biblical. The idea is that it’s basically just like a ring of regeneration, but very fragile. I mean, it’s made of twigs! Similar to the hookah this removes the combat usefulness of this item and forces it to be used strictly in the aftermath. You could wear it into combat, but my players were never willing to take that risk. They even spent a considerable sum of money having a custom water-tight metal box made for it. Hm, that would be an interesting way to discover it – sunk at the bottom of a lake or well in a water-tight lead box.
Pottery Wheel of Commanding Earth Elementals – OD&D lumps all the elemental summoning/controlling items into one group and says that they “all are rather bulky and require one turn to set up or store away”. In which case, a “stone” of commanding earth elements seems pretty weak. So let’s play it up – get that wheel set up and start making a pot for the elemental to emerge from! We can also do this with the other elements: Bow of Commanding Fire Elementals (not like a bow that shoots arrows, but a bow for starting fires), Bellows of Commanding Air Elementals (very big, requires two people to operate), and Shovel of Commanding Water Elementals (you have to dig until you hit the water table).
Camp Stool of Levitation – Clearly not quite as useful as boots. It’s not like you can just click your heals and up the cliff you go. It’s still portable, but you’ve got to get it out of your pack and sit down to activate it. And the visual image of a floating person sitting on a camp stool is just delightful.
Table of Teleportation – Unlike the helm, this is meant to transport an entire party. Of course, the entire table and all the chairs go with them. I’m imagining a big heavy wooden table with some solid chairs, not something you want to idly use to take you to random locations. Maybe if you know of a castle or cave near your destination where it could be safely used, it could cut out a lot of wilderness travel.
OK, I admit, some of those got a little silly. Still, I think the idea in general has a lot of legs, and I challenge you the next time you roll up a random magic item to stop for a moment and think of what physical form you could change it to that while perhaps not quite as useful, is at least far more memorable.
LOL at the thorned crown of regeneration and the pottery wheel of earth elementals; those are amazing! (I even want to give a starting 1 hp damage for putting on the crown before the regeneration kicks in.)
The one thing that be different for me (re: elementals) is how I’m fond of the interpretation that you need a big quantity of the element in question before pulling an elemental out of it. So that would suggest, I don’t know, a huge crook/brazier you can only light from at least a bonfire, or a pump to pull sufficient royal water out of a river or lake.
I feel like there’s a limit there somewhere – too unwieldy and the players will simply disregard it as useful treasure. That said, it does open the door for interesting uses by the bad guys without worrying about giving the players an overpowered item. Yes, you killed the bad guys who had a magic item for commanding fire elementals, but it’s the entire forge including a 3 story chimney built into the castle – how exactly are you getting that home?
PS – Congratulations on writing the 1,000th comment on my blog. 🙂
It’s always been a bugaboo that magic items were tied to form factor first, effect second. Especially in 3rd ed with the way item creation feats worked. I can make a magic ring, but not a belt/earring/bracelet?
I could see a quick and dirty replacement magic item chart, one roll for magic, one for form factor. Invisibility Dagger, Vorpal Necklace, Continual Light Shoes….
Yes please, I would totally roll on those tables.
OK,
Took me a while to get around to it.
Found a nice table for mundane objects that I modified and pulled the list of effects from LBB listed magic items.
Roll Item
1 Roll Again
2 Amulet
3 Anvil
4 Backpack
5 Bag
6 Bandage
7 Bandana
8 Banner
9 Barding
10 Barrel
11 Basin
12 Basket
13 Bedroll
14 Belt
15 Beverage
16 Blanket
17 Blouse
18 Bone
19 Book
20 Boots
21 Box
22 Bracelet
23 Brazier
24 Bucket
25 Buckle
26 Cage
27 Candle
28 Canteen
29 Cauldron
30 Censer
31 Chain
32 Chalk
33 Chest
34 Chisel
35 Climbing gear
36 Cloak
37 Clock
38 Coal
39 Coin
40 Collar
41 Comb
42 Cowbell
43 Crib
44 Crown
45 Crutches
46 Cube
47 Cup
48 Curtain
49 Cushion
50 Deck of Cards
51 Desk
52 Die
53 Doll
54 Dress
55 Drum
56 Earring
57 Egg
58 Fan
59 Feather
60 Flag
61 Flint and iron
62 Flower
63 Flute
64 Fork
65 Gem
66 Girdle
67 Gloves
68 Goblet
69 Harp
70 Harpoon
71 Hat
72 Healer’s Kit
73 Heavy Armor
74 Helmet
75 Hood
76 Hook
77 Horn
78 Horsesoes
79 Hourglass
80 Incense
81 Ingot
82 Ink
83 Jar
84 Jelly
85 Jewel
86 Juice
87 Kettle
88 Key
89 Kite
90 Knife
91 Ladder
92 Ladle
93 Lamp
94 Lantern
95 Large Weapon
96 Light Armor
97 Liquid
98 Lock
99 Lockpicks
100 Loom
101 Lute
102 Manacles
103 Mask
104 Matchbox
105 Medium Armor
106 Medium Weapon
107 Mirror
108 Mitten
109 Mortar & Pestle
110 Mug
111 Nail
112 Necklace
113 Needle
114 Net
115 Oil
116 Painting
117 Pan
118 Pants
119 Paper
120 Piece of Cake
121 Pillow
122 Pin
123 Pipes
124 Poison
125 Pot
126 Potion
127 Pouch
128 Preserved Organ
129 Quartz
130 Quilt
131 Quiver
132 Ranged Ammunition
133 Ranged Weapon
134 Rations
135 Rattle
136 Ribbon
137 Ring
138 Robe
139 Rock
140 Rod
141 Rolling Pin
142 Rope
143 Sack
144 Sandals
145 Sarcophagus
146 Sash
147 Satchel
148 Scabbard
149 Scale
150 Scarf
151 Scroll
152 Scroll case
153 Seal
154 Shawl
155 Shears
156 Sheath
157 Sheet Music
158 Shell
159 Shield
160 Shoes
161 Shovel
162 Skirt
163 Small Weapon
164 Soap
165 Soup
166 Spade
167 Sphere
168 Spike
169 Spoon
170 Staff
171 Statue
172 Statuette
173 Stick
174 Stone
175 Stool
176 Sundial
177 Tabard
178 Tent
179 Thimble
180 Tobacco Pipe
181 Tongs
182 Tool
183 Torch
184 Totem
185 Towel
186 Tower Shield
187 Tray
188 Tunic
189 Unknown Machinery
190 Vase
191 Vest
192 Vial
193 Vice
194 Wagon
195 Wand
196 Waterskin
197 Whetstone
198 Whistle
199 Windchime
200 Wine
Roll Power
1 +1
2 +2 Vs Lycanthropes
3 +2 Vs Magic Users and enchanted Monsters
4 Locate Objects
5 +3 vs Trolls
6 +3 vs Clerics
7 Flaming
8 +2 vs Trolls
9 +2 vs Pegasi
10 +2 vs Hippogrifs
11 +2 vs Rocs
12 +3 vs Treants
13 +3 vs Undead
14 Wishes 2d4
15 +3 vs Dragons
16 +2
17 Charm Person
18 +3
19 Life Draining
20 Cursed -2
21 +1 and Roll Again
22 +2 and Roll Again
23 +2 vs Goblins and Kobolds
24 +3 vs Orcs, Goblins, and Kobolds
25 Returning
26 Growth
27 Diminuation
28 Giant Strength
29 Invisibility
30 Gaseous Form
31 Polymorph (Self)
32 Speed
33 Levitation
34 Flying
35 ESP
36 Delusion
37 Healing
38 Longevity
39 Clairvoyance
40 Clairaudience
41 Animal Control
42 Undead Control
43 Plant Control
44 Human Control
45 Giant Control
46 Dragon Control
47 Poison
48 Poison (Hidden)
49 Invulnerability
50 Fire Resistance
51 Treasure Finding
52 Heroism
53 1 Spell (25% Divine)
54 2 Spells (25% Divine)
55 3 Spells (25% Divine)
56 7 Spells (25% Divine)
57 Protection from Lycanthropes
58 Protection from Undead
59 Protection from Elementals
60 Protection from Magic
61 Cursed Transport to another Plane
62 Cursed Transport 1000 miles away
63 Cursed Ploymorph into insect
64 Cursed Disease, Fatal in 3 tunes
65 Cursed attacked by Monster
66 Mammal Control
67 Weakness?
68 Protection
69 3 Wishes
70 Water Walking
71 Protection 5′ Radius
72 Regeneration
73 Djinn Summoning
74 Telekenisis
75 X Ray Vision
76 Spell Turning
77 Spell Storing
78 Many Wishes 2d6
79 Metal Detection
80 Enemy Detection
81 Magic Detection
82 Secret Doors and Traps Detection
83 Illusion
84 Fear
85 Cold
86 Paralization
87 Fire Balls
88 Lightning Bolts
89 Negation
90 Commanding
91 Snake
92 Striking
93 Withering
94 Power
95 Wizardry
96 Scrying
97 Holding
98 Elven Kind
99 Read Magic
100 Roll Twice
Great stuff!
I adore the Pottery Wheel for earth elementals, as I agree that the Stone was pretty weak sauce. (Unless you made it some kinda menhir, that would be kinda cool, if much less portable.) One wonders if you’d actually have to work some clay on the wheel to activate it, and what comes from the results. Normal pots? Little figurines? Potion flasks?
The Bow for Commanding Fire Elementals is cool, in the sense of a making a campfire type bow, but when I first read it it sparked (no pun intended) the idea of a shootin’ bow created by marauding barbarian wizards for siege warfare that fired flaming arrows that would summon a fire elemental wherever they hit. Probably more than a little OP, that one. Pretty much a city killer.
You could also go with an Oar of Commanding Water Elementals. Or maybe a Kayak or Coracle of Commanding Water Elementals, and you have to ride atop the elemental like a howdah atop an elephant and control it by paddling.
The crown of thorns has a very relic-y flavor to it. Seems like you’d find it on a moldering satin pillow in a bejeweled glass reliquary.
Would the Table of Teleportation lose its power if you lost any of the chairs? Or what if the party just had to climb up on the table and ride it to their destination on a crazy, Bedknobs and Broomsticks style flight from place to place?
I love this sort of thing. 😀