d20 Yet More Magic Items

 See previous magic item posts.

d20 Magic Items

1. Mandrake, an infant plant like a weeping buddha. Bury and water her, and in a weed a small forest will have grown, ever your friend.
2. The Arrows of Kis. heads mostly-opaque, hafts chalky and dark. When fired, the tracer trail condenses into a solid 1/2" crystal, solid as balsa.
3. Lens of Silus. Obsidian rim, polished with the unguents of the Shrine Factors. Shows every footstep that has fallen within the past day in after-image purples..
4. Automatic Scribe of the Elds. A metal torso, spindly mechanical arms, and half-lidded eyes. Scrapes parchments clean. Any magic scrolls given to it are scraped and rewritten-- the DM rerolls their contents.
5. The Ice Axe. +1 one-handed warhammer whose haft is a wand of Hoarfrost (2d6 charges, as Grease but cold). The weapon loses its bonus once the spell depletes but can regain it if a new wand replaces the haft.
6. Brick of Promethean Clay. Pungent and herby, color the tone of a shaved cat's flesh. Rest your head on it as you sleep to impart your memories and goals. Shape it with your bare hand into any shape of creature. It will have 1 HP and obey your instructions. 
7. Black Hood. Stiff and crusty. Take minimum damage when running at full speed and swinging an axe.
8. Golden Wind-Up Bird. Stately in bearing, with a trademark hop-hop-takeoff. Said to be of a set of twelve once owned by the twelve worst criminals in the world. Delivers letters with the tenacity and ingenuity of a veteran courier. 1-in-20 chance of being lost or destroyed each time.
9. Cape of Night and Day. decorated with counter-impaled yellow-on-purple-on-yellow circles. Reverses gravity for the wearer.
10. Jeweled Scabbard. Once-fine leather singed and warped. Shoots lightning from its octohedronal sapphire 1/week.
11. Bubble Bauble. Like a pink marble. When thrown onto a hard surface, breaks to summon a bigger, pinker bubble, a sort of translucent Rope Trick.
12. Devil Star. +3 shuriken that throws sparks when thrown. Sick as shit.
13. Dog's Blindfold. Fuzzy on one side, slick on the other. Allows the wearer to sniff like a bloodhound.
14. Music Box of Missiles. Takes a full minute to wind up, playing a circus melody all the time. At the final note, fires a magic missile. Can be pre-wound ahead of intended use.
15. Plate Gun That Shoots Glass Vials. Oversized cylinder that holds up to five. Empty vials explode into shrapnel upon hitting, dealing 1d6 damage. Full vials also presumably discharge their contents. (idea by Semiurge.)
16. Staff of Heel. Every breakfast, you can feed the Staff some scraps of your meal to empower it with a charge-- maximum three charges. Brandishing the Staff and reciting its summons conjures a loyal hunting dog for three hours. As you summon it, you may give it one single-sentence command it understands perfectly, but thereafter must rely on its best guesses of what you want it to do.
17. Candle of Calm. Heather purple with a lurid violet flame, anything within the 10' radius candlelight is magically calmed, though its intentions are the same. Runners slow to a cautious speed, negotiators take a reasonable tack, hungry beasts gently devour you. Lasts 4 hours, but can be extinguished and relit as needed.
18. Dancing Pipe. Polished mahogany stem with a patinated bronze bowl, decorated with simple sculpture of jigging fairies. When smoked with tobacco worth at least 10 gold coins, the smoke swirls into a simulacrum who performs a single action of your choice-- opening a door, pulling a lever, and so in.
19. Powderer's Glue. Stinks like earwax, looks like earwax. One dab requires a successful Open Door roll to pull apart. Quick-setting, dissolved by blood. Typically comes in three-dab tubs.
20. Ivory Snail. An alchemical tonguey sponge set into an immaculate ivory shell. When uncapped, exhudes slime, slippery yet tacky. One Snail typically dispenses a bath tub's worth of slime in about an hour before needing to be refilled.

Periapt

It is an oversized owl charm, silver on a silver chain. The eyes are set with flints, and a fil de fer runs through the silver links of the chain, forming a silken iron thread.

The wearer of the periapt gets +4 Wisdom as long as they wear it.

 Wisdom, contributing to hindsight, is first heard in an idea that most feel when they put the periapt on. I probably shouldn't have done that.

Removing the periapt ends its magical effect. That is, the doffing character loses 4 wisdom. They become duller, less insightful, less virtuous, less clear-headed. This is not a fate worse than death, but it is something that many would trade all their worldly possessions to avoid.

The average chansel finds the periapt an unwelcome necessity, once she has tried it on. She shirks curses and magical spells more easily, finds wells of patience and potential that she would have passed by without the periapt, and prospers all the more in many enterprises. But though the mind is broader, it has no peace. Not as long as she wanders mazes to chase coins. Adventure, wisdom shows, is misadventure when you can be doing almost anything else. The person who made these friends and chose these goals and accepted these compromises of living is betrayed by the person who now thinks better of them. The chancer's guardian angel, urging him to drink strange fluids in strange pools, to live his life like he stole it, is joined by the owl on the other shoulder. Is that a worthy risk? Do you want to be dramatic or do you want to do right?

We presume this was not crafted into a curse. The wise woman and the royal advisor have worn the periapt and suffered little for it. Already half-wise, they ordered their lives carefully, and with enhanced insight found nothing they valued needed to be broken from. The blackguard and the twisted have worn the periapt and cut short their evils, all the more joyful for doing so. But no one who knows what it is dons the periapt thoughtlessly, if they know what's good for them.

And if they don't, then they will. 

d20 Armors

 (That's the equivalent of d12.45 Armours, for metric readers)

When I wrote my d30 Rings post, I put together a little random generator at the bottom that randomly selects from a list of almost every spell and item I've written for the blog, distributed according to a certain old-school table that prescribes a certain  proportion of swords, non-sword weapons, scrolls, and so on. In doing so, I noticed that I almost never wrote any amulets, cursed swords, or magical armors, and that stuck in the back of my head until I wrote a d20 amulets post, a cursed items and double-edged swords post, and now a d20 armors post. 

More often than I expected, when I want to place a magic armor, the type (leather/chain/plate/exc.) I find I already have a strong opinion of what it should be in the context where it is being generated. Therefore, unless implied by the armor's description, you can apply these effects to whatever baseline AC type you want, and give a magic +1 AC bonus about 2-in-6 of the time. If you want to determine it randomly, roll a d4 and on a 1 it's leather, on a 2 or 3 it's chain, and on a 4 it's plate.

d20 Armors

1. The visor, vents, and weakpoints are shrouded with whale bristles, kept vital by the craft of merfolk bartsmiths. This affords better visibility from within, and utterly keeps out swarming creatures which might otherwise find a narrow entry under the armor.

2. Copper-trimmed armor forged against a spirit of Venus. If laid out in the sunrise or sunset, it gains up to 3 Charge. The wearer can spend a charge to add 1d6 damage to an unarmed attack or gain an unbreakable clenching grip for a few seconds. They can spend all remaining charges to emit a thunderbolt in a 200' line, dealing [charges]d6 damage to all, save for half. Expending a charge feels like releasing a muscle you've never noticed before, and shooting thunder is like euphoric emesis.

3. Hydraulic legs. Cranking a dial roots you to the spot so nothing short of a giant's tyrannous strength can move you. Cranking it another way causes the legs to deliver a powerful califerous hop up to 20 feet.

4. Spidersilk. Weighs only as much as your undershirt, and cannot be stuck by webbing or glue.

5. Brimmed fox helm and immaculate gown. When out of sight, you can appear at another place within 30 feet that is also unobserved by others, leaving behind an object the DM deems most appropriate as "a gift". Some has-been scholars will recognize this as the costume of a culture hero whose reverence and observances were suppressed.

6. Stone Judge. Moss-covered granite suit of armor as +1 Plate, the uniform of a beloved now-extinct sect. The people of the Ochre Vale will trust you on sight. Habitual wearers gain old memories-- in the Ochre Vale, get +2-in-6 to Find Secret Doors rolls, and when you are told rumors in that land, you instead hear old lore which is approximately as helpful.

7. Orca-Faced Plate. Airtight when worn with matching leathers. The wearer can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes.

8. Quicksilver Plate. Repels werewolves. At will, turn into a motile pool of mercury for up to 1 minute/hour spent wearing the armor. Take minimum damage from piercing attacks while fluid, but splashing you apart hurts like a weapon does.

9. Rough-skinned Leather. Eat a ration of fresh meat to turn into a shark, or back again.

10. Baroque and insectile suit with a wicked, harpoon-like stinger jutting out of the knee. The wielder can deliver a knee-strike that automatically hits, dealing d10 damage to the target, then-- wrenching like a bone breaking off-- 10-[damage dealt to target] to the wearer. The stinger regrows in about a week.

11. Evil. Red and black, with random spikes jutting out of it. Deal d8 damage on a grapple. Once donned, she cannot be doffed before killing a person on the spikes. In addition to whatever normal penalties one might have for wearing armor indefinitely, after 24 straight hours in this thing, get -4 wisdom until you can remove it.

12. Put the full set on and turn into Ata, a warrior from the time before history. Her stats are as an ogre, but her personality is problematic for modern dungeoneering and you may have to make frequent saves vs culture-shock-induced-violence. Turn back when even a glove or helm is removed.

13. A cerulean gown. Elegant, pretty, and oddly protective.

14. Basilisk scale. Turns creatures with a good sense of smell, or any creature that comes out of a mirror.

15. Hook helm. Shoots a grapple javelin straight up, and mechanisms on the body pull you to whatever you embed it in. If you want to bow forward to shoot it as a projectile, make a ranged attack at -2 to-hit for 1d8 damage. Range 50'.

16. Sweating jumpsuit, eyeless helm. As long as you wear it, you animate and see through the eyes of a bronze construct. For each hour spent piloting the construct, save vs wands or suffer distracting hallucinations.

17. Onion-Vein. Armor is semitransparent and flexible. If you are dismembered, the missing member regrows in 10 minutes, but with a 2-in-6 chance of misalignment.

18. Sloshing Armor. Stores up to 8 pints of blood. Expend 1 pint/round to regain 1 HP. When less than full, the armor goes cold, and the next person it touches other than its wearer instantly loses 1 HP per missing pint and the armor is topped up.

19. Horned Helm of Glory. Adorned with the (1d6+1)-point antlers of an elk that was hanged for murder, I guess. Burn a point like a candle, and it will glow for 1 hour, during which time the helm will absorb any sounds you make and no one else can see the point-fire, but at the end of the hour the helm will flash and shriek, releasing all the stored up sound and light.

20. Clockwork Armor. +2 Strength. Shoulder-mounted miniature crossbow that can attack for free (1d4 damage) but takes a full round to reload. When hit by a critical attack, save vs paralysis or perform a random act on your next turn as per Confusing Gaze.

The Twenty Unspeakable Substances

1. Naparmian Fire, being composed of gelid flame, that it may bedevil any whom it contact.
2. Sicharum, being a mixture of alchemicals to adulterate tobacco, that it renders the user and those about them half-mortified. Intensified in the Hand of Gloree.
3. Cacheban, being the vinegar of the venom of the wyrm of the Anor, that it kills painfully as it confers amnesia and agreeable temperament, so that murder becomes an aid to fraud.
4. Ridan Steel, being an alloy unknown in Druidom, formed from azurized and folded steel, that it may leave its essence in wounds it cuts and drives men to larceny and rampancy.
5. Brimstone, being the spoor of the devil, that it may be mixed into a powder by gravediggers and pharmacists to blast beneath palaces or in ingenious tubes to propel stones at the goodly, this latter use being the pursuit for which the substance is named.
6. Ectoplasm of Curse and Grudge, being a quiescent residue that ghostes perspire, that reprisal is inflicted on others beyond the justice of natural law.
7. Hermeous Fluid, being a shining fluid that resembles burnished brass when stilled, its breath stealing the sense of common folk, that it enhances its own comprehension and thus avoid lawful destruction save by those who may pass high justice upon it.
8. Ziphos Nectar, being the ambrosia of a certain fruit forbidden to name, that those who taste of it will grow languid in preferring the sensations of a false world before that of reality.
9. Alber, being a dark matte metal, that saints, doctors and other creatures deemed holy might be repelled by its presence or harmed the more direly for the wound being inflicted by it.
10. Asbestos, being the fibers of a mineral that well shirks heat, that it may corrupt the lungs and words of those around it.
11. Lacunazon, being a verdurous fluid which stiffens and grows icy in moderate cold, that it absorbs the intention of the air to weaken the cope of Heaven above it, so that diabolicals and ludificos may break through't.
12. Fairyglass, being glass sharp-edged and fired to possess a gossamer hue, that those spies through the glass have their dissembling laid bare but seem altogether bestial, so that the love of humanity leaves the viewer.
13. Mendolwood, being the thick-ring lumber of the trees of lands we know not, that, being fashioned into the shape of dolls and puppets, become an enemy to all.
14. Orphan ectoplasm, being a quiescent residue formed by the death of children themselves bereft, so, as the scholars say, it is ontologically separated from the truth of its own creation.
15. Unicorn blood, being the bright ichor of the creature Paradoxa Monoceros, so that unworthy suppliants are empowered and impoverished by its medicorium.
16. Dark monads, being the disparate stuff which may act as though in disconcert and chaos due to a pre-established disharmony with the devil, so speeding the destruction of the world
17. Cuckold dust, being the ground cornus of the domestic cuckold, so those who may inhale it become likewise credulous and fall to mischief.
18. Linguistic ichor, being the particles of speech captured primarily by ingenious sieves, so the dosed person becomes eloquent but shallow of wit.
19. Brazil, being a crystalline growth that resembles gold.
20. Cold-rust, being the air-tapered residue of wet, unalloyed iron which has been produced at a low heat, so sickening those who handle it in proportion to the span of life they may expect.

d30 Magic Swords

 I'm a big apologist for the classic +1 sword. Especially in a game with fewer bonuses to your attack roll, wielding a magic weapon always feels cool to me, and it's useful for a very common adventure game situation. They often just want a bit of pizzazz, some loving description or historical detail.

Cool extra abilities are cool (it's in the name) but I would say that it also helps to add some specificity. Many of the interesting swords of stories are interesting because they have some relationship to the wielder, the land, or the foe before them. 

In the list below, assume each sword is +1. Some have special abilities, others have special contexts. At no additional fee, some have both. If you want to roll on this table and you don't have a d30, just roll a d20 and add 0 or 5 or 10. They're in no particular order.

d30 Magic Swords

1. The masterpiece of this land's founding. Whoso wields it is rightwise king. If this seems arbitrary or even ridiculous to you, you have no trust in fate and no love in your breast.

2. This blade is the mark of a great and ancient comitatus, that not only wields the sword but aspires to be a swordsperson. To vanquish another wielder of such a blade heals you 1d4 HP per level, and to carry such a blade is to draw gauntlets from other duelists and from johuns and posers. Randomly encountered roughs should sometimes wield a sword of this type.

3. This blade is the mark of a great and ancient comitatus, but you will never be part of it. Their quest was broken, their dominion shattered, and those who recognize it do not like to be reminded of it, either for the ill it represents or the good it failed to defend.

4. When it gives someone their killing blow, this sword bisects or dismembers them, even defying logic. WHA-SHINK!

5. Bears an oddly glimmering edge. Can slice through anything softer than stone in one stroke, so long as it holds still and you narrate your stroke as a certainty rather than an attempt.

6. Hates a long-lived and crafty foe, burning or shimmering in warning of their servants.

7. Here is a sword that was given as a token, a love-sign of the elves or an adoption by the dwarves or some angel's grace-mark. The owner of the sword by the transmutation of love is a member of the giver-race, and more— for the slaying of a mer by a mer-friend or ghoul by one of the la tukal is worse than murder. It is a kin-slaying, for the orc-proven is not only an orc but a sibling to all orcs.

8. Much as a beyblade contains a bit-beast, this sword is imbued with a sacred animal that may deploy a signature move if the fighting spirit of the wielder is strong

9. This one is heavy, heavier than anything, but you can carry it. Its dweomer is to make the burden of a weapon literal, but to do likewise for its wielder's tenacity. Very few NPCs can even try to parry this blade, and more than a few will resent it.

10. From a workmanlike hilt comes a substance rare, light like shadow or web or rime, or fluid like fire or blood.

11. Dancing Sword. You fucked up, and now it’s dance or die. Sever nine heads in nine days, and in the instant you complete the geas you may throw it aside. Or let three rulers’ crowns encircle the sword, never resting until. Or serve a rough master until they ask five questions of you. It’s something odious and something you have to stumble through, and when you’re done it doesn’t feel like winning.

12. This is the bear-rider's sword, and if you wield it, you can ride a bear into battle, ignoring most or all of the buzzkill penalties

13. What? How can this be? You find the lost sword of your family. Its deeds were your family's deeds, its shame was their shame. When it was lost, so were they. How in the world did it get here, and how could it be you have come to find it?

14. Famously, this sword was used in some momentous deed whose effects are felt today. People can't help but consider the wielder's deeds in light of that elden use.

15. A long, deep crack runs along the blade. It rests in an arrested moment of blazing glory— within it are three swipes, a thrust, and a parry-and-riposte. Each is guaranteed to succeed, but if another sort of attack is attempted, or if the last move is performed, the sword finally shatters into a million pieces.

16. Beetle collector. If you're ready for it, you can try to slice projectiles out of the air with an attack roll that exceeds that of the attacker. For really big projectiles, like cyclops-thrown boulders, you probably have to figure out how to make your slices deal enough damage to thwart the boulder.

17. The black cat blade. Hurray, the sword comes with a loyal, purring shadow glimpsed at a distance and in darkness. Tragedy, for she seldom comes close enough to pet. Ask her a question, and in the morning you'll find a scavenged gift left for you in answer, promising weal or woe or weal and woe. A half-dissolved coin for the woe of the gelatinous cube. A scrap of cooked meat for the weal of a safe inn. A lock of hair for the weal and woe of a painful former love.

18. Used to be somebody. A curse mingled them into oppressor— violence— and victim— object. This princeling or mournful troll or caveman or spirit cannot speak when they have more tang than tongue, and cannot directly reveal the cure for their curse even when communicated with magically.

19. Occulted blade. This sword has no known history, which is confusing in itself. Where has it been and how long has it waited, that it has not interfered and won itself a name? Who forged it and why has it evaded notice so completely?

20. This one has a destiny, the kind of destiny that swords have. Its destiny's name is written along the fuller,and only that destiny's blood can wipe the name away. It will not break, unless snapped off in its destiny's armpit. If you are buried in a tomb, it will find a way out. Its destiny will not die a natural death.

21. Here a Reckoner, a sword against the tyrannies of nature. Makes the immortal wrath of a plague into one that can be fought, or solidifies the coiling hunger of famine so a sword may be stuck into it. No Reckoning-beckoner has ever managed to slay a heart's iniquity.

22. There a Reckoner, a sword to raise the tyrannies of nature. Makes the imagined wrath of a plague into a beast that can be ridden to Bethlehem, or solidifies the poetic coils of famine into a great beast for a warlord to command. No Reckoning-beckoner has ever died peacefully.

23. The tip of the blade softly glows and produces a thrumming hum. When you're in the dark and feel the wielder's approach, you decide for yourself if you really want to confront the master of a magic blade, or if you want to bide your time in the shadows. When in doubt, make a morale roll.

24. A weapon to hold a tripartite transformation. Hold it aloft under the open sky to call a fulminating metamorphosis, becoming as a Recidor— a nephil, a starknight, a roland. Slam it to the floor under the earth to raise a vulcanized rebirth, becoming as a Scansior— a diabol, a magman, a drizz't. Passing through the cope of the earth ends the change.

25. Sword that eats souls

26. Soul-catcher sword. Like a trapper spider, it swipes the soul from a deathblow, coating the blade in  fresh ectoplasm. Carefully collect it in a jar. Anoint a holy object in a tray full of it. Sip it from a bottle.

27. As-You-Like-It. Can go from the size of a pin to a lance to a narrow pillar. Perhaps the +1 to hit and damage is from the extra force of lengthening the sword as you strike?

28. A weapon belonging to your great foe, that remembers the echoes of their plans and their hidden byways.

29. A slayer's sword, that has learned to cut through dragon breath, or slice open gorgonized statues, or buffet wight-stench.

30. Katana, roll twice and combine

d20 Amulets

 d20 Amulets

1. Spotted Marble Tablet on simple thread necklace. When the wearer is endangered, a brave dog may arrive to save them. (The player may decide when is appropriate). If the dog dies, the tablet shatters.

2. Quartz crystal. Glows green and gets cold in the presence of those who lack a soul.

3. Caudalion, the tailbone of a snake dipped in wax and wrapped in scented wrappings. Those who bite the wearer save or explode. On a critical hit with a bite or a critical success on the save, the Caudalion explodes instead (1d4 damage).

4. Saint Koran's Box, a fragile thing of gilded ashwood. The wearer gains the memories of anyone whose finger is stored in the box.

5. Brass Fascinus, a miniature phallus with an eremite's enchantment against self-importance. Aids the wearer in playing possum. If someone really especially wants them dead, they won't be able to tell the difference between staying still and being fully expired.

6. Apotropaic Cat's Eye, marinating in a small sack and carried on a catgut necklace. The wearer can see ghosts and spirits even in the deadly dark at a distance of up to 90 feet.

7. Commandmentine Sigil, a metal amulet in the shape of the old-form ideogram for the word "eleven". When held to the wearer's temple, they can scramble any memory they choose to forget, leaving a confused haze of impressions and images. Due to their use as a little-employed but ever-present status symbol among some crime gangs of Tambracola, carrying the sigil is considered a felony all along the Sasuaran Coast.

8. Etched Phulaktarion. Clever ruby lid conceals a small cavity in which a tightly rolled scroll can be stored. Currently holds a religious mantra that serves as a scroll of protection from evil.

9. Sulfurous Disc. Chunky iron circle on a copper chain. The meaning of the word amulet is "a piece of jewelry that gets you out of trouble," When a screw on top of the disc is twisted, a bullet shoots out, blasting the amulet apart and dealing 1d4 damage, +1d6 if the target was surprised.

10. Seanbane Charm, a crossed-out run cut into polished willow wood. Prevents the thief king Sean from approaching within 15 feet of you, lying to you, or ordering harm done to you. Beware if you walk the roads near Privar, for those who serve him have learned they'll win his gratitude if the slit the throat of anyone wearing such an amulet.

11. Apotropaic Pearl, set in discolored silver. Serves multiple uses. On a critical failure, you may have the pearl shatter to give you a reroll. If set into an eye socket, it sees and can never go blind. If swallowed, it coats the lungs and gives advantage to saves vs inhaled poisons, diseases, and possessions for an hour.

12. Ivory Scarab. Contains 1 MD per day and the spells Book to Beetle and Beetle to Book. (Natural-born beetles tend to turn into devotional poems to nonexistent deities, histories by unlettered laymen, or intricate descriptions of local foliage interspersed with uncompelling romance plots between various beetles.)

13. Rue-Not Vial, a glass vessel full of ground rose petals held on a golden chain. Contains just a little bit of luck, fighting spirit, and grit. When the wearer loses HP, they can spend the luck in the vial to gain 1 HP. It has three charges.

14. Destus Hand, a hinged iron glove fitted on a leather thong. When the wearer saves against a spell, the hand grabs it and throws it back at full strength at a time of the wearer's choosing. Must be worn over the clothes.

15. Staring Bead, a circular piece of painted glass with gold leaf pupil. If the wearer would make a save against a magical effect due to seeing (like a medusa) or being seen (like a cockatrice), instead the bead shatters.

16. Soldier's Charm, a pair of miniature silver bullock horns, sometimes hidden beneath a circular leather flap with a design upon it (so as not to seem untrusting). The horns dig into the wearer and draw blood when the person they're dealing with is betraying a third party, such as their own employer or spouse.

17. Sapphire Medallion, set in a plaster scarab and carried on a golden chain. Blue spells the wearer casts cost 1 MD less to cast.

18. Esher's Needle, a reddened pin stuck in a cork and wrapped in silken thread. When inserted into a body, living or dead, the needle can use them to speak. It contains the person of Esher the Unmatched, a journeyman wizard who lived three centuries ago, lived among the trolls, invented the Rope Trick spell, and advised an unwise king. At ease with his existence as a needle, he is genial and generally helpful.

19. Apotropaic Amber, a disc on waxed-thread cord. When held to the eye, diseases and anything that would cause a save or give you a disease throb redly.

20. Sulcus Badge, a hoofprint symbol stamped in an oak square. Marks the wearer as friend of all centaurs, one of the good ones who won't ask to ride or where your heart is or how you'd wear pants or other annoying shit like that.

Cursed Objects and Double-Edged Swords

 It's been too long.

These don't follow that outline for cursed objects I wrote once, mostly because I started writing these in the back of a car on vacation and brevity saves me from too many bumps in the road rendering one idea illegible.

Do you believe in the power of a curse?

d10 Cursed Items

Good cursed items are tricky. I like the idea that they're punishing, no mere double-edged sword, but you want the punishment to itself be a fun problem to deal with. I am considering the practicalities of a campaign where cursed items can only be suffered by those who gain them by ignominious or transgressive means.

1. A blade that Slays By Its Own Will. Razor, quick, you've drawn it and struck someone down in the time it takes to say so. The blade loves to use this power to bring sorrow to its wielder but can only suborn their sword arm, so it can be wrestled with. It resists being simply discarded by holding tight.

2. Drawing blood with the Barbocephalus Axe turns you into Varent, a 4 HD half-demon barbarian from a time and place otherwise. You have to play him until he sets the axe down, and he respects only violence. As he figures out what banishes him, he becomes wary to avoid parting with the axe-- this place is much nicer than his own.

3. Ever-Burning Candle. Enables +1 day's worth of downtime activity per day, imparting frantic vigor. Won't go out until it kills you 1d4+3 months from now.

4. Consume one of the Organs of Wicked Albus to instantly memorize a spell of level equal to the number of Organs you've eaten, and also see a vision of one of Albus's most horrible deeds. They are gritty and bitter, but addictive to the tongue and stomach. Once you've had one, save or you won't be able to memorize spells in the normal way for a week. After five are consumed, save each week or turn into the mage Albus. There are nine-- the brain, the lungs, the stomach, the liver, the spleen, the eyes, the larynx, the intestines, and the tongue.

5. The Nine Lives Amulet has 1d9 charges. When you would make a save vs death or die due to damage, instead consume a charge. Thereafter, you must save vs spells or impulsively drink potions, leap into portals, and take other hellcat risks.

6. The Cruel Dart imparts a curse on touch-- that you shall not create new life. No children, no fire, no wind, no songs, no orders.

7. Like a matte ruby, the Rubedo seed is always sought-after. Shake it around your waterskin, and the water is turned to weak merlot. Swallow it, and all you taste shall be as the finest wine. Swallow it, and ever after all you taste shall be as the finest wine. 

8. Some sages keep a Two-Tailed Coin in their money boxes. Their killers are ill-fated, for those who carry the coin, easily overlooked in a purse, see beautiful lights and light-tempered beauties in the depths of every body of water. They must save or be tempted down into the warm embrace of the depths, getting +1 for each reason they provide for why they must pass by. They can never repeat reasons, even on later saves.

9. A simple one-- the fine velvet Slippers of a Vampire seem perfect for those who seek to sneak without echo, but they don't only avoid holy ground. If they pass over unhallowed undergrounds-- grim graves or doomy donjons-- they step the wearers through the very dirt into the very deepest section.

10. A Compact Henway. Reverses your stats and handedness. Can't be set down once strapped on except in a mirror.

d8 Double-Edged Swords

1. A Cool Sword with a blade at either end. Crits on a 19 or 20, deals damage to you on a 1.

2. Some wizards who are bad enough dudes sign the Contract of Fire. Your spells = Fireball, and scrolls, wands, or other items you cast from = that thing, but of Fireball.

3. A flappy, flaking Viper Skull Cap. All your attacks crit. Your HP = 1.

4. Bralon's Favor, a simple kerchief. Your retainers don't test Morale/Loyalty like normal. Instead, flip a coin. On a heads, they fight to the death. On a tails, they beat a fighting retreat, taking potshots as able. Be careful; your DM will not modulate these results to fit the context better, so making a Morale flip after falling into a pit full of bones may be bloody.

5. When mending your clothes in the morning with a Golden Thimble and Silver Thread, choose a type of save. You always pass that save that day, but fail all others.

6. Some weapons are Everyone's Problem. This straightsword in a quickdraw sheath has a blazing yellow eye in the tang which radiates a Ruin-Cloud Nimbus, dealing 1 damage each round to all in 10', including the wielder.

7. Death's Palm, a pistol that's shaped like a hand and replaces your hand. It can only do one thing-- fire bullets of magically conjured purple flame-- but it does it well.

8. Weightless Robes, barry Argent and Azure. When worn and for an hour after, your weight = 0. You float like a slightly deflated balloon. Be careful not to jump when outside, lest you float off into the sun.

d20 Finds in Death's Apartment (GLoGtober)

 "Death and Divinity" for GLoGtober 2024

💀

d20 Finds

1. chess set, but all the black pawns are knights and the black king has a skull instead of a crown
2. hand mirror. Shows all the bad things likely to happen if you survive an incipient brush with death
3. the oldest dog in the world
4. very, very long checklist
5. hostage kit: whistle, vial of acid, cuff-slipping gloves, razor-edged shoes
6. pot cigarettes, a gift from the Devil. Take a puff and make a save vs. death!
7. Magnus, his godson (Magic-User 3). Waiting around to see if his godfather remembers it's his birthday
8. cross, for sale, barely used
9. box of old needles, each containing the life of otherwise immortal personages. Can't deduce how to get em out of there
10. a posthumous Van Gogh painting of a lady in the shade of a tree
11. old record, "Swansong", worth its weight in platinum
12. weights set, but all bones
13. a canary in a cage
14. Death's address book. Highlights include Dracula, Acererak, and God
15. several half-drunk bottles of very poisoned wine
16. jar of bird blood. Attracts ghosts
17. anti-gun. Brings things to life. Six shots.
18. bag of hand bones. Functions as a wand of finger of death, with five charges. The bag lightens with each casting
19. portrait of the master of the house with an artist friend
20. many, many candles, your own burned down nearly to the end.

d30 Rings

 Something neat about rings is that to use one (if we imagine it has some use), it's fair to say it must be warn with nothing over it, allowing it to be seen by all. This means that unless the players employ creative means, you're probably not wearing a gauntlet or thick leather glove on the same hand as your special ring, which has all sorts of great implications for trap mechanisms, venomous stings, and the like.

Some of these rings are mundane. Some are bad, whether they carry a potentially deleterious social consequence, are more conventionally "cursed", or punish you with more adventure. There's a broad spectrum of bad consequences that can come to a PC. It's nice to get a mix.

d30 Rings

1. Clan Ring. On an outsider, signifies adoption. Fraudulently wearing the ring is punishable by death.
2. Irregular Shaped Head. Used as a key, inserted into a mated circular lock.
3. Inscription on the inside, a password.
4. Hilt Ring. Odd head, but when twisted upside down it fits perfectly into the groove of a unique magic sword's handle, unlocking its powers.
5. Secret Society Symbol. 2-in-6 chance of favorably being noticed by (d10):
1. Officers
2. Rebels
3. Priests
4. Intelligent Undead
5. Politicians
6. Dwarves
7. Intelligent Extraplanars
8. Rangers
9. Shamans
10. Dopplegangers
6. Ruling Family's Signet Ring. Delightfully illegal to possess.
7. Hollow Jade Compartment. Currently contains Powder of Giant Strength.
8. Mouse-Pattern Etchings. Can roll around under its own power and will obey its owner if well treated. Too brave.
9. Lead-Button Ring. When pressed, fixes itself in space. When pressed again, unfixes it.
10. Obsidian Gem. When the ring is held out, the obsidian glows and sheds light light a bullseye lantern. Your hand likely has to be empty to get much use out of this.
11. Silver Fang Ring. When put on, bites for 1 HP damage. When removed, for as long as the blood is wet, shows a pinhole tableau of the person you have most hated in the world.
12. Copper Glass-Stone Ring. The next time you're electroctuted, instead of suffering harm the glass stone explodes.
13. Spinning Ring. When spun, shows a brief zoetropic scene of a sword dancer.
14. Flinty Gem. Creates a spark when struck against stone.
15. Centipede Ring. Legs on the outside, carapace on the inside. When set against a wall or ceiling, can swirl at high speed like a wheel on a zipline to carry the wearer side to side.
16. Narwhal Horn Ring. Itches and turns taupe in the presence of poison or bad air.
17. Whistle Ring. Blow into it to produce a sound that dogs can hear. Also other creatures.
18. Holographic Cameo Ring. Shows an important person's face.
19. Monkey Ring. When put on, it can't be taken off. The finger turns hairy and wrinkled. Grants one wish in a dickish fashion, then turns to slime. The finger is ruined forever.
20. Magician Ring. Can cast the following spells at will, and will use them to punish the wearer: Knock, Animate Dead (takes 1 minute, 60 ft. range), Charm Person (Touch only, not the wearer).
21. Larcenos. The command word "Larcenos" is written on the inside of this fine gold ring. Speaking it while holding the ring summons a bugbear to beat you to death with a club.
22. Soul Ring. Contains the mind of an ancient thief. Gain +3 effective thief levels for the purpose of thief skills, but save vs spells every time you have the opportunity to use one but don't want to.
23. Decision Ring. One edge is blue, one is red. Flipped by the indecisive to make choices.
24. Pearl Ring. Turns black when your true love dies.
25. Cracked Ruby Ring. That which you pick up in this hand combusts a few seconds later. Can only be removed at temperatures above 120 F (49 C).
26. Cloudy Yellow Gem. Explodes on contact with water. 2d6 damage, and save to salvage 1d3 other fingers, plus thumb.
27. Banker's Magnet Ring. Used to find counterfeit coins.
28. Moaning Gargoyle Ring. Drains 1d4 HP per round-- profound sizzling needling pain. Save each round to remove.
29. Wedding Band. By wearing this, you are officially married to the Prince of Dust, bound to him as he is to you. A merciless wizard tyrant, he is pleasant but not loving. Ring can't be removed without annulment, divorce, or death.
30. Wedding Band. By wearing this, you are officially married to the dryad-witch Candomede. Beautiful, but oddly shallow and careless for a witch. Always needs help dealing with more of the local pirates. Ring can't be removed without annulment, divorce, or death.

PS, here's a generator with most of the magic items I've come up with over the years: