Satisfying PRIMEUMATON's prompt for Glaugust 2026 by bringing on a guest star, Mergo-Kan of A Sense of Immersion. Together we provide interesting objects and artifacts for your dungeon adventure game.
d12 Magic Items
1. Shroud of Cherette (Phlox) bulky, jaguar-faced helm fronting a long cloak of iron chains. Protects as mail armor, but provides great facility when in water. Totally submerged, the wearer can hold their breath for ten minutes and swim as though unencumbered. Standing partially submerged, they can run at full speed.
2. Scooper Slicer (Mergo-Kan) A brilliant battle-axe, pounded from a single huge bar of tarnished silver. The blades have a scoop to the right, and a half-circle carved into the top. The pommel is simply the rigid silver curled over itself into a little loop. What once was a giant's teaspoon, now has been sharpened into an axe worth a polish. If it is polished, the scoop part of the spoon (now the blades) can be used to direct light to start fires or blind enemies for a turn.
3. Three Sisters (Phlox) three standard-sized black belts, reinforced with metal rings. They share a sympathetic connection-- buckling one buckles all three, and unbuckling one likewise affects all. Forces might compete-- you can't squeeze someone in half by buckling a belt really tight while they're wearing its sister, unless you're strong enough to do that with a normal belt.
4. Jar of Screams (Mergo-Kan) A glass jar filled with brackish liquid (formaldehyde) and a floating infantile head that has leaves growing from its scalp. The head is mostly still, but occasionally sticks its tongue out hungrily, or smacks its lips in quiet comfort. When the jar is thrown and broken open, the head hits open air and begins to scream the most shrill, sad, and painful scream one can imagine. All who hear it will take 1d10 psychic damage each turn, and must make a morale test against comforting the screaming head, to no avail.
5. Pigeon (Phlox) A spiked, dented metal ball with a ring-shaped indent, and a ring of just the right size to have come from the ball. The wearer of the ring can psychically control the ball, launching it clumsily with conductor-like gestures to strike at a target. Mechanically works like a +1 shortbow.
6. Ring of Stars (Mergo-Kan) A blued metal band rung with seven sparkling diamonds. When you turn the ring upon your finger, the next item you grip tightly will ripple with light and implode into a shining white star, then float into the sky. At any time, you may spin the ring again and pluck the star from the sky, retrieving the item. The stars you place follow you, appearing in any sky you walk under. You may only starify seven objects at once, and they form a constellation that represents you or your story.
7. Oil of Weightlessness (Phlox) kept in a waxy tin, beautifully embossed with ad copy advertising its use. Rubbing the oil into something reduces its weight, even going negative if you rub enough in. There is enough oil in the tin to confer -1000 pounds (over 74 stone for metric readers), and careful application can allow for exact reductions. It comes with wax-treated gloves, as most waxes resist the oil soaking in. Lasts for about an hour outside the tin before evaporating.
8. Drag Over-Alls (Mergo-Kan) A dusty denim pair of overalls, with an opal button on one side, and ugly little wood button on the other. The belt, back and front of the overalls have thick loops hanging off them. If you lash rope through the loops and properly secure it to an object, no matter how big, you can drag it at 5ft an hour with considerable effort.
9. Spider Axe (Phlox) The hairy haft seems to softy breathe, and if cut bleeds some kind of hydraulic fluid. When thrown in an enclosed space, like a cramped dungeon room, if the attack misses you can make a second attack as it bounces off a nearby wall or flagstone to strike a different target. Likes to drink blood and milk.
10. Loyal Toy Soldier (Mergo-Kan) A crude toy soldier carved from soft beach wood. In one hand is a halberd or rifle or spear, it is difficult to tell. It wears a large hat and has large boots. When this soldier is placed on the ground and its name is spoken, it grows to fill the doorway, hall or chamber it's in. The soldier stands completely still, physically moving only to stop all passers-by. The soldier can take 50 points of damage before its guard is broken, but fire or thunder damage counts as double. If one speaks "(name of soldier), your watch has ended" to the loyal toy soldier, it will shrink back down into its inert form.
11. Grand Pantaloons (Phlox) Green and gold. Grant a 15 foot vertical jump. Very garish.
12. Brilliant Bucket (Mergo-Kan) A beautiful lacquered wooden bucket, with gilded edges, a silver handle, and gold bottom. On its front gleams a single ruby, encrusted onto a cross (or other appropriate holy symbol). When the chamber pot is pissed in, the piss becomes clear and has a light glint to it, though still looks yellow against the gold bottom. It has become holy water, capable of burning the undead and blessing the worthy. Inscribed on the bottom of the bucket is the only clue to the original owner and purpose of the bucket, the initials of the pope.
[SEO invocation, go! Crypto AI 5e guide/ WotC kickstart "rules elide"/ old school gaming, NSR/ take my post both near and far]
While longtime friend Mergo-Kan hasn't been blogging much, he's finally putting out a big book of magic items that I know he's been working on for a while. Ren is doing the cover, and every example he's shown me is something both creative and usable, a better idea than I would find in a standard treasure table and more well-realized than something I would come up with on the fly. If you're interested, check it out here. While it's specifically for Ligaments, I know the bulk of items would be broadly applicable to many old-school/GSR games.
No comments:
Post a Comment