General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
Why don't they make Magic Items like they used to?
I was looking through my AD&D books tonight and noticed how versatile and multi-functional so many of the magic items were.
They were powerful, and they were odd, and fascinating, and most important of all a lot of them could do all kinds of things.
By comparison so many of the magic items of more recent editions are bland, plain, uninspired, and uninspiring. It's like suing a piece of technology from the eighties or something. The items are overly specialized, technical, usually limited to one specific function, top-heavy in design and capabilities. A drag to own and use and usually good only for specific encounter types.
Older magic items were magical. They had so many functions they seemed like a modern mini-computer/cell phone/PDA/wristwatch/GPS/tricorder all in one. Impressive and extremely useful. Versatile. Fluid. A joy to own and use, employable in a wide range of circumstances. They were the Renaissance Men of Miracles, the Polymaths of Magic. And in addition most were mysterious. You had to figure em out as you went along. They could always have extra, hidden potential that you'd never know about til you screwed around with just the right thing and accidentally tripped some concealed latch. And you had Artifacts, and Incredible Devices, and Relics, with strange legends and ancient lore surrounding them. They weren't just treasure types, they were items of real magic.
We need to get back to that in modern fantasy games.
It made fantasy gaming fun instead of a technical exercise in weaponry calibres and target types.
Magic should have some, "Boy, now you're really gonna see something!" to it, instead of "how many rounds ya got in that wand and what is the total count of damage points inflicted by it? I'm trying to calculate exactly how long this combat will last."
Where has all the magic gone?
It's gone to hell with the idea that magic is about power shots and ammo counts rather than about mystery and wonder.
Somebody needs to dig some real magic up out of the grave and see if they can put a resurrect on it.
So, what are your favorites? And why? I already listed two from the previous thread, but I'll post them again here:
Ring of Contrariness: A cursed magical ring that makes the wearer unable to agree with any idea, statement, or action. In addition, the ring has the magical properties of one of the following rings (rolled randomly): Flying, Invisibility, Levitation, Shocking Grasp (once per round), Spell Turning, and Strength (18/00).
Ring of Truth: The wearer of the ring can detect any lie told to him, but he is unable to tell any sort of lie.
These are two of my favorites. Only one of them is technically cursed, but each gives the wearer a nifty benefit along with a troublesome side effect. Both of these rings are fun, can be mysterious, and can enhance role playing.
__________________ Enemies are the price of Honor. ~Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, Wizard of the First Order
Fear. Fear attracts the fearful. The strong. The weak. The innocent. The corrupt. Fear. Fear is my ally. ~Darth Maul
No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try. ~Yoda
I don't want the Tyranny of Fun to become one of PF RPG's design principles. That's 4e's province, and I'd happily leave it that way.
I gotta admit, the old flametongue sword with its various benefits depending on what you were fighting was cool.
Portable hole is always my favorite.
Bag of Beans, particularly the version presented in Dragon magazine.
__________________ Currently running: Sufficiently Advanced over Maptool. Soon to change. If you'd like to join in a short 3-8 session campaign for various systems, drop by our forums.
I double-dog-dare you to make your game sound super cool without comparing it to other editions. - paraphrased from Umbran.
Andy the originator, Mega the drama queen, Mania the insane, Al whom uses movie quotes to connect with the world he did not create, Ugh- primal urges and the only sane one of the group and DarkMania the Sith Lord
Lovin' the four 'B's of life- Beer, Babes, Buffets and Bombs. just being funny
Flametongue
Rod of Lordly Might
Hewards Handy Haversack
Wand of Wonder (I had a copy of Dragon that gave something like four alternate versions in addition to the DMG version, so I'd roll a D6 (reroll 6's) to determine which version table to roll on for the effect, everytime my players would use this item).
My favorite was my Ring of Shooting Stars. My namesake character, an elven fighter, hardly ever actually used the darn thing, but it was interesting. It just struck me as somehow very suitable for an elf. More beneficial (and less "flavorful") choices showed up in treasure hoards, but I stuck with my favorite ring.
The character was a lightly armored fighter weaponmaster type who fought with longsword(s), and daggers, eschewing magic and archery in favor of blades. He was basically a Bladesinger sans magic. The ring added a touch of the arcane to the character. More than his magical arms and armor or other accoutrements, it was his "special" magic.
The character also latched onto anything "elvish"--- boots and cloak were de rigeur, and he proudly wore elven chain when more protective magical bracers and armor were available.
Another thing I'm reminded of that is worth pointing out is that +X magical weapons were more significant when you needed a certain "plus" to hit creatures. His +3 sword meant a whole lot more than an extra +1 to hit and damage when facing a foe completely immune to weapons of lesser enchantment.
__________________ Vampyr Template This is an alternate vampire based upon Bram Stoker's Dracula, including template, age categories, and a greater vampyr prestige class.
3e/3.5e "Kits" This was my stab at customizing Fighters before the proliferation of 3e splatbooks and the formal codification of "alternate class features" in 3.5.
Oh, and I forgot a Holy Avenger in the hands of a Paladin.
Wanna twink a PC? Now THERE'S twinking.
__________________ Currently running: Sufficiently Advanced over Maptool. Soon to change. If you'd like to join in a short 3-8 session campaign for various systems, drop by our forums.
I double-dog-dare you to make your game sound super cool without comparing it to other editions. - paraphrased from Umbran.
I liked the Short Sword of Speed, in 2e. It was an item that really made me imagine my halfling fighter wielding it. Fun stuff.
The Rod of Wonder has always been a fun one. Especially in the hands of a "zero caution" Player.
Oh, and the Apparatus of Kwalish - before 3e. Multiple levers, and having to figure out what each lever does? Priceless. I'd love to run a fight with the PCs trying to figure out the Apparatus while being attacked by sahuagin or something.
The Airships from Eberron would also be on that list, but I think that's a different type of "magic item", eh?
__________________ Current Campaign:The Shattered Isles Homebrew - Hammer (Minotaur Fighter 8), Kirra (Drow Rogue 8), Shedin (Dragonborn Paladin 8), Zahar (Half-Eladrin/Half Drow Bard 8), and Seahorse (Halfling Rogue 8). Currently the group is in the Feywild, trying to discover who is poisoning the drow.
I liked the Short Sword of Speed, in 2e. It was an item that really made me imagine my halfling fighter wielding it. Fun stuff.
Do you mean a Short Sword of Quickness? That was originally in 1E Unearthed Arcana.
__________________ ADVANCED DUNGEONS &DRAGONS is first and foremost a game for the fun and enjoyment of those who seek to use imagination and creativity. This is not to say that where it does not interfere with the flow of the game that the highest degree of realism hasn‘t been attempted, but neither is a serious approach to play discouraged. (1E DMG p. 9)
I gave that to a friend playing a magic-user back in the day. He was thrilled to have a staff that could cast light and enlarge. He was very careful about spending charges, because enlarging the party's fighter was just so useful. He was 2-3rd level, I think.
One day the party was talking to the Vermillion, a sage of some renown, when he said "you haven't performed the ritual of the Threefold Ward with your staff yet. Why not?" He then got his first clue that the staff was more than it seemed. He discovered the ritual and activated the +2 to AC, saves and to hit.
His researches fueled a number of adventures. He was getting ready to realize it's potential as the Key of the Gate and start summoning elementals areound level 12 or so. Our group broke up around then.
__________________ "People need vision.
Sometimes you just have to add spices without a recipie."
- My wonderful wife.
I love the great flavor of AD&D magic weapons. Later editions added a huge amount of versatility to magic weapon creation, but stuff such as Flame Tongue, Frost Brand and the Holy Avenger are still my favorites.
Immovable Rod. I gave DMs fits over the things my PC's would do with those things.
Decanter of Endless Water. Another of those items that's usefulness was directly proportional to the creativity of the player.
Deck of Many Things.
I do miss magic items being far less about how many bonuses they gave you or how proportional their cash value was to your level and being far more about what you could do with them if you were creative. In the same vein, it's one of the things I lamented about the gradual shift in magic in general from AD&D to 3e and even more to 3.5, far moreso to 4e, is that magic became far more utilitarian and far less about finding creative uses for spells to solve problems and not just applying as much damage as quickly as possible.
just being funny 
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
