Looking for magic items with 'quirks'

[Mistah J]

Hello everyone,

Currently, the players in my campaign have their characters searching through the home/laboratory of a now deceased wizard. This is a good opportunity for me to hand out some treasure and keep the PC wealth on target.

However, I would like to include more than just the standard fare for their level - which is 3rd but very close to reaching 4th. This particular wizard was known for his speciality in crafting and repairing magic items so I thought it would be neat to have some unique choices lying around.

What I am hoping people will help me come up with are items that have some personality or flair (or flare!). I would also like to invent some items with drawbacks or quirks to them - nothing seriously cursed (though I may include one or two of those) but more like gear with a bit of flavour.
Examples I can think of:
gloves of dexterity that give the wearer cat's eyes or maybe even whiskers. This causes penalties to social interaction rolls.
cloak of elvenkind that causes the wearer's ears to become pointed like an elf. They also gain the drawbacks of the [elf] subtype (bane weapons, favoured enemy, etc)

That sort of thing. I'm hoping this thread will tap into the great imagination of Enworld.

Thanks

 

[Hand of Evil]

Sword of the Sputtering Flame - a flaming sword but the problem is flame is hard to start and just does not get going right away. Extra damage goes from +1 to +5; roll D20 and that is how long the blade is +1, +2 comes 3 rounds after, +3 another 3 rounds, +4 another the +5 after another. This means the longer combat, the more powerful the sword becomes. rounds and dice can be changed for different results.

Bracers of Armor - not AC but armor, on command the bracers become a scale mail suit.

 

[Gilladian]

Hmmm... I once had a character with a broom of flying that had been damaged by a dragon's fiery breath. It smoked, sputtered, and left a trail of soot behind it, but it worked fine.

How about a Murlynd's Spoon (aka sustaining spoon) that produces very spicy-hot food instead of bland gruel?

The infamous "chatty" weapon is good, usually not for a LONG time, though. It can be a minor weapon that knows some fact the PCs need (a password, directions to a place or person, etc...) that can then be sold or given away. It chatters inanely or vulgarly, or whatever, when it is in use.

What about a magic mirror that gives very good advice on social situations to whomever uses it, but each time it is used, the user must make a Will check or find themselves both compelled to follow the advice, and compelled to return for MORE? The mirror has a particular ethos or set of beliefs that it gradually pushes the user to follow.

 

[filibuster]

ring of random event

I created a d100 random event artefact with some curses/weird and wacky/benefits spattered throughout. Had a lot of fun making it - feel free to use it if you like (it is 2nd ed. so would need some adapting to you new school folks)

 

[Sigurd]

A ring of fire resistance that forces the user to only speak infernal.

A ring they have to take and destroy in an active volcano ... wait, been done.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

There was a recent thread here that had some interesting ideas for peculiar items. Some genuinely are genuinely useless, some decidedly goofy, but a few might be useful for your needs.

And here's a very low-power 3.5e-ish "Deck of Minor Things" that I put together recently just for grins:
[sblock]

Deck of Minor Things

(sorry for the image, cut'n'paste tables don't work well)

a few Usage notes:
Clubs - Bonuses are "insight" bonuses, and last for 24 hours, or until expended.
Hearts - User gains stated ability as per the spell indicated, but the duration becomes "Concentration". The ability can be used for a total of 10 rounds; the ability fades after 24 hours if it is not expended before that time.
Spades and Diamonds - objects created disappear after 24 hours, unless they are expended before that time. All such items are fragile and/or of poor make, and have 1/2 value and 1 less hp (minimum 1 hp) than a normal item of its type.

(more at the link)
[/sblock]It's got some wonky rules, but maybe something like that could be a relic from wiz's highschool days or something?

There's also a series of publications by Owen KC Stephens called "Loot 4 Less" (current release is for Pathfinder, iirc) which has many nifty low-level items, with more emphasis on quirky, less on drawbacks.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

I find that (semi)intelligent (but alien and enigmatic) items can add flavor to the game

For example, in Ravenloft they had a few cloaker variants that mimicked normal cloaks until you put them on, and then they took you on a host. One acted like a ring of regeneration, getting its nourishment by healing your wounds, but any positive energy from healing spells would hurt it and then it would pass the damage onto you. The others would enable you to drain levels or con, but if you didn't, then they would drain yours.

In my Freeport Pathfinder campaign where magical items seem to be fewer, I have sort of tentatively combined this intelligent magic, symbiotic cloak idea with the weapon of legacy idea of magical items growing more powerful with those who wield them. The characters have found a cloak that for right now is only a +1 Cloak of Resistance, but has the potential to grow into something more powerful later on. It hooks its clasps around the neck in such a fashion as to hold tightly onto a bonded character.

Although, rather, I’d say the cloak probably bonds to a group rather than a single individual. This is because when one player lost the host character by getting him arrested by Milton Drac’s men, the players were surprised to find the cloak stalking the others. It picked a new host from among the current PC roster, and the characters awoke to find it having “claimed” its new host. Its method of locomotion (being solely done “off camera”) remains a mystery to them though).

 

[cssmythe3]

These are from a game a ran were the characters were exploring a long abandoned enchanter's lair.

A powerful magic staff (damaged in a fight) that causes 1d2 of damage to the wielder every time it is used.

An ornately decorated knife that inspects in every way as a +2 keen dagger, but when wielded it is incapable of cutting any living tissue, no matter how hard the knife is pressed against flesh. It was created for shaving beards and whatnot. Clever players will bring it to bear on the undead and such.

 

[Verdande]

I'm sort of in the same situation, where I'm trying to design weapons that aren't the same, boring +2 whatevers that you find in every game. To that end, I'm also trying to make some items that have quirks and drawbacks.

Especially drawbacks, but that's more of a campaign setting thing than a universal one, but I digress.

You could always go with the bloodthirsty sword, a la Stormbringer. It needs to draw blood before it's sheathed or some bad things happen.

There's always the magical armor that begins to fuse to the wearer's flesh as it's worn, although that might be a bit gruesome for some peoples' tastes.

I'll try to come back with more, though today doesn't feel like a very creative day for me, unfortunately.

 

[Kingreaper]

A sword, that while wielded allows the wielder to see thin red threads joining various things.
And to cut them.
(where, or if, you go with that one is up to you, I plan on having them be "fate-lines" and the cutting of them be why the adventurers are free to mess up prophecies.)