Love/Hate - Magic Items!

[Riley37]

In general I prefer magic items which widen the range of what a PC can do, rather than magic items which increase a bonus or otherwise increase the effectiveness of what the PCs can already do.

Enchanted weapons: I attack the monster, but with higher numbers
Cloak of elvenkind: I stealth, but with higher numbers
Enchanted amor, cloak of protection, ring of protection: Let's make adventuring safer!

 

[Ancalagon]

I dislike items that are, well, too good to hand out. Like a vorpal sword. I've *never* gamed at a level where that was appropriate.

I also strongly dislike random item that may wreck a campaign - yes, I am talking about the deck of many things.

 

[Maxperson]

Loves:

Ring of Djinni summoning, because.......djinni.

Robe of Eyes. The imagery was great and the ability was even better

The final word swords. Love cool ideas.


Hates:

Ring of Jumping, because, um, yay I'm a frog now.

Ioun Stones. They have cool abilities, but the image of a bunch of little rocks zipping around my PC's head isn't one I care for.

Quaal's Feather Tokens. One use pieces of...

Apparatus of Kwalish. Not into tech stuff in D&D.

 

[Arial Black]

Ring of Sustenance: Love! I think that if I could get any magic item to use in my real, actual life, then this is the one! Never have to spend money on food (but you still can if you want). Watching your figure? No problem! Only need to sleep 2 hours per night! Think of all the things I could do with six extra hours per day! Okay, it would probably be six more hours of lazing about, but still!

Holy Avenger! I've been playing since AD&D 1e, 40 years. In all that time I've seen that sword, wanted it, played my fair share of paladins (making sure they avoided the Lawful Stupid stereotype)...and NEVER got a Holy Avenger.

Deck of Many Things: Hate, hate, hate! Others have mentioned its penchant for turning 'normal' PCs into either demigods or....fertiliser. What I hate about it is that no sane person would draw a card that had a 50% chance of killing you! I don't care what the other 50% are like! And draw 4!!! So, a 1 in 16 chance of survival. Unless you are the kind of person who needs to sell your own organs for a fast buck, why would anyone draw? And yet, the sheer unreality, the metagaming of thinking that "it doesn't matter if I draw badly because I can just roll up a new PC, but if I draw well I would have a really powerful PC! It's a shot to nothing!" Well, actual people would not think of themselves as disposable avatars! I hate it!

 

[aco175]

Quaal's Feather Tokens. One use pieces of...

Last one we used was to trap a dragon in an old barn by growing a tree in front of the door to try and keep it shut. It delayed the dragon long enough that we were able to kill it finally.

But, yes- they are quite limited and garbage.

 

[CleverNickName]

Love: Staff of Healing.

Hate: Apparatus of Kwalish. Lame crab-shaped tank? in a fantasy setting of castles and knights? Pass.

 

[Ancalagon]

Love: Staff of Healing.

Hate: Apparatus of Kwalish. Lame crab-shaped tank? in a fantasy setting of castles and knights? Pass.

clearly you've never heard the legend of Kwalish Kid

 

[Arial Black]

clearly you've never heard the legend of Kwalish Kid

Them's fightin' words. Go for your lever!

 

[Imaculata]

Hate:

Deck of many things. Nothing good comes from this deck. It is like one big party-destroying, player killing, campaign disrupting deck of instant misery. And you'd think you have an equal chance of drawing a good card, as you would drawing a bad card. But you would be wrong. Because the laws of math will always conspire against you, and you will draw The Void as your very first card.

Love:

Ring of the Ram. This item has been used in so many hilarious ways in many D&D campaigns. And it seems my players always save a few charges to punt the big bad guy into the lava.

Custom items I also love:

The Rug of Tripping. It automatically trips unwanted guests!
The Telling Tapestry. It illustrates your thoughts in tapestry form!
The Hungry Lockbox. Feed it items and it will guard them ferociously!
The Animated Talking Lettuce. Hurl it at foes! Hear it scream in anguish! Does it serve any purpose? Heavens no!

 

[Coroc]

Love: Weapons that dish out a Pound, constantly
Hate: Weapons with contextual Bonus e.g. +1 +2 vs Undead

Love: Imovable Rod, (so much physics)
Hate: Bag of Holding (so much triviality)

Love: Boots of Speed / jumping
Hate: Wings of flying (so much triviality )

Love: Ioun Stones /tomes (Let the mob snatch a ioun Stone for the lols, the book is consumend and really makes a char stand out since it also does enhance the 20 Limit.
Hate: Gauntlets of Ogre Power gaint strength etc. everything that does not give a + while also allowing to break the 20 but instead gives out a fixed value.