Unique Magic Item Properties/Quirks

[Gilladian]

How about:
When held/worn the item grants the ability to speak/read/comprehend a specific language (or set of related languages).

When properly worn/wielded, the wearer's charisma is increased, and he/she appears remarkable/memorable to all who see him/her. When the item is pocketed/sheathed/hidden, the wearer becomes less charismatic, is harder to notice and remember, and people overlook his or her actions/comments.

 

[Arctic Wolf]

What I may suggest is looking through anime/manga. I have seen quite a lot of interesting effects on items in some of them. One that I started reading is called Legend Hustle and it specifically talks about items that are from legends. Excaliber is one of the items they have in there and it's power is to have your enemy unable to pick up their weapon as long as it is in the ground. Balmungt (sp) is another one where everytime you hit the blade breaks apart but you can form it back together and the blades that have broken off come flying back. That is just 2 but the others excape me atm.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sometimes, just applying a familiar enchantment to an unfamiliar item is fun...like Armor Spikes of Dancing: upon saying the command word, the armor's wearer is surrounded by a cloud of levitating spikes that harm those who come too close.

 

[SeprenMaelstrom]

I'd like to say, I enjoy the idea so much I want to incorporate it into my own campaign. =] I came up with a list of possible enchantments. Since some are item type-specific, I have 3 lists - Weapon, Armour, Other. All three lists hare about 6+ enchantments in common, but have some exclusive ones each. I have a list of 10 each for Weapons and Armour, and 8 for Other. Player rolls their die to determine what enchantment they get, and then for two of them there are additional rolls.

Warding: First 3 damage of specified type, per encounter, turns into 3 temporary hit points. Roll 1d6 to determine damage type:
1 Cold
2 Fire
3 Thunder
4 Necrotic
5 Radiant
6 Arcane

Another one, weapon-specific:
Runed: Inscribed with magical runes of a particular language. If wielder is fluent in that language and has at least a 5 in Arcana, they can apply their Int mod to both attack and damage rolls with the weapon [in addition to, say, a Wizard using Int when attacking with a staff. Count it twice~]. Roll to determine language of runes:
1 Dwarven
2 Elven
3 Primordial
4 Deep Speech
5 Draconic
6 Giant

It's pretty convoluted, but with good rolls [depending on race and on known languages] a player can get a great weapon. Or, they could have a reason to seek out learning that particular language and to train Arcana.

Of course, they will be "personal" / soulbound effects, and each PC can only do 1 item, as opposed to the villain who has had it and been able to enchant many things over time. They also need to be non-magical items to begin with. I think I rather like the idea of this one-time, early bonus. The randomness of it might appeal to my group pretty well, methinks!

 

[Reverend47]

I'd like to say, I enjoy the idea so much I want to incorporate it into my own campaign. =] I came up with a list of possible enchantments. Since some are item type-specific, I have 3 lists - Weapon, Armour, Other. All three lists hare about 6+ enchantments in common, but have some exclusive ones each. I have a list of 10 each for Weapons and Armour, and 8 for Other. Player rolls their die to determine what enchantment they get, and then for two of them there are additional rolls.

Warding: First 3 damage of specified type, per encounter, turns into 3 temporary hit points. Roll 1d6 to determine damage type:
1 Cold
2 Fire
3 Thunder
4 Necrotic
5 Radiant
6 Arcane

Another one, weapon-specific:
Runed: Inscribed with magical runes of a particular language. If wielder is fluent in that language and has at least a 5 in Arcana, they can apply their Int mod to both attack and damage rolls with the weapon [in addition to, say, a Wizard using Int when attacking with a staff. Count it twice~]. Roll to determine language of runes:
1 Dwarven
2 Elven
3 Primordial
4 Deep Speech
5 Draconic
6 Giant

It's pretty convoluted, but with good rolls [depending on race and on known languages] a player can get a great weapon. Or, they could have a reason to seek out learning that particular language and to train Arcana.

Of course, they will be "personal" / soulbound effects, and each PC can only do 1 item, as opposed to the villain who has had it and been able to enchant many things over time. They also need to be non-magical items to begin with. I think I rather like the idea of this one-time, early bonus. The randomness of it might appeal to my group pretty well, methinks!

The way it was played back when my first GM did it (back in AD&D) was basically as a repeat reward. We visited the stone a few times. One person ended up with a flaming fork (we ruled that as long as he was eating with this fork, he could nom on raw meat and it would be cooked), a cleric got a maul that was weightless only in his possession, the fighter ended up with an indestructible sword, but only indestructible in his hand. And I believe the thief ended up with a length of rope that could function as an immovable rod. They weren't enchantments you could pick up at the magic item shop or in the normal handbooks, plus they were random, that's what made them so fun.

 

[jasper]

1. Item cause user to smell badly.
2. Item causes user to smell nice. Bonus to cha check.
3. Hearing is improved. One sense is improved.
4. Cause studdering/speech problems.
5. Fly for 1 minute once a week.
6. User mus eat double rations.

 

[Sialia]

This idea sounds like an immense amount of fun.

Hmm.

How about:

item will glow in the presence of salt
item will whimper in the presence of undead
item will pull towards a source of drinking water
item will point towards (north? a holy city? the enchanting object?) whenever given the opportunity to rotate freely
item will be surrounded by a cloud of illusory flies whenever exposed to air
item will give off puffs of colored smoke in the presence of magic users
item screams when touched by anyone of a rogue class
item creeps relentlessly towards its owner unless in contact wth the owner
item is too heavy for anyone but the owner to lift
item gets a hidden pocket that will only open to a command from teh owner
item gets a pair of eyes and a winning smile
item floats as if filled with helium
item becomes collapsable/foldable into a dodecahedron no bigger than a walnut
item spouts water endlessly upon command (or until shut if it's somethign that can open and close)
item spouts ketchup endlesly until corked/shut/commanded to stop
item purrs when owner is happy and growls when owner is pissed, etc.

 

[Sialia]

item smells like chocolate

item leaks oil

item boils water

item freezes water solid instantly

item sticks to things made of metal

item can transform into any other object typically made of the same material (so an iron pot could become an iron key or horseshoe, or a cloth cloak could become a potholder or a shirt, or a wooden staff could become a wooden door)

item causes rust and rotting on contact

wooden object can transform into a living tree (and back) on command

when object is snapped into two pieces, sound travels between the two pieces perfectly over a large distance

 

[Hand of Evil]

Moves player to another plane for 30 seconds - once a day - pick or build the plane but IF the player drops the magical item, it will shift back without the character, trapping them in this plane.

Call the dead (M. Moorcock weapon) summon the last creature to be killed by the sword to fight for the character. This creature is replaced by the creature it kills. So, the first time using the weapon, the GM can randomly choose the creature, say a zombie. If the player and zombie then kill a wizard, the next monster will be the wizard. This can be a group of monsters too!

 

[Mishihari Lord]

The singing sword, +3, grants Comprehend Languages while drawn, sings Italian arias when used in combat.