D&D 5E (2014) Quirky stuff to buy

[5atbu]

My players have money.

Lots of money.

They want to buy funky stuff.

We are playing 5e.

The idea of ye olde magik shoppe is

1: not very 5e

2: not very me

But slightly magical and interesting?


Anyone got any sources for that kind of stuff?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

There is a weird Demi-plane style magic shop in Dragon Age 2 that works for this sort of thing.

 

[Nebulous]

I thought you meant your PLAYERS have money, not the characters. I was like, let them buy you all the miniatures and dungeon props they can afford!

I think DMs Guild has some stuff that is just weird items and not necessarily a power boost, but I can't recall the name of it right now.

 

[NotAYakk]

Random quirky magical things to buy:

1. A Dwarven Transport Golem (carries up to 1000 lbs, moves half speed of a normal person)
2. A Vase of Eternal Bloom (keeps a cut flower blooming forever)
3. A wind-summoning kite (can fly even in no wind!)
4. Cup of Soup (if empty, refills over an hour)
5. Change Purse (makes change for coins put into it)
6. Earring of Illusionary Gender-swap (picks another gender based off your clothes' culture common gender choices, and replaces them with an illusion of it: does not change your body)
7. Self-Warming Gloves (comphy!)
8. Stein of Beer (converts all liquid placed into it into Beer for 1 round)
9. The Shepard's Crook (1/day AOE charm of domesticated ruminants, DC 12)
10. Eternal Torch (a torch with continual flame on it)
11. Scholar's Index (book that provides advantage when searching a library for a book)
12. Can of True Water (doubles yield on 1 acre of land for a year, requires 1 hour to use, 1/day use)
13. One-Way Glass (sheet of glass you can pass through one way)
14. Beans of Fireworks (exactly 24 hours after planting, sets off a firework show)
15. Folding Plank (plank of wood, 2" x 4", that can be folded down to 2' long or as long as 32' long)
16. Bracers of Drinking (advantage on saves against intoxication, disadvantage on saves against drinking more)
17. Band-Aid (consumable item, maximizes benefit from bards "song of rest" so long as the bard has at least 1 creature assisting her with a musical instrument)
18. Musical Mood Ring (plays background music based off your mood.)
19. Paper Craft Raft (consumable, creates up to a 30' x 30' seaworthy raft, lasts 1 hour)
20. Charm Bracelet (wearer is considered charmed by everyone, can remove it whenever they want)

 

[Prakriti]

In the old days, you built a stronghold and raised an army. You want a 100-strong cavalry? Then besides 100 cavalrymen (who will want pay), you also need 100 warhorses, stables (lots of them), stableboys, and lots of food to feed everyone. You might also want barding (horse armor). Oh, and your cavalrymen will want armor too. Are you cheap and only buy them padded leather? Or do you go all-out and outfit them with scale mail? Or even plate mail? They'll want weapons too. Spears or lances, probably. Plus swords, if they get knocked off their horse.

And if you have a cavalry, why not an infantry too? Maybe 200 pikemen? And 40 crossbowmen to go along with them?

Just some ideas.

 

[touc]

I'd recommend using gold to build ideas for adventures, as Prakriti put it, in the AD&D days you used all that gold (and you got a LOT) for things like strongholds, paying followers, bribing guilds, buying treasure maps, installing teleport circles in your Tower, and so on, which led to more adventures. There's a great DMGuild item, Balduran's Guide to Kingdom Building, if you're looking the stronghold route.

3rd Edition, imo, mucked it up a bit by introducing a maligned concept called "wealth by level," which led to the magic shop and magic item factory characters. However, the idea of buying magical items has been around since the AD&D days (they introduced gold piece value for many items). This didn't mean you got on Amazon and bought a vorpal sword for 100,000 gold. It reflected the price it might take for someone to be willing to part with that item if you could find such a person.

Rather than let people shop, let players purchase a scroll that takes them to an astral facility where they can meet the Architect, who is said to have knowledge to craft all things, and is willing to send them on a quest, perhaps through space and time to salvage something lost, rewarding them with a formula to create a magical item only known in legend (such as the Staff of Power). From there, quests can be had to find the ultra-rare ingredients (perhaps one is a busted staff, known in sealed documents to only exist in the Abyss where it was broken by the Archmage Plot Device while facing down the demon lord So and So.)

This way, your gold leads to adventures, not the "ye old magick shoppe," while still providing access to magical items in a meaningful way.

 

[Nebulous]

In the old days, you built a stronghold and raised an army. You want a 100-strong cavalry? Then besides 100 cavalrymen (who will want pay), you also need 100 warhorses, stables (lots of them), stableboys, and lots of food to feed everyone. You might also want barding (horse armor). Oh, and your cavalrymen will want armor too. Are you cheap and only buy them padded leather? Or do you go all-out and outfit them with scale mail? Or even plate mail? They'll want weapons too. Spears or lances, probably. Plus swords, if they get knocked off their horse.

And if you have a cavalry, why not an infantry too? Maybe 200 pikemen? And 40 crossbowmen to go along with them?

Just some ideas.

Which reminds me, there is a truly EXCELLENT supplement on DMGuild, Strongholds & Followers, something like that. It is a whole book just for building castles/forts per class, and acquiring henchmen and hirelings with stats. There's also a built in monster manual and an adventure. It's a fantastic sourcebook. You could just spend your mid to later levels doing castle stuff if you wanted.

 

[Maestrino]

Which reminds me, there is a truly EXCELLENT supplement on DMGuild, Strongholds & Followers, something like that. It is a whole book just for building castles/forts per class, and acquiring henchmen and hirelings with stats. There's also a built in monster manual and an adventure. It's a fantastic sourcebook. You could just spend your mid to later levels doing castle stuff if you wanted.

Matt Colville's book. It's pretty awesome.

 

[Nebulous]

Matt Colville's book. It's pretty awesome.

It really is. And that full color artwork. Wow.

 

[touc]

Colville's work and the Balduran work are advertised as separate products, fully compatible. While I've only invested in the Balduran product, both would add a ton to the game and give you something to spend gold on.