AD&D- Overpowered Magic Items

[Gorg]

The Necklace of Missiles (called Necklace of Fireballs in more recent D&Ds) was always a special one. It was like the Staff of the Magi in that you could blow it up in a massive overkill strike. The difference was that there was a plausible chance that you could do so from outside the blast radius. I know several instances where the immediate thing someone did when finding one was to horde it indefinitely for that one perfect occasion to set off all the uses at once -- at a distance-- and let the DM try to figure out how they wanted to do area overflow for multiple fireballs going off at once.

I had a player actually do that to the hobgoblin common room in Sunless Citadel. They opened the door, saw scores of hobgobs, panicked, then tossed the necklace and slammed the door shut!

The item was a bribe to induce my buddy's wife to play...

 

[ad&d wilderness encounter]

Late to the party, but what the heck. I'm a firm believer in OP magic items which hand over lots of strategic power to players and which push the game in unexpected directions.

So the amulet of the planes, cubic gate, and mirror of mental prowess all get my vote.

Daern's instant fortress, the obsidian steed and the Apparatus of Kwalish also have a special place in my heart.

i absolutely love the amulet of the planes