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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 2279198" data-attributes="member: 3146">I don't think that item dependency is as much of a problem as people seem to think. It's a part of most of the legends and stories that D&D draws from.Lord of the Rings: Aragorn had Narsil, Bilbo had Sting and the mithril coat, merry had the blade of westernesse (and as we're told, no other blade could have severed the spells layered round the Nazgul in the same way), Gandalf had his staff ("I told you to take his staff!") and Glamdring, Legolas was given the bow of Lorien, etc, etc. Speaking in D&D terms, you don't quite get to see the characters' equipment lists but it seems worthy of D&D. (5 days' lembas, 10 days' iron rations (from Faramir), 50 feet of elven rope, Galadriel's box with the mallorn seed in it and the earth of Lorien, blade of westernesse, numenorean walking staff (from faramir), cloak of evlenkind, belt of lorien, explorer's outfit, backpack, tinderbox, waterskin... hmm, actually mayb eyou do--that's all Sam and it's all mentioned (except for the explorer's outfit) in the book).Legends of King Arthur: of course, there are a lot of legends, but excalibur and its sheath figure into most of them. In some of them, Arthur needs to go find excalibur because his old sword (drawn from the stone) shatters in a duel and he can't win without a good sword. Galahad gets a special holy shield IIRC, and Balin strikes the dolorous stroke with the lance of longinus/spear of destiny. In Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, the Green Knight's wife gives him a ribbon that he is told will enable him to survive the Green Knight's axe.The Chronicles of Narnia: Not exactly primary source material for D&D, but you'll find lots of significant items there: the gifts from Father Christmas to Peter, Susan, and Lucy, the black armor Rillian rides in with the green witch, the white witch's wand, her stone knife, the silver chair, the green rings and the yellow rings, dwarf mail (which is described as being significantly better than ordinary mail), etc.The Norse sagas: They go on for pages about Skarphedin's axe, the ogress of war, the enchanted sword Cormac borrows, the iron buckler used by another warrior, Gunnar's magic bill, etc. You know that the characters are personally powerful and skilled, but you also know that Cormac needs a magic sword to beat his enemy (who also has one).Beowulf: It seems like at least 10% of the page count describes weapons (and a bit of armor).  Even Beowulf's borrowed blade wouldn't bite on Grendel's mother, so he had to use a giant-forged sword he found in her lair to kill her.Greek Myths: Perseus got to borrow Athena's Aegis to fight Medusa (and in some legends, he had a special sword too). Ulysses and Ajax (IIRC) fought over Achilles' armor, and Diomedes shield was said to be impregnable. Zeus's lightning bolts were forged by the cyclops (rather than an innate power). Gyges had a magic ring that let him turn invisible.Elric saga: Stormblade. And Elric's potions. (I only read one book and only read it once so I can't tell you much more than that).Some of the source material is less item-dependent, and I think it's good to devise mechanics to suit that style of play. But let's not pretend that all--or even the majority--of the source material is incompatible with D&D's item dependence.</blockquote>

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