Idea for Magic Passage-Finder

[Trit One-Ear]

What once started as an on-the-fly excuse now is percolating in my brain into a potential magic item reward. The players are tracking down a master thief who infiltrated the city's keep by use of a magic item that allows him to sense/directs him to secret passages. When they ultimately track him down, I could see if being a fun reward to pass to them.

Only problem; I don't actually really know how to design such an item. A passive bonus to perception when searching for secret passages? An encounter/daily use that grants some form of true sight? Or just an inherent ability to "sense" such passages?

Also, I was thinking making it an amulet, filling the neck slot. Any balance issues there, if I give it the defense boosts of similar neck slot items?

Trit

 

[chitzk0i]

Finding secret doors is fun, but niche. Nothing dooms an item to obscurity like giving it a horrifically narrow ability and nothing else. I would give it a bonus to perception checks with an improved bonus to find secret doors. Then, to underscore the secret-door-findyness, I could see it also having a power that straight up tells you the location of a secret door within 20 squares of you or maybe an always-on property to inform its wearer whenever they're adjacent to a secret door.

 

[pemerton]

I don't have any good technical suggestions, although what [MENTION=34584]chitzk0i[/MENTION] says makes sense.

One of the PCs in my game has an item (our campaign's version of the Rod of 7 Parts) which can detect hidden paths and ruins of the old Nerathi kingdom. This doesn't get played as a bonus to Nature or Perception checks, but at a more abstract/story level - it comes out in relevant skill challenges, I use it to communicate information when I want to, etc.

 

[Ryujin]

The mechanics of making a magic item of this sort are fairly simple, if you follow the model of other pre-existing items. You see if there's a ritual that already exists, that will do what you want. If so then you simply say that the magic item is the same level, and that the power is a daily item use. It becomes a standard action, rather than the set time, to use the item in most cases, unless that would result in some seriously badwrongfun.

In this case you use the Detect Secret Doors ritual which allows you to make an Arcana check, which is used as a bonus to the Perception check made to find such doors. The boost this can give to someone who has even a crappy Arcana skill is huge.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I might make it a wondrous item instead of a neck slot. Because neck slots are a key part of the math, the are always doomed to be replaced in a few levels. Even niche wondrous items can stick around.

Maybe it a compass that always points to the nearest secret door. It's a bit of a cliche, but it's a cliche that I like.

 

[Walker N. Waistz]

As a standard action, the PC can take a moment to concentrate. They instantly know the location of the 3 nearest secret doors to them, within a distance of 1 mile.

Sensing multiple doors would allow the use of entire alternate routes made up of secret passages, which is apparently what the NPC was doing.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

I was actually thinking of retiring this idea, but [MENTION=13968]MatthewJHanson[/MENTION] 's idea actually excites me. Wondrous items are more interesting, and I've always felt they have more flavor potential. I'll probably run with something like [MENTION=5727]Walker N. Waistz[/MENTION] 's idea, possibly simplified.

Perhaps a bell that rings when you get within x feet of a secret door? That could both be useful and cause trouble if the group were trying to be sneaky... we shall ponder this further.

Trit