It's all the little things that add up

[Azure Trance]

Perhaps a similar thread to this has come up before, and if so, please redirect me to it. Until then ...

#)^~*!M4G1C!*~&%$

[magic]

Taken as is, it's somewhat ... dry. Perhaps it's all the years of reading them numerous times [shrugs] But what small things do you do to make it not so mechanical? Descriptions, or minor changes here or there to make it more lively.

IE) Over in the General Forum a member asked about how to identify magical items. This gem I caught near the bottomposted by DarkCrisis:

A DM I used to play with used to use an intersting system that I still use. Basically when you cast Identify it summons a little Imp.. now usually he is upset with being summoned away. He is usually in his smoking jacket but there are times he is caught cooking or in the tub.... whatever... but for the price of a pearl (the item needed to cast the spell anyways) he will answer any 3 yes or no questions honestly about the item(s). Or if you would rather ask a direct question such as "What does this do" or "what is the command word" then there is a chance he will flat out lie to you or just say I don't know. Usually a 35% (1-35 on percent die) chance he will lie and a 15% (36-50 on percent die) he doesn't know.

I always found it amusing and quick and easy for the PC's =P

The above would, in my opinion, be really fun if only to show that there magic is more then a force which just *happens*. There are other creatures which even you, 8th level wizard, depend on.

Another notable one I recall was from a newly released RPG. The genre was vaguley Oriental but more focused on Hong Kong type cinema, I think (ring a bell to anybody?). Anyway -- when you teleport, you morph into a flock of birds upon which you reform at your destination. For some reason that alternative never occured to me ...

So what things do you use?

[I was going to make a general thread on little things for your entire campaign, but realized that all the goods for that subject were located right in this forum anyway ]

 

[Piratecat]

What neat ideas already. I'm stealing some of these!

 

[Privateer]

This reminds me of a 0th level spell I saw once, that was titled something like "Mayorgans's Mystical Jar Opener" that summoned a 20(25?) HD Balor to open a stuck jar for you. I think that the backstory on this one was "Mayorgan" (remember, I can't remember his name) defeated a Balor and, in return for not killing him, asked for his servitude. He taught this spell to his apprentices. I always got a kick thinking about a great, fire-wreathed demon opening a jar for a first level wizard.

As for more mystical versions of spells... I don't like my servants to be unseen. I at least make the servant a butler-type figure, or for my more hedonistic wizard, a scantily-clad female in Clothes of Distraction +4

Here's an odd idea... making the Monster Summoning spells different by having the caster spit out the summoned creature. "Now, watch as I regurtitate a live, celestial, badger!"

Now, a last word on how to make spells unique: monkeys. There is no need to say more than that single word.

 

[poilbrun]

Why would a little imp know more about magic items than a high-level spellcaster? After all, if my Wiz15/Acm5 doesn't know a way to understand what a magic item does, why would an imp who has never seen the object? You then need to introduce a rule to let players know what an object does, as it is arbitrary to say "this creature knows, but you, one of the most powerful spellcaster on earth, don't!"

 

[Chaldfont]

Great Ideas

These are great ideas!

I always like the look on players' faces at conventions when I ask them what their magic missiles look like. After they get over that, "eh, I dunno" thing they usually come up with something really cool. Like little dragons flying around the targets, breathing on them or flying demon heads slamming into the targets and biting their flesh.

This gets me thinking. If you took this to an extreme, you could work it so the players rarely knew what spell the NPCs were throwing! Imagine the horror! Imagine the confusion!

Sweeeet.

 

[Chaldfont]

Detect Magic

Oooh. I almost forgot. I once played a Voodoo-type wizard in a Ravenloft campaign who had a strange way of casting detect magic -- He had to taste the item, usually by licking it.

 

[Magnus]

this is GREAT stuff!!
almost makes we want to DM just so i can implement some of them
i can see the next step would be a "Mayorgans's Mystical Door Opener", where the balor opens stuck doors for you. not magically sealed, just stuck or barred

 

[twjensen]

of little imps and string

Why would a little imp know more about magic items than a high-level spellcaster?

Because the imp is hundreds of years old, has 20 ranks in legend lore, can see magic as an extra-ordinary ability, and because imps have to take 20 years of "how to be a really annoying little imp" classes. Second period is "how to be really annoying by knowing things that no one else does."