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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5700815" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 249: July 1998part 5/8Bazaar of the Bizarre: The Bazaar continues to be much higher in both frequency and number of items per article than it was before the takeover. They really are playing it a lot safer than they used to, despite the revamped visuals. This time, the theme is items for travellers. Which is likely to be a lot more handy for adventurers than the last couple, but still means they can avoid excess focus on combat. Let's see how imaginative this bit of freelancing is. Amulets of Warning save you the bother of casting alarm on your campsite every bloody night. You'll still need to pay attention, as it doesn't detect animals or undead. But still, it's another definite convenience that will make a whole group's life easier. Traveler's Backpacks are near indestructible, protect the stuff inside, and float too. If you have bastard DM's who like to make all your items save after every fireball, you certainly won't regret this. Bags of Cleanliness are yet another lifechanger, like real life washing machines, only portable and not requiring constant refuelling. Seems wizards are increasingly keen on creating conveniences that let them escape the medieval these days. Hiking Boots let you tromp through any environment, and keep dry and comfortable. Course, if you only find one pair, expect the rest of the party to have trouble keeping up. I hope you're willing to share. Marching Boots are even more likely to split the party. Moving half again as fast for half again as long? You'll leave them behind in no time. Put it on the heavily armoured fighter who's normally right down at speed 3 to avoid that. Boots of Passage are more subtle. Like a druid, you can get through thick undergrowth easily without leaving a trace. If you have a druid and heavy party, this'll help your wizard keep up with them. Boots of Trail Marking are a decidedly mixed benefit. Glowing footprints wherever you go? That could well become a liability. Still, it'll certainly make you notorious. Wear these around town and people'll be flocking to your door. Bottles of Holding are another extradimensional item for your carrying convenience. You can never have too many of them. Just don't put it in your bag of holding, whatever you do. Bows of Hunting are no better than normal in combat, but make you great at spotting and tracking down prey for your dinner. Since you may well be using that benefit daily in the wild, are you going to say no? Canes of Evasion reduces your chance of random encounters by 3/4. This will of course also reduce your opportunities to gain XP. It may seem nice, but getting soft is a perpetual danger for adventurers. Canes of Fire Starting let you avoid all that tedious business of rubbing sticks together for hours. Yet another convenience that you'll really miss when it runs out of charges. Canes of Foraging let you find food in a rather less offensive way than the Bow of Hunting. Now you don't have to violate your vegetarian principles. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> Capes of Comfort serve as both daywear and sleeping bag. Let''s hope the colour scheme is to your liking, because you'll be seeing a lot of it from now on. Chalk of Trail Marking is another way of leaving hidden signs for yourself. Not nearly as fun as Merty's magical markers though. Climbing Spikes are yet another tediously obvious item that does what it says on the tin. Cloaks of Animal Kinship show that skinning creatures and wearing their fur can endear you to other members of their species. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> If only it worked that way for humans. Camoflage Cloaks are like elven cloaks, only they only work in one specific terrain. Yawn again. Do we really need a whole bunch of weaker variants for existing stuff? Good Weather Cloaks are another one that duplicate many previous items. Increased comfort? Everyone wants some of that, don't they. Hammers of Climbing are to climbing spikes what magical bows are to magical arrows. Much much more reusable. Not really a big decision if you have the choice is it. Helms of Infravision are yet another one we've seen a variant on before. Infravision granting stuff is hardly rare. Helms of Excellent sight are another useful but familiar one. Still, bonuses on finding secret doors are still surprisingly rare. That's one power your players will love. Machettes of Path Clearing are a far less subtle way of getting through undergrowth than the earlier boots. Another one that'll leave a very clear trail for anyone to follow. Watch out for pissed off druids. Necklaces of Language let you understand a single extra language. Given item slot limitations, you may find yourself stuck with the wrong one in a pinch though. And for whatever reason, they aren't hot-swappable. Can't say I'm impressed with this design. Pipes of aversion keep bugs away. Both Gandalf and Elminster probably approve of that comfort.  Rods of Attraction are another way of attracting easy meat. Keep this up and food'll actually be decently catered for in terms of magical items. Rods of Direction are a variant on the Dowsing principle. Course, they tend to take you by the most direct route, which may well not be convenient. They have other limitations as well, which keeps them from being game-breaking. Silver's Sustaining Satchel triples your food supplies. Just how many variants on this do we need? Skillet's of Frying need no fire, and stay perfectly cool on the outside, making your cooking experiences much easier in the wilderness. Who wants burns, after all? Plus, fires do tend to attract attention. You might want a bit more stealth. Stakes of Concealment tell creatures This is not the tent you're looking for. Well, spellcasters do need their sleep. Wandering monsters during the day is all very well, but if you have to get up in the middle of the night, your memorisation is seriously thrown out. Torches of limited Light are only visible to those close to them. Now that is a clever trick and a good substitute for infravision. This is even more useful than a standard continual light globe. Whistles of Repulsion are yet another meh improvement on a perfectly normal real world device. Ahh, the joys of ultrasonics.</blockquote>

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