Magic items idea

[Land Outcast]

If you allow PC item-crafters to select from a menu of bonuses and penalties of course that is going to lead to some minimising of the drawbacks just like selecting Traits and Flaws in GURPS or whatever.

QFT

Like my Frozen Wastes set?

 

[ThirdWizard]

Yep, you have to make sure that a penalty is really a penalty. They have to be fairly general and be something that can be expected to come up in any given adventure, that is unless the benefit of the item is going to be just as rare. You have to keep in mind that, say, an item that gives a penalty to fire saves can simply be removed if the character will be expecting a lot of fire damage for some reason and left behind for that adventure.

So, when the PCs want to use a system like this it has to be scrutinized even more than most magical items, and probably even more than PC-researched spells. It should have some kind of flair for the dramatic in it as well instead of a hodgebodge of random (non-thematic) effects IMO.

Sounds nice thirdwizard, have them around?

Glad to post them. I have more somewhere, these are recent creations.

Back Alley (Kukri +2)
This weapon is also marked with the symbol of the Doomguard, stretched across its curved blade. When the user deals Sneak Attack damage, this weapon adds +2d6 damage to the attack. This kukri also aids thieves’ in their back alley dealings. When holding the weapon, the wielder gains a +5 competance bonus to intimidate checks. Those killed by the kukri are unaffected by speak with dead.
There is a drawback to wielding the blade, however. Anyone with the blade on their person (even if in a backpack but not in a bag of holding) cannot hide their alignment or thoughts from detection by any means.
(cost lost in recent crash 'cause I forgot to copy this one down)

Rolling Blizzard, adamantine longsword +2, Frost
One side of its adamantine blade is runed with symbols of cold from various languages (Draconic, Celestial, Auran, and Aquan). A perfect sapphire adorns the base of the hilt.
All within 10’ of the wielder when the command word Larosche (Bitter Cold in Aquan) is spoken must make a fortitude save DC 10 or suffer 1 point of cold damage per round. When the command word Neeyuth (Blizzard in Auran) is spoken, a freezing wind circles the blade, dealing 1d6 cold damage (as frost) to creatures struck. Both these command words can be activated as a Free Action.
The wielder gains resistance 5 to cold but suffers a -5 penalty to saving throws against fire based effects.

Moderate evocation; CL X; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, chill metal or ice storm; Price: 33,000 gp; Cost: 16,500 gp + 1,320 XP

Ring of Entropy: Lead Ring with the symbol of the Doomguard on it. It gives the wearer a +1 enhancement bonus to DCs of all spells he or she casts, but it also gives a -1 penalty to the wearer’s saving throws.

Moderate Transmutation; CL X; Forge Ring; Price: 7,000 gp; Cost: 3,500 gp + 280 XP.


There are others I could dig up. It would be neat to have a list of such items somewhere to draw from. I betcha that would make a great thread in House Rules. I'm definately going to yoink some of yours.

 

[Land Outcast]

I'm definately going to yoink some of yours.

please do so

Do you think we should open a thread in the HR forum?

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So, when the PCs want to use a system like this it has to be scrutinized even more than most magical items, and probably even more than PC-researched spells. It should have some kind of flair for the dramatic in it as well instead of a hodgebodge of random (non-thematic) effects IMO.

So, the rule would be exactly that quoted text... call it a warning for the DM so that he dosn't just throw some guidelines at his players. This (if the PCs have access to item crafting, and specifically to this "method") is to be a "joint venture" player-DM.

 

[Napftor]

There's a tidy little pdf called Substandard Magic Items that falls under this topic as well. Have a look: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4937

 

[ThirdWizard]

Do you think we should open a thread in the HR forum?

Sounds good to me.

So, the rule would be exactly that quoted text... call it a warning for the DM so that he dosn't just throw some guidelines at his players. This (if the PCs have access to item crafting, and specifically to this "method") is to be a "joint venture" player-DM.

That's how I always do spell research. I'm lucky in that I have Players who love this kind of thing and can think of interesting ideas. The kind where you have to keep ready to jot down ideas that randomly get spilled out during games because they're so good that they curse themselves for letting it slip for the DM to use it against them.


Napftor, that looks pretty interesting.

 

[Li Shenron]

Would this make the game more interesting?

Absolutely!

BTW I have no idea how to balance items like this in terms of GP pricing.

Don't. Leave the price as is, just like there wasn't a penalty at all, or otherwise decrease it slightly. The only way to make this idea worthwhile is NOT to standardize it, because as soon as you establish rules to add penalties to magic items (something similar to the rules to add bonuses), you'll only have PCs min-maxing like crazy and putting penalties where they don't hurt at all. Don't give the players the option to purposefully make these items, let the items be the result of uncontrolled accidents.

 

[FireLance]

Just a word of warning: magic items that have penalties as well as bonuses might make for a good story (power comes with a price, and all that) but it might not make a good game.

First off, you're complicating the game by effectively doubling the number of effects that most magic items have (a penalty as well as a bonus). In addition, you're going to make it more likely that characters will want to put on the item (when the bonus matters more than the penalty) and take it off (when the penalty matters more than the bonus) in the middle of a game session. This is going to make character statisics more fluid than they already are, and may eat up game time in calculating and re-calculating game statistics. It gets even worse if you play with the baseline assumption that characters will eventually have several magic items, especially if your players include one or more determined min-maxers who will want to try out every combination of items to ensure the maximum bonus at any one time.

Consider carefully the players you have and how they will react before you introduce this.

 

[ceratitis]

i found the best thing to do about the time consuming issue is to have several sheets with the various options a char has for example for a barbarian regular/raging/fatigued
saves lots of time.
oh and i love the little faults in magic items concept, especially if they are conected to the initial effect like the Tortoise Amulet example.
Z

 

[luke_twigger]

Wow, thanks to Land Outcast and ThirdWizard for their interesting magic items. My next campaign will be set in the Ice Barbarians land in Greyhawk so some of those cold-themed items could come in handy.

Anybody else got anything to share?

 

[ThirdWizard]

In addition, you're going to make it more likely that characters will want to put on the item (when the bonus matters more than the penalty) and take it off (when the penalty matters more than the bonus) in the middle of a game session.

There are ways to skirt that. You can use persistant effects and "payment" effects that can't be gotten rid of so easily. Persistant disadvantages can be from the effect still going 1 hour after the item is removed to until someone else uses the item. Payment effects would be something like an XP cost whenever the item's ability is used or some other downside to the item.

I wouldn't, personally, use these methods too often, but for anyone who just wants to sprinkle in a few and is worried about this, those kinds of things could help. I don't use a whole lot of these items anyway, and they usually have some kind of story attached to them (whether the PCs ever find out or not). Most magical items IMC are your standard DMG faire.

It gets even worse if you play with the baseline assumption that characters will eventually have several magic items, especially if your players include one or more determined min-maxers who will want to try out every combination of items to ensure the maximum bonus at any one time.

Yeah, I would only do this with a certain kind of group. I'm just lucky. It is definately abusable without either a very good group or a very iron fisted DM. Alternately, you could say these occur from mishaps and not allow PCs to make them. I find that PCs don't really like to make them, though. At least, not mine. They like to find them, but not create them themselves (though I leave the option open).