Magic Items with problems

[Taloras]

Ok. I remember seeing a thread similar to this a long time ago. Unfortunately, since I cant search, i cant find it. What im taking about is items with quirks or problems. Such as the ring of invisibility that only works if you close your eyes. What im thinking of doing is dropping items like this in my campaign. Sort of the kind of item that an apprentice wizard made on accident...didnt get it quite right. Or an item that was made for a specific person. Like a sword that likes singing. Depending on your perform check, it has different abilities. Anyone have some good ideas (if you do, please put rules for them as well)

 

[Ryltar]

off the top of my head:

bracers which lock your hands together (unless you are level x+, equal to their creator; belong to a certain race, etc.)

boots of haste which make you run around uncontrollably if you mispronounce the command word

a sword that appears to be tailored to a PC's class and abilities, but in reality corrupts him with every use

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for?

 

[Taloras]

off the top of my head:

bracers which lock your hands together (unless you are level x+, equal to their creator; belong to a certain race, etc.)

boots of haste which make you run around uncontrollably if you mispronounce the command word

a sword that appears to be tailored to a PC's class and abilities, but in reality corrupts him with every use

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for?

Actually, im looking for something that helps the characters, but which either only works in a specific situation, or gives them a negative part as well. I MIGHT put in a cursed item once or twice, but what im really wanting are unique items.

 

[Humanophile]

The back of the DMG is actually a great starting point; many of the requirement and intermittent function effects work well for an item that's nice to have, just a pain in the ass sometimes. (I actually like making most of the items, especially the cool items, in my game "cursed" somehow. A holy sword that must be washed in holy water every day feels a touch more flavorful, and a bit less like generic gear, for a price that's negligible by the time the party can afford a holy sword.) Similarly, a wand of fireball that gives off a loud crack (a'la a thunderstone centered on the user) is a nice piece of gear, but one that extracts a price for its use. (Although, again, a negligible one.)

Naturally, such items should have their price knocked down a tad (5-10% sounds abouyt right), but some sort of drawback, even if it's not important in the large scale (especially so, actually, because you don't want PC's seeing items as being too much hassle to be worth it) keeps the items from feeling light-switch convenient.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

A pipe which, when filled with tobacco and lit, creates a stinking cloud. The drawback: the cloud is always centered on the pipe. (I wonder if you could use mage hand or unseen servant to light it?)

A decanter of endless water which only creates saltwater. Or maybe brackish, smelly water.

A folding boat that only works in fresh water, sinking in salt water (or vice versa).

A scroll on which the writing can only be seen in moonlight (hence, it can only be used in moonlight).

A magic weapon - its bonus only works if used with Power Attack (or perhaps Combat Expertise). The penalty taken with the feat must equal the bonus of the weapon (so a +3 sword acts as a normal masterwork weapon unless the wielder Power Attacks with a -3 penalty). Essentially, the weapon only uses its bonus to balance the penalty of the feat.

 

[Angcuru]

I think the thread you're looking for is called "Magical Items Nobody Would Want" or something like that.

 

[der_kluge]

You want the Artificer's Handbook, by Mystic Eye Games.

They are called quirks, and it has a table with 100 such quirks on it.

Such things as:
"The item's possessor loses the ability to be happy. The best they can hope for is amused or relieved."

or

"the item attracts frogs and toads. 10d6 such creatures show up after 8 hours of being stationary."

The book also has a chart for rolling an item's history, so between these two, you can ensure that every item is completely and utterly unique.

 

[Tuzenbach]

"The item's possessor loses the ability to be happy. The best they can hope for is amused or relieved."

Hey! That sounds like me! I wonder if I have a quirky magic item in my possession?

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

The drawback: the cloud is always centered on the pipe. (I wonder if you could use mage hand or unseen servant to light it?)

Unless Unseen Servants can breathe (which they can't), you'd have to get tricky in order to figure out a way to draw air through the pipe while lighting it so it'll actually catch. Maybe two Unseen Servants, one to hold the pipe and light it, while another uses a modified fireplace bellows as a set of surrogate lungs to get a good draw?

--
or just give it to the air genasi, since he doesn't have to breathe anyway
ryan

 

[dontpunkme]

my personal favorite is one that I gave a character in my world one time - it's magical bonus was the square root of 4. In other words it could be either plus or minus 2 depending on a coin flip. Can be your best friend one round and an unwelcome member in the rectum the next round. Priceless