Pocket GM: Artifacts I: Ducks of Doom

[TheLe]

Ducks of Doom

For many people the magic items of the character seem to be more important then the character itself. The magic al abilities of the items quickly seem to mean more then the level abilities of the character. While this is fine for those people, it does not take long for the magical items to all look alike. Most that are presented in the DMG seem more like power ups from a video games then magical items. Luckily we have books like Ducks of Doom to take care of this problem.

Ducks of Doom is an odd title, a funny title. It is a serious book but it does have a bit of a sense humor. Some of the items like the Ducks of Doom (yes that is an actual artifact) are a bit more comical. However, they also have an actual use and can be used in any serious campaign. Ducks of Doom presents new artifacts. Artifacts though, seem to be an easy way to present magical items. Artifacts do not have to be constraint by the same rules and one does not have to figure out what would be needed to craft it. While some of the items like the Ducks of Doom seem to make a good artifact others like many Baubles can easily have been magical items.

Ducks of Doom is a pdf by The Le Games. They seem to enjoy putting out books of artifacts as they have released a few of these. One thing that they do well with the artifacts is that they have options for the artifacts to grow with the character. This allows artifacts that have the potential to be powerful to be given at a lower level. The artifact will not be too powerful and will gain power with the character so it does not become obsolete like many magical items do.

The pdf comes in a small zip file a bit over a meg in size. Inside are three versions of the book. There are two pdf versions one with art and one without. This makes it easy to print out for those who want to print it with no art. The third version is the book in word document format. Both pdfs are book marked and it makes them easy to use from a lap top or computer at the gaming table. The pdf with the art is twenty six pages and the pdf with out the art is a bit shorter, but not by much.

The artifacts are bit of a diverse collection. The Ducks of Ultimate Doom as they are actually called mostly attract birds for food but can on occasion also turn into Vampire Ducks. While it looks a bit more fearful then Bunnicula, it still will have a hard tome to be taken completely seriously by everyone. There is a Aegis Armor which has nothing to do with e Aegis shield from mythology. It is a piece of armor that gains options as the character levels up. These options are like DR and bonuses to saves, but only one can be used at a time and it’s the characters choice what he uses when.

Overall the artifacts are original. There are not the usual boring ones presented here. They can be pretty darn powerful at times especially once the characters get to higher levels. It is a good addition for anyone looking for some items that offer a bit more character and history then the run of the mill magic al items as well as having items that do not become obsolete to the character later in his life.

 

[GameWyrd]

The Ducks of Ultimate Doom is a more traditional d20 supplement than you might first imagine. I know it surprised me.

This is a collection of artifacts for a d20 fantasy game. At the minute it costs only $1 but that's a mark down from the common price of $2. What do you get for this exorbitant fee? You get 21 artifacts. I don't think that's bad value at all. This isn't a Word document simply dumped into a PDF file. We have a landscape version for onscreen reading, a printer friendly PDF and even a rich text file version if we want to copy and paste.

I'm not quite sure what's open content in the PDF so let me put that to good use, combine that with a reviewer's right to quote a small percentage of the document and grab from the copy and paste document.

The Ducks of Ultimate Doom might be able to attract Geese.

"Although each goose is small in size, feeding on a goose will automatically fulfill the hunger of any creature of Colossal size (or smaller) for 7 days. Furthermore, feeding on the goose will enchant the eater with a Bless Spell for 24 hours (Caster level 20th)."

And that's the other surprise, I suppose, even the Ducks of Ultimate Doom aren't all that silly. They're just a touch surreal. I think it's quite clever; these might actually be the sort of item that you could smuggle into a high fantasy game without your players noticing. The ducks might attract the geese, geese which have other advantages (but not game bustlingly so), but the Ducks of Ultimate Doom might also turn into a vampire duck. This is just a challenge rating four duck which will have a go at the party. It's a CR 4 encounter so I suppose that might be a problem if all four ducks in the set transform. Other than that, it's quite a likely effect for an artifact, it should help grant life but every now and then it does something different and needs to drink it.

This is a 25-paged PDF. There are 21 artifacts so allow for padding and legal foo and we're at a page per artifact. Again this is good going.

The other artifacts aren't as interesting. We've more traditional magical armour and weapon sets. Rather than pay money for these we have thousands of DMs trying sell their ideas or give them a way free in exchange for a credit. The Baubles of Ancient Power sit right of the middle - just a touch more interesting. The Baubles are power enhancements. Find a weapon you like (like an already powerful item), put the Bauble on it, speak the power word and grant the weapon an extra power. As an added perk to an already powerful combination the Bauble's power only works when whoever installed the Bauble wields the weapon. It's pretty much every player's dream.

One of the traits that these artifacts share is that they level up with the characters. I quite like touches like that. It makes it easier to fit the item into the game and keep it relevant through out the campaign. It's not just the power level of the artifacts which change as the wielder's power level increases but their appearances too.

Let's use the handy dandy rich text document for cut and paste again and look at the Ring of Extraordinary Charging. "This ring is made of a pitch black metal with no other markings. However, when worn the ring will change its color based on the wearer's character level. At levels 1-5 it will turn gold, at levels 6-10 it will turn green, and at levels 11-15 it will turn red, and at levels 16+ it will turn white."

It's nice when artifacts have such decent descriptions. I've just quoted a small fraction from the Ring of Extraordinary Charging.

I'm quite pleased with the Ducks of Ultimate Doom. Oh, don't get me wrong, the Ducks themselves are a laugh and yet usable, but there's nothing wow factor here. What we do have is an extremely affordable product with entirely playable and usable supplement.

There's a minimum checkout value at for most electronic RPG stores. If you're trying to make that value and are a d20 player then you'd do well to make that limit by adding the Ducks of Ultimate Doom. Otherwise; well, you can live without these artifacts.

* This Artifacts I: Ducks of Ultimate Doom review was first published on GameWyrd.