Should I allow this magic item (e.g. Is it broken)?

[Marcon]

I'll be running "Rumble in the Wizard's Tower" to kick-start my new campaign and there is a seemingly innocent-looking magic item in there : A disk that allows its wearer to cast Cure minor wounds at will.

Simply put, this means that the PCs will get back to max HPs at the end of each and every encounter as long as they can spare a few minutes. I know there has been a lot of talk on these boards about people setting up camp at 9 AM or something, this item would greatly help the adventurers for sure but is it too much, especially at level 1?

-Marcon

 

[DragonLancer]

To me that sounds a little broken. My suggestion would be to replace it with a wand of Cure Minor instead.

 

[Merkuri]

We had a similar situation when we played through the World's Largest Dungeon. The DM introduced an NPC (forget what class exactly) that had the ability to heal us up to full after battles, but couldn't do much during battles. It worked out pretty well, especially since we were low on healers at the time (the most healing we had was from the bard). We still ended up having to rest frequently because of our casters, but going into each battle with full hit points didn't break much of anything.

Of course, you could always introduce the item with an OOC caveat... explain when the players find said item that if it turns out to be broken you will take it away (either by breaking it physically, or having it stolen, etc.). Make sure you explain this when they first get the item so they don't think you're being unfair if you later decide to take it away.

 

[Phlebas]

try making it an eternal wand (cure light?) instead, 2/day and see how that works out. you can always allow them to 'unlock' its full potential later with a side quest and its a lot easier to give than to take away

 

[Obergnom]

Hmm,

I do not own the module, but this items seems to fit its idea perfectly. Fast and fun dungeon crawl, no worries about resting and stuff. (Have they but in something similar for arcane casters?)

To preserve that, what about changing it to a charged item, that can be used x days instead of having a set number of charges.

Try to figure out the number of days the adventure would take with using it and make that the number of activations possible.
(days could be specified as 8 hours or 24 hours or whatever you think makes sense)

This would not change the adventure and you would not have to worry about the item.

(btw. I do not think it is to powerful, it just changes the way the game plays and you must decide wether you want that or not.)

 

[delericho]

Making it "at will" is probably a bit much. Also, making the item apply only to the person holding the item (but allowing anyone to use it) would go a long way to making the item more interesting - that way it can't be used by raging Barbarians or unconscious characters, so the group would need a backup plan. Also, it can't (admittedly theoretically) be used as a weapon.

When running the Shackled City, I did find that my group went through Wands of Cure Light Wounds at an absurd (and versimilitude-breaking) rate. To that end, in my current campaign I'm going to give them an item similar to what you suggest:

The Wealstone:

This clear orb is charged with the power of healing. Any intelligent creature holding the orb can issue a mental command word, causing the orb to heal them of 10 hit points of damage. The orb can be used ten times per day.

This also opens the possibility of a Lesser Wealstone (1 hit point, can be used on others as well as the user), and a Greater Wealstone (20 hit points, only on self).

 

[darthkilmor]

I'll be running "Rumble in the Wizard's Tower" to kick-start my new campaign and there is a seemingly innocent-looking magic item in there : A disk that allows its wearer to cast Cure minor wounds at will.

Simply put, this means that the PCs will get back to max HPs at the end of each and every encounter as long as they can spare a few minutes. I know there has been a lot of talk on these boards about people setting up camp at 9 AM or something, this item would greatly help the adventurers for sure but is it too much, especially at level 1?

-Marcon

Well at 1st lvl, a wand of cure light wounds would do effectively the same thing, fully heal everyone, for the length of the adventure(im assuming its not that long right?).

Or if you want to keep the disk, give it a small % chance(maybe 5%) every time they use it it'll summon something( maybe several tiny vipers or seomthing dangerous enough that the first time it happens they'll be nervous about using it afterwards). Also your constant rolling each time they use it will make them nervous . Or if you like math, the %chance increases every time they use it, and resets once something is summoned.

 

[Kax Tuglebend]

It would change the feel of the game, but I hardly see it as 'broken'.

If your not sure if it'll be broken or not, rather than outright stating that its a charged item when the find it, instead have them roll a d20 every 10th time they use it, then make a note of it on a piece of paper, if after a while you do decide its too much you can have it go wrong/break/explode the next time you ask them to roll, and say its down to a magical static charge its built up due to over-use, or if you decide everythings fine you can just carry on as is with the players being none the wiser.

Another option would be to say that the item is arcane in nature instead of divine, and that though it does mend the injuries it causes great pain to the recipient of the spell, inflicting 1 point of temporary Strength Damage (there was a healing spell to that effect in Campaign Magazine once upon a time i believe)

 

[FunkBGR]

It fits for "Rumble in the Wizard's Tower"

Wicked Fantasy Factory stuff - keep it. It's not useful in battle, only out of battle, and for that 'style' of playing, it's perfect.

If you're just using the module for a baseline idea for a regular game, I'd say change it to a wand of cure light, but otherwise, no need.

 

[Warren Okuma]

I'll be running "Rumble in the Wizard's Tower" to kick-start my new campaign and there is a seemingly innocent-looking magic item in there : A disk that allows its wearer to cast Cure minor wounds at will.

Simply put, this means that the PCs will get back to max HPs at the end of each and every encounter as long as they can spare a few minutes. I know there has been a lot of talk on these boards about people setting up camp at 9 AM or something, this item would greatly help the adventurers for sure but is it too much, especially at level 1?

-Marcon

Is it broken? No. It's only minor wounds. And it fits in.