Forked from: Where Has All the Magic Gone?
So, what are your favorites? And why? I already listed two from the previous thread, but I'll post them again here:
Ring of Contrariness: A cursed magical ring that makes the wearer unable to agree with any idea, statement, or action. In addition, the ring has the magical properties of one of the following rings (rolled randomly): Flying, Invisibility, Levitation, Shocking Grasp (once per round), Spell Turning, and Strength (18/00).
Ring of Truth: The wearer of the ring can detect any lie told to him, but he is unable to tell any sort of lie.
These are two of my favorites. Only one of them is technically cursed, but each gives the wearer a nifty benefit along with a troublesome side effect. Both of these rings are fun, can be mysterious, and can enhance role playing.
Jack7 said:Why don't they make Magic Items like they used to?
I was looking through my AD&D books tonight and noticed how versatile and multi-functional so many of the magic items were.
They were powerful, and they were odd, and fascinating, and most important of all a lot of them could do all kinds of things.
By comparison so many of the magic items of more recent editions are bland, plain, uninspired, and uninspiring. It's like suing a piece of technology from the eighties or something. The items are overly specialized, technical, usually limited to one specific function, top-heavy in design and capabilities. A drag to own and use and usually good only for specific encounter types.
Older magic items were magical. They had so many functions they seemed like a modern mini-computer/cell phone/PDA/wristwatch/GPS/tricorder all in one. Impressive and extremely useful. Versatile. Fluid. A joy to own and use, employable in a wide range of circumstances. They were the Renaissance Men of Miracles, the Polymaths of Magic. And in addition most were mysterious. You had to figure em out as you went along. They could always have extra, hidden potential that you'd never know about til you screwed around with just the right thing and accidentally tripped some concealed latch. And you had Artifacts, and Incredible Devices, and Relics, with strange legends and ancient lore surrounding them. They weren't just treasure types, they were items of real magic.
We need to get back to that in modern fantasy games.
It made fantasy gaming fun instead of a technical exercise in weaponry calibres and target types.
Magic should have some, "Boy, now you're really gonna see something!" to it, instead of "how many rounds ya got in that wand and what is the total count of damage points inflicted by it? I'm trying to calculate exactly how long this combat will last."
Where has all the magic gone?
It's gone to hell with the idea that magic is about power shots and ammo counts rather than about mystery and wonder.
Somebody needs to dig some real magic up out of the grave and see if they can put a resurrect on it.
So, what are your favorites? And why? I already listed two from the previous thread, but I'll post them again here:
Ring of Contrariness: A cursed magical ring that makes the wearer unable to agree with any idea, statement, or action. In addition, the ring has the magical properties of one of the following rings (rolled randomly): Flying, Invisibility, Levitation, Shocking Grasp (once per round), Spell Turning, and Strength (18/00).
Ring of Truth: The wearer of the ring can detect any lie told to him, but he is unable to tell any sort of lie.
These are two of my favorites. Only one of them is technically cursed, but each gives the wearer a nifty benefit along with a troublesome side effect. Both of these rings are fun, can be mysterious, and can enhance role playing.
