What have been the most fun/impactful magic items you've found/made for your players?

[Stalker0]

My best one was the amulet of bajjon. Each member had one. Whenever they dealt a crit, it gave the party a combat bonus, but also everyone got a quick vision of some of the crit dealers background.

It was a great one for the party to role play with each other and reveal little details about their characters with the group. Really brought the group together.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Karyx of the Black Mother. It was a mahogany wand tipped with onyx and was largely based on an item from the Rose of the Prophet novel series. All it did was summon a quasit who invisibly tried to corrupt whomever touched the wand. My players went nuts trying to figure out what it did - it did not register as magical if you cast detect magic on it, for example - because they had the feeling that something was up. I had a blast dropping subtle hints and working out overall goals for the quasit, and the end results made it into my Offbeat Encounters book.

Sadly, that campaign ended before the players fully figured out what was going on, but they still talk tome about how cool they thought it was.

 

[corwyn77]

One of the most fun items I've given out in years is, actually, fairly useless: the cloak of fame. While you wear it, anyone who sees you recognizes you, knows your name, and knows your greatest accomplishments.

That actually seems like an interesting double-edged sword!

My favourite set of items comes from a 2e game which eventually turned into a gurps game (where I played my iconic namesake minus the 77):

A map which showed a 2 mile radius centered on me with all major landmarks; cool in and of itself but it was paired with a spyglass which, when looked through, would add any creatures or groups of creatures (like armies) onto the map. Incredibly useful for my scout/illusionist.

A book. The cover read "The Life and Times of Corwyn the Gnome. The first page started with his arrival in the game world through a portal. Turning to the last page, it read "...and then he opened the book and turned to the last page." and continued on from there for the rest of the campaign.

 

[Sadras]

Manacles of magic suppression

 

[Reynard]

Deck of Many things, bar none. I have used it in every campaign I have ever run, in one form or another (last time it was a wild magic machine left over from the plane hopping aliens that visiting the setting millenia before). I have sprung it on 2nd level parties and 15th level parties. I have watched it blow up campaigns and completely change story course and have next to no lasting impact at all. I love that thing.

 

[Grognerd]

For me it's the good ol' Rod of Lordly Might. Love that thing!

Power, versatility, and just cool.