Wasn't here and now it is, what was/is your fav magic item in D&D?
Mine would be the deck of many things
|
As a player, +4 defender longsword. As a gamemaster, Black Razor. All you need is an illusion of a pale guy holding the old razor to send a group packin'. It's almost scary as C'thulhu wakin' up from his naptime. A close second would have to be Iggwilv's tanar'ri Chilton's Manual. Lotsa plot hook potential in that old baby. Nothing like a book you ain't supposed to have to get adventurers crawling out of the woodwork, pounding the pavement, looting dungeons and whatnot.
The bag of infinite illusory rats for abusing whirlwind and great cleave.
As a player my favorites must be a pearl of power or a ring of Wizardry (I usually play a wizard...can you tell). But rods of metamagic are VERY close after.
As a DM any weapon with a very strong Ego and a personnality that's thinks Heironeus doesn't do enough to promote good...always fun to see the players deal with that.
From my own campaign...*enters into storyteller mode*
Ochi no Sada
A once mortal warrior whose fierce devotion to law and balance led him to face demons and devils in their very home, not even death could stop him. His devotion to his ideals granted him divine status and a place among the kami of Rokugan.
Ochi no Sada's peers in the holy order he belonged to built him a magnificent hexagonal tomb outside of Kitsuki. Subtly guided by Ochi no Sada, they built a tomb that kept Ochi no Sada's legacy safely entombed within: his weapons. Not only was he a skilled warrior, he was a brilliant weaponsmith. The weapons he made gradually acquired pieces of his personality over time, which resurface at odd times and places.
All of Ochi no Sada's weapons are made of a strange reddish gold metal that he found in his many battles against the devils of the Nine Hells. Originally a tainted, impure metal, Ochi no Sada bathed the metals in a pure font of water that was linked directly the seas of Celestia for seven days and nights until all the impurities were washed from them. To further protect him against the creatures of the Shadowlands, he sharpened and polished the weapons with pieces of Kuni crystal, followed by a buffing with jade crystals.
Weapons of Ochi no Sada
Unlike many other magic weapons, Ochi no Sada's weapons are morphable and adaptable to their wielder - over time, they gradually gain more abilities and intelligence as they become more used to their wielder. If a wielder truly wishes it, the weapons can change shape to a different kind of weapon that it was originally forged.
* Fist of the High Priest
* Staff of Ningen-do
*end storyteller mode*
If I had to choose a magic item in the DMG...it would be a toss up between the Apparatus of Kwalish or a Rod of Wonder (just as fun as the Deck of Many Things).
My absolute favorites of all time, though, have to be the bags of holding and Heward's handy haversack. I can't count how many times I've wanted those in real life.
Ring of Invisibility. Thats it.
The Deck of many things is pretty infamous with our group. The other DM in my group has let it fall into our hands approximately 3 times in the course of the two campaigns he's run (the first one lasted 8 years, this one has gone for 2 or 3 already). Twice in the first campaign, once in the second. The first time, my rogue benefited greatly, only to see his fellow halfling rogue draw the void card. The second time, he refused adamantly. And in the second campaign, I played one of his descendants when the Deck came to us. Grandpa Jordan's tales of the thing caused my character to leave well enough alone, and council the others to do the same.
That one item is just fabulous to introduce to a party, regardless of their level.
As for basic items, though... I'd have to throw in votes for the handy haversack, the Casting Glove (Complete Arcane), and the Frostbrand.
Magic instruments hands down. I know that there are threads about bards whipping out a harp in the middle of combat, but the idea of the magical instrument has always held a fond place in my heart.
I can't remember what happened when my party found the Deck of Many Things, so obviously it wasn't a very magical moment, but I do remember a campaign that I DM'ed that a player was given a bag of magical beans. I told him that they would work similar to a DOMT, so he was freakishly careful, but when the situation couldn't have gotten any worse, he screamed "I plant a bean!". I think there were 4 of them, but all were memorable. For instance, the first time he planted one it 'grew' into a magical lance, the second time it grew into a buelette that attacked his enemies, the third time it grew into an alter where the fourth bean was sacrificed and took the form of a dragon egg - which promptly hatched and grew an age category each round until it was huge size, then attacked everything. Good times.
LOL - has to be the hat of stupidity for a few laughs. Really any cursed item that doesn't kill a PC is pretty funny and well worth peppering throughout a campaign to keep PCs honest about grubbing magic
As ever,
ACE
As a player, +4 defender longsword. As a gamemaster, Black Razor. All you need is an illusion of a pale guy holding the old razor to send a group packin'. It's almost scary as C'thulhu wakin' up from his naptime.
Ha! So true, the razor rules
If I had to choose a magic item in the DMG...it would be a toss up between the Apparatus of Kwalish or a Rod of Wonder (just as fun as the Deck of Many Things).My absolute favorites of all time, though, have to be the bags of holding and Heward's handy haversack. I can't count...
Totally love the wand of wonder. REALLY liked it when 2nd ed had about 4 of those things (wand of a wonder, and others with similar names). Might have been a Bazaar of the Bizarre article in Dragon ...maybe. I played a wild mage only to quest for those 4 wands and eventually got them all. My comrades hated me because even though I could control the outcome of those wands...I randomized them anyway. That character was whacko!
I also second the bag/haversack/portable hole magic carrying capability. That would be double awesome in the real world.
We went through the Queen of the Demonweb Pits and when we got to the next-to-the-last room...the vault full of gold coins...my character just opened the portable hole and slid it under the pile of gold. Took us 2 days of arguing to finally come up with the total amount of gp I hauled away. Good old Monty Haul days! Yay!
Speaking of the 'fun' cursed items...one time, I found a girdle of femininity (spelling?) and after the initial outburst of laughter and all around good natured ribbing...the next treasure pile held a philter of love. So, there was a looooong time of the guys all razzing me as our paladin fell in love with my recently transmogrified magic user/thief. jeez!
I love the scarab of golembane. Every PC with enough money that trawls through tombs and places with golems should own one of these supremely useful items.
igi
i have two favorite items that i throw in or tryt o aquire in game for my pc's for PC's I must have boots of striding and springing we have them in two sets one that apears in the dm's guide and agreater set that was in dm 3rd edition which cost double standard price but doubles your speed.
My favorite cursed item is the belt of Flatulence which appears a a belt of gaseous form but once you activate it you constantly expell nether fumes and take a neg 4 of cha based skills and neg 1 on attacks and saves and move silently also takes a neg 2 penalty
Deck of many things.
Bag of beans.
Wand of Wonder.
Items which cause adventures to be had to be sure.
I liek the cursed items too. My favorite is probably the boots of dancing. In onld school, these almost always ended up on the feet of rogues, but in 3rd edition, you can have the boots masquerade as things that would benefit any class.
One day, I want to see a monk dance.
|
Mine's got to be the glove of storing, just because I can sheathe a weapon as a free action, and walk into masquerade balls armed to the teeth, and carry around two scrolls that are drawn as a free action, and....these guys are just too cool, even at the 5-times increase in cost they got between 3.0 and 3.5.
Russ
The wand of wonder. We had a character use it on a xag-ya or positive energon, it doubled its size and everyone ran. The lucky dwarf fell in a hole and the creature passed right over top. As the creature closed on the next player the party mage asked if he should use his wand of fire to cast a fireball the fighter said sure and the player was roasted along with the creature. He entered the afterlife saying noooo...
Good times.
Portable Hole - who doesn't want one of these things?
Some slippers of spider climbing, a ring of x-ray vision, a helm of teleportation...?
MY favorite, and the most useful: a Bag of Holding. That or a Hewards Handy Haversack. I don't know if that got translated to 3.5, but in 2ED it's cool.
Deck of Many Things rocks. I have one Munchkin player that has destroyed several of her problem characters with a Deck. (At one point, she started drawing cards to try and undothe damage she had already done).
As for Magical items of my creation? Symbiotic Armors.
I fondly recall the time my character faught an epic war with the rat king and aquired the rod of cleavage. The command word for the rod was "cleavage", but it's effect was that it doubled the size of any food it was pointed at.
Spelljamming helms.
I once made an expanded Deck of Many Things, utilizing the fact that I have an entire tarot deck. (who wants to search thru any deck to find the 20 or so cards that are needed?) All my players loved it; all minor arcana cards were beneficial, but not too. All the major arcana cards were either REALLY beneficial or REALLY detrimental; when you drew one of those babies, I would flip a coin to decide whether the player was in for a migraine or a yell of joy.
Ah, the memories.
MY favorite, and the most useful: a Bag of Holding. That or a Hewards Handy Haversack. I don't know if that got translated to 3.5, but in 2ED it's cool.
No fears, Heward's Handy Haversack did indeed get translated into 3.0/3.5. :-D
I always love the wand of wonder now the rod of wonder.
As a player I always needed a portable hole and Daern's Instant Fortress, never leave home with out it.
Oh and if you don't have a portable hole, every adventurer needs a bag of holding.
I never liked the deck of many things. I have seen it used very poorly by DMs to reward and punish players by bad DMs
the ring of caterpillar control!
Since nobody in my group plays a cleric or any other type of healer, our favorite items are potions of cure moderate wounds.
Mine's got to be the glove of storing, just because I can sheathe a weapon as a free action, and walk into masquerade balls armed to the teeth, and carry around two scrolls that are drawn as a free action, and....these guys are just too cool, even at the 5-times increase in cost they got between 3.0 and 3.5.
Russ
The gloves of storing are EXTREMLY usefull.