Christmas-themed Wondrous Items Needed!
I'm working on a project called 12 Doors of Christmas. Every day from now until Christmas, I'm posting another entry in the story of some adventurers kicking down the doors of a ceramic Christmas village. I'm posting new rules content each day; I've already got some new races and a druid archetype, and there will be new monsters and items in the future.
Part of the gimmick is that there's a gift behind each door. But while I've already got my monsters and the like worked out for this project, I don't yet have 12 Christmas-themed wondrous items to fill the gift boxes.
So, is there anybody bored or antsy about RPG Superstar who wants to try their hand at a Christmas-themed item while we're waiting for the deadline? If I use something that you post in this thread, I will credit you, of course.
The project is at 12doorsofchristmas.blogspot.com, if you want to get a sense of what I'm doing. Today's treasures are some magic gingerbread men.
Sorry for the lack of formatting, posting from a phone makes bbcode so hard.
Holiday Sock
Aura faint conjuration; CL 1st
Slot none; weight 1 lb; price 250 gp
Description
This large red sock is trimmed with white, and most of the time seems empty. Each day, at dawn it magically fills with small foodstuffs and trinkets, worth no more than 1gp. This food is enough to feed one Medium creature for the day.
The trinkets are functional tools and toys, but made of simple materials and not durable. They can be used to provide a +1 circumstance bonus to one skill check before falling apart.
Construction
Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, create food and water, prestidigitation; cost 125 gp
You could also do a sack full of the Tree feather tokens.
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I think I did a couple of these in gag item threads in previous years. As they are unapologetically gag items, not sure how useful they'd be to you, but I'll see if I can't round one or two up.
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Okay, here's one. I actually completely forgot about this one. it's pretty silly with some intentionally squicky fluff, but a pretty simple SIAC otherwise.
Aura Moderate Enchantment; CL 12th
Slot -; Price 22,000gp; Weight 5 lbs.
Description
This is a dry, dead limb from a fruit tree, the length of a human arm. A few withered pears still dangle from the branches. Nailed to the center of the forking boughs is the rotting corpse of a bird; the specific species is hard to tell due to the decomposed body and sloughed feathers, but it is the size of a small game bird- perhaps a pheasant, or a partridge. Once per day, when the branch is held forth and the command word spoken, the bird reanimates, flutters its wings feebly, and gurgles a horrid cooing sound. Any one being within 50' must then make a DC 14 Will save or be affected as if by a variant of charm monster. The victim believes that the holder of the talisman is their true love, and will act accordingly. The victim may take nothing but move actions until it is within reach of the owner; at this time, it attempts to give a gift to the owner. If the victim has a weapon in its hands, it hands that over. If it has no weapon at hand when affected, it attempts to give its most valuable item to the owner of the talisman. If the victim has no possessions, then it simply attempts to give the owner a wet, passionate smooch. Upon handing the 'gift' to their 'true love', the victim may act normally, although it is still affected by charm monster. The charm effect lasts for twelve days; a victim will attempt to give a gift to its 'true love' at the start of each new day, assuming it lives that long.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, beguiling gift, charm monster; Cost 11,000 gp
[2nd Edit]
Ah, and here's the one I actually remembered having made. It's probably irredeemably silly.
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 7th
Slot Head; Price 14,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
This old silk hat seems innocuous enough to the casual glance; faded, slightly battered, with a yellow silk flower stuck in the brim. It reveals its magic powers only when placed upon a mound of snow that had been sculpted into rough humanoid form. At this point, two coal-black eyes open in the 'face' of this snow mass, which promptly becomes a snow elemental (treat as a medium earth elemental with the Cold subtype; Earth Glide and Earth Mastery are replaced by equivalent abilities involving snow and ice.) The elemental remains summoned indefinitely, though it is immediately unsummoned should the hat fall off of its head, and will melt in temperatures above freezing (taking 5 hp/hour damage in such temperatures.) In any event, the magic of the hat is not expended and may be used to conjure another such elemental at a later time.
This creature is, however, in no way under the control of the one who placed the hat upon its head, and will frequently attack those who brought it into this world. In fact, the last thing that many an adventurer seeking to have some harmless winter fun by their campsite has heard are the dread words, pronounced in sepulchral tones: "Happy... Birthday..."
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Summon Monster IV Cost 7,000 gp
RonarsCorruption:
I'll probably use your holiday sock. It's nice and simple and doesn't overlap with anything else I'm doing in the story. Also, the thought of carrying Christmas-themed prestidigitation around with me all day fills me with glee. Yeah, I play a lot of gnomes, what of it?
Woodengolem:
Good idea with the tree tokens. Maybe I'll write some flavor text for the bag and then keep that in my pocket for a day when I've got no new item to post.
Sean McGowan:
The Talisman of the First day is nice and creepy, but it's too close to the basic conceit of my story, which is also a gift-a-day kind of thing. Too bad I can't use it, because it's a cool item.
The Top Hat of Frigid Doom reminds me of a similar item that I used in a Christmas adventure I ran a few years ago. Rather than being unpredictable and aggressive, my version of the snowman started out as a blank slate, then became more and more like its role models, the PCs... which brings us right back to unpredictable and aggressive, I guess. I've already got a lot of snowman stuff going on in this story, but maybe I'll slip in your hat late in the story and work it into the plot. Thanks!
Neat Adventure.
I'm new to this so this item is probally not as polished as the one's from Sean but this looks fun.
AlsoI am not sure how usefull this will be with ghosts running around but here is my take on the Ugly Sweater :) (my bbcode sucks as well)
Horrid Woolen Wrap
Aura: moderate necromancy; CL 11th
Slot: Chest Price: 25,000gp; Weight: 3lbs
Description:
This tattered colorless vest of wool seems unremarkable until donned.
When worn it transforms into a twisted and horrific visage molded by the wearers subconscious. As a standard action the wearer can cast Ray of Sickening as a gaze attack DC11.
In addition any natural or melee attacks made against the wearer are subject to Touch of Fatigue DC 10. Once per day as a full round action the wearer can cast Fear as a gaze attack.
Construction Requirements:
Craft Wondrous Items, Ray of Sickening, Touch of Fatigue, Fear; Cost: 12,500 gp
What a lovely project!
The new races and archetypes you introduced are super-cute!
If you need a few ideas for wondrous items, I'd suggest you have a look at the King Mages' presents: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold could be a magic case full of gold (size up to you) that daily replenishes (so you have always pocket money).
Frankincense could be sticks that when you burn them they create an area effect (where the smoke reaches) of your choice (depending on next days adventures, of course, so they can use them to progress).
Myrrh is an ointmment used for preservation - maybe one of them will pass away and the adventure will be about finding a way to rais him before the ointment effect expires, or maybe there will be a diversion of the adventure in the afterlife, before coming back...
Of course the precise effects should depend on next days adventures and challenges you have in mind as they'll help overcoming them...:-)
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BTW I just had another small idea about introducing some magic mistletoe that will make characters fall in love with the most unlikely mates... it may turn out to be quite fun...
Thanks to RonarsCorruption; I used your holiday sock in today's entry, with credit.
Horrid Woolen Wrap
An ugly sweater item is a brilliant idea. You're right that the fear effect might not come in handy much, though. Maybe we could do something as simple as cold resistance at the expense of a penalty on Cha-based checks? Then throw on a once per day sickening or hideous laughter effect, like "once per day as a standard action, the wearer may show forth the hideous woolen wrap in all its ridiculous glory, afflicting one target within sight with hideous laughter (as the spell)."
Cassiodorus:
I like the Gifts of the Magi idea. Anybody want to take a crack at a more complete treatment? If not, I'll finish it and just credit you with the concept.
Thanks to those of you who are enjoying the entries. I'm glad somebody's reading them.
We actually had our item crafter make a less elegant version of this item for our Kingmaker game when we held a Seven-veils festival.
Snowfall Skycandle
Aura Strong Transmutation; CL 13th
Slot none; Price 4500 gp; Weight 3 lbs.
Description
This, otherwise nondescript skyrocket is slightly cold to the touch. It launches like any other skyrocket, but it does not explode in the same fashion. Instead of bursting loudly and brightly, it makes a muffled puff sound, and creates a misty cloud at its apex.
Over the next ten minutes, the misty cloud grows thicker and heavier, until the shadowed, silvery cloud covers the sky in a 2 mile radius, and snow begins to fall softly, no matter the season or climate. After one hour hour, a foot of snow blankets the ground under the area of effect. No further snow accumulates, even though the snow continues to fall for 12 hours. For a full week, this snow remains white and does not melt unless exposed to a direct source of heat, after which period it becomes normal snow.
Unlike normal snow, exposure to the the snow created by a snowfall skycandle is not cold enough to create hazardous climate conditions. Furthermore, as long as a creature witnesses the snow falling during the first hour, it is affected by the spell calm emotions, with the exception that positive emotions are not suppressed.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, calm emotions, control weather, endure elements, prestidigitation, 5 ranks in Craft (alchemy); Cost 2500 gp
Unfortunately, our item crafter had to make a few shortcuts to get around the control weather prerequisite, so our version was a little less peaceful, and we almost evacuated the town because we weren't sure if it was going to snow, or kill us all at first... but then the snow fell, and our characters had snowball fights and made snowmen in the castle courtyard.
Snowfall Skycandle
I want to use this item, but as it happens, I need a mundane item for today's entry, not a magical one. So, I'm going to write up a mundane version: essentially the alchemical part of your item, but without the magic that gives it a wide radius and a calm emotions effect.
Happily, this also keeps that 2-mile-radius calm emotions effect out of the hands of my little band of adventurers. My GM ethics won't permit me to give that kind of power to any party, even a goofy one that's completely under my control. :)
+2 DRaino, the alchemical version of your item is now up in today's post. Along with a whole lot of bad puns. Hopefully, their odium will not cling to your fine idea.
Woot!
Your version is definitely more appropriate and balanced than the magical version. When we used it for the festival, it was far more of a thematic effect bringing waves of peace and joy and such, but I can clearly see why having a HUGE radius of calm emotions can get problematic for tactical use.
I am enjoying this project of yours, and look forward to seeing what else happens in this crazy christmas adventure!
Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7
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Cauldron of Everlasting Rations
Aura mild Conjuration; CL 5th
Slot none; Price 4,500 gp
DESCRIPTION
This cauldron, typically decorated with engravings of shrubbery and plant parasites, can be used to create Everlasting Rations - a dense cake-like substance with various dried fruits and nuts, which can last up to six months before rotting.
Because of the density of the cake, however, and the amalgam of ingredients, the cake is often so dense it is brick-like, and the taste is overwhelming and often difficult to eat.
Any creature using this cauldron can create enough rations for 6 small to medium creatures a day. If the user of the cauldron has 5 or more ranks of Profession: Cook, then the rations have a somewhat palatable taste.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Create Food and Water; Cost 2250 gp
Horrid Woolen Wrap
An ugly sweater item is a brilliant idea. You're right that the fear effect might not come in handy much, though. Maybe we could do something as simple as cold resistance at the expense of a penalty on Cha-based checks? Then throw on a once per day sickening or hideous laughter effect, like "once per day as a standard action, the wearer may show forth the hideous woolen wrap in all its ridiculous glory, afflicting one target within sight with hideous laughter (as the spell)."
Yeah hideous laughter works with the Ugly sweater symbology and probally a better fit in game. Whatever works best,I was just going for a "creepy x-mas" style. After I looked at your party I felt Cold Resistance was a moot point, but whatever you want to do is fine
Hmm now this is way out there but here you go. Inspired by the Rod of wonder with and AOE spin and a x-mas theme.
Bell of Ag
Aura strong universal CL 14th;
Slot none; Price 24,000 gp; Weight 3 lbs
Description: This miraculous bells history has been lost to the ages it is made of pure silver and etched with ancient runes.
The bell may be used up to three times per day, each use requires a standard action.
*Users with Preform (musical Instrument) with 5 ranks or more may alter the % rol by 5% in either direction.
d% Effect
01—05 Casts Aura of the Unremarkable 10 min (Will DC 15 negates).
06—10 Casts Shatter 20ft radius
11—15 Casts Cure Serious Wounds 3d8 +14
16—20 Casts Gaseous Forms 20ft radius
21—25 Casts Haunting Choir 30ft radius (Will DC 15 negates)
26—30 Casts Invisibility Sphere 10ft radius
31—33 Heavy snow falls for 1 round in 60-foot radius centered on the wielder.
34—36 Summons an animal—1d8 Reindeer
37—46 Casts Sonic Thrust
47—49 Casts Zone of silence 20ft radius
50—53 Cats Overwhelming Grief 20ft Radius (Will DC 15 negates)
54—58 Darkness, 30-foot-diameter hemisphere, centered on bell.
59—62 Casts Wall of Sound (In ring form only)
63—65 Any nonliving object of up to 1,000 pounds of mass and up to 30 cubic feet in size turns ethereal.
66—69 Casts Haste
70—79 Casts Terrible Remorse 20ft radius (Will DC 15 negates)
80—84 Casts Ancestral Gift
85—87 Casts Break Enchantment
88—90 Cure Critical Wounds 4d8 +14
91—95 Casts Echolocation 20ft radius
96—97 Casts Greater Heroism
98—100 Casts Song of Discord (Will DC 15 negates)
Requirements:
Craft Wondrous Item, Limited Wish, Cost 12,000gp
Today's entry is up, featuring a new trap and some wondrous items that I devised myself.
chibiamy's cauldron and Garrett's tankard are both cool. I'll probably place them together. I particularly like the incorporation of a skill check into the cauldron, because Toddy has Profession (cook). There's also potential comedy in the alcohol option for the tankard, though I'm not sure that I can take advantage of it, having no Lego-scale tankards at hand.
GM Hudson: Random-table-based items are probably my guiltiest pleasure in item design. I will take that bell, sir. I haven't looked in detail at all of the effects yet, but most of them look okay.
Yeah I really like the name, I poured over the spell effect trying to match AOE and sound based type stuff and also threw is some nice buffs and a few "Holiday drama" type effects: Song of Discord, Overwhelming Grief,Terrible Remorse, and Haunting Choir are thrown in there to represent how stressfull the Holidays can be. Is it over thought sure but ehh. I am sure the effects could use some more tweaking in addition to more Fun stuff like the Snow.
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Today's rather long entry is up, featuring both chibiamy's cauldron and Garrett Guillott's tankard. I hesitated to place two treasures together this way, but I had a nice big gift box to fit them into, and the party really worked for their loot in today's adventure, so it seemed appropriate.
RonarsCorruption's holiday sock also makes an appearance in today's entry, as I did manage to track down a stocking prop at the right scale.
Okay, one more from me. Hopefully this one will serve you better than my gag entries of old did. (Admittedly, this is still tongue in cheek, but not full on gag...)
The Mouse King's Bane
Aura moderate evocation and illusion; CL 10th
Slot none; Price 38,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description
This small, brightly painted wooden soldier has a hinged jaw connected to a lever in its back. When a gemstone worth at least 100 gp is placed in its mouth and a standard action used to press the lever, the gem is crushed and destroyed. Immediately thereafter, a attractive young human soldier appears within ten feet of the user. While seemingly living, this soldier is an illusion and cannot be physically interacted with.
If an animal or vermin swarm is within 100 feet, the soldier moves towards it with a speed of 60 feet, attempting to position itself within one of the swarm's squares. It likewise attempts to move with the swarm as necessary. While the image persists, it counts as a target for any damaging spell requiring targets, and is AC 10 for purposes of rays or any other touch spells. When struck by a spell, the image draws its sword and lashes out at the swarm around it, its blade flickering with radiance. In so doing, the spell is redirected upon the swarm as though it had an area of effect. This damage only affects the swarm; it does not create an actual area effect and no other creatures are harmed by it.
The duration of the soldier is dependent upon the value of the gem used to summon it. It remains for one round per 100 gp of the gem, or until it has redirected one spell level per 100 gp value. If targeted by a higher level spell than it has remaining value, it vanishes without redirecting the spell.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Selective Spell, silent image, spectral hand; Cost 16,000 gp
This time I have a very subtle trap idea: caramelized apples traps!
When eaten, they stick in your mouth for 1d4 rounds, preventing communication and (above all) spellcasting with no saving throw.
After that, the effect will continue until Con DC 15 stops it (check every round).
If a spell is cast on the first round after the end of the effect, some residual stickyness will affect the spell resolution (roll 1d6)
Roll 1-2: target changes at GM discretion (re-roll if the spell has no target)
Roll 3: spell effect (or area, if applicable) increased ten fold
Roll 4: spell effect (or area, if applicable) reduced ten fold
Roll 5: spell changes to another random spell of the same level, legal for the caster's class
Roll 6: mass confusion, 100', unlimited HDs, Will DC 25 negates
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This might be a major artifact.
Amulet of the Time Lord.
Aura: Strong (All Schools)
CL:30th.
Slot: Neck
Weight: Negligible
This blue gem on a flashing silver chain is shaped as a rectangular prism. Once per day, when killed or dying of old age, the wearer regearates as per the spell reincarnation, with the following changes:
The character's personality changes (Alignmment stays the same, but they act differently)
They change race and possibly gender (after race is rolled, roll d% again. 1-49 male, 2-100 female.)
Alignment changes (except in the case of paladins and antipaladins)
For the first minute after this, the character is at zero hit points and is subject to regeneration, as per the spell.
The character is temporarily blinded, deafened, and can only take move actions.
This will only work 13 times for an individual character.
Destruction:
The amulet of the time lords is destroyed if a character chooses NOT to reincarnate.
Kyros, I like the Whovian theme but how is it Christmas related?
Kyros, I like the Whovian theme but how is it Christmas related?
Not really sure, but Doctor Who always has a Christmas special, maybe that's the connection.
Yesteryday's entry is up, finally! I love my new monster, but it was a pain in the ass to shoot. Today's entry will be up this evening.
The Mouse King's Bane
Yes, please! It's a bit high level for my band of adventurers, but I'll figure something out. I really like that this item fills a legitimate mechanical niche while still being strongly thematic.
I'm not sure I can use the Amulet of the Time Lord. It reminds me, though, I almost created something like a TARDIS in my last PF campaign, and it was totally accidental. Extradimensional spaces, intelligent constructs and teleportation are all so useful! It's only natural to try to combine them... and then you look down at the stat block and realize that you're missing nothing but the eye of harmony and the coat rack.
Today's entry is up, featuring Sean McGowan's awesome Mouse King's Bane and some new oozes, the Ice Pops. And DIRE HAPPENINGS!
Wow, the nutcracker was not just costly in terms of gold, but came at a higher cost as well.
Sniffle.
Of course, they're adventurers, so let's face it, the gold is the most important part.
Fun stuff!
Also, just came across this on the product page. Dunno if you've seen it yet, but seems like it would be up your alley:
War on Yuletide.
I would like to submit:
A tiny coffee (and coco) golem. It is exactly what it sounds like. ;-)
Garrett, I thought your item was going to transform a pile of snow into an ice golem (but a friendly one). :)
Don't have time at the moment to write these up (and some of them aren't worth it), but...
An item that when you laugh, you temporarily turn into a some kind of ooze.
Cookies that grant fat elves fortitude for long travel.
Jingly bells that cause a sleigh to move as if it were drawn by horses.
Variation on an everburning torch--an everburning log.
A clump of mistletoe that compels any two humanoids within 10 feet of it to kiss. Also makes a nice druid holy symbol.
Okay, some of these are lame and obvious but I had to try.
This one is really... bad.
but since you asked: Reindeer Slay
Today's entry is up, and with only five days left, the threads are starting to come together. I also managed to drop an homage to classic gaming comedy right at the beginning.
I am totally spoiled for choice on wondrous items. Thank you so much, everyone, for contributing and reading. And keep them coming! I still haven't made firm decisions about the gifts for a couple of forthcoming days, so if I see something that blows me away, I will happily use your idea even if it comes it at the eleventh hour.
Thanks, Sean, for the tip on War of Yuletide. I'll probably pick that up.
Garrett, I think that your version of Frosty's top hat is my favorite so far because it could so easily be an adventure hook. If I do a sequel to this story at some point, I might use your item as the hook and make it the Quest for the Frosted Top Hat.
Re: Reindeer Slay
Hey, I used that pun once! In a project similar to this one, in fact. There was this superhero named Jingle Bill... yeah, the upshot of this story was that my pun wasn't quite as bad as yours, but then I realized that I named a superhero "Jingle Bill." Never mind.
Today's entry is up just in time (well, Pacific time) with a new monster, GM Hudson's Bell of Ag, and the introduction of some additional treasure that the party (and therefore we) won't address until the next entry. But the really big stuff is tomorrow....
Today's entry is up, and formatting problems be damned! Whole lot of crunch today, and more to come tomorrow, including some items from this thread that I couldn't fit in any other way but through the curio owl's hoard.
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The two part final entry is up! It features a unique monster, Bingle of Betelgeuse! (spelled with an exclamation mark, always) and The Threefold Gift, an idea from Cassiodorus Patavinus that has been waiting for its day almost since the beginning of this thread.
Thanks again to everyone who's been reading along. I'll be posting some miscellaneous updates and corrections to the finished story over the next couple of days, and probably a shameless plug for my next project, as well.
Just a quick post to let you know how much I have enjoyed your project - this was too, too fun. Looking forward to what you come up with next. May your SO remain patient with your creative impulses. Happy Holidays!
Thank you very much for your lovely lovely story!!!
It was a pleasure to read it!