Does anyone have any clever items (magic or not) which fit well into an early Victorian steampunk campaign? I want to pack in non-combat, RP based items. I've read up on a few great ones so far, my favorite being a teacup that refills whenever anyone says "Splendid!"
Any and all ideas welcome, thanks!
Airships, of course. An elegant means of travel, and one not available to the hoi polloi. Parachutes to survive airship failure might be relatively ordinary or they might be 'life rings' using magic; Victorian fashions might make the latter necessary.
I've been reminded lately that there are a lot of means of conveying hidden messages in PF, but one I haven't seen is using magical tobacco to send messages via smoke. This might be anything from Message to Hidden Speech to Whispering Wind in effect. Considering how much they smoked back then it seems appropriate.
There's the old lucky cigarette case. Maybe use the effect of the jingasa of the fortunate soldier (pre or post nerf as desired)? An actual jingasa is way out of theme after all.
Other drugs were used by the Victorians frequently. Besides the actual drugs you might use a number of the alchemical tools which use burn or inspiration as such.
There should be a reason for a steampunk inventor to wear the ubiquitous brass goggles. Perhaps they grant trapfinding, or detect magic, or something.
Opera glasses which reveal more than just a closer image could work. Analyze Aura seems like a useful effect.
Steampunk likes multipurpose transforming items. Whether that's a glove which turns into an umbrella, an umbrella which turns into a shield, a shield which turns into a tea set, or a tea set which turns into a segway is up to you. Or more besides of course.
Airships are definitely in. We gave them a very simple airship at level one, and it's been an expanding part of the story since then.
I do have my gunslinger smoking a bunch, think I'll start including those magical cigarettes, that's a great idea.
And yes! Multi-use items are a great idea, I will definitely be adding them in, wonderful idea there.
I gave out some cigars that can be burned as stinking cloud, a settee couch that grants the benefits of a long rest during a short rest, slow glass that captures or freezes the image in a mirror, an affinity scarab that uses coded dots to communicate, a parasol of many (alchemical) items, ethereal monocles, goggles of fog penetration, lens of detection, a (haunted?) player piano, automated abacus, mammoth-powered springs of mithril or adamantine, life-thread-weaved domesticated dire dung beetles, pocket watchdogs of warning, double-headed spears of rowan wood and silver (for vampires and werewolves, respectively), spring-heeled boots, glamoured slippers of spider climbing that change to match any outfit AND are self-cleaning, petticoats and/or parasols of parachuting, top hats of persuasion, cumberbands of grace, snuffbox of healing...
Well... How about a small fire elemental trapped in an insulated backpack with a hose. Next to the backpack is a tank of oil that's also connected to the hose. Of course, you have to pump the tank a few times to build up pressure, but once you pull the trigger, flame thrower! For a few shots then your buddy has to pump you up again.
Take a look in Dead Lands or Space 1889. Lots of good stuff there. I've played both. I actually played them before they were Savage Worlds, but I'm dying to try it. I love that system.
The aether-otolaryngologist. It's a bellows that pumps local air into a cylinder where different chemicals suspended in small crystals will light up based on what's in the air. It grants you a bonus to identify alchemical items, and gives you the Scent feat, but using it takes two hands and a standard action.
Then there's the improved version, the auto-aether-otolaryngologist. This one has a hand crank that lets you store up to ten minutes of usage, so it just takes a standard action to activate and one hand to hold. However, while it's going it makes a loud clicking sound as the mechanism winds down.
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I gave out some cigars that can be burned as stinking cloud, a settee couch that grants the benefits of a long rest during a short rest, slow glass that captures or freezes the image in a mirror, an affinity scarab that uses coded dots to communicate, a parasol of many (alchemical) items, ethereal monocles, goggles of fog penetration, lens of detection, a (haunted?) player piano, automated abacus, mammoth-powered springs of mithril or adamantine, life-thread-weaved domesticated dire dung beetles, pocket watchdogs of warning, double-headed spears of rowan wood and silver (for vampires and werewolves, respectively), spring-heeled boots, glamoured slippers of spider climbing that change to match any outfit AND are self-cleaning, petticoats and/or parasols of parachuting, top hats of persuasion, cumberbands of grace, snuffbox of healing...
Excellent list! thanks so much!