Antagonist Relations: system agnostic

Showing posts with label system agnostic. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Bag o' Gulls - Weird Magic Item #27

Inspired by the incredibly excellent Weird Magic Item generator over at Donjon.bin.sh, I've been coming up with a few of my own system agnostic weird magic items to put in the many games I run, be they 13th Age or Beyond the Wall...

Eventually I want to try and put them into a randomizer, but I need to generate a few first. I'm going to try and post one every other Wednesday. Please let me know if you end up using an item I've created in your own game. You can find the entire series here...

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Bag o’ Gulls

Uncommon Wondrous Item

This filthy, off-white sack smells faintly of seabird guano and was created by the notoriously eccentric Dwarven sea-mage, Scant Muckbeard. Once per day, as an action, the holder of the bag can use a command word and open the bag to release 2d12+12 sea gulls (for 5e D&D, use the stats for a raven, without the mimicry trait). The individual who utters the command word can have the gulls perform one of the actions below:

Seek Dry Land. The gulls fly in the direction of the nearest dry land, soaring at a speed that can be followed by a boat or ship. The gulls circle above the dry land until the individual who spoke the command word is within 300ft of the dry land or until 8 hours have passed, at which point the gulls disperse.
Swarm. The gulls swarm and attack a single target you verbally designate as a free action, using the stats of a Raven Swarm (for 5e D&D) or other appropriate stat block for the system. The gulls attack only the target creature, dispersing if the target of their attacks falls unconscious or dead.
Befoul. For 1d4+1 minutes the gulls befoul an area of huge size or smaller, eating any food, flapping their wings and squawking at any creatures present. If attacked or driven away, they do not fight back, instead they fly up and let loose a truly epic amount of guano, covering any creatures attacking them or attempting to drive them off. If left undisturbed, the gulls may still defecate before they depart but they do not focus their excretions on any single target, instead covering the area with their droppings.
Communicate. For a number of minutes equal to the number of gulls released, the user gains the ability to speak and understand Auran (the language of Air elementals) and has the effect of the Speak with Animals spell but only for birds, allowing them to use the gulls to speak to any other avians present.

Additionally, the bag serves as the material component for a find familiar spell, but when cast only sea gulls arrive to serve as the caster’s familiar.

Once the Gulls complete the command of the user, they fly off as normal gulls, completely free of any lingering effects and the bag cannot be used again until the next day.

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Greatsword of Bashing - Weird Magic Item #26

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Greatsword of Bashing

The legendary berserker, Hjördís Bonebreaker, commissioned this sword after helping a band of adventurers clear the crypts of the Marrow King. During her time in the crypts she was frustrated by the need between to switch her preferred great sword and a maul that would better damage skeletons and other bony undead, so she asked a wizard to enchant her sword so that it dealt bludgeoning damage in addition to slashing. Hjördís christened her original greatsword Marrowdrinker, but since that time several more have been crafted as other berserkers and warriors ask mages to enchant weapons well suited to both cleaving goblins in twain and smashing the skulls of skeletons.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Amalia Sebara’s Fire-breathing Coin Hog - Weird Magic Item #25

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Amalia Sebara’s Fire-breathing Coin Hog

Originally developed by the legendary wizard, Amalia Sebara, this small coin purse shaped to look like a pig is stitched out of the hide of a red dragon. There is a coin sized slot on the back which is used to insert coins of any size into an extra-dimensional space within. The owner can whisper a command word and amount into the tiny ear of the ersatz hog and the amount will spill out of the hog’s mouth, provided the coin purse contains the amount. The extra-dimensional space can hold up to a million coins of any size, but will accept no other objects. It will also not accept counterfeit coins or coin shaped objects that hold no value. If anyone but the attuned owner of the coin purse attempts to steal the purse or open it, the pig opens its mouth and targets the thief with a burning hands spell. The owner can give the purse as a gift, however, and the purse becomes also becomes un-attuned 2d4 hours after the death of its owner, so those are the two most common means of obtaining one of these magical purses.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Drunkard's Powder - Weird Magic Item #24

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Drunkard's Powder

This pea-green powder can be added to up to a gallon of any liquid to cause it to become a powerful intoxicant. While the powder does not change the taste, smell or appearance of the liquid, it imbues it with a potent effect, causing the imbiber to become drunk in 1d4 minutes as long as they have at least one swallow, and to stay intoxicated for 1d6 hours. The powder will affect all living creatures, though creatures larger than human size require an additional dose of the powder per size category above human sized. A bag of the powder typically contains 1d4+1 doses. Dwarves find it hilarious to put the powder in the teas of Elves, enjoying the normally stuffy Elves fall into a drunken stupor.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Breastplate of the Manticore - Weird Magic Item #23

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Breastplate of the Manticore

This battered bronze breastplate features the gruesome image of a Manticore upon it and functions as a +1 magic breastplate. Once a week the wearer can call upon the magic of the breastplate to transform into a Manticore for up to an hour. During that time the wearer possess their own mind but has the physical attributes, including the hit points and attacks, of a Manticore. All of the user’s equipment is magically absorbed into the new form and unavailable until the transformation ends. The effect ends at the end of an hour or when the wearer is reduced to zero or fewer hit points. If the effect ends because the wearer is reduced to zero hit points or fewer they are returned to their normal form, unconscious but with 1 hit point. Before the breastplate can be used again the wearer must devour the raw and bloody heart of a freshly killed foe that was slain by their hand (or manticore claw, etc) within the last hour. The wearer can devour the heart in either the manticore form, while the transformation is in effect, or in their normal form, but until they consume a foe’s heart they can neither remove the breastplate nor call upon its power of transformation, though they still receive its armor bonus as normal.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Witch's Compass - Weird Magic Item #22

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Witch’s Compass

This small stone disc has a small depression in its center and was created by a powerful witch to locate individuals either living or dead. When a piece of a body, like a fingernail, strand of hair, scale, feather or other scrap of bone or flesh is placed in the depression and a newt’s eye is placed over it, like a cap, the Compass activates, consuming the piece of the body. The newt's eye will rotate on the disc to point its pupil in the direction of the body the piece originally came from, or the largest fragment of the body if it has been dismembered. If the body is no longer on the same plane as the user of the compass, the newt’s eye disappears in a harmless puff of smoke, but otherwise it will continue to turn its pupil to point the user towards the body for 2d4+1 days at which point the newt’s eye dries out. The item can be re-used by placing a new fragment into the depression and covering it with a fresh eye of newt.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Bucket-Crown of Goblin Esteem - Weird Magic Item #21

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Bucket-Crown of Goblin Esteem

This stained and rusted bucket holds an irresistible allure for Goblins. When worn on the head as a hat, it gives the wearer friendly encounters with all goblins (but not other goblinoids, like bugbears or hobgoblins). Goblins will not attack the wearer until they attack them first and will treat the wearer with great deference, as though they were royalty. Dwarves of all kinds are unable to wear the bucket as a hat and the rusted holes in the bottom prevent it from being used to hold liquids of any kind.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Minotaur's Clew - Weird Magic Item #20

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Minotaur’s Clew

When the correct command word is whispered, this ball of yarn unrolls itself and one end floats at waist height of the holder, slowly weaving its way to either the center or exit of a maze, user’s choice. The yarn cannot be cut, burnt or otherwise destroyed, but if the user does not hold the ball of yarn in their hand it will drop to the floor and cannot be re-activated until the next dawn. If there is a minotaur present in the maze, the yarn will always lead the user to minotaur instead of the intended center or exit, though it will function normally if the minotaur is dispatched. Additionally, each time it is used there is a 5% chance (1 on a 1d20) that the Minotaur’s Clew will summon a minotaur, placing the beast in the maze half-way between the user and their intended destination (either center or exit).

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Belt Buckles of Bonded Action - Weird Magic Item #19

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Belt Buckles of Bonded Action

These matching belt bucklers are in the shape of a thundercloud with a lightning bolt. When each buckle is worn by a pair of individuals, the wearer of a belt buckle can spend a bonus (or quick or minor depending on the action economy of the game) action to do the following as long as the other wearer is willing and conscious.

Add to their speed up to the speed of the other belt buckle wearer. If this option is chosen, the other wearer loses that amount of speed on their next movement. The other wearer also gains +2 to AC on their next turn.
Take an additional standard action. If this option is chosen, the other wearer loses their standard action on their next turn but gains +4 to AC until the start of the user's next turn.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Scroll of Expedient Memorization - Weird Magic Item #18

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Scroll of Expedient Memorization

When read this scroll allows a spellcaster who memorizes, prays for or otherwise prepares spells from a list for a day to swap out one memorized/prepared spell for another that they know. Reading the scroll takes a full minute and at the end the spell swap is instantaneous. Strangely, goblin spellcasters often have these scrolls in their possessions, a fact that both puzzles and worries other wizards and clerics.

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Door Buster Boot - Weird Magic Item #17

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Door Buster Boot

This magical left boot is always found alone, never as part of a pair. It will magically change its appearance to always appear as in-congruent as it can with any other footwear worn on the wearer’s other foot, appearing as a delicate glass slipper if the other footwear the owner is wearing is a muddy military boot, for example. While worn, this boot allows the wearer to kick open any wooden door, opening it and rendering it so that it must be repaired before it can be fully shut again. This effect is always loud as the woods splinters and breaks and can only be quieted by magical means, such as a silence spell. If the door is locked, any non-magical locks are broken--if barred, the bar is broken. If the door is magically locked, the boot functions like a Knock spell (or similar spell), allowing the door to be opened. Against doors made of metal, stone or other sturdier materials, the boot doubles its wearer’s ability to open the door with brute force and allows locks, bars and other means of fortification to be bypassed on a successful attempt. The boot provides no additional protection against traps on a door, magical or otherwise.

Special thanks to the players of my Roll20 Against the Cult of the Reptile God and Curse of Strahd players for inspiring this item.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Ring of the Living Statue - Weird Magic Item #16

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Ring of the Living Statue

While worn the ring gives a +5 bonus to any saves against petrification or other effects that change ones flesh into a different substance. The wearer can also use a command word to become perfectly still and to appear as a statue, the type of which is determined on the table below when the ring is created:

d12	Apparent Statuary Material
1	Sandstone
2	Sandstone
3	Limestone
4	Limestone
5	Granite
6	Granite
7	Marble
8	Marble
9	Bronze
10	Bronze
11	Jade
12	Gold

The wearer can remain still for up to twelve hours per single day, and their flesh, clothing and all held items appear to be made of the statuary material above. Though they remain perfectly still and their hair, clothing or other items are not blown by breezes or soaked by rain, they are not transmuted into a statue and will feel like flesh instead of like statuary material if someone touches them. When they move, their retain the coloration and appearance of a statue for 1d6 rounds before the effect fades. The ring is prized by assassins who use it to lurk in places where a statue would be inconspicuous while waiting for their target.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Wand of the Wooden Spoon - Weird Magic Item #15

Wand of the Wooden Spoon

The last magic item crafted by a potent archmage in the throes of dementia, this wand appears to be a simple large wooden spoon and it smells strongly of oatmeal. When in the hands of a spell caster who memorizes spells, the wand can be used to sacrifice two of that caster’s memorized spells in order to cast any spell the caster knows or has in their spell book or on a scroll. If the spell caster sacrifices three memorized spells, the spell they cast counts as being cast by a caster (or with a spell slot) of two levels higher. The wand will also fill any bowl or pot it is placed into with warm oatmeal flavored with cinnamon, honey and butter. For some unknown reason, this wand is prized above all other things by Derro, who will literally kill to obtain it and always seem to smell when a wizard posses it if they encounter them.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Bird's Eye Talisman - Weird Magic Item #14

Bird’s Eye Talisman

This silver pendant is shaped like a raven’s skull. When you hold it in a hand and close your eyes, a shadowy raven appears above you, thirty to forty feet up, tethered to you by a strand of shadow. You see through the shadow bird’s eyes and with concentration, you can move this vantage point as fast as a crow can fly, though control is clumsy. When you open your eyes, the shadow bird dissipates slowly, as does the shadow strand that links it to you. The shadow bird cannot move through physical barriers that would impend a natural bird and has normal vision, even if your character has low-light, dark or infravision. No magical divination or special abilities can be used through the pendant. There is no limit to how far the shadow raven can fly from you, but no matter how far it ventures from you, the shadow raven is always tethered to you by an ever-elongating strand of shadow, which a perceptive or canny enemy could use to trace their way back to you.

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Parasol of the Daywalker - Weird Magic Item #13

Parasol of the Daywalker

This pink silken parasol casts a much darker shadow than the diaphanous material would lead an observer to guess it would. There is enough shadow for a single human-sized creature to stand in. It allows a creature that would otherwise take a penalty or damage due to sunlight to avoid taking that from normal daylight. It also gives a +5 roll to any checks against heat exhaustion or other weather conditions that could be ameliorated by an umbrella or shade. It can be made to float above a creature with a command word, leaving both of a user’s hands free.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Draught of Learning - Weird Magic Item #12

Draught of Learning

This bottle contains a foul smelling, black liquid that appears to be ink. When a cup of this liquid is drunk by a spell caster capable of learning new spells, that spell caster automatically succeeds on the next check they make to learn a spell. In addition, the time required to learn the spell is reduced to 1 hour. If a spell caster takes a second drink, they must make a saving throw vs poison or suffer one of the consequences below:

2d12	Draught of Learning Consequences
2	Spell caster "unlearns" a random spell they already knew and can never re-learn it.
3	Spell caster loses a level.
4	Spell caster loses 1 point of Dexterity
5	Spell caster loses 1 point of Dexterity
6	Spell caster loses 1 point of Strength
7	Spell caster loses 1 point of Strength
8	Spell caster loses 1 point of Strength
9	Spell caster loses 1d4 hitpoints
10	Spell caster loses 1d4 hitpoints
11	Spell caster loses 1d4 hitpoints
12	No negative effect
13	No negative effect
14	No negative effect
15	No negative effect, but the Spell caster automatically fails the check to learn the spell.
16	No negative effect, but the Spell caster automatically fails the check to learn the spell.
17	No negative effect, but the Spell caster automatically fails the check to learn the spell.
18	Spell caster loses 1 point of Constitution
19	Spell caster loses 1 point of Constitution
20	Spell caster loses 1 point of Constitution
21	Spell caster loses 1 point of Charisma
22	Spell caster loses 1 point of Charisma
23	Spell caster cannot learn any additional spells for 1d4 months
24	Spell caster loses a point of their primary spellcasting ability.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Floating Canoe - Weird Magic Item #11

Floating Canoe

This 20ft canoe can fit up to five human sized creatures and hold 1000 pounds. It floats three feet above any surface and must be poled or towed.

While it can float over rough terrain, choppy waters and even inclines, any sudden drops of more than 5 ft in the surface below the canoe have a 1% chance per foot dropped of causing the canoe to lose stability, flipping upside down and spilling its contents out (5% or 1 in 20, for 5ft, 15% or 1, 2 or 3 on a d20 for 15ft).

For drops of 20 ft or more the chance of the canoe losing stability increases to 2% per foot dropped (40% or 1-8 on a d20 for 20ft, 90% or 1-18 on a d20 for 45ft).

There are rumors of smaller floating kayaks that only hold two human sized creatures and up to 400 pounds.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Oswald Hilltopple’s Masterwork Hoe - Weird Magic Item #10

Oswald Hilltopple’s Masterwork Hoe

This beautifully crafted garden implement was created by a long forgotten wizard who needed something capable of breaking the frozen ground of his hidden artic garden. It became (in)famous due to it’s use by Oswald Hilltopple, legendary Halfling assassin. It is an exceptional gardening implement, allowing the time needed to complete any agricultural tasks with it by three quarters, so a field that would normally take four hours to hoe would only take one. It also gives the bearer a burrowing speed of 5ft per round. When used as an improvised weapon it does 1d4 damage and has a +1 to attack and damage as well. Additionally any damage it inflicts on plant creatures and creatures made of stone, earth, rock or ice is doubled.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Burnt Boots of the Trapfinder - Weird Magic Item #9

Burnt Boots of the Trapfinder

Haunted by the unusually greedy ghost of a particularly unlucky thief, these shiny black leather boots smell slightly of burnt leather and flesh, and cannot be worn. Instead, they can be set on the ground in a room, corridor or other discrete area and activated by paying the ghost's price. Once the price is paid, the boots traverse the corridor or room and trigger any traps that would be set off by a person walking, standing or entering a trigger area. The price begins at 10gp and doubles each subsequent time the party calls upon the boots. The price must be put into the empty boots and disappears to the ghost's ethereal hoard, but it can be paid in any form, be it coin, raw gems or items worth at least the price (though the boots never make change, even when grossly overpaid). The boots can never be destroyed, except by a sphere of annihilation or other potent disintegration, but they do show appropriate damage. For instance, if the boots are used to trigger a spray of acid, they would be visibly singed by the caustic spray. Any damage slowly disappears over a 24 hour period until the boots are once again a pair of shiny black leather boots. It is rumored that the same unlucky thief once had a pair of gloves, but no one has seen them (or at least admitted so).

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Pietro's Pocket Pole - Weird Magic Item #8

Pietro's Pocket Pole

Created by a minor archmage, Pietro the Practical, this six inch long dowel can be transmuted into a ten foot pole by holding it in your hand and uttering the command phrase "Better safe than sorry" which is burnt into its side. Once it has become a ten foot pole it remains so for at least ten minutes, for up to an hour. Other than being unusually sturdy and resilient, it is in every other respect a simple ten foot pole useful for finding pits and pushing rafts. Once the pole has reverted to its six inch form, either because the user has ended the effect or because the hour duration is up, the pole requires ten minutes to regain its charge and be transformed again.