Tonight, my players plundered a vault of one of the characters’ deity (Thankfully the Cleric wasn’t here this session). However, i, as the GM, had no items prepped. So, naturally, i turned to my players for help. Here are a few of the items they came up with.
• The Sap Marble
A marble made of tree sap. Really sticky.
When you attempt to free the marble from something it’s stuck to, roll +STR.
10+: It is released from the object.
7-9: It is freed from the object, but stuck to you.
6>: It has not moved, and neither will you.
• Eye of the White Tiger
An ivory orb suspended inside a marble half-circle. Strange runes surround the rim, which when translated say something about the thrill of the fight?
However, eventually it became too time consuming to keep asking them for items. Enter Fantasy Name Generator. I would have the player roll a d4 to determine how many times i pushed “randomize”, and then a d10 to determine which object from the list they got. Some of the items are rather… interesting.
• Gauntlet of Malice
A light red gauntlet with some rather gruesome additions: spikes, blades, bloodstains, etc. Once put on, it cannot be removed unless it has been accepted by another bearer.
1 weight
+1 to Hack and Slash
+1 to Interfere
-1 to Aid
• Rod of the Dead
It appears to be an enchanted immovable rod. When the button is pressed, the rod, and any corpse the rod is touching, stops moving.
• Jar of Eternal Health
This neverending health potion is so powerful that it has become sentient and aware of its godlike ability. As such, it only allows those who ask it really nicely to use it.
When you ask the Jar for a drink, roll +CHA.
10+: It allows you to drink your fill. Restore your HP to its maximum and remove one debility.
7-9: You are allowed only one sip. Regain half of the HP you are missing, or remove one debility.
6>: It does not let you drink, and you shall feel its scorn.
It is also noted that it is really rude in general, and has a very “Holier-than-thou” attitude.
I really like the Sap Marble, but the Jar of Eternal Health takes the prize 🙂
I think all of these are great except for Gauntlet of Malice. No risk for the reward and no fictional trigger for using it. A character will update their sheet for the bonuses (and the negative) and never speak of it again. Maybe something like: When you allow the power of the gauntlet to make you interfere with another PCs attack, take +1 on the interfere, on a successful interfere, take +2 forward to hack and slash against the same target. Something like this forces the PC to describe some game fiction to get the benefits. Could get some interesting PC interactions from it too.
Andrew Alwood ah, yes, i forgot. I was tired and not reading it off of the sheet since i gave the player the notecard with the stats.
I realized this too when i wrote it, so i gave it the curse of not being able to be removed unless a willing bearer took it next, there will also be cetain fictional triggers to it.
Mark Weis, these all sound cool. I would start by looking at some aspects of the deity whose vault they plundered, and tie it into that somehow (and maybe you’ve already done that and it’s just not apparent to me).
Brian Holland The deity was the Goddess of Knowledge. As such, i treated this as a museum so that i could have all sorts of magical items. Given that the party cleric worships the goddess whose temple this was originally, i figured they’d have enough connection to the goddess herself.
Mark Weis, I was flipping through the Sundered World book and saw The Jinn Ring. When Jinn are punished, they are transformed into items and forced to serve the item’s owner.
Jinn Ring – 0 weight, 3 services
When you demand an action from the Jinn in the ring, mark off a service and roll+CHA and the Jinn manifests itself.
10+ Your demand if carried out as you said
7-9 Your demand is carried out, but the Jinn interprets the demand in a way that will harm you, or someone or something your care about.
That’s not the exact wording, but it’s close. That could be something really cool found in a vault of knowledge.