I want to build some magical items for my campaign, there are about 10 players. So I want to build some fun items that encourage role play, instead of just a stat boost. Unless you already know of some that existent.
Soooo... you basically want a magic item that will set up role play situations? or do you want a "fun" item that is, you know, just for fun and has some funny attributes?
"Fun" is hard to pin down, without knowing the kinds of things your Players enjoy.
Role-playing, on the other hand, occurs when the Characters have something to interact with, or something changes the behavior of the Character in such a way as to cause other Characters to comment or interact with them.
An example of the first kind would be magic items which are themselves sentient NPCs to interact with, contain sentient NPCs, or allow contact with sentient NPCs. Sentient ego weapons, relics which contain the trapped souls of once-powerful beings, or scrying/communication stones that put Character in contact with powerful beings ( who have their own goals and agendas, and try and leverage the Character to those ends ) would be possibilities here.
Examples of the second kind are hard to come up with, without knowing your Characters - but something that exposes a character flaw in a Character by tempting them to improper or radically altered behavior ( to wax negative ), or something that inspires them to be noble and heroic when that's really not their normal nature ( to wax positive ), or even something that just consumes their attention in an obsessive way, that causes other Character to note ( and possibly intervene ), might be something to aim for here.
To pull examples from Critical Role , campaign #1 - there was the entire interactive arc with Grog and the sentient weapon Craven Edge( see video below ), where the weapon interacted with Grog, and other members of the party, and even altered Grog's behavior in ways that in might also be an example of the second category as well - as the Party tries to have an intervention with Grog about Craven Edge.
An example of the second would be Grog's obsession with a Deck of Many Things which prompted several scenes between Vex'ahlia and Grog, and Pike and Grog, regarding Grog's desires to use the deck, and his struggles to understand its dangers ( see video below ). Alternatively, there was the conflict between Grog and Percy over the Githyanki Warrior skull containing the soul of the skull's owner trapped in an embedded gem, when the trapped soul tried to tempt Grog into freeing it by promising aid in a time when Vox Machina desperately needed help ( see the episode Desperate Measuresfor that one ).
Sounds like there's some real potential here for Character development, story mining, and a lot of plain old fun :)
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I’m really looking for more items to encourage role play, I was hopping for an easy answer. But after reading your advice and thinking about it. The GM really sets the mood for that. In that case I guess I’m looking for fun items
I like adding a silly item to all of my campaigns called the bag of mostly useless things. Once per day the owner can reach inside and find a random object that may or may not be useful. I have a table of 100 items that they roll on. Some of the items are useful, some are dangerous, many are silly and most are useless. Often they spend the "day" trying to use the items and that's lead to some fun role play between the players or between players and NPCs.
And, because some of my players are the same between campaigns and they know about the bag, they spend the whole first session or two digging through every possible hiding space wherever they are to be the first to find it. Apparently being able to pull random stuff from a magic bag is a point of pride.
Well, perhaps go for "interesting" rather than "fun" items?
- "Item description": think about Daario Naharis from Game of Thrones, who has daggers with hilts shaped like naked women; you could also go for a historical weapon, like a "Langmesser" instead of a generic one handed sword (with the Messer having a Nagel at the cross guard providing addition protection for the backside of the hand) - "normal + enchanted = magical": You have a special flask blessed by Bacchus himself that turns wine into a healing potion if it is kept in the flask for a fortnight. The more expensive the wine is, the more potent the potion will be. - "hardly any combat value": A cloak that can change it colour once a day (but only provides a bonus to hide if you role play well at the DM's decision); A pot of cooking, that can boil water without the need of a camp fire or a hearth - an item with "personality": what about the shrunken head of a missionary the players take from the corpse of the shaman on a cannibalistic tribe? That thing actually talks and due to the wisdom and knowledge of the deceased person, it grants an advantage on Religion and History rolls. Of course "Father Brown" is a bit grumpy and wants to be treated well (like not be stuffed in a pocket all the time)
I made a "Glorious Fake Mustache" that compels people to compliment on it's quality. It's curse was that it fell off immediately after every compliment.
A "Pipe of Smoke Monsters" that you can use your action to form a single creature no larger than a 1ft cube (it can be any creature, but it would be a small version of it). After a few seconds, it dissolves into a normal puff of smoke.
A sword that once you pick it up, you can't put it down with the curse being lifted. Apart from that, it's a completely normal shortsword.
A "cauldron of boiling". Any liquid placed in the cauldron boils within 1 minute, but the cauldron itself remains cool to the touch.
"Mirror of Flattery" that shows the holder themselves at whatever is their best/prettiest/happiest time in their life. For example, when my barbarian PC picked it up, it showed how he looked hours before his family was killed. That was heavy, and a bit dark, but my group loved it, because it wasn't what they were thinking after other people had looked into it and it just showed them 5yrs younger or whatever....
That reminds me of an article in Dragon magazine, many years ago, of 100 interesting and non-lethal magic items.
It included such things as a chessboard which would automatically play you back ( at a moderate, casual skill level ), a stuffed chair where you could not fall asleep while sitting in it ( made for an elderly aristocrat which did not wish to nod off while entertaining ), a box of glass beads which when individually dropped on the floor of a home would instantly vanish all dust and dirt on the floor ( and destroy the bead in the process ), etc.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
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I want to build some magical items for my campaign, there are about 10 players. So I want to build some fun items that encourage role play, instead of just a stat boost. Unless you already know of some that existent.
Soooo... you basically want a magic item that will set up role play situations? or do you want a "fun" item that is, you know, just for fun and has some funny attributes?
I stole my pfp from this person: https://mobile.twitter.com/xelart1/status/1177312449575432193
"Fun" is hard to pin down, without knowing the kinds of things your Players enjoy.
Role-playing, on the other hand, occurs when the Characters have something to interact with, or something changes the behavior of the Character in such a way as to cause other Characters to comment or interact with them.
An example of the first kind would be magic items which are themselves sentient NPCs to interact with, contain sentient NPCs, or allow contact with sentient NPCs. Sentient ego weapons, relics which contain the trapped souls of once-powerful beings, or scrying/communication stones that put Character in contact with powerful beings ( who have their own goals and agendas, and try and leverage the Character to those ends ) would be possibilities here.
Examples of the second kind are hard to come up with, without knowing your Characters - but something that exposes a character flaw in a Character by tempting them to improper or radically altered behavior ( to wax negative ), or something that inspires them to be noble and heroic when that's really not their normal nature ( to wax positive ), or even something that just consumes their attention in an obsessive way, that causes other Character to note ( and possibly intervene ), might be something to aim for here.
To pull examples from Critical Role , campaign #1 - there was the entire interactive arc with Grog and the sentient weapon Craven Edge ( see video below ), where the weapon interacted with Grog, and other members of the party, and even altered Grog's behavior in ways that in might also be an example of the second category as well - as the Party tries to have an intervention with Grog about Craven Edge.
An example of the second would be Grog's obsession with a Deck of Many Things which prompted several scenes between Vex'ahlia and Grog, and Pike and Grog, regarding Grog's desires to use the deck, and his struggles to understand its dangers ( see video below ). Alternatively, there was the conflict between Grog and Percy over the Githyanki Warrior skull containing the soul of the skull's owner trapped in an embedded gem, when the trapped soul tried to tempt Grog into freeing it by promising aid in a time when Vox Machina desperately needed help ( see the episode Desperate Measures for that one ).
Sounds like there's some real potential here for Character development, story mining, and a lot of plain old fun :)
Best of luck with it :)
Grog and Craven Edge
Grog and The Deck of Many Things
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I’m really looking for more items to encourage role play, I was hopping for an easy answer. But after reading your advice and thinking about it. The GM really sets the mood for that. In that case I guess I’m looking for fun items
Let's see. There are already a few magic items that you can take inspiration from: cloak of billowing, cloak of many fashions, glamerweave, shiftweave.
I like adding a silly item to all of my campaigns called the bag of mostly useless things. Once per day the owner can reach inside and find a random object that may or may not be useful. I have a table of 100 items that they roll on. Some of the items are useful, some are dangerous, many are silly and most are useless. Often they spend the "day" trying to use the items and that's lead to some fun role play between the players or between players and NPCs.
And, because some of my players are the same between campaigns and they know about the bag, they spend the whole first session or two digging through every possible hiding space wherever they are to be the first to find it. Apparently being able to pull random stuff from a magic bag is a point of pride.
That’s really neat! Thanks! I might use that!
Well, perhaps go for "interesting" rather than "fun" items?
- "Item description": think about Daario Naharis from Game of Thrones, who has daggers with hilts shaped like naked women; you could also go for a historical weapon, like a "Langmesser" instead of a generic one handed sword (with the Messer having a Nagel at the cross guard providing addition protection for the backside of the hand)
- "normal + enchanted = magical": You have a special flask blessed by Bacchus himself that turns wine into a healing potion if it is kept in the flask for a fortnight. The more expensive the wine is, the more potent the potion will be.
- "hardly any combat value": A cloak that can change it colour once a day (but only provides a bonus to hide if you role play well at the DM's decision); A pot of cooking, that can boil water without the need of a camp fire or a hearth
- an item with "personality": what about the shrunken head of a missionary the players take from the corpse of the shaman on a cannibalistic tribe? That thing actually talks and due to the wisdom and knowledge of the deceased person, it grants an advantage on Religion and History rolls. Of course "Father Brown" is a bit grumpy and wants to be treated well (like not be stuffed in a pocket all the time)
I made a "Glorious Fake Mustache" that compels people to compliment on it's quality. It's curse was that it fell off immediately after every compliment.
A "Pipe of Smoke Monsters" that you can use your action to form a single creature no larger than a 1ft cube (it can be any creature, but it would be a small version of it). After a few seconds, it dissolves into a normal puff of smoke.
A sword that once you pick it up, you can't put it down with the curse being lifted. Apart from that, it's a completely normal shortsword.
A "cauldron of boiling". Any liquid placed in the cauldron boils within 1 minute, but the cauldron itself remains cool to the touch.
"Mirror of Flattery" that shows the holder themselves at whatever is their best/prettiest/happiest time in their life. For example, when my barbarian PC picked it up, it showed how he looked hours before his family was killed. That was heavy, and a bit dark, but my group loved it, because it wasn't what they were thinking after other people had looked into it and it just showed them 5yrs younger or whatever....
That reminds me of an article in Dragon magazine, many years ago, of 100 interesting and non-lethal magic items.
It included such things as a chessboard which would automatically play you back ( at a moderate, casual skill level ), a stuffed chair where you could not fall asleep while sitting in it ( made for an elderly aristocrat which did not wish to nod off while entertaining ), a box of glass beads which when individually dropped on the floor of a home would instantly vanish all dust and dirt on the floor ( and destroy the bead in the process ), etc.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.