Hey all, I'm starting a homebrew campaign at lvl 2 soon. I'm allowing each player a homebrew item that ties in with their character's backstory so that they can have a bit more creativity and flexibility despite starting relatively low.
One of the players requested an item that activates under circumstances unknown to him, and as part of the item's effect, the character forgets what happened when he used it. Basically, what this means is that I tell him when his item activates, he leaves the room while I describe what happens to the other players, and then he comes back, with no idea what happened. This is a cool idea, but will only work once, seeing as the other characters can just tell him what happened, and then the mystery is gone.
The issue I'm facing is this: how do I create an item with a cool effect, specify the circumstances under which it activates, all while avoiding (1) making it too op, and (2) preventing the other characters from telling him what it does right off the bat?
Some ideas I've had so far include making it extremely difficult to activate (I don't have specific circumstances in mind yet) and making it a sort of high cost/high reward effect. It may also cause him to do horrible things (maybe demonic possession?) that induce the players to not want to break the bad news to him of what he did.
Happy to hear ideas and answer questions if clarification is needed. Thanks folks!
It sounds like you are wanting to make a nifty gadget that acts like the Stone of Golorr from Waterdeep Dragon Heist. It is also a powerful device that tends to remove memories of it and such on occasion.
You may want to involve some sort of table of effects to keep the players guessing what might happen and then also maybe have a three-part table of things that need to be done to trigger the item.
I could see this sort of device as a strange puzzle cube that changes its unlocking mechanism each time it is used and has a set of random (powerful) effects that discharge when the cube is solved. You could make it even weirder by having it erase the memories of each person in the area, so you could have a player solve the cube during combat, then just describe the results of what chaos seems to have ensued during the round everybody "forgot."
Like "The last thing you remember is considering using the quantum cube before everything got hazy. As your vision clears something ridiculous clearly went down, but it's hard to grasp the particulars. Two goblins are frozen in a block of ice, there is ash raining from above, and the grass in your immediate vicinity is covered with a sweet smelling oil that looks to share the colors of the bandits that were trying to rob you and your friends. You look down at the cube in confusion only to notice that the symbols and nobs seem to have changed positions."
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Hey all, I'm starting a homebrew campaign at lvl 2 soon. I'm allowing each player a homebrew item that ties in with their character's backstory so that they can have a bit more creativity and flexibility despite starting relatively low.
One of the players requested an item that activates under circumstances unknown to him, and as part of the item's effect, the character forgets what happened when he used it. Basically, what this means is that I tell him when his item activates, he leaves the room while I describe what happens to the other players, and then he comes back, with no idea what happened. This is a cool idea, but will only work once, seeing as the other characters can just tell him what happened, and then the mystery is gone.
The issue I'm facing is this: how do I create an item with a cool effect, specify the circumstances under which it activates, all while avoiding (1) making it too op, and (2) preventing the other characters from telling him what it does right off the bat?
Some ideas I've had so far include making it extremely difficult to activate (I don't have specific circumstances in mind yet) and making it a sort of high cost/high reward effect. It may also cause him to do horrible things (maybe demonic possession?) that induce the players to not want to break the bad news to him of what he did.
Happy to hear ideas and answer questions if clarification is needed. Thanks folks!
It sounds like you are wanting to make a nifty gadget that acts like the Stone of Golorr from Waterdeep Dragon Heist. It is also a powerful device that tends to remove memories of it and such on occasion.
You may want to involve some sort of table of effects to keep the players guessing what might happen and then also maybe have a three-part table of things that need to be done to trigger the item.
I could see this sort of device as a strange puzzle cube that changes its unlocking mechanism each time it is used and has a set of random (powerful) effects that discharge when the cube is solved. You could make it even weirder by having it erase the memories of each person in the area, so you could have a player solve the cube during combat, then just describe the results of what chaos seems to have ensued during the round everybody "forgot."
Like "The last thing you remember is considering using the quantum cube before everything got hazy. As your vision clears something ridiculous clearly went down, but it's hard to grasp the particulars. Two goblins are frozen in a block of ice, there is ash raining from above, and the grass in your immediate vicinity is covered with a sweet smelling oil that looks to share the colors of the bandits that were trying to rob you and your friends. You look down at the cube in confusion only to notice that the symbols and nobs seem to have changed positions."