sample magic items

[mwsasser]

I've been trying to google some sample magic items for runequest and when that failed, I thought of you guys. I'm totally clueless about what to look for or how a magic items should be structured or limited. Help please.

[rust]

Here are a few magic items, and if you browse this website you can find many

more of them:

http://www.soltakss.com/magicit.html

[Thalaba]

The Grimoire, if it ever gets out of layout stage, has several examples.

The Basic Magic monograph should have the tools for creating them in the enchantments section.

A thread for people to post their made up magic items would be a good idea. It's been a while since we had good 'show us your ____' thread around here.

Which magic system(s) are you using for your game?

[MrJealousy]

You could try to track down Runquest Plunder, its for (original) RQ2 but can translate to any BRP/RQ system quite easily. In my experience RQ magic items stretch from mundane to outrageous, there never seemed to be a limit to what was possible.

Having said that, more often than not magic weapons can quite easily just be a weapon/item with a spell engraved into it. This means that the character doesn't need to know the spell if they are carrying the weapon/item with the spell in it. Usual combinations would be something like a sword with a bladesharp, or a cup with a detect poison. The character still has to expend the magic points, but at least they don't have to spend their INT on the spell points.

Soltakss website is always a good source of typical RQ lunacy.

Edited March 14, 2011 by MrJealousy

[threedeesix]

I've been trying to google some sample magic items for runequest and when that failed, I thought of you guys. I'm totally clueless about what to look for or how a magic items should be structured or limited. Help please.

Classic Fantasy II, which should be turned into Chaosium this summer (yah!) has a chapter devoted to magic items. However, they are really geared to a high magic campaign and may not be fitting for RuneQuest.

The chapter is going through extensive revision at the moment. However, it is currently 34 pages of 10 point text and contains hundreds(?) of magic items with thousands possible through the use of a "prefix/suffix" system. For example, you could randomly determine that the party has found a magic sword written out as...

"prefix"... sword of... "suffix"

After rolling on the prefix and suffix table, you may discover that the characters have found a "Holy Long Sword of Avenging".

Here are some example prefixes and suffixes.

Holy… : Enchantment Level 10. This prefix may be applied to any weapon making all attacks against summoned or otherwise supernatural beings of evil alignment Easy.

Phasing… : Enchantment Level 10. This prefix may be applied to any weapon and allows it to ignore the armor of the target, natural or otherwise.

Vorpal… : Enchantment Level 15. This prefix may only be applied to a weapon with the bleeding special result, turning it into one of the most sought after in all The Realm, a vorpal blade. Vorpal weapons ignore all armor, and on a Critical Success, automatically strike the head of the target. A nasty combination is a Vorpal Sword of Sharpness, which would ignore armor and automatically sever the head of the target on a Special Success.

… of Avenging: Enchantment Level 5. This suffix may be applied to any weapon, both ranged or melee, and will allow any attack immediately following a successful strike on the user to receive a +20% bonus to Attack skill, assuming the opponent that scored the hit is the target. The attack being avenged needs to have actually hit the user and not have been parried or dodged; however no actual damage needs to have been done. If used against an opponent that has just felled an ally, the attack is Easy.

… of Blinking: Enchantment Level 10. This suffix may be applied to any thrown weapon causing it to blink, phasing into and out of existence on the way to the target. As long as even a small portion of the target is visible when the weapon is fired, the weapon will pass harmlessly through all terrain, obstacles, and even friends and enemies only to materialize upon striking the foe. The attacker must still make a normal roll to hit, and because the weapon materializes just as it reaches the target, armor reduces damage as normal.

There are numerous other magic items like flying carpets, brooms of flying, rings of protection, gauntlets of ogre strength, gloves of thievery, wands of spell casting, etc.

So while it is still a ways out there, it is coming.

Rod

[sdavies2720]

RQ has always been short on 'official' magical items. I think this was in part deliberate, to distance itself from D&D's item fixation (e.g. the tendency to define characters by their items, "I'm a fourth level hobbit bard with bracers of dexterity"), and part a reflection of the rules: Items that 'just' imbue a spell are great.

In addition to just a roster of items, I'd love general magic item tips. Here are a couple of mine:

• If using Hit Locations, give out armor piecemeal -- it reinforces the unique mechanic and makes characters look like the scrappy survivors they are
  
• Have most starting items powered by the wielder's POW/Magic points. For more powerful items, think about where the power comes from.
  

Steve

[mwsasser]

Thanks a lot guys. All of your responses were very useful to me.

[soltakss]

All the RQ games I have played in have many magical items.

They aren't all unique items, but we used to have a lot of one-offs. In fact, I carried around a pack of index cards for years storing all my character's magic items.

Generally, magical items in RQ/BRP come in several forms:

Spell Matrices - these allow someone to cast a spell that they wouldn't normally have.

Crystals - some store Power Points, others boost atacking/defending POW, increase the potency of spells, others have special one-off effects

Enchantments - boosting Armour Points, boosting Hit Points, granting permanent spell effects, spell matrices, Power Point storage, Binding Enchantments for spirits/elementals/demons

Potions - Poisons/Antidotes/Healing Salves/Disease Cures are all fairly readily available in my games

There are probably many more, but those are the ones that I can think of.

Many's the time that I have picked up a sling with a Speedart matrix.

The unique items are far more interesting, in my opinion. They can do virtually anything, from bestowing a permanent ability to giving a skill boost, giving access to a spell or effect a certain number of times per day/week/year or whatever.

The items on my site (referred to above) might give an idea of what can be done.

If you need guidelines:

1. Look at other similar items and replicate something with slightly different powers. So, a sword with a matrix and a spear with a matrix are esentially the same kind of item

2. Be careful about game balance - some weapons can be very powerful in a low powered game, other items can destroy certain aspects of a game

3. Don't worry about how they are made - Not all magical items need to be made according to some rules about making magical items. Don't feel that you have to rationalise all magical items.

4. Place them carefully, why does a bandit have the Crown of Imperial Splendour?

5. Be inventive if you want to - nto all magical items have to be the same.

[Chaot]

Peter Maranci's The Chaos Project comes to mind. You'll find it over at Maranci.net. Fun stuff!

[Thalaba]

Here's a sample magic item trio I made for one of the characters in our last RQ campaign. This particular character comes from a large and decadent city. It's politically divided by factions, each of which worships one of the many decadent gods of the city. This character was an agent (spy) for the house of Suzur, the Mandible King.

I didn't use any system for creating them - just instinct to get the power right. They worked out great in play. The Red Beetle was used to take out a key bad guy just when the battle seemed lost.

SUZUR'S BEETLES

These three small stone balls (about ½” diameter) appear to be made of stone and carved into the shapes of round beetles. These appear to have been worn smooth by the touch of many hands over the years.

The Red Beetle is a sling stone with a magical effect on it. It must be activated to use it by spending 1MP. The user can choose to deactivate it at any time. Once activated, it must be held in the hand and shown its target for one full melee round, after which time it has ‘acquired’ its target. The target will stay acquired as long as the user has the MP to keep the Beetle active (1MP per round). As long as he has the MP to maintain the activation, he need not do anything further with the beetle until he is ready to use it. To use the beetle, it must be loaded into a sling and launched at the acquired target. Once launched it will hit the target unfailingly in the head, provided it can gain access to that target. It can manoeuvre around corners and find the target at nearly any distance, but it cannot break through doors or walls to find the target (it may enter through windows, though). Once launched, the connection with the user is broken, however the spending of 1MP will give the user a POWx5% chance of finding it if it lies within 100M. If this roll is fumbled, the little stone Beetle has been shattered by the impact.

The Purple Beetle is a spying tool. Like the Red Beetle, the user must activate the beetle by spending 1MP, at which time he will be able to see out of the Beetle’s eyes as if they were his own. The user must then spend a full round acquiring the target that the user wishes to spy upon. Once this is done, the beetle will discretely follow the target, flying in a rather ungainly fashion, at a speed of up to 60M/round until the user runs out of MP, at which point it will fall to the ground again, inert. The Purple Beetle can be recalled at any time while it is still active. It will then return to the user by the same path it took in the outward journey, and at the same pace. Thus if the user wants to regain the Beetle easily, he must reserve at least half of his MP for the return journey. Of course, if the beetle does not return, the user who is paying attention will be able to find the inert Beetle once again by going to the location where it ceased activation and conducting a search of the ground.

The Black Beetle, when activated, will emit a beam of lantern strength light from its face that only the user can see. The user must activate the Beetle and maintain the activation as per the same method as the other two beetles. This Beetle does not fly, so the user must hold it and aim it with his hand. If the Beetle should fall to the ground there is a small chance (POWx1%) that it will continue to point in a useful random direction. Note that the Black Beetle does not emit any actual light - it merely allows the user to see as if it were emitting lantern light. This benefit does not extend to others who may be standing nearby.

[heathd666]

once you find the particular items stats, these look like they could be very fun to use with them. I use them with most of my fantasy savage worlds games. They are a form fillable pdf. You input the stats and name on the card and it has a picture on it of all kinds of stuff ranging from armor to weapons to bottles etc. I havnt talked my group into BRP quiet yet but im in the process so i thought these might be a nice add on for you. just thought you might find it useful.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=88801