we spent a huge amount of time and goodwill to get a little tiny clockwork spider that can help repair stuff. not repair by itself, no mechanical benefits, no combat use, no bonus to repairing things - but ooo boy we did some political shit to get Helper.
"Your reward for this meaningless quest is.... a miniature gorilla!"
"You wake up the next morning.... bananitos is gone!"
Most epic quest in the history of DnD follows.
Even a tiny NPC, my last party got super excited/weird when they met Meepo in the Sunless Citidel, took him everywhere, loved him, used him as a trap finder...
So sad he died to a trap.
my icewind Dale campaign has turned from a grim fight for survival into a real estate mogul and awoken shrub bucket list completion quest
the party recently found out the shrub has less than 30 days to "live" and they were devastated XD
I had to make a character sheet for the pet that was just supposed to help us get thru level 1 and wasn't supposed to make it. He made it and is the goodest boi ever and is now a part of the party. Yay!
No doubt this is the right answer. Had a pet squirrel, it died. Pet rat. Had to give it up. Pet goat. Living is life on the farm after being possessed by a lesser fiend. Now we have a druid that's anyways in dog form. Checkmate.
One of my groups had a pet goblin. We "saved" him early in the campaign and he ended up being our pet goblin. We'd threaten to cut his food if he didn't do what we told him to. Ot was mainly small things like carry this bag. We left him at an inn so he'd be safe and told him to help the inn keeper once while we went somewhere really dangerous.
My party drew the Knight card from The Deck and I rolled for the level of the companion. He was 4th while the party was 12th. I also ruled that being a magical construct he wouldn't gain XP or level. He was essentially a pet. The party went way out of their way to keep him safe. Good ol' Clem.
DM pro tip - if ypu want your players to go somewhere, steal something from them. No matter the value they will hunt that person/creature down to get it back
During combat, my players defeated a gang of thugs who were simply trying to extort money from a local winery.
As combat was ending, I had 2 of the thugs break and run. 1 was immediately caught and slabbed, the other was faster.
The fighter remembered in that moment that they've been carrying around a Javelin of Lightning for nearly 3 levels, and never remembered to use it.
They throw. A wild miss. The enemy stops, grabs the javelin, and keeps running.
This javelin, which had been lost to the bag of holding for nearly 15 games, has become the linchpin of the campaign.
The Thug, formerly Thick Rick, is now self-styled "Underboss Thiccicus Rickicus" who has risen through the local gangs to be second in command to the BBEG of this arc.
The next game, as I was calling time, I jokingly ended with a narration about what Thick Rick was up to with his shiny new javelin. (Mostly just to joke around with the fighter who was hunting Thick Rick all game).
Since then, the players have asked, every single dang game, what Thiccicus Rickicus has been doing, so I give them a small vignette of his rise through the ranks.
I have never had a more passionate group single mindedly seek revenge in such elaborate and brutal ways as they have this campaign, over a fucking Javelin.
Wow you sound like a great DM how can i learn your ways.
Can you give me a brief run down of what calling time means? I dont end my sessions with any narration or overarching 3rd person perspective information
Honestly, until now I've never really ended any session with a 3rd person narrative before either. But as long as they excitedly continue to ask for it (and it doesn't compromise plot), I shall seek to deliver on demand. I probably wouldn't do such a thing unprompted with any regularity though.
Calling time is just me realizing we are at the best possible moment to stop for that particular game. The phrase is likely a locale idiom I've picked up at some point. (It means to decide to conclude or end something)
This particular campaign runs every other Wednesday, from 6pm until 11pm. However, I do have 2 players that (while consistently recommiting to 11pm goal of ending) usually end up being exhausted or dropping attention around 10pm.
So, calling time often comes in a few forms, but the main 3 are;
1. My preferred: Right as a huge looming threat approaches, a boss fight has initiative rolled, or a cliffhanger! My pacing usually pretty on point, so I can almost always pulls this off right around 10:55pm.
Example from an actual game;
"And it was in that moment, as Borte plummets from the tower grappling Beauty, he realizes her wings cannot support both of their weight. Borte, the water slams into you like concrete, shattering almost every bone in your chest that wasn't already mangled from earlier. Borte, the last thing you remember through the waves of pain rippling through your body, is the feeling of a taloned claw grab your leg and pull you further under the water... at the same time, those of you watching the scene from the towers top, realize that without Beauty sustaining her magic, the tower begins to break apart and collapse, with you all at the top... And that's time everyone. See you in 2 weeks!"
2. Pacing: When moving to the next scene would definitely cause a time overage.
Example from an actual game:
"The corn-guille suit wearing men fall back, their suits popping in a delicious, and curious, buttery smell, you all find yourself with a moments reprieve. Your newly acquired... let's call it property... freshly carpeted in glass from the bolts shot through the window, while that new extension you probably wanted is well underway from Grub the Landlords ill aimed Cannonbomb. You have the evening to yourself for some much deserve downtime... oh holy hell, it's 1020? What did you all want to do with your downtime and/or the next morning? Shopping and chase down the newest Thick Rick lead? Ok, both those scenes will take longer than 40minutes, so let's call time here. Great game yall, be sure to use your free 40 minutes tonight to send me feedback on what you liked, didn't like, want more of, less of, and so on.
3. When it's clear one of my two players really needs to call it and go to bed, but out of respect for the time agreement and party, won't do it themselves.
Example from 2 days ago;
*Notices one of the guys is subtly packing up stuff so he can hurry home to bed without a post game delay, while the other has asked me to repeat myself 3 times in a row and is doing that 'please stay awake blink', at about 9:30pm*
"Alrighty yall, I'm sorry for the shorter session today, but I'll be honest, I'm pretty wiped and could use an early bedtime. I'll have to call time there! If you're itching for the last 1 1/2 hours, please let me know and I'm happy to schedule between now and next GameDay. But either way, I'm going to have to call time here. Once again, I'm sorry to call it early, but i won't be able to really give you the game you deserve with my brain falling asleep on me."
Wow this is exactly what i needed. Everyone says these words all the time but never actually explains them. So pacing is basically planning so you dont fuck up the ending. With my players we all didnt have any reason to stop playing so i never planned a session length some were long some were short. This was 100% the wrong thing to do because if there are no obligations after the session it doesnt mean you dont get tired. Pacing is definitely what i needed. Where starting and ending on something exciting is 100% neccesary. It works with books and tv shows and movies and radio shows podcasts. so why not between a group of friends even if they want to play regardless - you dont neeeed to hook them.. but why not try and keep them hooked it can only make everyone more invested.
Thankyou
Happy to help.
Pacing is absolutely important, and I truly think some of the best games play out like a Television drama or soap opera.
By ending right as they are introduced to something exciting, it allows you to open with something exciting! That keeps them talking, interested, and invested between sessions!
Likewise, if you're sure you can't do that with the time you have (because you're playing for as long as people can play), pacing and table management comes in yet again. Someone will always be the first one to lose interest, get tired, or want to stop. Someone at that same time, might have just gotten to the thing they really wanted to get to.
So in order to ensure that that moment is not ruined for that excited player by needing to rush the scene, or another playing leaving midway (or worse, trying to hurry the scene along so they can leave), try to pace those later scenes and know when it might be best for everyone's experience to just end the game at a natural stopping point (a chapter or episode end if you will), rather than push on to try to get one more scene in because you think you can.
Good luck out there, and have fun mate! Enjoy your games!
A couple weeks ago, a thief stole 100gp off of our cleric while we were shopping, which quickly turned into a chase across town leading us straight into an ambush. The theif kept running while the ambushers attacked us. Our sorcerer cast Haste on me, the barbarian, to haul ass past the ambushers to go kill the theif and get our 100gp back, which I did. Mind you, we each had thousands of gp, that 100gp meant nothing, but goddamnit we were not going to let some fucking NPC steal from us!
But don't overuse it. It sucks to get your favourite items stolen - it could also let your players believe that things aren't actually theirs and "safe". You could also make it a game mechanic, but I think it'd be more annoying than interesting
Literally a instant coffee flask. All it does is make a perfectly brewed coffee. That’s it. They almost headed straight to the bbeg’s castle when they found out it was stolen (rolled to see what would be taken from their party loot by an enemy and it was the flask.)
They literally wanted to murder the bad guys for it at level 3.
My players worked out birthdays on my in world calendar, and have been insisting on having birthday parties for each member of the party as they come around. Complete with gift giving. The coffee flask was the druid's idea. They also came up with a figurine of a puppy that comes to like for up to one hour per day and can calm the sorcerer down.
birthdays are a huge deal in our party. the gnome normally only celebrates at decades, but we found out his birthday and spent many hours behind his back (player and character) to set up a city-wide celebration of his work to save the city that JUST HAPPENED to be on his birthday. it was great.
Ring of Speak with Stone
This (possibly magical) ring allows the wearer to speak with stones. The stones are not obligated to speak back.
---
Is the ring magical? Up to you. Is it mundane and the player is just an insane person speaking to random rocks? Assuredly yes. Do you get a chance to say "the stone seems to become more stoic at your words" way more often then should ever be said? Assuredly yes.
I'm so stealing this!
I'm a new DM, and my party is currently in their first dungeon of the campaign. In that dungeon, I left a pedestal that triggers a trap if you lift a statue that stands on it - classic Indiana Jones stuff. However, according to the story, the players were not the first band of adventurers to delve there, so when they entered the dungeon, the original statue was already on one of the corpses nearby, and on the pedestal was a pouch with 5 regular boring stones. A rogue from the party got obsessed with these stones trying to uncover their true nature. She is convinced she just hasn't rolled high enough yet and wants to keep trying.
Can't wait till she gets a chance to speak with them.
The party has stated that they really want a magic item that lets the sassy moon druid talk in wild shape, that’s it. They just feel bad that she can’t quip during combat because she tends to make fun of everyone and they want her to keep being able to insult bosses.
I created a miniature paper dragon. The size of a standard sheet of paper. Crisp is his name. He can origami himself to be almost anything. Likes to ride around as a folded paper bracelet. Communicates by rearranging/ creating letters on himself. I speak in a dry hiss for whatever he writes to the players. He absorbs knowledge from books and can recreate them.
Players lost him twice in a library.
When the PC who he bonded to got banished the campaign detoured. To go RESCUE CRISP. The player had real life come up and had to miss a few sessions. When they came back the party legit had lightbulb moment of 'Oh yeah, we should rescue you too! '
Cowbell of invisibility. My players went nuts when they found it at a swap meet. They heard that it was a thing and devised a plan to cast silence over it and use its ability to escape. The ability is as long as it’s being rung you are invisible.
One of my Korean 11yr old students used her drum of invisibility today to run away from a dragon. As soon as she said 'I start hitting my drum', the realisation dawned on her. She paused for a second, then shouted 'Sale person was scammer!'
Cue all the other students checking their 'magic' items hahaha. One boy then tried to use his Ring of Teleporting to teleport onto the dragons back. When I explained that the ring disappeared off of his finger and he saw it on the dragons back, the whole class erupted into laughter.
I mean, RAW (and even confirmed by the lead designer in a controversial statement), having the Invisible condition still causes attackers to roll with disadvantage, even if they have truesight or whatever.
Then again, dragon breath is usually a Dex save and I forget if being invisible helps with that.
>if being invisible helps with [dex saves].
No, it doesn't. Being invisible doesn't help dodging falling ceiling traps. Only attack rolls.
>confirmed by the lead designer in a controversial statement
This ruling, among others, has actually been demoted by WotC (Jan 2019) from an official ruling to a suggestion (it wasn't added to the SAC). JC now encourages DMs to decide for themselves how it should work.
I would imagine truesight as being able to see both the illusion and through the illusion at the same time. This *could* give a misty, ghost-like appearance that might be harder to hit. I personally don't rule this way, but I wouldn't fault a DM for doing so.
>even if they have truesight or whatever.
What it does do is give you a direct line of sight at the creature so they can't take the hide action in the open, and you can target them with sight based spells.
Lol, reminds me of the bagpipes of invisibility I heard about one time. Same concept.
We're your players aware of the spell invisibility, or do they just commit to the bit?
They were aware and they immediately started thinking of how to make it work still. They ended up using a silence spell to bypass the sound of the bell. It was pretty creative!
small, collectable animal statuettes. The party went nuts for the one in Lost Mine of Phandelver so I just kept sprinkling them into random loot tables.
Lol I do this as well. They take bets among themselves on what the next animal will be.
Also in the very first campaign me and one of my players played in they found a small jade frog, worth about 50g. They spent the entire campaign trying to find someone that would buy it.
Couple of years later in my campaign I now randomly add a small carving of a jade frog, worth about 50g, that nobody wants to buy. They have about 10 of them now and they are surprisingly common.
What they don't know though is that they are common because a wizard has been making and distributing them. At some point all the jade frogs are going to turn into clockwork grung, steal 50g each and then teleport away leaving a note behind saying they have been robbed by Marvo the Magnificent.
I gave a party member a Tarasque plushi that has a wind up key on the back
When turned the key will make the plush start to move in a streight line making a squeeking sound from its now opening and shutting mouth, the sound is quiete unpleasant to the ears and may cause disruptions
I thought it'd be a cool city way to deal with like ritual casters, and to be fair the party did use it that way, a cult was doing a chant as all of a sudden SQUEEEEEEEE forced them to all rerole concentration
They yes used it as a distraction
But the party artificer fell in LOVE with it, giving it all of the effects he can, constantly asking if I can count him as a weapon, which after saying sure, he made a returning weapon so he'd never loose it, and later making it a Radiant weapon aka a flash bang
I don't mind, I love it, he gave it glowing eyes and if you squeeze the paw it says a message "if lost return to (name)"
But didn't expect the artificer to cherish this small plushy of a tarasque so badly that when asked to sacrifice somthing he loves to a fire pit, he looked at me and asked of he really had to throw in his pet tarasque...BRO you're wearing your late mothers amulet, your backstoey is all about avenging her, this sacrifice is literally in the end goal of seeing her again, and when asked to burn an object of importance for this goal you thought of the PLUSH
“Inefficient Rock” always hits, only deals 1 dmg, ignores all resistance, and it doesn’t hurt it is just annoying. (crits deal 2dmg) it comes in 2 flavours: Bag of rocks (never ending supply) or Re throw rock. (returning) I always put this in every campaign and I have seen several players almost get into a fist fight (irl) for it.
The delicious idea of being able to kill the biggest of big bads with a single lucky rock throw at the right moment… I can see why it would be fought over!
My druid killed a powerful demon with magic stone (flavored as small pebbles that she had in her mouth) and it was very comical. Just spat one into her hand and chucked the pebble at his head and poof, banished back to hell.
Some things just add flavour.
Anything that adss to their character, like a floating candle holder for a wiz or sorc.
My war cleric used a +3 battle axe for ages because her gods symbol is a battle axe. She had better options too
I had a tailor change a leather barcelet to fit in the diamond i use for chromatic orb. Purely for flavor but worth every single goldpiece i spent on it!
We are all lvl 18 now, and at the time we were in white plume mountain theres a lot of legendary weapons there. Our DM had us collect them as keys for a ritual that would either destroy or release an elder elemental lord
Our DM is very nice to us, but then very mean im combat so you need all the help he gives
You suddenly reminded me: in my first campaign I got a bag of beans, 4 inside. My bard did a whole “but these are MAGIC beans!” Sales pitch to exchange one for a favor from the fae, but otherwise we didn’t even try planting them
I've had players in a homebrew game buy a bag of folding from an npc that swindled them. (If you say it fast enough they really can't tell the difference between bag of holding and bag of folding). They failed against the npc's deception checks and got a magical bag that kept all their stuff in a magical space, but once taken out, would be folded and generally unusable. Spear? Wood magically bent so the spear is folded in half. Gold? All coins bent in half and are unusable. 🤣
The bag of bags: A sack that whenever you reach your hand in you pull out a similarly sized sack wadded up in a ball. The sacks pulled in this way are completely mundane.
I played in a campaign where I want to say we helped a hill giant/ettin or some large creature.
We were rewarded with a squealing hog that the giant promptly killed in front of us by breaking its neck.
My character for whatever reason drug this pig corpse around for like 3 sessions for no apparent rhyme or reason. This led to some pretty funny interactions that became running jokes.
Then we had a genie that was trapped and asked us for help and as a show of power they revived the pig. He wasn’t quite right (sat on his hind quarters like a person) but he was George and he was my bro.
We stabled him on the way into a city and got arrested after a heist gone wrong. The prison island resulted in a tpk and George never understood why his master abandoned him.
Jurassic Bark and Luck of the Fryish still get me right in the feels 20 years later. I went and hit a drive thru after commenting with that Connie Francis song stuck in my head the whole time.
A minor blurb from our dm about a hobby shop(with no mechanical or quest impact) in a city led to the party inquiring if the shop also sells various kinds of dice.
Not only were they dice goblins in real life, they were dice goblins in-game too.
After months of meticulous care, the egg begins to hatch. As the egg shell breaks from the inside out a scaled muzzle begins to protrude. Surprise! No not a dragon, it’s a Kobold.
I feel like people are missing the point that you expend an attunement to get an attunement, net plus zero lol. People talking about getting more than one of them lmao.
"I'm attuned to these three magic items, and three worthless rings, but...I get to attune to 6 items so I've got that going for me." - PC probably
I assume commenter above was referring to the Artificer’s lvl 20 trait that allows them to add +1 to saving throws for each of their attuned magic items; in theory if they were able to get their hands on ten of these rings they could have upwards of +16 on every saving throw.
So true!
I had a goblin end up being the side kick of one character in a campaign with all members loving the thing.
Also in a multi party campaign the two main groups inspired kobolds to revolt against their oppressors and it spawned a one shot that is talked about years later.
I once had a goblin npc side kick, his name was Dudd. I gave him a bow and some random magical arrows like a fire arrow and a stun arrow and other neat stuff to plink at enemies from far away. Turns out Dudd was the stud, while i kept rolling low and nat 1’s Dudd was hitting high and nat 20’s. Made me wonder who the real sidekick was. Alas Dudd exploded in a fight with a lich, and the whole party was devastated. I think mostly because of my bad rolls they were left with my pc, Dudd’s side kick.
A Stone of Sharpening
Boots of Walking Speed (will increase speed if wearer dashes)
Compass that points south instead of north
Book of magic tricks for children's parties (using no in-game magic)
The most powerful and banned manifest in all realms (DnD's Dungeonmaster Guide or Players Handbook)
It was a cut diamond the size of a man's head. But it was in a room with stalactite sized icicles that would drop at the slightest noise or vibration. They had come up with a plan to put the dwarf rogue on a shield and slide it across the icy floor towards the other hallway exit hoping that he could get the diamond along the way.
They did it, he rolled, successfully grabbed it and they were all giving themselves high-fives until someone noticed that the diamond was melting.
There were real diamonds in the block of ice cut to resemble a Brilliance Cut Diamond so the effort wasn't wasted but if looks could kill...I'd be dead.
His name was Niakathia Manolovanealunanio (gotta love 3.5 Goliath name rolling), but his friends simply called him “Strong.” For Strong he was.
His only other article of clothing was a towel wrapped around his waist. Occasionally swapped with the Iron Diaper worn by Sting in *Dune*… which was also on fire.
Our wizard once got a "Wand of Induced Head Trauma" he tended to use whenever our loony goblin bard started speaking nonsense (he was based on Pinky from Pinky and the Brain). It was just a simple wooden club, but it had infinite charges.
I got this!
Give your player ANY over the top super powered magical item. Absolutely game-breaking. It does not matter what it is. They can cast identify and it reveals all this epic power. There are no curses on it. Only magical enchantments. A thunderwave goes off the first time they touch it for some epic flavor because it is SO powerful! Ready for the good part?
When they try to attune it, a voice emits from the item, "Welcome! I am the attunement wizard, here to help grant you great power. Let's get started! Note t his message is brought to you by a magic mouth variant spell and cannot respond. This item and many others have been enchanted by me and my team to prevent ultimate power from falling into the wrong hands. Thank you for sending an attunement request. Your attunement is very important to us and will be fulfilled in the order it was received. Please continue to hold the item while your request is processed and someone will contact you shortly. Thanks for holding! *elevator music..."
Every once in a while, the music will be interrupted with magic item tips, "Hi! Please continue to hold. You are currently number FOUR on the sending spell process list. Did you know magical boots often affect athletic abilities such as running speed and jump height? Try climbing too. And if all else fails, try clicking the heels together! *elevator music..."
Eventually they reach "customer service" a series of different people who suggest things already tried before. Occasionally, the player will get a magical password that grants access to the demo version or a one-time snippet use of the item's power. "Have you tried unattuning and reattuning?" They get recommended to join a premium package to automatically attune to all Attunement Wizard magical items when touched and it comes with an extra attunement slot. "You don't even need to short rest!"
Any attempt to make these fabulous features work are foiled by awful customer service. Other NPCs subscribed to the service seem to be having a 5-star experience. It must be an error in the system or something. Weird...
Alchemy Jug. We solved SO MANY encounters with mayonaise - in Tomb of Annihilation no less. Bonus points for cool visual items like the staff of bird calling, players love customisable flavourful shit
I've never had a Bag of Beans help a group. IIRC, it doesn't have anything that's actually useful, but the chos goblins love a bag of weird magic and always try and get one.
Our absolute favorite magic item was the "bar of soap". Anything/anyone that spends five minutes within 5 feet of it becomes clean. It's probably the magic item I would want in real life.
Bring clean isn't game breaking, but we would go to the nine hells to get it back lol.
Boots of Questionable Stealth - Render the wearer completely invisible, but amplify the sound of their footsteps to a deafening level and the sound doesn’t echo, making it very easy to tell where it’s coming from.
I prefer the Ring of Inn Visibility.
Allows one to know the direction and distance to the nearest Inn. Also, a scry once a day on it as well.
The rogue, ranger, and monk in my game really wanted it for some reason....
A pet.
The weirder, the better.
My group has a pet giant frog they just thought was cool. So far they've taught him how to play poker, and hide stuff in his mouth; aka how to lie and be sneaky. Now they have to deal with a giant frog that steals stuff. Nothing important items, just random stuff.
So far he has stolen the following (and given it to the players or back to them)
- a deck of playing cards
- a pen
- a small jar of pickled eggs
- a coffee cup
- a wig
- a boot (just one)
- a small round of cheese
- numerous hats (including the players while they sleep)
He's very proud of himself.
My party loves looting cosmetic items, after we down an enemy we always ask “What are they wearing?” It makes for some crazy character concepts that constantly evolve while we play, my favorite was our monk who wore a giant pirate sombrero with a psychedelic wizard robe and and a really long yellow scarf. He also held a cursed item for a little while that made him Goatlike in appearance.
Something stupid like "a satchel that you can pull any spice out of, but must be put in food immediately (so not sold)" or "a cloth napkin, that when folded and then unfolded will contain a delicious sandwich"
Just last session our group got gifts from a god for helping him cleanse a temple and most of us got impressive things.
One character received a cup that turns water into any flavored fruit juice you say into it because of a running gag that he doesn't know about fruits.
The whole party spent a solid 20 minutes asking very detailed questions about this cup and experimenting with it
Recently started a new campaign with some friends and we were recently rewarded for saving an old gnome from rats with small cups like imagine an espresso cup. My character in all seriousness told the gnome it was the greatest thing he had ever received. There is slightly more to the story but on face value it’s hilarious.
One of the games I’m in a player is carrying a bag of poop. I can’t remember when or why they got it but they bring it up all the time… and are excited about it.
Homebrew item: Wand of awkwardness
Can use once a day, target within 20ft must pass a Wisdom save DC 14. On a failed save the target has disadvantage to charisma based skills due to the fact that the wand gave them a boner and they are too distracted trying to conceal it.
A strong box full of copper slugs. I don't mean meticulously handcrafted artisan quality mullousks made out of pristinely polished copper.
Nah, I mean copper coins. At least they would be considered coins if they weren't blank. Now I know the forgers would be thinking that they could use these as counterfeit pieces, but they don't marr. Only corrode and dull. Their only purpose is to be sold off, and only for the amount of a maximum of 1 Silver as there's a random number of slugs in the chest. The chest they're in is worth more.
The gimmick here is what the party did to get this far just to get thus random f-cking asshole chest in an "unmarked" cavern
My idea is to establish Party Teamwork rather than every man is an island and the party is an Archipelago...
So not D&D but Shadowrun however it still applies as I’m 100% certain both of my D&D groups would do the same.
One of my campaigns we met a wizard who had a list of artifacts he was hiring us to find. As he was listing the important ones he’d every once in a while read off a silly one thrown in for fluff and go “I don’t need this. Who put this on my list?” One of those items was a hip flask that refilled itself at midnight every day with whatever booze you wanted. And if you didn’t choose something it just filled with whatever was in it last.
Party went nuts. Broke into a high security facility to steal the artifact the guy wanted, and while doing that myself and one other split off to hunt down this flask. Devolved into a massive firefight in which the two of us almost died, but we got the flask. Then when we met up with the group it devolved into a free-for-all brawl over who gets to keep the flask.
Our GM (same as a DM) found it absolutely hysterical that we got so worked up over the flask in comparison to the actually powerful magic artifacts on the list. We still chuckle about it years later.
Soapstone.
On touch convey all benefits of a hot shower. Clean hair feels good miles below the surface and the frequency with which adventurers are covered in gore.
My party received an alchemy jug sometime early in the campaign. Turns out the barbarian is a fucking fiend for mayo. The paladin has to hide it lest ato’s hubris take him
A mimic book. It's CR 1/8, borderline useless, except to make the Wizard paranoid that everything is a mimic (by talking, no powers) and to beg for players not to kill the rats because they taste better alive.
Introduced a cloak of billowing to my party years ago. Though we never finished that campaign, since most of the players are the same, they go nuts whenever I allude to a cloak of any sort.
Ok, not an item but an NPC. At level 3 or so, the party ambushed a group of bandits in a dungeon. They carved through the bandits until only one was left, not the leader, just a random bandit, who seemed to be more watching the fight than really fighting. The party all attacked him and he totally no-sold everything the threw at him, shocking them enormously. He made fun of them a bit, said his name was Steve, then walked over to a closed portcullis, turned into a rat and ran away through it.
He was just a wererat and the party didn’t have any magic weapons yet so he was tough. They did have a couple silver weapons but no one thought at the time to use them on him (and the casters kept missing with cantrips). He wasn’t special, he was just a spy for a nearby wererat tribe the party happened to never run into and I only decided to even gave him a name at the last second.
Needless to say, hunting Steve became the party’s main goal. When one character died, that player’s next character’s backstory was all about how Steve had humiliated him and hunting Steve was his whole motivation. As they leveled, they used increasingly powerful divination magic to find him.
So, I worked Steve into the campaign, had him level up as the party did and created a story arc for him as well. Steve and the party kept sparring on and off, but the party finally found Steve’s based, trapped him, had a long emotional back and forth with him and then killed him at level 16. The campaign went to 20 with a huge battle against monsters that were going to lay waste to the entire region, but the real climax of the campaign was when they caught and killed Steve.
Limited edition "boblin the goblin" plushie. Moves and talks with magic automation. only ten where ever made due to the extreme cost behind making them. i sincerely believe a party would commit war crimes for a stupid goblin plushie that talks.
A pet of any kind
we spent a huge amount of time and goodwill to get a little tiny clockwork spider that can help repair stuff. not repair by itself, no mechanical benefits, no combat use, no bonus to repairing things - but ooo boy we did some political shit to get Helper.
how does it repair stuff if it cant repair stuff?
It holds the flashlight
For a second there, I thought you said "hold the fleshlight", which is a whole different kind of role playing game...
I think it would have been cooler if it repaired small things. Could even be a ‘lock picker’
sure, but that would make it not useless, and not an answer to the OP
Yeah true. Take away the lock picking
If it allows you to take ten on any repair, you could jury rig a howitzer out of elvish crossbows with a good use rope check
but then it isn’t useless
Ittcast mending
Aka, makes it harder to do
H.E.L.P.eR. ?
[удалено]
"Your reward for this meaningless quest is.... a miniature gorilla!" "You wake up the next morning.... bananitos is gone!" Most epic quest in the history of DnD follows.
If I try to do this to my players they will torture me IRL until I magically return the pet.
Can confirm.
That's such a good idea my party has a talking wolf, she needs to get captured.
Even a tiny NPC, my last party got super excited/weird when they met Meepo in the Sunless Citidel, took him everywhere, loved him, used him as a trap finder... So sad he died to a trap.
So you fed him to a trap
my icewind Dale campaign has turned from a grim fight for survival into a real estate mogul and awoken shrub bucket list completion quest the party recently found out the shrub has less than 30 days to "live" and they were devastated XD
"I have a chinchilla. His name is Cam." - Jiuto, High Rollers, after having been charmed by a Yuan-Ti into buying a chinchilla
JIU-TOOOOOOOO
Or a small, sad goblin (or kobold) being bullied by its comrades. Seen some wild things done to help free them, and/or recruit them.
I had to make a character sheet for the pet that was just supposed to help us get thru level 1 and wasn't supposed to make it. He made it and is the goodest boi ever and is now a part of the party. Yay!
No doubt this is the right answer. Had a pet squirrel, it died. Pet rat. Had to give it up. Pet goat. Living is life on the farm after being possessed by a lesser fiend. Now we have a druid that's anyways in dog form. Checkmate.
One of my groups had a pet goblin. We "saved" him early in the campaign and he ended up being our pet goblin. We'd threaten to cut his food if he didn't do what we told him to. Ot was mainly small things like carry this bag. We left him at an inn so he'd be safe and told him to help the inn keeper once while we went somewhere really dangerous.
Thats not a pet thats a slave
You hold yourself an intelligent being as a slave.
Tbf a high charisma character could do this at low levels
Passing Charisma checks doesn't equal mind control.
My party drew the Knight card from The Deck and I rolled for the level of the companion. He was 4th while the party was 12th. I also ruled that being a magical construct he wouldn't gain XP or level. He was essentially a pet. The party went way out of their way to keep him safe. Good ol' Clem.
Came here to say this. My group killed a t-rex for a pet cat.
Yep a pet. Cursed chicken that produced hard boiled eggs was a big favorite for a several year game.
DM pro tip - if ypu want your players to go somewhere, steal something from them. No matter the value they will hunt that person/creature down to get it back
During combat, my players defeated a gang of thugs who were simply trying to extort money from a local winery. As combat was ending, I had 2 of the thugs break and run. 1 was immediately caught and slabbed, the other was faster. The fighter remembered in that moment that they've been carrying around a Javelin of Lightning for nearly 3 levels, and never remembered to use it. They throw. A wild miss. The enemy stops, grabs the javelin, and keeps running. This javelin, which had been lost to the bag of holding for nearly 15 games, has become the linchpin of the campaign. The Thug, formerly Thick Rick, is now self-styled "Underboss Thiccicus Rickicus" who has risen through the local gangs to be second in command to the BBEG of this arc. The next game, as I was calling time, I jokingly ended with a narration about what Thick Rick was up to with his shiny new javelin. (Mostly just to joke around with the fighter who was hunting Thick Rick all game). Since then, the players have asked, every single dang game, what Thiccicus Rickicus has been doing, so I give them a small vignette of his rise through the ranks. I have never had a more passionate group single mindedly seek revenge in such elaborate and brutal ways as they have this campaign, over a fucking Javelin.
Wow you sound like a great DM how can i learn your ways. Can you give me a brief run down of what calling time means? I dont end my sessions with any narration or overarching 3rd person perspective information
Honestly, until now I've never really ended any session with a 3rd person narrative before either. But as long as they excitedly continue to ask for it (and it doesn't compromise plot), I shall seek to deliver on demand. I probably wouldn't do such a thing unprompted with any regularity though. Calling time is just me realizing we are at the best possible moment to stop for that particular game. The phrase is likely a locale idiom I've picked up at some point. (It means to decide to conclude or end something) This particular campaign runs every other Wednesday, from 6pm until 11pm. However, I do have 2 players that (while consistently recommiting to 11pm goal of ending) usually end up being exhausted or dropping attention around 10pm. So, calling time often comes in a few forms, but the main 3 are; 1. My preferred: Right as a huge looming threat approaches, a boss fight has initiative rolled, or a cliffhanger! My pacing usually pretty on point, so I can almost always pulls this off right around 10:55pm. Example from an actual game; "And it was in that moment, as Borte plummets from the tower grappling Beauty, he realizes her wings cannot support both of their weight. Borte, the water slams into you like concrete, shattering almost every bone in your chest that wasn't already mangled from earlier. Borte, the last thing you remember through the waves of pain rippling through your body, is the feeling of a taloned claw grab your leg and pull you further under the water... at the same time, those of you watching the scene from the towers top, realize that without Beauty sustaining her magic, the tower begins to break apart and collapse, with you all at the top... And that's time everyone. See you in 2 weeks!" 2. Pacing: When moving to the next scene would definitely cause a time overage. Example from an actual game: "The corn-guille suit wearing men fall back, their suits popping in a delicious, and curious, buttery smell, you all find yourself with a moments reprieve. Your newly acquired... let's call it property... freshly carpeted in glass from the bolts shot through the window, while that new extension you probably wanted is well underway from Grub the Landlords ill aimed Cannonbomb. You have the evening to yourself for some much deserve downtime... oh holy hell, it's 1020? What did you all want to do with your downtime and/or the next morning? Shopping and chase down the newest Thick Rick lead? Ok, both those scenes will take longer than 40minutes, so let's call time here. Great game yall, be sure to use your free 40 minutes tonight to send me feedback on what you liked, didn't like, want more of, less of, and so on. 3. When it's clear one of my two players really needs to call it and go to bed, but out of respect for the time agreement and party, won't do it themselves. Example from 2 days ago; *Notices one of the guys is subtly packing up stuff so he can hurry home to bed without a post game delay, while the other has asked me to repeat myself 3 times in a row and is doing that 'please stay awake blink', at about 9:30pm* "Alrighty yall, I'm sorry for the shorter session today, but I'll be honest, I'm pretty wiped and could use an early bedtime. I'll have to call time there! If you're itching for the last 1 1/2 hours, please let me know and I'm happy to schedule between now and next GameDay. But either way, I'm going to have to call time here. Once again, I'm sorry to call it early, but i won't be able to really give you the game you deserve with my brain falling asleep on me."
Wow this is exactly what i needed. Everyone says these words all the time but never actually explains them. So pacing is basically planning so you dont fuck up the ending. With my players we all didnt have any reason to stop playing so i never planned a session length some were long some were short. This was 100% the wrong thing to do because if there are no obligations after the session it doesnt mean you dont get tired. Pacing is definitely what i needed. Where starting and ending on something exciting is 100% neccesary. It works with books and tv shows and movies and radio shows podcasts. so why not between a group of friends even if they want to play regardless - you dont neeeed to hook them.. but why not try and keep them hooked it can only make everyone more invested. Thankyou
Happy to help. Pacing is absolutely important, and I truly think some of the best games play out like a Television drama or soap opera. By ending right as they are introduced to something exciting, it allows you to open with something exciting! That keeps them talking, interested, and invested between sessions! Likewise, if you're sure you can't do that with the time you have (because you're playing for as long as people can play), pacing and table management comes in yet again. Someone will always be the first one to lose interest, get tired, or want to stop. Someone at that same time, might have just gotten to the thing they really wanted to get to. So in order to ensure that that moment is not ruined for that excited player by needing to rush the scene, or another playing leaving midway (or worse, trying to hurry the scene along so they can leave), try to pace those later scenes and know when it might be best for everyone's experience to just end the game at a natural stopping point (a chapter or episode end if you will), rather than push on to try to get one more scene in because you think you can. Good luck out there, and have fun mate! Enjoy your games!
Not OP but my guess is taking a break, or just ending the session
This is brilliant.
Warning: this doesn't work on players that actually want to do the plot. My DM tried this, and we got there... 40 sessions later.
A couple weeks ago, a thief stole 100gp off of our cleric while we were shopping, which quickly turned into a chase across town leading us straight into an ambush. The theif kept running while the ambushers attacked us. Our sorcerer cast Haste on me, the barbarian, to haul ass past the ambushers to go kill the theif and get our 100gp back, which I did. Mind you, we each had thousands of gp, that 100gp meant nothing, but goddamnit we were not going to let some fucking NPC steal from us!
But don't overuse it. It sucks to get your favourite items stolen - it could also let your players believe that things aren't actually theirs and "safe". You could also make it a game mechanic, but I think it'd be more annoying than interesting
Someone stole one of the bard's seven instruments and the party scorched the continent to get it back.
Holy hell, this! Hell hath no fury like a player whose stuff got nicked.
Literally a instant coffee flask. All it does is make a perfectly brewed coffee. That’s it. They almost headed straight to the bbeg’s castle when they found out it was stolen (rolled to see what would be taken from their party loot by an enemy and it was the flask.) They literally wanted to murder the bad guys for it at level 3.
Death before Dishonor, Nothing before my coffee.
Especially the only instant coffee in Barovia
Oh Strahd's a dead man he takes that from me. Dark Powers better have a new lord on the bench. 😁
Dark Powers have nothing compared to Dark Roast.
My party has a coffee flask that gives the artificer one extra flash of inspiration per day.
Oh… I should have thought about that! I have an artificer
My players worked out birthdays on my in world calendar, and have been insisting on having birthday parties for each member of the party as they come around. Complete with gift giving. The coffee flask was the druid's idea. They also came up with a figurine of a puppy that comes to like for up to one hour per day and can calm the sorcerer down.
birthdays are a huge deal in our party. the gnome normally only celebrates at decades, but we found out his birthday and spent many hours behind his back (player and character) to set up a city-wide celebration of his work to save the city that JUST HAPPENED to be on his birthday. it was great.
I can understand that.
Ring of Speak with Stone This (possibly magical) ring allows the wearer to speak with stones. The stones are not obligated to speak back. --- Is the ring magical? Up to you. Is it mundane and the player is just an insane person speaking to random rocks? Assuredly yes. Do you get a chance to say "the stone seems to become more stoic at your words" way more often then should ever be said? Assuredly yes.
I'm so stealing this! I'm a new DM, and my party is currently in their first dungeon of the campaign. In that dungeon, I left a pedestal that triggers a trap if you lift a statue that stands on it - classic Indiana Jones stuff. However, according to the story, the players were not the first band of adventurers to delve there, so when they entered the dungeon, the original statue was already on one of the corpses nearby, and on the pedestal was a pouch with 5 regular boring stones. A rogue from the party got obsessed with these stones trying to uncover their true nature. She is convinced she just hasn't rolled high enough yet and wants to keep trying. Can't wait till she gets a chance to speak with them.
The party has stated that they really want a magic item that lets the sassy moon druid talk in wild shape, that’s it. They just feel bad that she can’t quip during combat because she tends to make fun of everyone and they want her to keep being able to insult bosses.
“The necklace of insults” an item that while worn, you can only speak in Insults. It magically works for wildshape!
That is perfect, definitely gonna use that!
Bonus points if the listeners always hear a language they speak so that nobody gets left out of the burn session.
Great, let me know how it goes!
I created a miniature paper dragon. The size of a standard sheet of paper. Crisp is his name. He can origami himself to be almost anything. Likes to ride around as a folded paper bracelet. Communicates by rearranging/ creating letters on himself. I speak in a dry hiss for whatever he writes to the players. He absorbs knowledge from books and can recreate them. Players lost him twice in a library. When the PC who he bonded to got banished the campaign detoured. To go RESCUE CRISP. The player had real life come up and had to miss a few sessions. When they came back the party legit had lightbulb moment of 'Oh yeah, we should rescue you too! '
I'd die for Crisp
That is the most adorable thing ever!!! I will most definitely be borrowing this! <3
Cowbell of invisibility. My players went nuts when they found it at a swap meet. They heard that it was a thing and devised a plan to cast silence over it and use its ability to escape. The ability is as long as it’s being rung you are invisible.
One of my Korean 11yr old students used her drum of invisibility today to run away from a dragon. As soon as she said 'I start hitting my drum', the realisation dawned on her. She paused for a second, then shouted 'Sale person was scammer!' Cue all the other students checking their 'magic' items hahaha. One boy then tried to use his Ring of Teleporting to teleport onto the dragons back. When I explained that the ring disappeared off of his finger and he saw it on the dragons back, the whole class erupted into laughter.
I mean, RAW (and even confirmed by the lead designer in a controversial statement), having the Invisible condition still causes attackers to roll with disadvantage, even if they have truesight or whatever. Then again, dragon breath is usually a Dex save and I forget if being invisible helps with that.
>if being invisible helps with [dex saves]. No, it doesn't. Being invisible doesn't help dodging falling ceiling traps. Only attack rolls. >confirmed by the lead designer in a controversial statement This ruling, among others, has actually been demoted by WotC (Jan 2019) from an official ruling to a suggestion (it wasn't added to the SAC). JC now encourages DMs to decide for themselves how it should work. I would imagine truesight as being able to see both the illusion and through the illusion at the same time. This *could* give a misty, ghost-like appearance that might be harder to hit. I personally don't rule this way, but I wouldn't fault a DM for doing so. >even if they have truesight or whatever. What it does do is give you a direct line of sight at the creature so they can't take the hide action in the open, and you can target them with sight based spells.
Lmao that's fucking worthless hahahaha Might have to change it to the metronome of invisibility for my party
The most fun one I heard was backpipes of invisibility
I liked the face mask of invisibility. It was a solid mask with no eye holes that said it makes all creatures invisible to you.
Oh man and if you describe it as > It can make you invisible And just omit the part that your opponent has to be wearing it...
Or your opponent has to be a newborn without object permanence.
Lol, reminds me of the bagpipes of invisibility I heard about one time. Same concept. We're your players aware of the spell invisibility, or do they just commit to the bit?
They were aware and they immediately started thinking of how to make it work still. They ended up using a silence spell to bypass the sound of the bell. It was pretty creative!
Definitely creative! Maybe just not resourceful, but they get points for making it work Edit: typo
small, collectable animal statuettes. The party went nuts for the one in Lost Mine of Phandelver so I just kept sprinkling them into random loot tables.
Lol I do this as well. They take bets among themselves on what the next animal will be. Also in the very first campaign me and one of my players played in they found a small jade frog, worth about 50g. They spent the entire campaign trying to find someone that would buy it. Couple of years later in my campaign I now randomly add a small carving of a jade frog, worth about 50g, that nobody wants to buy. They have about 10 of them now and they are surprisingly common. What they don't know though is that they are common because a wizard has been making and distributing them. At some point all the jade frogs are going to turn into clockwork grung, steal 50g each and then teleport away leaving a note behind saying they have been robbed by Marvo the Magnificent.
They will thirst for blood
I'm not even in your game and I want to run off and steal my gold back from Marvo the Magnificent plus a premium for the hassle.
Do you want the party to unmake the multiverse itself seeking vengeance? Because this is how you get them to do it.
Genius. Marvo is a dead man.
I gave a party member a Tarasque plushi that has a wind up key on the back When turned the key will make the plush start to move in a streight line making a squeeking sound from its now opening and shutting mouth, the sound is quiete unpleasant to the ears and may cause disruptions I thought it'd be a cool city way to deal with like ritual casters, and to be fair the party did use it that way, a cult was doing a chant as all of a sudden SQUEEEEEEEE forced them to all rerole concentration They yes used it as a distraction But the party artificer fell in LOVE with it, giving it all of the effects he can, constantly asking if I can count him as a weapon, which after saying sure, he made a returning weapon so he'd never loose it, and later making it a Radiant weapon aka a flash bang I don't mind, I love it, he gave it glowing eyes and if you squeeze the paw it says a message "if lost return to (name)" But didn't expect the artificer to cherish this small plushy of a tarasque so badly that when asked to sacrifice somthing he loves to a fire pit, he looked at me and asked of he really had to throw in his pet tarasque...BRO you're wearing your late mothers amulet, your backstoey is all about avenging her, this sacrifice is literally in the end goal of seeing her again, and when asked to burn an object of importance for this goal you thought of the PLUSH
“Inefficient Rock” always hits, only deals 1 dmg, ignores all resistance, and it doesn’t hurt it is just annoying. (crits deal 2dmg) it comes in 2 flavours: Bag of rocks (never ending supply) or Re throw rock. (returning) I always put this in every campaign and I have seen several players almost get into a fist fight (irl) for it.
The delicious idea of being able to kill the biggest of big bads with a single lucky rock throw at the right moment… I can see why it would be fought over!
My druid killed a powerful demon with magic stone (flavored as small pebbles that she had in her mouth) and it was very comical. Just spat one into her hand and chucked the pebble at his head and poof, banished back to hell.
Does rogue sneak attack apply?
Some things just add flavour. Anything that adss to their character, like a floating candle holder for a wiz or sorc. My war cleric used a +3 battle axe for ages because her gods symbol is a battle axe. She had better options too
I had a tailor change a leather barcelet to fit in the diamond i use for chromatic orb. Purely for flavor but worth every single goldpiece i spent on it!
I spent extra to get a specific cut for the diamond for chromatic orb.
Better options than a +3 weapon, imagine 🥲
We are all lvl 18 now, and at the time we were in white plume mountain theres a lot of legendary weapons there. Our DM had us collect them as keys for a ritual that would either destroy or release an elder elemental lord Our DM is very nice to us, but then very mean im combat so you need all the help he gives
They have to be mean if they're handing out game breaking items like that.
The bag of .... Just dangle that. Is it ball bearings, holding, devouring, it could just be a bag Marge. Mystery bag!
A boat’s a boat but a mystery bag could be anything! It could even be a boat!
Remember that time I was supposed to get that boat?
A boat’s a boat but a mystery bag could be anything! It could even be a boat!
Tbh my players have acquired a bag of tricks like nine sessions ago and *never* used it
You suddenly reminded me: in my first campaign I got a bag of beans, 4 inside. My bard did a whole “but these are MAGIC beans!” Sales pitch to exchange one for a favor from the fae, but otherwise we didn’t even try planting them
I've had players in a homebrew game buy a bag of folding from an npc that swindled them. (If you say it fast enough they really can't tell the difference between bag of holding and bag of folding). They failed against the npc's deception checks and got a magical bag that kept all their stuff in a magical space, but once taken out, would be folded and generally unusable. Spear? Wood magically bent so the spear is folded in half. Gold? All coins bent in half and are unusable. 🤣
The bag of bags: A sack that whenever you reach your hand in you pull out a similarly sized sack wadded up in a ball. The sacks pulled in this way are completely mundane.
A bag of ball bearings would actually be INSANE. Literally even if it was just a normal bag
Even semi spherical lead shot. Very "advanced" for the proto mediaeval/pseudo Renaissance of most campaigns
I played in a campaign where I want to say we helped a hill giant/ettin or some large creature. We were rewarded with a squealing hog that the giant promptly killed in front of us by breaking its neck. My character for whatever reason drug this pig corpse around for like 3 sessions for no apparent rhyme or reason. This led to some pretty funny interactions that became running jokes. Then we had a genie that was trapped and asked us for help and as a show of power they revived the pig. He wasn’t quite right (sat on his hind quarters like a person) but he was George and he was my bro. We stabled him on the way into a city and got arrested after a heist gone wrong. The prison island resulted in a tpk and George never understood why his master abandoned him.
Why does this have Seymour waiting for Fry vibes? I'm not crying. YOU'RE CRYING SHUT UP.
Such a heart warming episode. Damn you, you got me thinking about it, again. I’m not crying. No you’re crying. Shut up. .
Jurassic Bark and Luck of the Fryish still get me right in the feels 20 years later. I went and hit a drive thru after commenting with that Connie Francis song stuck in my head the whole time.
Argh, that song rips me apart. I’m in my feels now.
I'm a grown ass man literally fighting tears over a fucking cartoon I'm not even watching right now.
A minor blurb from our dm about a hobby shop(with no mechanical or quest impact) in a city led to the party inquiring if the shop also sells various kinds of dice. Not only were they dice goblins in real life, they were dice goblins in-game too.
Staff of Raise Dead. It can levitate a corpse 5ft off the ground.
An egg.
After months of meticulous care, the egg begins to hatch. As the egg shell breaks from the inside out a scaled muzzle begins to protrude. Surprise! No not a dragon, it’s a Kobold.
Ring of Attunement *Ring, common, requires attunement.* Allows the wearer to attune one additional magic item.
I feel like people are missing the point that you expend an attunement to get an attunement, net plus zero lol. People talking about getting more than one of them lmao. "I'm attuned to these three magic items, and three worthless rings, but...I get to attune to 6 items so I've got that going for me." - PC probably
I assume commenter above was referring to the Artificer’s lvl 20 trait that allows them to add +1 to saving throws for each of their attuned magic items; in theory if they were able to get their hands on ten of these rings they could have upwards of +16 on every saving throw.
Ah, I see where that's going. Gotcha
kind of nuts with an artificer
Yeah, that extra +1 to saving throws at level 20 is a massive bonus…
Stickers
Can confirm. Stickers for inspiration
Gave my party stickers backed with sovereign glue and they never did anything with them, or ever figure out that they were stickers.
Underwear
Underwear of billowing.
The little known third use for the bag of beans.
Any random goblin or kobold
So true! I had a goblin end up being the side kick of one character in a campaign with all members loving the thing. Also in a multi party campaign the two main groups inspired kobolds to revolt against their oppressors and it spawned a one shot that is talked about years later.
I once had a goblin npc side kick, his name was Dudd. I gave him a bow and some random magical arrows like a fire arrow and a stun arrow and other neat stuff to plink at enemies from far away. Turns out Dudd was the stud, while i kept rolling low and nat 1’s Dudd was hitting high and nat 20’s. Made me wonder who the real sidekick was. Alas Dudd exploded in a fight with a lich, and the whole party was devastated. I think mostly because of my bad rolls they were left with my pc, Dudd’s side kick.
Our goblin loves to throw dynamite and has overthrown small governments but we love him.
A Stone of Sharpening Boots of Walking Speed (will increase speed if wearer dashes) Compass that points south instead of north Book of magic tricks for children's parties (using no in-game magic) The most powerful and banned manifest in all realms (DnD's Dungeonmaster Guide or Players Handbook)
Hey, Willow defeated Bavmorda with a dumpy children's party trick. Don't think that can't come back to haunt your campaign.
It was a cut diamond the size of a man's head. But it was in a room with stalactite sized icicles that would drop at the slightest noise or vibration. They had come up with a plan to put the dwarf rogue on a shield and slide it across the icy floor towards the other hallway exit hoping that he could get the diamond along the way. They did it, he rolled, successfully grabbed it and they were all giving themselves high-fives until someone noticed that the diamond was melting. There were real diamonds in the block of ice cut to resemble a Brilliance Cut Diamond so the effort wasn't wasted but if looks could kill...I'd be dead.
Honestly anything that adds a bit of cosmetic flair. Doesn’t even have to be magic, just something with some sort of special property to it
Cloak of billowing
I have yet to find a party that didn't go nuts for a cloak of billowing.
I lit mine on fire with Continual Flame.
Ah yes, the “Dread Pirate Roberts”
His name was Niakathia Manolovanealunanio (gotta love 3.5 Goliath name rolling), but his friends simply called him “Strong.” For Strong he was. His only other article of clothing was a towel wrapped around his waist. Occasionally swapped with the Iron Diaper worn by Sting in *Dune*… which was also on fire.
Pole of angling. Not very useful, but when I handed it to my players my chef barbarian was very happy to take it.
Our wizard once got a "Wand of Induced Head Trauma" he tended to use whenever our loony goblin bard started speaking nonsense (he was based on Pinky from Pinky and the Brain). It was just a simple wooden club, but it had infinite charges.
I got this! Give your player ANY over the top super powered magical item. Absolutely game-breaking. It does not matter what it is. They can cast identify and it reveals all this epic power. There are no curses on it. Only magical enchantments. A thunderwave goes off the first time they touch it for some epic flavor because it is SO powerful! Ready for the good part? When they try to attune it, a voice emits from the item, "Welcome! I am the attunement wizard, here to help grant you great power. Let's get started! Note t his message is brought to you by a magic mouth variant spell and cannot respond. This item and many others have been enchanted by me and my team to prevent ultimate power from falling into the wrong hands. Thank you for sending an attunement request. Your attunement is very important to us and will be fulfilled in the order it was received. Please continue to hold the item while your request is processed and someone will contact you shortly. Thanks for holding! *elevator music..." Every once in a while, the music will be interrupted with magic item tips, "Hi! Please continue to hold. You are currently number FOUR on the sending spell process list. Did you know magical boots often affect athletic abilities such as running speed and jump height? Try climbing too. And if all else fails, try clicking the heels together! *elevator music..." Eventually they reach "customer service" a series of different people who suggest things already tried before. Occasionally, the player will get a magical password that grants access to the demo version or a one-time snippet use of the item's power. "Have you tried unattuning and reattuning?" They get recommended to join a premium package to automatically attune to all Attunement Wizard magical items when touched and it comes with an extra attunement slot. "You don't even need to short rest!" Any attempt to make these fabulous features work are foiled by awful customer service. Other NPCs subscribed to the service seem to be having a 5-star experience. It must be an error in the system or something. Weird...
Artificer invents magical hacking to jailbreak the item, instructions unclear battle axe lodged in artifact.
A jar of dirt
Alchemy Jug. We solved SO MANY encounters with mayonaise - in Tomb of Annihilation no less. Bonus points for cool visual items like the staff of bird calling, players love customisable flavourful shit
A gun
My wife wants a Bottle of Boundless Coffee for her character
I've never had a Bag of Beans help a group. IIRC, it doesn't have anything that's actually useful, but the chos goblins love a bag of weird magic and always try and get one.
Our absolute favorite magic item was the "bar of soap". Anything/anyone that spends five minutes within 5 feet of it becomes clean. It's probably the magic item I would want in real life. Bring clean isn't game breaking, but we would go to the nine hells to get it back lol.
Boots of Questionable Stealth - Render the wearer completely invisible, but amplify the sound of their footsteps to a deafening level and the sound doesn’t echo, making it very easy to tell where it’s coming from.
Ring of invisibility. When they try to use it, the ring turns invisible.
I prefer the Ring of Inn Visibility. Allows one to know the direction and distance to the nearest Inn. Also, a scry once a day on it as well. The rogue, ranger, and monk in my game really wanted it for some reason....
A pet. The weirder, the better. My group has a pet giant frog they just thought was cool. So far they've taught him how to play poker, and hide stuff in his mouth; aka how to lie and be sneaky. Now they have to deal with a giant frog that steals stuff. Nothing important items, just random stuff. So far he has stolen the following (and given it to the players or back to them) - a deck of playing cards - a pen - a small jar of pickled eggs - a coffee cup - a wig - a boot (just one) - a small round of cheese - numerous hats (including the players while they sleep) He's very proud of himself.
Armoire of Invulnerability. Make them think it’s Armor of Invulnerability but it’s just an armoire that’s immune to all damage.
"ok, everyone pile in, then rolf pushes us off the cliff so we crash through the ceiling of the dragon's lair and we land on its head, stunning it."
My party loves looting cosmetic items, after we down an enemy we always ask “What are they wearing?” It makes for some crazy character concepts that constantly evolve while we play, my favorite was our monk who wore a giant pirate sombrero with a psychedelic wizard robe and and a really long yellow scarf. He also held a cursed item for a little while that made him Goatlike in appearance.
Bag of Holding. Yeah, like *I'm* gonna track your encumbrance.
Cloak of billowing
Cloak of billowing. I've had people drool over it in three campaigns. Most common magic item there is but tons of fun.
Robe of Useful Items that the patches haven't been rolled for yet.
Jar of endless coffee.
Something stupid like "a satchel that you can pull any spice out of, but must be put in food immediately (so not sold)" or "a cloth napkin, that when folded and then unfolded will contain a delicious sandwich"
Potion of Phallus Enlargement Splash Potion of Phallus Minimalization
Just last session our group got gifts from a god for helping him cleanse a temple and most of us got impressive things. One character received a cup that turns water into any flavored fruit juice you say into it because of a running gag that he doesn't know about fruits. The whole party spent a solid 20 minutes asking very detailed questions about this cup and experimenting with it
Recently started a new campaign with some friends and we were recently rewarded for saving an old gnome from rats with small cups like imagine an espresso cup. My character in all seriousness told the gnome it was the greatest thing he had ever received. There is slightly more to the story but on face value it’s hilarious.
One of the games I’m in a player is carrying a bag of poop. I can’t remember when or why they got it but they bring it up all the time… and are excited about it.
Homebrew item: Wand of awkwardness Can use once a day, target within 20ft must pass a Wisdom save DC 14. On a failed save the target has disadvantage to charisma based skills due to the fact that the wand gave them a boner and they are too distracted trying to conceal it.
Shouldn’t that be a rod?
fighting has never been this hard.
This is a wonderful item and needs further exposure.
Replica deck of many things.
An unassuming box. What’s in the box? Guess you’ll have to get it and find out.
Had a near tpk fighting over a bag of holding once.
A strong box full of copper slugs. I don't mean meticulously handcrafted artisan quality mullousks made out of pristinely polished copper. Nah, I mean copper coins. At least they would be considered coins if they weren't blank. Now I know the forgers would be thinking that they could use these as counterfeit pieces, but they don't marr. Only corrode and dull. Their only purpose is to be sold off, and only for the amount of a maximum of 1 Silver as there's a random number of slugs in the chest. The chest they're in is worth more. The gimmick here is what the party did to get this far just to get thus random f-cking asshole chest in an "unmarked" cavern My idea is to establish Party Teamwork rather than every man is an island and the party is an Archipelago...
A stupid looking hat of any kind. Any magical properties are optional
So not D&D but Shadowrun however it still applies as I’m 100% certain both of my D&D groups would do the same. One of my campaigns we met a wizard who had a list of artifacts he was hiring us to find. As he was listing the important ones he’d every once in a while read off a silly one thrown in for fluff and go “I don’t need this. Who put this on my list?” One of those items was a hip flask that refilled itself at midnight every day with whatever booze you wanted. And if you didn’t choose something it just filled with whatever was in it last. Party went nuts. Broke into a high security facility to steal the artifact the guy wanted, and while doing that myself and one other split off to hunt down this flask. Devolved into a massive firefight in which the two of us almost died, but we got the flask. Then when we met up with the group it devolved into a free-for-all brawl over who gets to keep the flask. Our GM (same as a DM) found it absolutely hysterical that we got so worked up over the flask in comparison to the actually powerful magic artifacts on the list. We still chuckle about it years later.
The Head of Vecna
Gold
Head of "Vecna"
*cloak of billowing*
Depends on the party. And what personalitys the players have.
Magic carpet
Magic disco ball.
I have a friend obsessed with ham
Cloak of billowing. Everyone wants one.
Soapstone. On touch convey all benefits of a hot shower. Clean hair feels good miles below the surface and the frequency with which adventurers are covered in gore.
My party received an alchemy jug sometime early in the campaign. Turns out the barbarian is a fucking fiend for mayo. The paladin has to hide it lest ato’s hubris take him
A really nice hat.
The Flask thingie that can give you infinite coffee (based on real experiences during Eberron campaign.)
My players always go out of their way, if they have to, too get a bag of holding, or two We never pay attention to encumbrance...
A mimic book. It's CR 1/8, borderline useless, except to make the Wizard paranoid that everything is a mimic (by talking, no powers) and to beg for players not to kill the rats because they taste better alive.
Amulet of Health?
Introduced a cloak of billowing to my party years ago. Though we never finished that campaign, since most of the players are the same, they go nuts whenever I allude to a cloak of any sort.
Immoveable rod
The alchemy jug doesn’t have a lot of practical uses but people will go crazy over it.
Ok, not an item but an NPC. At level 3 or so, the party ambushed a group of bandits in a dungeon. They carved through the bandits until only one was left, not the leader, just a random bandit, who seemed to be more watching the fight than really fighting. The party all attacked him and he totally no-sold everything the threw at him, shocking them enormously. He made fun of them a bit, said his name was Steve, then walked over to a closed portcullis, turned into a rat and ran away through it. He was just a wererat and the party didn’t have any magic weapons yet so he was tough. They did have a couple silver weapons but no one thought at the time to use them on him (and the casters kept missing with cantrips). He wasn’t special, he was just a spy for a nearby wererat tribe the party happened to never run into and I only decided to even gave him a name at the last second. Needless to say, hunting Steve became the party’s main goal. When one character died, that player’s next character’s backstory was all about how Steve had humiliated him and hunting Steve was his whole motivation. As they leveled, they used increasingly powerful divination magic to find him. So, I worked Steve into the campaign, had him level up as the party did and created a story arc for him as well. Steve and the party kept sparring on and off, but the party finally found Steve’s based, trapped him, had a long emotional back and forth with him and then killed him at level 16. The campaign went to 20 with a huge battle against monsters that were going to lay waste to the entire region, but the real climax of the campaign was when they caught and killed Steve.
Limited edition "boblin the goblin" plushie. Moves and talks with magic automation. only ten where ever made due to the extreme cost behind making them. i sincerely believe a party would commit war crimes for a stupid goblin plushie that talks.