Homebrew Magic Items

[Xenophile]

After studying Magic and the Gear chapter of DF1, I've come up with some custom-made enchanted items for use in Dungeon Fantasy. More may or may not be added to my little catalog, but feel free to show your own.


- Blindfold of Fantasies (Great Hallucination) Places wearer in illusionary banquet filled with food, music, lusty wenches, et cetra. Used for entertainment, but illusionary food provides no real nutrients, and users sometimes unknowingly starve. $50,000, neg.

- Bug Bomb (Repel Vermin, Spell Stone) When crushed, stone repels all nonsapient invertebrates in a 5-yard radius for 1 hour. Mostly used to keep mosquitos away, also handy against gaint spiders and the like. One use. $100, neg.

- Crown of the Somber King (Madness, Hex) This beautiful crown gives the wearer Chronic Depression with no self-control rolls allowed. Cannot be removed by normal means. The object of several high elf legends. $20,000, 2 lbs.

- Gold Detector (Seek Earth) Points toward the nearest reasonably-sized amount of gold. Obviously, very popular with dwarves. $13,320, 1 lb.

- Lighter Ring (Ignite Fire) Ignites flammable objects. Mostly used by dungeon-delving chain-smokers. $160, neg.

- Magic Goggles (Mage Sight) Magical objects appear to glow with colored auras. $16,150, 0.5 lbs.

- Master Spy's Horn (Far-Hearing) Picks up any noise(s) whose source the user can see. $8,100, 2 lbs.

- Orc Mask (Transform Body) Turns the wearer into an orc. More useful for infiltrating goblin-kin camps than for giving an edge in a fight. $30,100, 2 lbs.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Xenophile

After studying Magic and the Gear chapter of DF1, I've come up with some custom-made enchanted items for use in Dungeon Fantasy. More may or may not be added to my little catalog, but feel free to show your own.


- Blindfold of Fantasies (Great Hallucination) Places wearer in illusionary banquet filled with food, music, lusty wenches, et cetra. Used for entertainment, but illusionary food provides no real nutrients, and users sometimes unknowingly starve. $50,000, neg.

Aren't most magic items supposed to be things that the adventurers can use, so that it becomes a dilemma as to whether to sell or keep?

I think if this item was a lot cheaper (and maybe did less), it could create a dilemma for a sufficiently hedonistic adventurer (someone with Compulsive Carousing and/or Lecherous with a poor self control roll) as to whether to keep or sell. But if it is worth 50k$, then anyone would sell, because you can buy a lot of gear (or a lot of partying and/or wenching) for 50k$.

Originally Posted by Xenophile

- Bug Bomb (Repel Vermin, Spell Stone) When crushed, stone repels all nonsapient invertebrates in a 5-yard radius for 1 hour. Mostly used to keep mosquitos away, also handy against gaint spiders and the like. One use. $100, neg.

Sounds very good, although I haven't checked the price by comparing to similar items in the DF PDFs.

Originally Posted by Xenophile

- Crown of the Somber King (Madness, Hex) This beautiful crown gives the wearer Chronic Depression with no self-control rolls allowed. Cannot be removed by normal means. The object of several high elf legends. $20,000, 2 lbs.

Well, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy isn't a GURPS version D&D3, but rather a GURPs version of AD&D, so cursed items are perfectly acceptable, much as I dislike them.

Originally Posted by Xenophile

- Gold Detector (Seek Earth) Points toward the nearest reasonably-sized amount of gold. Obviously, very popular with dwarves. $13,320, 1 lb.

Actually no, DF dwarves already have Detect Gold as an innate Advantage, so they would not want that item at all.

Why don't you change the item, so that it gives Detect Gold, but to those who already have the advantage, it removes the Vague Limitation and gives a +3 bonus to the IQ roll? If you do that, then it will be popular with dwarves.

Originally Posted by Xenophile

- Lighter Ring (Ignite Fire) Ignites flammable objects. Mostly used by dungeon-delving chain-smokers. $160, neg.

Makes sense.

Originally Posted by Xenophile

- Magic Goggles (Mage Sight) Magical objects appear to glow with colored auras. $16,150, 0.5 lbs.

It's basically a form of Detect Magic with the Ranged Enhancement. I'm quite unhappy about the price.

Originally Posted by Xenophile

- Master Spy's Horn (Far-Hearing) Picks up any noise(s) whose source the user can see. $8,100, 2 lbs.

Not really in-genre, I think, but it makes sense, and if the adventurers find one and don't want to keep it, they can just sell it.

Originally Posted by Xenophile

- Orc Mask (Transform Body) Turns the wearer into an orc. More useful for infiltrating goblin-kin camps than for giving an edge in a fight. $30,100, 2 lbs.

Again, might be overpriced. Keep in mind that it is usually very, very trivial for the adventuring party's wizard to do this.

It's like in D&D3, where the Ring of Wizardry is quite underpowered compared to its cost. Whenever characters played by clued-in players find such a ring, they'll sell it ASAP, since even at half vaue (the standardized and inarguable loot turn-in rate in D&D 3) the extra gold is preferable.


Sometimes one of the non-wizard party member might want to have the autonomous ability to do something, such as achieve invisibility, or turn into an orc, or detect gold. But if the item granting the ability is too valuable, then it will get sold as loot in spite of this.

[Xenophile]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Aren't most magic items supposed to be things that the adventurers can use, so that it becomes a dilemma as to whether to sell or keep?

I think if this item was a lot cheaper (and maybe did less), it could create a dilemma for a sufficiently hedonistic adventurer (someone with Compulsive Carousing and/or Lecherous with a poor self control roll) as to whether to keep or sell. But if it is worth 50k$, then anyone would sell, because you can buy a lot of gear (or a lot of partying and/or wenching) for 50k$.



Sounds very good, although I haven't checked the price by comparing to similar items in the DF PDFs.



Well, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy isn't a GURPS version D&D3, but rather a GURPs version of AD&D, so cursed items are perfectly acceptable, much as I dislike them.



Actually no, DF dwarves already have Detect Gold as an innate Advantage, so they would not want that item at all.

Why don't you change the item, so that it gives Detect Gold, but to those who already have the advantage, it removes the Vague Limitation and gives a +3 bonus to the IQ roll? If you do that, then it will be popular with dwarves.



Makes sense.



It's basically a form of Detect Magic with the Ranged Enhancement. I'm quite unhappy about the price.



Not really in-genre, I think, but it makes sense, and if the adventurers find one and don't want to keep it, they can just sell it.



Again, might be overpriced. Keep in mind that it is usually very, very trivial for the adventuring party's wizard to do this.

It's like in D&D3, where the Ring of Wizardry is quite underpowered compared to its cost. Whenever characters played by clued-in players find such a ring, they'll sell it ASAP, since even at half vaue (the standardized and inarguable loot turn-in rate in D&D 3) the extra gold is preferable.


Sometimes one of the non-wizard party member might want to have the autonomous ability to do something, such as achieve invisibility, or turn into an orc, or detect gold. But if the item granting the ability is too valuable, then it will get sold as loot in spite of this.

I agree with you about the prices, but I used the rules for enchanted items stated in DF1: $1 per energy point ($20 for energy over 100), plus the cost of the item itself. Anything lower would, presumeably, be a dishonor to the wizard who created them. As for "sell-only" items, maybe entire adventures could revolve around convincing the owner of, say, the Blindfold of Fantasies to give the item up so you can sell it. This is where your party's token thief comes in...

Also, I checked, and the dwarf template in DF3 does not have Detect Gold. You're thinking of the template from GURPS Basic Set: Characters. Easy mistake.

[Kamickalo]

but illusionary food provides no real nutrients, and users sometimes unknowingly starve.

Sounds like Everquest to me.

Apologies for the spam, but I just had to. :-/

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Xenophile

I agree with you about the prices, but I used the rules for enchanted items stated in DF1: $1 per energy point ($20 for energy over 100), plus the cost of the item itself. Anything lower would, presumeably, be a dishonor to the wizard who created them. As for "sell-only" items, maybe entire adventures could revolve around convincing the owner of, say, the Blindfold of Fantasies to give the item up so you can sell it. This is where your party's token thief comes in...

If I were GMing, I'd just require the adventurer PC, who owns the Blindfold to make a weekly Self-Control roll, for his worst disad (if he has both Lecherous and Compulsive Carousing and maybe Glutton or some similar disad related to quality food), with a -1 penalty for each additional disad he has at the 9- or 12- level, and a -2 penalty for any at the 6- level, and if he makes that roll, he is able to decide to sell the Blindfold (if a buyer is around).

The other adventurers can of course try to persuade him, which will give him a bonus to his roll, although probably not for repeated attempts (if the Bard PC has tried to use Psychology on the Blindfolds owner 3 times, and it hasn't worked yet, it probably never will work).

Originally Posted by Xenophile

Also, I checked, and the dwarf template in DF3 does not have Detect Gold. You're thinking of the template from GURPS Basic Set: Characters. Easy mistake.

Sorry about that. Quite embarassing.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Actually no, DF dwarves already have Detect Gold as an innate Advantage, so they would not want that item at all.

Reference, please? I don't see Detect Gold on their template.

-Max