Magic Items
May 3rd, 2011
Hello everyone and welcome back to anther exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you exciting plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. This week I’ve decided it’s time to discuss magic items. In modern fantasy and ancient folklore alike, magic items of one kind or another play a critical role in invoking the sense of wonder these tales are meant to inspire; however, for my part at least, in D&D that sense of wonderment surrounding magic items is severely lacking. Over time, various supplements have tried to re-inject this sense of wonder: the legacy gear Wizards created for 3.5 is one example, and our own Into the Armory, available now for free download in our downloads section, is full of items specifically designed to recapture that sense of amazement. Unfortunately, these supplements only go so far. After all, the cool gear in Into the Armory isn’t going to inspire any wonderment if some seedy wisecracking merchant is selling your PCs bulk hivelord armor proclaiming ”by five get one fist of the legion free!” In my personal experience something like legacy items, where wonder is drawn from investing time and energy into the history of the weapon, has also come up short, since something like that really needs to be a minor campaign element, and for us it was always more of an afterthought that didn’t really fit into the main part of our game, and ultimately became more of a hassle than anything else. All this has lead me to the conclusion that if we as DMs want to use magic items to their fullest potential as storytelling devices, then it’s time to stop waiting for solutions to fall out of the sky, get off our arses, roll up our sleeves, and do the work ourselves. Which brings me to the reason you no doubt showed up here today: the plots, all crafted to help you get something extra out of your magic items.
Getting New Magic Items
Perhaps the largest reason magic items have lost their sense of wonder is that, for a long time now, they’ve been made into a commodity bought and sold by PCs as easily and readily as rice or linen. In the great stories and old lore, magic items are scarce and so feel more special. It is my contention, then, that the easiest way to make items feel more wondrous is to increase their rarity. Simply remove magic items from the shopping list and that belt of giant strength +4 suddenly feels a whole lot more precious. However, even making items rarer isn’t enough to establish the aforementioned sense of wonder; you have to go that extra mile to really make each new acquisition an exciting and memorable experience, as that is truly where that sense of wonder stems from. To that end I would like to discuss briefly some ways to help do that with your magic items and slip in a few sample plots to help get you thinking in the right direction. So without further ado, let’s move on to a couple of simple and fascinating ways to acquire magic items.
Discoveries
Commonly, the hero in fantasy stories discovers his magic items as he progresses in his quest. This might seem simple to replicate – after all, treasure hordes and the like are a major staple of the basic D&D game. The real magic, however, comes from the setup, the ambiance, and in the act of really earning your magical treasure.
As a Plot Hook
Important discoveries only very rarely happen by chance – most are the result of a great deal of research and difficult trials. That being the case, discoveries can make for excellent plot hooks! Send your PCs on a lengthy search for the tomb of an ancient wizard king said to be buried with artifacts of great power. Place a magic sword in a stone hidden in a dangerous and remote location just waiting for a worthy wielder to brave the wilderness and claim it for his own. And don’t forget powerful villains as a source of treasure; after all, just because it won’t feel very wondrous to pick up your magic sword from goblin number 7 doesn’t mean that suddenly dragons shouldn’t have a powerful magic item or two in their horde.
Receiving New Items
The most common way heroes in folklore acquire new magic items is to receive them as gifts from deities, wizards, faeries, and other powerful entities. This serves not only to explain why the item is magic but to lend instant credibility to its enormous power and significance. Obviously, these powerful beings aren’t just handing out goods like candy, and receiving such an item at all is a spectacular and memorable experience sure to bring out some of that wonderment I’ve been going on about.
As a Plot Hook
Receiving a magic item from a powerful entity is rare gift and one which typically requires that the recipient accomplish great things either before the item is handed out or immediately after receiving the item. Specific quests can take really any form and so you have a great deal of plot hooks at your disposal to coax the PCs into having cool adventures, or you could hand out an item for a job well done on an unrelated matter. Finally, you could consider handing out a magic item for unclear or ambiguous reasons, but only so long as you utilize that situation later. For instance, a fey named Daureg might give the PCs a magic sword because he just likes their style. Later, while traveling through the forest Daureg calls home, they encounter a powerful demonic entity which threatens to destroy the whole world, and it is only by using Daureg’s gift that they can overcome the creature – which is, of course, exactly what Daureg intended when he gave them the blade in the first place.
Making Your Own
Personally, I’ve always preferred to do things myself when I have the chance, whether that’s making dinner, improving things around the house, or preparing an adventure for D&D, and I imagine that a lot of players out their feel the same way when it comes to getting magic gear. When creating magic gear, however, it’s important to make the experience something more than a series of Craft rolls and the expenditure of gold pieces, if you want to really get the most out of it. Making crafting fun is simple: include some exotic ingredients, complex rituals for the PC(s) to roleplay, and a good deal of personal flair to make your +2 flaming longsword more than just a little bit cheaper than the one that fighter X has. It should be noted that in order to really get the most out of this, everyone should be on board, willing to listen and participate. You may also need a less cut-and-dry, tedious, and frankly kind of boring Craft system, but that’s another article.
As a Plot Hook
When trying to make an adventure out of crafting, it’s important to add stakes. Perhaps the item requires rare ingredients, or the ritual needs to be performed just right, or the PCs are on a clock because the devil they promised to make a sword for doesn’t accept late work.
Well that’s it for this week’s Grave Plots. See you all next week for more exciting adventure ideas.