2013-06-03 Identifying Magic Items

Youseph Tanha asked on Google+ how people identified magic items.

I said:

In my games, I don’t think unknowns add to the enjoyment of the game. After all, nobody knows about them. That’s why I only keep information from my players if one of the following is true:

it’s random and they don’t know the table I’m rolling on
I made a mistake and don’t want them to have easy access to the magic item just now
the magic item is part of foreshadowing and therefore I’m going to dole out info bit by bit
the magic item will serve as one or more plot hooks as information needs to be gained via quests

In all cases, the How of the identification doesn’t matter and therefore I will just allow any character to discover it by examination in thematically appropriate ways (swinging it, aiming it, studying it, handling it, …).

☯

Example magic item of the “random effect” variety: the *wand of the chimera* consists of a number of intertwined branches with detailed animal heads at the end: a wolf, a goat, a dragon.

1. *hell hound*, HD 1–6, AC 4, *breathe fire* with 1d6 per HD, bite 1d6, MV 12, SV 17-HD (16–11)

2. *giant bat*, HD 2, AC 7, bite 1d4, MV 3/18 (fly), SV 15, *echolocation* sees invisible and in the dark

3. *lion*, HD 5, AC 6, 2 claws 1d4, bite 1d8, MV 12, SV 12

4. *giant eagle*, HD 4, AC 7, 2 claws 1d4, bite 1d8, MV 3/24 (fly), can carry a human

5. *giant goat*, HD 3, AC 7, horns (2d6), MV 18, SV 14, +4 to damage when charging

6. *dragon*, *breath damage* = current hit points, MV 9/24 (fly)

+-----+-------+----+-----+---------+-----------+----------+----+
| 1d6 | Color | HD | AC  | 2 claws |   bite    |  breath  | SV |
+-----+-------+----+-----+---------+-----------+----------+----+
|   1 | black |  7 |   2 | 1d4     | 2d10      | acid     |  8 |
|   2 | blue  |  9 | 1d6 | 3d10    | lightning |        6 |
|   3 | gold  | 11 |  -2 | 2d4     | 6d6       | fire     |  4 |
|   4 | green |  8 |   1 | 1d6     | 3d8       | chlorine |  7 |
|   5 | red   | 10 |  -1 | 1d8     | 4d8       | fire     |  5 |
|   6 | white |  6 |   3 | 1d4     | 2d8       | ice      |  9 |
+-----+-------+----+-----+---------+-----------+----------+----+

The hit points of the wand user remain *unchanged*! The HD are only used to determine the attack of the new form.

This is based on Labyrinth Lord; licensed under the OGL.

Labyrinth Lord

OGL

*Section 15**: Chimera Wand, Copyright 2012, Alex Schroeder

#RPG #Old School

Comments

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⁂

“In my games, I don’t think unknowns add to the enjoyment of the game. After all, nobody knows about them.”

This is why I let my players see all my maps and read all my DM notes before every session.

– Jerome 2013-06-03 10:02 UTC

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That’s right, same thing! :-P

– Alex Schroeder 2013-06-03 10:43 UTC

Alex Schroeder