Creating Magical Items! (GM Tips w/ Matt Mercer)
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- Опубліковано 16 лис 2016
- Critical Role's Dungeonmaster Matt Mercer is here with another installment of GM Tips!
Part of any great campaign is having custom items in your arsenal, but before you do, you'll need to consider the enchantment levels, distribution rules, and more.
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My personal favorite has to be
Ring of Detect Fire
Range: Touch
This gave me an actual, not too bad item idea:
An item (could be a ring) with a detection ability, that on first use disintegrates and transfers it's ability to the bearer in form of a curse. That way (unless the curse is lifted) the player can always passively detect things, but will take damage in the process.
(Can't wait for a "player killed by detecting nearby treasure" or "killed by being lied to" situation^^)
OW OW OW OW OW! Yeah, that's fire, all right!
I need to add this to my game XD
Ring of Disintegration
Target: Self
Neoxp321 reminds me of when I played morrowind. I would make a high-value ring with fire damage on self. The merchant. would equip it, and burn to death, and I would loot their corpse and shop.
I met Matt Mercer at this year's Irwindale Renaissance pleasure faire. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. He was drunk.
I imagine he just comes up to you doing a killer Dwarven voice because he's been drinking XD
The best "celebrities" are "real" celebrities. The people who are themselves around us common folk. It shows how genuine they are.
@@Not_Ciel When we parted ways, he yelled "have fun! GET DRUNK OFF YER FUCKIN ARSES!!!" To me and my friends
@@jigsaw924 that is absolutely incredible
@@jigsaw924 I imagine him shouting that in a dwarven voice
One of my favourites given to low levels: Announcer's Invisible Cloak
A cloak that makes the user invisible, but all of their actions are narrated.
HAHAHAHA, that's amazing!
Oh damn, it's Matt!
So has PC used a spell of Silence before using it? Or is it Deafness? I forget.
If your spellcaster is strong enough to cast silence, they're strong enough to cast lesser invisibility.
Kryos nk
Best item for a group of newcomers: A singing sword that will occasionally give them tips if they don't know what to do and swear at you when hitting an enemy because it hurts the sword's head.
That's a tempting one to give to my new players... I might have to sing though. I'm not sure they can handle that... or I. Mostly because I'd probably fail to resist the temptation to burst into silly songs like:
_"Gonna take your mama out tonight, gonna skewer her trough real good... What, no? I wasn't... Soooo what are we killing today?"_
or
_"I believe in a thing called loooooooove... Oh, hey! I was just... singing songs of violence and murder. Yup, I'm a scary sword..."_ or
_"Near, far, where ever you are, I believe in a stab trough the... Oh, hi... I was just eeeeh... so how's your day?"_ or something like that, when one of my players draw it. I'd probably have to make up so many intro songs for that damn sword in the end. Does sound like odd fun though xD
reminds me of Rick Riordan's take on Sumarbrander, lol
"look man i have one request. could you stop using me to shave? its a little demeaning for a sword of incredible magical power being reduced to a toiletry once a day"
I couldn't resist, so I made a sentient sword with the gnome barbarian in mind. In case anyone wants to use it, here's the stats:
*Silversong*
_Weapon (longsword/greatsword), uncommon (requires attunement)_
Silversong is exquisitely crafted from silvered mithral and weighs half of a normal longsword. It also glows with a pale radiance - moonlight, shedding dim light in a 5-foot radius.
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. It also has the following additional properties.
*Gleaming.* Silversong never gets dirty.
*Song Craft.* Whenever Silversong is struck or is used to strike a foe, its bearer hears a fragment of a song - sung by the blade.
*Metamorphosis.* While attuned to Silversong and wielding it with two hands you can use a bonus action to transform Silversong into a greatsword, or from a greatsword to a longsword. The greatsword does not have the “Heavy”-feature, and can be wielded by smaller characters. The transformation does not grant the user proficiency with greatswords or longswords.
*DM information*
*Sentience.* Silversong is a sentient chaotic neutral weapon with an Intelligence of 14, a Wisdom of 12, and a Charimsa of 18. It has hearing and normal vision out to a range of 30 feet.
The weapon can speak, read and understand Elvish and Sylvan, and can communicate with its wielder telepathically. Its voice is deep and jovial. While you are attuned to it, Silversong also understands every language you know.
*Personality.* Silversong speaks with a deep jovial tone. It usually sings familiar sounding songs, but the lyrics tend to be altered to involve violence and death.
The swords purpose is to defeat worthy opponents and elevate its user to the greatest warrior ever known.
Silversong is very loyal to its wielder. Once attuned it cannot be attuned to another, unless its current user dies or the new user defeats the previous user in battle.
Silversong loves nothing more than a good fight and a good song. If the sword goes unused for three days or more, without seeing any fighting or hearing any singing, a conflict between it and its wielder occurs at the next dawn. DC 16 Charisma saving throw.
*History.* Silversong was once used as a symbol of power, reserved for the greatest warrior in the yearly competitions between the greatest warriors of the Summer Court and the Gloaming Court. It was lost to a mortal on the material plane long ago, when the current champion lost a duel with a mortal warrior. Since then it has seen many users, all of which have fallen in glorious battle.
Obviously, when you use a bonus action to transform it the blade will sing:
_"You've got the touch! I've got the power!"_
I'm hoping it'll be a useful item both for occasional advice to new players and for a bit of humor in what will probably be a dark campaign, seeing as - if they want to continue past my custom intro adventure - I'll transition into Curse of Strahd. Too bad it'll probably be weeks before I have time to run the game. :(
Anyone remember Steve from Dark Cloud 1?
I've introduced DnD to my six year old nephew and he acquired a ton of magic crystals which he immediately carted to the blacksmith and commissioned a sword with as many of the enchanted crystals encrusted into the blade as humanly possible. We both collaborated on what the sword should do and ended up with a sword called the Goblin Slayer, named after his deeds that saved the town he's in, and it does 2D6 slashing damage with +1 to Goblins, and whenever it's swung he gets to roll a d20 for a random gem on his sword to possibly activate and make an extra cool thing happen, from gaining fire damage to creating a shield of light around him, and if he rolls a nat 20 he summons a temporary dragon for a massive lightning attack. Just a fun cool sword for my little nephew to feel like a badass with!
*THIS SHALL NOT STAND*
That's actually a interesting concept. Maybe later or in a different campaign when he's older, add negative effects to the blade so it's not as op and more of a gamble. Not deck of many level negative effects, of course, but small things. Like have a opposite for each positive. Instead of fire, something silly and overall harmless like smoke comes out. Instead of a physical shield, maybe an amusing toy shield appears, instead of a temp dragon, a adorable lizard appears. Things which are slightly inconvenient but could still actually be useful if used creatively. Smoke to cover a attack, a toy shield to trick them into lowering their guard, a adorable lizard distraction.
@@RikkuTakanashi I don't think the power is so much of a problem, I'd say having an extra roll on every attack would get annoying eventually once you get multiple attacks each turn though.
i'm just going to casually steal this idea
I love the idea of that sword. I’ll probably tweak it so there is one crystal in the sword to start. There will be several empty crystal mounts to find and add to the sword as the player gains levels.
So, something I created for a campaign was an item called Crusoe's Glasses... These tinted glasses allow a player to do an investigation or perception check with advantage, but only when saying a witty one liner while putting them on or taking them off.
I like it, I steal your idea :D
I like it. It gets them to participate in the RP aspect of the game, as well.
And honestly, who doesn't love a good (bad) pun?!
Raymond Hames what if it wasn't witty
*exiting a cave to outside where the sun is high*
Its getting a little *puts on glasses* bright out here
That’s awesome, gonna steal it sorry
My favorite item my DM made was a teleportation ring. You could use your action to teleport absolutely anywhere on any plane, but you had to roll a d10 first. On a roll of 10, you and everything you're carrying teleports. On any other number, only the ring teleports.
Abelhawk lol
I had a similar experience it was less op thoe you rolled a d20 and for every one off you were to a 20 you moved 50 feet away from your target it had a range of only 2000 feet and on your plane so it was less op if it worked it was a ring also
He likes from how op it is, but the con of the item is so great that anyone would be very cautelous with using it
@Sean Fisher I'm DMing my more experienced players though a very long campaign and I game them this little beauty. Its fun but so evil at the same time. My fav item. I found it on the wiki.
Staff, legendary (requires attunement by a spellcaster)
This staff has 7 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 of its charges and target a creature up to 60 feet away from you. Roll d100 and consult the following table to discover what happens.
The staff regains 1d6 + 1 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the staff's last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff crumbles into dust and is destroyed.
If no target is designated, the staff automatically targets the nearest available creature within 60 ft, or yourself if no other creature is available.
If any creature dies as a result of using the Wabbajack and is not brought back to life by other means, it is restored to its original state after 1d4 weeks at the place where it died.
Wabbajack Table
% (d100) Result
1-8 You deal 6d6 nonlethal fire damage to yourself and catch on fire.
9-14 You transform the target creature into a wraith under the GM's control for 10 minutes.
15-17 You transform the target creature into a metal bucket for 1d4 hours.
18-23 You transform yourself into a chair for 1d4 days.
24-27 The target creature must succeed a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or take 1d20 necrotic damage.
28-33 The target creature must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be knocked unconscious for 1 minute.
34-42 All creatures within a 100-foot radius of the target take 1 radiant damage and the target takes necrotic damage equal to the number of creatures affected.
43-49 Make a DC 25 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, you suffer 4d10 nonlethal damage. On a success, you gain 100 temporary hit points for 1 minute.
50 Roll 1d6-1. You may cast any one spell of this level once within the next 24 hours without expending a spell slot or material components. If the spell is not cast at the end of that period, it is wasted.
51-59 The target must make DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 2d10 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The target also catches on fire. If a creature succeeds on its saving throw, you take the remainder of the damage.
60-71 You cast the polymorph spell, transforming the target into a rat.
72-73 Make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, you take 100 damage of a damage type of your choice. On a success, you take 10 damage of a damage type your choice.
74-80 The target creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be polymorphed into a flumph for 1d4 rounds.
81-86 Each creature within 5 feet of the target takes 2d10 radiant damage. Make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, you also take 2d10 radiant damage. On a success, you deal an additional 4d10 necrotic damage to the same targets you affected before.
87-90 You transform the target creature into a magical +3 longsword you are automatically proficient in. The creature is completely aware of its surroundings and the happenings while it is the sword. This effect wears off after 24 hours.
91-99 Make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, you take 2d10 fire damage. On a successful save, you resist fire damage until you finish a long rest.
100 The target creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be polymorphed into a pile of 1000 platinum pieces for 24 hours. All of the platinum vanishes at the end of the duration and the creature reappears where the effect took place.
Abelhawk Did you use it more than once?
Mystogan .Ravenheart The Wabbajack? Isn’t that Sheogorath’s artifact, from The Elder Scrolls? I wasn’t aware it was on the D&D wiki.
Edit: Okay. That was an “April Fools” homebrew page, with a warning that it may destroy game balance. The item is, indeed, taken from The Elder Scrolls. It is not a “real” D&D item. (Although, if anything were to cross realities, it would be this.)
I remember in the first campaign I GMed for, possibly the first session, I was using a premade map and the player of course wanted to open the decorative barrels. I didn't have anything written out for what was in these barrels, so most of them just had food or terrible weapons. I did try to come up with one magical item for them to find. In a barrel of old clothes they found a cloak that one of them immediately put on. I decided that this cloak would wind around the PC and suck out half of their life every turn without killing them until they rolled a fairly high saving throw. Definitely OP now that I look back on it, I assumed that the players would say "We can't wear this!" and that would be the end of it until they were able to sell it off. I really didn't expect them to throw it on the dungeon's main baddy. Definitely taught me not to underestimate my players.
holy shit hahaha, this is awesome
i wish my players would think of things like that. Instead i give them dozens of interesting things to play with and they just wanna keep hitting things with sticks and fireballs.
And thus I dub this object "Cloak of Constriction".
zoid5 Using it as a weapon is literally the first thing I thought of when you described it. Sounds about right for a first-time GM.
Players will weaponize anything.
When playing an Isle of Dread campaign with my first D&D group, I failed to win an in-game arm wrestling contest for a Frostbrand Greatsword that our loot-hoarding Barbarian had snatched up, and I was bummed about it because I hadn't had any magic items yet. Later on, we found a longsword bearing the holy symbol of Helm, which I recognised immediately because my character was a Paladin of Helm. Turns out it was the Watcher's Blade, a +1 longsword that dealt an extra 2d4 radiant damage to fiends and undead, inscribed with runes that read "Who Watches the Watchers".
It was nice to know the DM was looking out for me.
OrangeyChocolate is that a terry pratchet reference? "Who watches the watchmen?"
It's a very, very old Latin phrase that, even today, gets applied to police in discussions about surveillance and abuse of power.
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" -> "Who watches the watchmen themselves?"/"Who watches the watchmen?"
I once created a box, about 2' x 3' with a cover, filled with small sand like granules. It detected as magical. The party I was GMing carried it for months before finally figuring out what it was -- a magical kitty litter box that was self cleaning, made for a mages cat.
Magical items can be fun and practical too. What Mage really wants to clean their familiar's litter box?
So how did it clean itself? Did everything that wasn't kitty litter dissolve into nothingness once a day? If so... It'd be far from useless
@@justinjacobs1501 someone decided to store their lucky turd in the box and it was gone the next time they checked on it
I want that item in real life...
PRESTIDIGITATION!!!!!
Joshua's Coin: Once per day as a bonus action flip the coin. On a heads, gain advantage on your next attack roll, ability check, saving throw. On a tails, disadvantage
David Hyland is this a fire emblem sacred stones reference? Cause if it is, I appreciate more FE fans putting FE references in DnD.
I recently introduced a shurken head to the party. It belonged to an old builder helping the party in a castle via a secret tunnel. Unfortuanetly he died and the head decided to make one of the party members its new owner. It occasionally throws out a witty line, and it offers a plus two to any intelligence check the player makes. After aiding in an intelligence check it always says "I guess two heads are better than one!" They tried to toss it at one point, but after a long rest the player awoke to find the head had returned and was resting on the pillow beside him.
Give it to an ettin and watch the conflict ensue..
...Did it blow him a kiss when he woke up?
Amazing
Chromatic Longsword +1
When attacking, roll 1d8. Instead of dealing slashing damage, the sword deals a random elemental damage type instead based on the extra 1d8 roll.
Very fun weapon the DM made, until it rolls lightning damage against a Flesh Golem...
Or acid damage against a Clay Golem, then that thing's just Russian Roulette
(Clay Golems heal from acid damage instead)
I have a similar one for a Barbarian that uses warhammers. For each kill, the weapon gains a charge. The charges are represented by a gem manifesting onto the head of the hammer per charge. The wielder can expend any number of charges onto a single attack and gain 3d8 of a random damage type amongst 6. Effectively a smite that builds over time and incentivizes finishing off an enemy and combo into another one. Really fun to see the player mess around with it
Edit: spelling is hard leave me alone
I remember the story of a player who got a magic boat which could turn into a little box to be carried around by saying a word and vice versa. No biggie until he decides to throw the box at the enemies and transforme it in a boat mid-air
I remember a couple of fun items.
Like the "Ring of Good Old Maximized Magic". When worn, all your dice rolls on a spell are automaticly at max result, but if worn for longer than 1 minute it burns away your soul (no resurrection or afterlife for you) and when you take it off, it takes your finger off as well (it turn to ash and cannot be restored).
Or Amour's Arrogant Arrow - it dealt some OP damadge, but made the archer fall in love with whatever it hit.
And the SIR (Stubling Idiot Ring) - it let's you turn invisible, but also takes away your sight, while invisible.
Those are great!
That arrow is downright cruel.
Party ended up hiring an NCP ranger. They were fighting an evil wizard, who transfered his soul into a mythir golem and wanted to conquer the realm. Party didn't tell the NPC about the arrow's magic, but told to shoot in on their mark. It destroyed the wizard, but ranger (who was in the back in a sniping position) left before they returned.
He later became party rival, constantly ruining their plans, reputation, setting traps and in the end made a deal with an archfey to control an army of beasts, seeking revenge on the party for tricking him into killing his true love.
Those players learned a valuable lesson, had to resurrect their fighter and lost their rogue.
demilung that's rough, but it made for quite the story.
An idea I've always had is:
The Ring of Fire (song reference)
- cursed
- all fire based spell are maxed out
- immune to cold damage
- can only sing like old country songs (no normal talking)
- sets you on fire, gets worse over time
- wearer may not remove (another party member must take it off your hand)
- optionally it may unlock extra spells/discount fire spells
The lore is basically it is tapped into a major heat source (like the actual sun) but the destruction of another item in the set cursed the remainder of the set. And the actual benefits should be op but still ballanced.
Ideally a player starts with it or with a desire to obtain it and a longterm goal of breaking the curse.
I love Matt's evil side-comments. But he did forget the most basic DM tool for balancing magic items back into the right place: Rust Eaters.
Well, they don't do much against enchanted cloacks, admittedly.
Good point, Matteo Bortolotti. Giant moths? I'm a believer in all items taking wear and tear damage, even magical ones.
what if it isn't metal like a wand, staff, cloak a bone (or any non-metal) ring?. . . and magic armor or a magic weapon that can rust isn't that great of an item, the whole point of a magic weapon is it is special . . . if it can be destroyed by simply rusting (a legendary or even a very rare or just rare metal weapon or armor shouldn't be that vulnerable) it kind of sucks
Althought, the good old-fashioned thieves can also do the trick.
Matteo Bortolotti the reason their magical item stops working could be the next adventure hook.
A devil has stolen the items soul. An awakening of a forgotten Deity has taken back the power imbued within the item.
The greatest thing about pen and paper RPGs is the freedom to mold the world 😀
Listening to him talk about merchants bartering, and all I can think is: Pawn Stars: D&D Edition.
I don't know that much about Magic Horns but I know a guy who's basically an expert, let me write him a letter, he should be here in a few days.
I've actually used that ingame where a merchant will have people who deal with certain specialities like magical rings, magical armour etc. and contact them first before buying (they don't want to get ripped off).
Not every town is going to have a merchant that knows how to discern magical items but the Merchants guild would likely provide a list of contacts to them of people who do.
Hey there's a reason they pay their guild membership!
By "barter", I'm assuming he meant "haggle"...
haggle is what commoners do, barter is what nobles do.
in my last campaign i had a shop called "pawn of the dead" where a dwarf zombie pick harris, his son big hogg, and his old man- they never knew what was gonna walk through that door. pick harris may not know much about magic decks of cards, but he had a buddy who specializes in shit that derails campaigns
When are you going to share your secret lore about creating *actual magic items*? #MercerHoardsMagic ;p -Nerdarchist Ryan
Can a magic item just be completely useless, like a pan flute that's enchanted to sound like a kazoo?
Absolutely ^.^ Whether it's actually useless or not depends on your players. Creative players have a tendency to find unexpected uses for even the most useless of joke items.
I want this in real life
Uh useless!???
@@ericaheathrow7085
Its still a magical musical instrument for a bard....
If magic is part of the item, it is considered magical.
Though I don’t know who’d call that useless
Give that man a phone book and I'll sit there for hours while he reads it.
Nathanos49 "Aaron A Aardvark 078654....."
better yet, They should pay him to do audio books of DnD.
EVEN BETTER idea, an app like Siri but we'll call it DM, and you can ask it to bring up rules and it'll be Matt's voice.
Do phone books still exist?
@@Ser_Nathor Shit we need to get Matt Mercer in on this idea.
@@r.r815 varies from county to county. Depends on whether they still budget for it I guess.
You find some magical dice....
they are cursed with the touch of wil wheaton.
Benedikt Geierhofer only a truly evil man would give that to their party
You always roll a n-n-nineteen when using the d20, but somehow the save needed is always a 20
This is the most evil thing of have heard of ever. Ever!
Best item I've ever built in D&D; The Void Arrow. Take a rather large arrow and put a small Bag of Holding on the end of it, with a Portable Hole held in place just above it, held by some small sticks.When the arrow strikes a surface, the Portable Hole falls into the Bag of Holding, thus creating a 20ft diameter hole to the Astral Plane, sucking in anything within that range, such as rocks, trees and creatures. Once shut, the items used to create the hole are lost forever, so it's a one-shot item. I used to it to pierce the heart of a dragon. Fight was done rather quickly after that.
Isn't that basically a disintegrate spell?
It's something a non-spellcaster can use.
Yeah a consumable item that replicates the effect of a spell.
OP af
That is called an Arrow of Mass Destruction, and it's one of the most popular items in existence. As I recall the earliest I've seen someone mention it was from a 2nd Edition D&D thread
best one I ever got was boots of animal steps. when walking you leave animal tracks instead of standard boot prints.
So, my party is full of idiots. I did the whole cursed sword thing because one of our members really really wanted a cool sword. So I said “Mwhaha.. I will play on his greed and give him a demon sword.” When he found out about it’s bloodsucking ability and it’s demonic presence and how it attracts demons.. *sighs* He cut off his own arm and replaced it with the sword. You don’t know how close I was to killing his character before he rolled a damn 20.. now he is partly demon.. this is like the whole “instructions unclear, dick stuck in toaster.” Times 11z
Joey Enochs Should never underestimate the creativity of PC’s
Y’all know what Berserk is
Wait... so does he have a demon arm now or just a sword where his arm once was?
Sounds like my bf's character and his demon sword adventures lol
@@ShapCast
Sounds to me like he has a sword for an arm and he's a demon magnet.
My favorite magic item I've come up with:
Ring of Self Consciousness
When a creature puts the ring on, they make a WIS saving throw. On any result, scribble something down in your notepad, and continue on with the session as if nothing happened.
thats so very evil, i love it.
In a more light-hearted campaign, one of my players found a ring of gaseous form. It worked great until he said he was taking it off. I asked, "How?" Hilarity ensued.
Got a tip to add: Think about tailoring the item to a theme that the adventure has been.
For example: I had done about a third of a massive campaign with the party in the future. In their method of going back, I had some urgency about an unstable portal. It effected some of their gear. One had a sword that could add 1d6 to either an attack roll, but could be used after the strike itself(saying that the sword wielder went a split second back in time to readjust the swing). One item could undo the damage of a single attack as it happened, but it trickled back to the target over a few rounds.
These items gave the party a reminder of where they had been, and what they had done in the past.
In my campaign I'm going to hide a legendary weapon in a bag of holding. The players will inherit the bag of holding after someone on the run gives it to them and fails to tell them whats in it before dying. Then much later they hear about the magic item and that it was lost long ago near where they found it. In other words, the Players have to guess that the item is in the bag to get the item.
you may want to be careful with that because if you turn a bag of holding inside out ALL items within it fall out of it . . . turning it inside out doesn't destroy the bag either just put it right again and it is good as new . . . if you have a smart thinking player and someone on the run just gives it to them they could want to know what is in it right away and either by sheer luck, research or meta-gaming (which could be shot down by the DM) they could end up with a legendary item way before you want them to . . . come up with a back up plan just in case would be my advice
Or he could just tell them "That's not how the bag works." Problem solved, argument done, Legendary Item kept secret until the DM reveals it! :D
Kaipyro67ALT if he just told them thats not how the bag works that would be bad DMING. Also nost DM's alow the player to try what ever and if it doenst work it doesnt work. No DM just flat out tells people "thats not how that works"
why not? It is his world and if bag of holding is not common object in it then they will have to research it first. Otherwise it would be meta-gaming as their characters have no prior experience with said bag.
Why not have the legendary weapon be in a secret pocket that won't open unless you KNOW it's there? It might be detectable using magic though, as to not make it OP. But also if the players are dumbwitted they may accidentally find it thanks to a detectionspell or the likes in some other instance.
One of my friends had a great idea for a sword... it's sentient, and it lets out a moan every time you sheathe it and complains every time you unsheathe it. Childish, but funny!
I gave a party member a Great Axe +2, but it turned out it was cursed with the soul of it's previous owner. It always complained when it didn't get any blood to drink and groaned in pain when the player sharpened it. It was pretty fun, and the interactions between the player and the item were pretty hilarious.
Sounds like a (special) sword of Morrowind, pretty cool!
My friends and I are playing a much less than serious campaign using the Final Fantasy variant of Pathfinder. One of said friends has a sentient sword with a few trait that he rolled randomly off of a chart. One of these traits is 'screams when excited'. I play a Chrono-dancer with a very stripper-esqe physique.
The damn sword will not shut up.
Take it one step beyond. After a while, the sword starts to admonish you for using it. After you kill a bandit that was trying to rob you, for instance: "He had a family too, you know."
"Great, now who's going to feed his kids?!"
That sorta stuff.
One time a DM gave us a sentient greataxe+3, it loved bloodshed, at first we liked it because it would sing to us in dwarven and go "WEEEEEEE" when killing someobody
then it took control of the barbarian, we liked less that moment
I once made a magic item for a 5e game. It was a dagger, with a +(Proficiency bonus-1) to attack and damage. Using a performance check, you could have the dagger cast a bard spell as if you were a bard of your current level (For example, a 5th level monk could cast a spell of their choice out of the first, second, and third level bard spells) for free. However, if you flubbed the performance roll badly enough, then you rolled on THE TABLE. And the table had all sorts of cool shit on it, from the dagger casting sleep at 9th level on everything within like 30 feet (and this was a modified version of sleep; if you had the fey ancestry feature, it did damage that would drop you to a stable 0 instead of putting you to sleep), to the PC accidentally unlocking some of the dagger's secret abilities (like the ability to basically turn it into a lightsaber for a minute, turning its damage dice to a d8 and making it bypass all resistances).
They were scared to use it, though, because it was a key component in a ritual required to summon Godzilla.
One item I found on a reddit thread for a D&D podcast that asked for listener submissions for magical items was The Amulet of Unbelievable Luck. Basically you can turn a natural 1 into a natural 20 once a day. Another item I made for a 3.5e campaign was basically a set of a decorative haircomb and a necklace that worked like sending stones, but could only be used once a day (it was for a character with the Nymph's Kiss feat).
argella1300 That luck item would be problematic long term. It would be good if it turned your 1 into a 20 but your next 20 turns into a 1.
It would give the player some risk and reward.
Simo
Not necessarily. Remember that legendary monsters can still use a legendary action to dodge or block any action they like, and they'll get 3 of these a battle.
Increasing the item's power to, say, make it immune to legendary action could be interesting past a certain level.
I personally would have the luck item allow the player to reroll the natural 1 and if you want maybe change it to 3 times per week.
One of my favorite self-designed items was the 'Monocle of death' (dun dun duuuunn) It can kill a single target no matter how big instantly within line of sight BUT it also costs the user that eye and is bound to them and them alone, if it is removed from their person and used by another, they both lose an eye and it doesn't work.
So they effectively have two shots with it but that second shot has got to be something really, really worth killing...
Aren't there restoration spells that would replace an eyeball or two?
Tony A
There was no restoration magic in the setting (it was a Weird West style setting) and all magical items came with a price like that, some minor, some major.
Too harsh for a non-killer campaign
So basically Izanagi, but reverse.
@@andrewpenn1145 Does Izanagi create life by growing extra eyes on the user?
It's a little hard to reel it back, buddy
*Remembers Grog and Cravenedge*
Also, it killed him.
What? It killed him?
When Craven Edge hits a foe, on a failed DC12 Con saving throw it takes 1 point of strength from the target and gives it to the wielder, until the wielder has 25 strength. Once it gets there, the owner deals 2D6 necrotic damage on all successful hits until their next short rest. When they take a short rest while at 25 strength, they must succeed a DC16 Con saving throw or have their own soul devoured by the blade and instantly die.
'A Whistle That Summons Every Bald Man' The best magic item ever.
Matt was about to give away how to make magic items irl, secretly hes the dm of earth
So, God?
In the current campaign I'm playing I found a "Ring of Concentration." When i cast a concentration spell if I pass a DC i can store it in the ring and have it hold the concentration for me so to speak, effectively letting me have 2 concentration spells at once. It's a lot of fun. (it has a few other conditions and workings that go with it to but i dont remember them all right now)
Isn`t that basically what a focus does ?
@@tristan9998 No
@@tristan9998 not even in the slightest.
Favorite magical item I ever created.
Sword of lost souls. Each time a new welder grasps the hilt, their soul is switched with the soul currently in the sword. Whatever soul is trapped in the sword is than fed random memories of those the blade draws blood from.
I feel like that would be a sword of infinite knowledge depending on how old it is.
then*
@@delcidkidv250 That could be infinite torment, too... Unless your a genocidal maniac...
That's instant character death...
I would love to see a video of Matt creating content for Critical Role! Including how he builds the story for the upcoming game. Love the content
one of my players had an idea for their starting item and I'd like feedback to see if it's too much
a ring that changes what type of damage you do but has to learn the damage types. for example the ring starts out knowing none so it's a regular ring but then the player is burned so now the ring can deal fire damage if wanted. (the actual damage is not changed simply the type of damage so it becomes useful later against certain enemies with weaknesses)
I think it's a good idea. It doesn't look OP to me.
Pyrrhic Loser this is pretty good, so long as you keep the other damage types spread out enough for it not to learn them all too fast.
Pyrrhic Loser That's really creative!
Good, but make it take an action to switch damage types; this will make them have to be strategic about when to change it, and prevents them from going too overboard in battle.
Only if you can only change it on a long rest.
how about a ring of protection that's cursed to make a character extremely vain or obsessed with fashion or looking extremely well dressed at all times?
That would be so cool.
Aren't players already extremely obsessed with their character's fashion
+A Pathetic Lie
Some are (so am I) but most people I play with do not really care about their characters fashion.
Most bards have that characterisic anyway...
These GM tips episodes are really great; my favorite thing on the channel :)
I like to run games with a MUCH heavier emphasis on role play than combat, so one thing I like to do is give characters items that make role playing a more attractive choice. Just last week I started running a new Pathfinder game, but I've granted each of my players a relatively powerful (if, as you said, fairly situational) magical item that helps to reflect the background and personality they've given their characters. Not only does this promote role play simply through making it easier to do (trying to talk a raging bear down rather than kill them is a lot more attractive with that +5 Fetish of Handle Animal) but it also helps to make the players feel that they're being rewarded for seeking opportunities to build more than just another Wizard or Fighter. It's easy to go overboard, and I have in the past, but when managed well it can be a really nice way to draw out some interesting interactions from your PCs.
my favorite has been the seal of feast or famine
when you roll a 2 it becomes a nat one and 19s become nat 20s
oh and the "magic numberpad"
a stone tablet with nine glpyhs on it. after three ha e been selected it will cast a spell so say middle top right and middle bot was polymorph
perfect item for any spellcaster who wont take notes.
Eyepatch of vision. The covered eye can see invisible objects or creatures
One campaign we found a pink & purple polka-dotted rusty short sword. Our archer picked it up and we forgot about it. Later, when her bow broke in combat she pulled the sword out. When our foes laughed at it an inhuman evil roar issued from it and it went about the cavern slaying everything. Turns out the soul of a glabrezu was imprisoned in the sword. The GM got the stats from Stormbringer. We spent a LONG time figuring out how to get rid of the thing.
a personal favorite of item of mine that my party acquired is a special bag of holding, which I refer to as "the wandering sands", that rather than an airless pocket dimension, contains a small stone room.
it serves us as a small base, a safe, and an excuse as to why some people are not with us
Thank you so much for making these tips Matt! I struggle as a GM sometimes, but really enjoy it, so thank you for making these vids, they're super helpful.
This is literally the question I needed answering this week. Cheers Matt
Making a PC craft only a piece of a magical item,and telling them that the missing component(s) can only be found somewhere can also be used as a nice plot device to start,or make the players more interested in, an adventure somewhere. :)
When he said that i was immediately reminded of the current CR campaign.
Spoilers
Caleb had a "necklace/shackle" of no magic forced on his neck in the happy fun ball. He kept it and has been slowly tinkering with it to make it usable against a certain wizard. He finally got it working but since it requires a contested grapple check he gave it to beau to use for him.
I like the idea of repairing an item you had used against you and reaching the point where you give yourself a quest to find a missing peice of some kind.
Mr Mercer, I love this nerdy stuff you do and talk about. I've always wanted to try and DM and these videos are just what I needed. thank you for sharing
favorite magic item. ring of taste
as a free action you can tasted anything within 5 feet around you (even through glass and walls).
i started out as a GM about a month ago and these small bits of helpful information have really helped me. Wish these videos were here for me when i started since i was daunted by how professional and strict it sounded from other sources. Keep up the videos. (BTW the Customize Creatures video is definitely my favourite).
On Item I made for my party was THE Morning Star, which was of course a Morningstar Mace. Favorite original item by far, Described it as an ornate gold mace with an angle shaped handle and a sun shaped mace that could only do radiant damage, as in everything is turned to radiant, and could heal if expending a charge. It was the perfect weapon for a cleric, and it sets up the next part of the Clerics story perfectly.
I remember during one of my first D&D adventures the DM gave us 1 magical item each early on (Before leveling up even). I got a Lantern, found deep in an underground crypt. This lantern gave me +1 Intelligence Modifier when casting Necromancy spells. The one issue was it had the skull of a Lich trapped inside it that would tell me secrets about Necromancy and everything. The only downside is that the DM could randomly make him be crude, rude, lie to me or just annoy me. My favorite example is when we were gathering in an Inn for the night when he screamed 'NICE RACK! MIND IF I BURY MY FACE IN THERE?!'. I Rolled low and ended up with a red cheek
Bob, from Dresedn Files?
Simple magic item template:
It is a (ordinary object) but instead of (thing it normally does) it does (something different)
Example: a metal ball, but instead of rolling downwards it rolls upwards
"are they grounded and lack ranged attacks? Maybe give them some form of ranged attack"
_Laughs in Fire Emblem_
I like making magical items in D&D My favorite item was "Bagearas Battling Betty" an artifact 35ft tall and arms 15ft long that you loaded with cartriges 10 in the left and the right was used to amplify spells and psionics. The center chest piece is where you sit! It is almost indestructable,and you had to have a 19 int. and psionics to operate it not to mention you need to sustain yourself w/o air as it was completely self contained. Keep in mind since i began playing in 1979,ive only used 1st/2nd edition rules and i took my character 10 years to create it. Its primary use was to be at the head of an army!
I have added a 'pandora's box' style of items. A small wooden box containing 4 typical magical rings out of the DMG, the player opens the box and only sees one ring at a time and they all look the same. When the user dons the ring I roll a d6 to determine the effect of the ring. 4 actual ring values, 2 random wild magic values. I made a table with 10 different effects and roll for it. I love it when they are hoping for a ring of invisibility and they suddenly appear the size of a giant creature who is now glowing blue.
There's a shop in my game where you can buy wool goods. In the front of the shop, you can get normal blankets, sweaters, hats, etc. But there's a secret area in the back where "Uncle Lorenzo" sells magical wool items. They're all very useful magical items, but they are also absolutely hideous. Ridiculously unflattering fit for all clothing items, bright colors that all clash horribly, and everything is SO fluffy and bulky. Every item is sold in a wooden box and you can't see what's inside until you've paid for it. My players have bought a few very useful items there, but it's always as a LAST resort. One player told me she would rather just get burned than put on the thick, baggy, bubblegum-pink fireproof thigh-highs. Lol
Happened upon your videos yesterday nd was very intrigued by the range of understanding presented.
The first item I made for a campaign wasn’t for DnD but for a different fantasy feudal japan setting ttrpg. I made a nodachi that got sharper with every kill (+1 damage and deadliness) every 15 enemy kills, that could also change size for more damage at the cost of being harder to wield scaled to character size. The sort of history of the sword was that it was wielded by a great general that created the sword, then some stuff about the sword being curse and turning the general into a demon that forever hunts the sword.
Very sound advice. I made a few magic items for a fey themed campaign where all the characters were children. I liked making all of them toy and candy themed.
My favorite was a red and white wand that made the floor sticky and striped like a candy cane but acted like a wand of entanglement. The difference was that it could be "dispelled" by water.
I'm a fairly experienced DM, but still finding this new series of videos really useful. Keep them coming!
This topic just came up with my group that I am DM'ing last night. Thanks, Matt!!!
Really want to try out playing as a DM but I'm sooooo not ready. Thank you nerdom for always being there for us.
Xanathar's guide to everything has a great way to explain the mechanical system of building items.
4 years later and I come back for a refresher ;)
My first homebrew magic item idea:
Grunt’s Thinking Cap.
(Grunt is our half-orc fighter with 6 int).
“As an action, any creature with >10 int gain points up to 20 for 10 minutes.
At the end of the duration, take 1d10 (nonlethal) psych damage.
If any creature with 10< int equips the item, take 4d10 psych damage with no benefit.
If a creature attempts to use the item more than once in a day, take 2d10 psych damage and gain no benefits.”
Basically it’d let him, once a day, flip from by far the dumbest to by far the smartest character, but with some damage as a trade off, and no one smart can use it to keep the wizard from abusing it.
Thank you so much for the tips, Matt! As a DM myself, this will greatly improve my homebrew magical item creation (I run a high-magic game, as I love magic items). Especially since the only homebrew magic item I've made thus far (aside from the custom items I gave each player that 'evolve' and grow in power as they level) was the Jade Frog of Jumping, which is non-attunement and doubles the jump-distance of the person holding it.
A friend of mine described a player she has, and the item she gave him. He was an old guard player, playing a Goliath rogue/barbarian. He had a tower Shield that could be set down and expanded into a palisade, providing full cover. Later the character was allowed to affix an immovable rod to this tower shield, making it an immovable Shield/deployable cover (needing an action or bonus action to activate the rod of course, and to actually set down the shield to make the cover).
Geek & Sundry is awesome. I just DM'ed my first game with my friends and it was great. We had a blast (at least I did, and I feel they had too). These tips helped me alot in this. We agreed we start the second session next week and I can't wait!
Damn man! I'm making my first campaign/quest -thing and I must say, that these videos are so helpful!! Thanks a lot 😊
1:22 I just heard McCree
its high noon somewhere in the world.
Macready 😍😍😍
@DaJoozie r/whoosh
I made 3 artifacts so far for my game. The Hands of Stone are gauntlets that increase str to 20 and have a set of 6 random effects that can happen to the wielder at the beginning of each combat encounter. 5 effects cause either increased stats or some form of additional damage. The 6th effect restrains the wielder unless they can beat a DC 15 con check and causes 5 damage. Once attuned they lose the negative outcome and can pick their chosen effect instead of rolling randomly.
The second artifact is The Crown of The Forest Queen, a crown that gives true sight to the wielder, the ability to talk to animals at all times and communicate with them telepathically, as well as the ability to summon and control various nature specific creatures. Eventually when combined with The Forest Throne in my campaign it will allow control of the trees themselves and the ability to summon giant roots to combat foes.
The last is Mithra's War Bow, a bow made from the twisted branch of an oak tree that had been heavily damaged. Mithra, the Goddess of nature and the hunt in my campaign, healed the tree and was given the branch in gratitude. She then made from it a bow that could destroy any foe to nature. The bow initially does 1d8 piercing and 1d8 poison damage, and the target must make a DC 12 con saving throw or be poisoned for 1d4 damage per turn. The bow also allows one to ask the trees to give them arrows, and should they have been proven worthy, the trees will make a part of themselves into arrows for the wielder to use.
All of these artifacts I made to give to my PC's at a fairly low level, and then to grow with them to a degree. I'm kinda proud of them actually.
Love how TAZ is essentially about tracking down super OP items and resisting the temptation to use them. Very nice setup! :)
Thanks Mat!! I'm getting some D&D stuff for christmas and now I'll be able to use magical items when I start. THANKS!!!!!!
Dear matt.... HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR HAIR LIKE THAT?! i have the same lengt hair as you but with me it always get's in my eyes or i will have an emo jb hairstyle
IKR? I would watch Hair Styling Tips w/ Matt Mercer
It's called a hair iron or hair straightener and some hair spray
Presdigitation my friend. 90% sure Matt's a high elf so he'd probably have picked up a cantrip like that.
melih626 he rolled high on his wisdom of hair care products
GAAAY
My favourite magical weapon I ever had made for me was a "dagger". It was really just this 9 inch long needle with an enchantment that made it unbreakable. It was so thin, hiding it was never an issue, it could puncture anything, and unless you looked REAL hard it just looked like I was clenching my fist. Being unbreakable also made it useful for blocking and parrying.
Thanks Mr Mercer, I appreciate the advice!
This was my birthday gift from youtube last year.
One of my players attained a magical ring once. A Ring of indestructibility.
It looks like an ordinary copper ring, but as will become evident soon enough, it cannot be destroyed.
It doesn't confer any such property on its *wearer*, of course, but all the same... ;)
Also, I generally favor letting the players know, if they're planning to craft items like that, that they're going to need that exotic component. They want to create an Elixir of Immortality? Best get that phoenix feather. Want to create a demonbane sword? Well, they'll need a balor's spleen - the acquisition of which brings with it a whole separate set of difficulties. ;)
;_; this is such a good series. thanks matthew.
In my campaign an apocalypse happened ten years past when a portal to the nine hells was thrown open wide. As part of that all the craftsmen in the world who knew how to make enchanted items were hunted down by the demons. So in the setting true magical items are incredibly rare while in the time since enchanters have learned to make knockoff magical items that function like the true ones but have a ten percent chance of melting into slag every time you use them.
I mean, we made a revolver that said nice shot when you missed.
A staff made of 30 scrolls all with magic missile that once a day could do 30 3d4.
A Golem named Rock who hated rocks.
And finally-A sword named tiny tim that was 300 pounds and 12 ft tall where you needed a 20 in strength to use.
My favorite evil magical items of all time:
Robe of blending with the three setting clasp (chop, mince and pure).
Ring of Evil Wishes (no amount of wording can fix these)
2:25 so basically crownrend and trells mask from high rollers from yogscast. now i see where the idea may have sparked from!
One of my favourites, which I can't even remember if I created or not, is the amulet of delayed misfortune. The holder can chose to have a one-time Lucky perk whenever they want. They price: the DM holds onto the original roll, and can replace any of the holder's future rolls with the stored roll. The rolls can be stored in a stack and are used by the DM from most to least recent.
Most people get that you're supposed to keep the number of stored rolls as low as possible, but there was one guy that had so, so many rolls stored and I was running out of paper. He made the mistake of having a natural 1 stored just as he fell unconscious, and I'm sure you can guess how that worked out.
Welp. That's the legendary Matt Mercer I've so much heard of... Now I know why you're so appreciated, you've got charisma through the roof! I'll be watching more of your content, I'm interested in what you have to say on DnD!
What a charming, elegant and interesting dude. I can hear him talking for hours, plus.. medieval fantasy. My favorite subject!~
My favourite item that I have homebrewed is a watered down version of the DoMT, the Chaos Die.
A player with the cursed die can roll it, then apply the effect of the resultant glyph/ number.
I had such effects as 2d4 lightning damage to self, summoning a stone golem familiar, dropping a Revivify spell scroll at their feet, manifesting a magic air balloon, to my personal favourite on a Nat 20: "nothing interesting happens".
Quick homebrew magic item:
Staff of Egg
Infinite charges, however only able to be used 4 times per ACTION
The staff, upon use, summons a maximum of 4 normal, edible, and raw eggs in the nearest location it would not break or roll to somewhere it would break. These eggs can be thrown, but if you egg an house your punishment is up to the DM. If thrown at an enemy, the have disadvantage on attacks against you, and specifically you, until the end of it's next turn.
Hey guys, another great resource is the dungeons master's block podcast. Its a podcast for DMs by DMs both veteran and young, they interview people in the industry for tips and ideas of how to run campaigns. It isn't specified to a single edition and they strive to make everything applicable to all kinds of rping
2:20 Travis knows all about that...
1:50 too.
1:30 MYTHCARVER!! It finally happened! Like 10 minutes ago. And Matt walked everyone through it. "USE THE SWORD, SCANBO!"
OMG THORDAK IS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE SCREEN AT THE BEGINNING
I needed this video like a week ago now I will proceed to watch all of these because I gave my players items that just broke everything and it was sad (they one shot my final boss) but now it’s a new campaign and I’ve learned from my mistake and I’m ready to push forward
I love the idea of making my own magical item and have many ideas i wish i could implement.
The ring of elemental command in pathfinder seems like a great example of an evolving item. Until a checkbox is met the item will appear as a lesser version of itself and only offer the base bonus. Upgrades come from special requirements like beating the elemental the item is attuned to. The only real tell is that it has a strong conjuration aura attached to it, while the base versions it mimics are all faint. Even a shopkeeper might slip up and accidently sell one of these gems. Note it normally goes for 100k, but can be crafted for half the price, so long as you have ring crafting and summon monster 4 as a spell you can cast.
Gonna be the Dungeon Master of a campaign soon in a homebrew setting and plan on having a magic item available in a Hag Coven's lair: The Deck of Very Many Miniscule Things. A full 52 card deck of good and bad minor but entertaining things that permanently affect the party. One of my favorite homebrew creations
My DM thought that my character getting back a magical item he had in a previous game would make him op. The sword stormbringer did and extra 2d6 lightning or thunder, could shoot a wave of thunder energy in a line that did 4d8, and could turn me into a ball of electricity which made me invulnerable, and made my move speed 300 feet. Now, my character had been revived after 2000 years of being dead, he needed to help protect the world again and didn't have any memories. He eventually remembered his weapon, and the DM didn't want to give me that power again, so he said that I did find it, but it was dormant, it only did the 2d6 lightning or thunder on hit, and was now +1 because it was conserving energy. I really like this because I can rp having that memory back without pissing of my DM
I personally like making really powerful magical relics but placing them in hard to get through places, the kind riddled with traps and monsters, I make them work hard for the more powerful items, but I usually have a few minor magic items I toss to them as to keep things interesting and keep them level or just below the challenge of what monster they're fighting or what dungeon(or place in general) they're in