[ Magic Item ] Gerd's Lucky Charm

Gerd's Lucky Charm is a 2" diameter ivory circle, with a simple leather cord running through a hole in the charm.  It's magic effect only works when worn around the neck.  On one side, the name Gerd is carved into the surface, on the opposite side, Lucky.  It appears to be written in the character's main language.  If the character can't read, then they know it's Gerd's Lucky Charm, but not how to activate the effect.

If the charm is touched, and the character says, "I need some luck.", or something similar, a modifier of 1 is applied to their next roll.  If they need to roll higher than a target number, then it's added.  If they need to roll lower than the target number, then it's subtracted.  Any damage inflicted is increased by one.  There is no limit to the number of times a day this ability can be used.

However, if the character doesn't use Gerd's Lucky Charm for an entire day, then the next day is a cursed one.  For every roll the character has to make, a modifier of 2 is applied.  If they need to roll higher than the target number, then it's subtracted.  If they need to roll lower than the target number, then it's added.  Any damage inflicted is reduced by 2.  It doesn't matter if the player tries to activate it's normal luck bonus, the day will be an unlucky one.

If a character dies due to an unlucky roll, the charm will disappear.  It has teleported to a random location.

The next day, after a cursed, unlucky day, the charm's effect returns to normal.  If the luck isn't used that day, then the next unlucky day, the modifier is raised to 3.  This will continue until the unlucky modifier reaches 6.  If it isn't used the day after reaching the modifier of six, it teleports away.  Gerd's Lucky Charm wants to be used for luck.

Only one Gerd's Lucky Charm exists.

NOTE:  The modifiers can be changed to fit into whatever rule set you use.

On Reading Blogs & More...

As I was writing my post yesterday, I got off topic. I wanted to write about how certain television shows influence or inspire your gaming, but I got so wrapped up discussing Supernatural I forgot all about that topic, and... well, hopefully it wasn't too boring. I would have kept the hammer...

Porky mentioned in a comment on a previous post about some sort of online gaming in Kinship. Until I get better bandwidth, I can't do anything on Google+.  A PbP game on a blog might work, but last time I put forth the idea, no one really seemed interested, which is okay. It didn't bother me at all. I'm still thinking about this, and need to work on the idea some more. So stay tuned...

I continue discussing Rolemaster Unified on the ICE Forums. At times this has become frustrating, but hopefully something good will come of it. I like the rules, which aren't perfect, but most rule sets aren't, otherwise people wouldn't write their own house rules.

I've really enjoyed getting back to reading all the gaming blogs. To save time, I've become a bit more selective in my reading, but I try to skim almost all of the ones I follow, and a few I don't follow.

Usually, I like to have some kind of graphic element to my blog posts, but I can't seem to upload anything.  I'm not sure what's changed, but even if it took a while, I could still get things uploaded.  Not anymore...

Finally, I leave you with another magic item...

[ Magic Item ] A Delightful Mug

This clay mug appears ordinary, and somewhat used. At first glance, if this mug is found in a dungeon it might be overlooked, but if some sort of detect magic spell is used on it, it's magical nature is revealed.

When a liquid is put in the mug, it is changed into the user's favorite beverage. This beverage will be the best the user has ever tasted! Unfortunately, if the liquid is poured out, and not consumed, then it reverts to the original liquid.

However, the mug is cursed. Whenever a drink is taken, the character must make a saving throw versus magic, or fall victim to the curse. If they fail the saving throw they will become enamored of the mug, and will take it with them everywhere. The character will think that the mug is the best thing ever, and when not doing anything else, will hold the mug, caressing it, and talk to it, as they drink from it. They will display it proudly in their home, and show it off to people. Eventually, it's all the character can think about, and they will even stop eating, and only drink from the mug.

If one person is cursed by the mug, and another person drinks from the mug, and is cursed as well, then they will fight over the ownership of the mug. The fight will continue until the mug is destroyed, the curse removed from one of the characters, or one of the characters is dead.

Only some sort of dispel magic or remove curse spell will get rid of the curse. If the mug is smashed the character will become depressed for 1d10 days, and not want to do anything. They will try to repair the mug, but after the period of depression they will forget about the mug.

An unknown number of these delightful mugs were produced, and it's unknown exactly why they were produced.

[ Magic Item ] Sylvan Jar

A Sylvan Jar is a minor magic item used to store medicinal and magical herbs, as well as potions, salves, ointments, etc.  Anything stored in a Sylvan Jar will stay fresh, and retain it's potency for an indefinite amount of time.  They can be clear or colored, and are usually etched with vines, or plants, as a decoration.  Some are labeled with Elvish glyphs to indicate it's contents.  The jars can come in all shapes and sizes, but large ones are rare.  A jar will have either a cork, or glass stopper, and the effect will not work if the stopper is missing, or left off the jar too long.  Although the jars are extremely durable, they can be broken.

The secret to the creation of a Sylvan Jar has long been lost, and many glassblowers would pay dearly to learn the secret of creating them.  Rumors abound of a long, lost tome that describes how they are made.

These are highly prized by alchemists and herbalists, and most will pay a good price to acquire a Sylvan Jar.

Blog of Useful Items Part Two

Okay, apologies for the delay, but I finally got the chance to get this written.  I've had a flu bug or something the past few days, and didn't have the energy to do any sort of cohesive thinking that writing a blog requires.  ( Although, now that I think about it; some bloggers don't seem to think at all when they write their blogs.... )

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, I started this when I was reading some of the magic item descriptions in AD&D DMG 1E.  (  Here's part one.  ) I came across the Robe of Useful Items, and started thinking about some of the odd things that are on it, and really started thinking about what kind of spell is required to turn some of these things into a cloth patch!  As far as I can tell, there is no corresponding spell in the lists that would create these patches, but at some time in the past wouldn't there have to be a spell?  Perhaps it's still out there somewhere?

It would have to be a very powerful spell, and it does either one of two things.  It either transforms the target into a cloth patch ( and attach it to the robe ), or it transfers the item into another dimension, where it's stored in stasis until "summoned" ( by pulling off the patch ).  The patch is merely a "link".

Some of the items on the robe are very complex.  Several living creatures are listed, war dogs, a mule, giant owl, and on the Appendix P listing there's a wasp nest, which is described as normal, with 200 wasps.  Now, I don't claim to be an expert on wasps or their nests, but 200?  That's a lot of wasps...

I find one of the oddest items to be the 10 cubic foot open pit.  Does the wizard have the pit dug, and then cast the spell?  Does it include the sides of the pit, or just the empty space?  Also, when you use that particular patch, assuming your using on the ground or in a dungeon, what happens to what was there before?  Hhhmmmm...

On the matter of the spell, is it just too powerful to let a player character learn?  It would be a very useful spell, in so many different ways.  Carrying large items out of dungeons, smuggling contraband,  a dead party members body, etc...

Also, consider that whatever gets turned into a patch does not age, decay, or deteriorate in any way!  Need to provision your party for an extended megadungeon crawl?  Load up the Robe of Useful Items!

There are two things you would never want to turn into a patch.  One is a Portable Hole, the other a Bag of Holding, trying to turn either into a patch would probably result in a nasty dimensional vortex that sucks everything around into it.  Of course the players wouldn't know this unless they did a lot of research.  There could also be other disastrous results for trying to turn powerful magic items into patches.   At the very least the items should get savings throw versus magic, especially if said items are intelligent.  The same goes for intelligent races and monsters.  Of course if you succeed, heh, having a red dragon patch would be awesome.

Of course I believe this would be a fairly high level spell, and would be expensive to cast, i.e. very costly material components.  Also if it is a known spell, I can imagine that most magic users would closely guard it, and try to keep it secret at all costs.

Then again, maybe the spell is lost to the ages, and would require years of research, and who knows how much gold to replicate?  If the ROUI is rare then eventually, they will all be used up.  So I started thinking that perhaps to make the robe even more useful that there's a chance the robe comes with a wand that can turn items, creatures, things, or whatever, into patches.  It wouldn't have a tremendous range, and a large area of affect would drain more charges.  I also think that magic users are the only ones that should be able to use the wand.  Perhaps one day I will write the wand descriptions in more detail, but I'm really torn as to what to call it?  Wand of Patch Making?

Well, I feel that I've rambled on enough about the Robe of Useful Items.  It really is one of the oddest magic items in the AD&D DMG 1E.  Before I started writing this, I did a google search, but didn't find too much about it.  Then again it was a quick scan.  I've been wondering if there ever was an article in Dragon Magazine about the ROUI?  Anyone out in the blogosphere know?

Maybe next time I will write about the ubiquitous iron spike, the dungeon delvers friend, in all it's various permutations.  It is after all a much more simple thing than the puzzling, mind boggling, and mysterious Robe of Useful Items.

Mysterious Scroll

©2010 Frank C. Anderson, Jr.

 These mysterious scrolls are usually found in the workshop of a wizard's lair. However, they are very rare, and of unknown origin. Larger than normal magical scrolls, and covered in strange glyphs they have no similarities to magical scrolls. The scroll itself is thicker than parchment, or papyrus, ( about a half an inch thick ), and seems to pulsate as if it were alive. The glyphs have a reddish glow, and also have an interior greenish glow. If the scroll is touched or picked up it feels warm, and almost flesh-like. A Read Magic spell has no effect, and neither will any sort of scholarly read magic skill.

If a character touches one of the glyphs there can be a variety of effects. Only one glyph can be touched per day, and if another glyph is touched, the character is shocked for 1d6 damage. The scroll can only be used 3 times a week, otherwise the character will take 1d6 points of damage every attempt to use the scroll above that. A GM is free to determine the glyph's effects, and the following is merely an example...

It can either be a roll or correspond to the order of the glyphs on the scroll.

1. The character relives a horrible experience, but gets a +1 to a future savings throw versus fear.
2. The glyph is transferred to the characters hand, and can be used once to heal 1d10 points of damage. A  different glyph appears on the scroll, and has a different effect.
3. The character can see into the Ethereal Plane for 2d6 hours.
4. The character's skin temporarily turns green for 2d12 hours.
5. The character doesn't need to breathe for 1d20 days.
6. The scroll absorbs 1d6 hit points from the character, and is recharged twice that number.
7. The character's skin temporarily turns a deep black for 1d10 hours.
8. The glyph is transferred to the character's hand, and can be used to Teleport up to 100' once.
9. The character is shocked for 1d10 points of damage, and the glyph changes to a different glyph.
10. The character's hearing is heightened for 1d6 days, but cannot speak, +3 to hearing perception rolls.
11. The character upon touching the glyph will understand how the scroll works if they make an Intelligence roll, but they won't know the effects of the glyphs until they touch them. The glyph then disappears and is replaced with a different one.
12. The character's hair grows to twice it's current length.

The scroll will come with 1d20+5 charges. As the charges are consumed the glow of the glyphs is diminished. Once 100 charges are used, then it will need to be "nourished" with the blood of the characters who use it.