Hey friends,
I'm curious if anyone is using the magic items from the core book in their game. I created Radiant Weapon today based off the Radiant & Necrotic Options skill.
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Nicely done on the radiant weapon. Is this based on a magic item from another system?
It's based on inspiration from movies/cartoons; when the hero calls on an external source or from strength hidden within.
FOR MIDGARD!
What does the binding part do? Is that what allows the special power to be used?
I left it open ended to fit in your campaign.
Coo! as LM is wont to say.
I use Magic Items sparingly in most of my Fantasy games. If an RPG has Magic Item Creation rules, I usually add complications such as rare and unnatural ingredients, trafficking with powerful Spirits etc so it doesn't feel like the locals went into Home Depot and bought the Craftsman Wand of Blast Foe...
Besides, what would you rather have-a Shield enchanted to Resist Flame, or "the Bulwark of Forbas the Wyrm slayer, which in time of crisis resisted the flames of the Craigsmere Wyrm with the same faith as its owner. Since that day, no bearer of the Bulwark of Forbas has feared flames and the Bulwark itself will neither char nor burn"?
Want a Belt of Giant Strength or "a cutting from the Ivy of the Sacred Oaks of Withank. Place the cutting near a bleeding gash in the skin and allow the sprig to burrow beneath until it brushes your heart-and up to thrice daily you may call upon the strength and resilience of the Sacred Oaks themselves until the sun denotes an hour's passing"?
Does the Wizard desire a Wand of Lightning and Storms? Well, the Enchanter will need a branch from a storm-blasted tree, a flask of air following a heavy rain, a bit of Dragonfly chitin to work into the paint-also three drops of the Wizard's blood and three hairs to establish mastery over the item-oh, it's for your apprentice? Well, her blood and hair then...
Does young Edwardson desire an enchanted blade? Well, he'll have to settle for the plain steel blade of his Da for now. His Da passed on of course, slain by a mated pair of Ogres as he slept. His Da was given the blade upon the death of HIS Da, a man with a dozen Ogre kills under his belt and who met his end at the hands of a dozen of the foul beasts though he slew ten of them in return. A plain but sturdy blade with a sharp edge for all its age though-
And who's to say that when young Edwardson next faces an Ogre himself and scores a Critical hit that he does not hear the plain honest steel, bathed in the blood of Edwards and Edwardsons and Ogres for three generations SNARL with hunger? And the strong hands of his Da and GrandDa grab the Warrior's wrists and plunge the blade through the Ogre AND THE BOULDER BENEATH as if it were soft cheese? And a fortnight later while traveling through the Werewoods, the plain steel blade does not vibrate impotently in its sheath, warning young Edwardson to listen for a heavy tread behind him? And when a throng of Wizards commanding an army of dancing bears shooting fireworks at the sky offers to trade him a shiny silver blade that spits lightning and turns a man invisible, would Edwardson trade his plain steel Ogrebane blade, an old friend nowadays, for the trinket? Nay, rather he will keep his friend, and pass it to his own son in turn...
Hovis is a sailor of some repute and a collector of interesting trifles other men sneer at. When his adventuring band argued over potions and gems and glowing rings and such Hovis accepted only his share of honest coin. In truth he made more coin than it seemed, for the coinage was ancient and he knew a market for such things...the oldest-seeming one, a simple brass Orlen from the lost Deargar Island chain (lost to volcanoes nearly three centuries hence) he kept and wears on a chain around his neck.
The moment he stepped from dry land the Voices began-indistinct mutterings and whispers that provided many a sleepless night until Hovis realized that they were harmless, and as much a part of his routine as the lapping of waves upon the shore. And once Hovis learned to listen to the Voices he has never again been lost upon the water-he has guided his captain and crew through storm, fog, a solar eclipse and a rain of locusts that blotted out the sky-and when his ship and crew were lost to the Bleeding Death, and his own eyes sealed over with black blood and useless, Hovis lowered himself by feel into a lifeboat, and the Voices of Deargar Island led him four hundred leagues through a monsoon and into the nearest fishing port. After his sight returned, Hovis gently and politely refused offers of any amount of coin or gems for his 'secret'. Later on, fearing theft of his plain brass Orlen, Hovis visited an artist friend of his who dealt in scars and tattoos-and had him place the coin into the skin of his back. A day later Hovis realized that the Voices, now nourished in the salt water of his blood, spoke to him on LAND now as well...
Thirty years pass and old Hovis is blind for good now, beyond healing. Visiting scholars however, cannot fathom how the man beats all comers at quoits and walks the steets as one sighted,nor how he came to teach them a language unheard of for three centuries...
I like my Eldritch items to be, well, ELDRITCH.
AAaaand I just realized that this is probably the whole reason the details were left open-ended in the first place. Sorry for the Tangent, my Insomnia again. :)