Make These 3 BORING Magic Items UNIQUE!
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- Magic items are part of any hero's journey in D&D! Let's talk about three archetypal magic items and how to make them original in Dungeons & Dragons 5e ⏬ More below! ⏬
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00:00 Required D&D magic items
01:18 Fantastic item encounters
02:58 Giving every item a story
05:43 Considering the item's creator
06:49 A magic item's source of power
08:25 How to make a bag of holding original
#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #magicitems 
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thanks for the awesome ideas, will definitely use in all my future campaigns :)
Good ideas all around, but personally, I wouldn't want to make a healing potion Spicy.
However, I think it would be a GREAT fit for, say, a Potion of Cold Resistance.
Here’s one approach that I like. I have a player the is a half orc barbarian that started off using her mom’s axe. So instead of replacing such a sentimental item, I made it so that she finds runes that can be placed into the axe by a blacksmith, raising the axe to +1 and so on, eventually unlocking a hidden ability.
Bingo!!
Sounds a lot like the pathfinder 2 magic item system. Might wanna look into that to give you some ideas
@@calebthedoomguy2730 is also akin to the starfinder system which I really enjoyed
Am doing something similar for my players paladin. Her character is using his mother's great sword!
So I gave out a pommel gem that adds a D6 Holy/radiant damage to all undead/evil planar beings and a +1 to hit and damage to all targets.
So it’s basically the Leviathan axe from god of war?
"The herbal essences within the potent brew sting your mouth as it burns down your throat... it is not wholly pleasant, as the [REGIONAL FLAVOR] is very intense, but as it splashes down your gullet the same intense herbal burn begins to sear your wounds shut."
I like that! You should work for @dScryb haha
@@BobWorldBuilder lol I certainly wouldn't say no to the work.
In a game I played, the dm made the berries from the spell good berry taste awful and then that became a tradition for every game
Oh that sent goosebumps down my arms, so evocative.
This is gold. Also, Idk why but I hear squidward's voice reading [REGIONAL FLAVOR]
You know the classic "Clear this cave of monsters" quest? Why not make it a mine and when the mine is cleared the town smith recovers enough mysterious magical ore to make X amount of +1 weapons, simple, creates some attachment, ties to the story.
Great idea!
I seem to recall that in an Ogham Library in an old Dungeon Magazine. Used it to forge a Gae Bolga style spear for my Druid. (I checked the archives. Ex libris, Dungeon #29.)
It s also awesome way to make the actions of the party actually change the world and gives then positive feedback of their actions
@@HWolfpaws heckin yes fam.
That goes into uncommon rewards which a good GM always keeps in mind. Gold and magical items is good and all, but seeing them actually affect an active change in the world? Players love that.
Flavored, regional health potions introduce a great sense of realism. My players have encountered a health drink that tastes like fermented Yak bile. Well, it is actually made from fermented Yak bile (the rest of the formula is a tribal secret).
Yum yum!!
The way I always view health potions is that every family, that isn't dirt poor, tries to have ONE and only one that they use in absolute emergencies (Typically severe injury or a life or death situation)... The price of ONE health potion is what a normal family has to live off of for two entire months and represents a year of saving up.
.
Potions of Supreme Healing (which need Unicorn horns or things of similar rarity and potency) as so rare that there is MAYBE only 200 in circulation in the entire world at any one time.
.
The big limitation of even the common healing potion is that it simply cannot be scaled up to be mass produced... and it is always a hot commodity. Even the largest and most wealthy of stores could NEVER dream of stocking hundreds of them.
.
Once I understand the culture AROUND health potions... it can reflect it in my game. If a peasant gives the hero a health potion, they know that they are giving their lifeline to the hero.
That's a great perspective on the value of a health potion for most commoners!
Leave us not forget the use of a simple Cure Wounds/Stabilize spell either. Not only does it quick start the actual healing, it guarantees that it will heal naturally without complications (inferred from the fact that the person doesn't have to roll for long-term stabilization in older editions) or infections (since the wound closes, and its a LOT harder for closed wounds to get infected or parasitized). Good church-going, god fearing folk would often seek the help of their local cleric, or bard, or druid or artificer (or higher level ranger). Paladins even more so since they may well be able to cure diseases that HAVE taken hold, and the Lay on Hands is controllable to allow multiple victims to be stabilized, and even brought to awareness. And the clerical types, in particular, are unlikely to change peasants an arm and a leg for the healing, esp if they are part of their congregation.
@@tomroberts1105 Hah... thats exactly how i got my character into a group... a dwarven cleric lvl 1... i was a newly appointed cleric of Helm preaching to a small town that the main group stopped at and was swept along into the adventure after the town was attacked (cant let my parishioners go Undefended! what kind of cleric of Helm would I be?)
The need for emergency health potions also depends on healthcare in your world. Does every village have a temple where magic healing is provided free? Are there not enough spell slots to go around and wait times or fees come up? Do only some big cities have clerics and thus people with severe wounds can't make the journey? What about disease (way way way more common than injury but takes second level spells to fix)? A small town of 1000 has at least 1000 minor illnesses per year- do they have a cleric with three 2nd level slots per day to keep up with that? Does everyone in the world heal to max hp after a long rest? If not, why does the party? Are they blessed by something?
@@DaveyDAKFAE commoner NPCs are basically lvl 1 unclassed fighters... Typically have 4-8hp and 8-10 in all stats. Not to say a special set of circumstances cant drastically elevate a commoner into an NPC of note but those are often rare. So yes a long rest would heal an npc much like a player barring disease. But a long rest is a week... (Depending on DM of course)
Love the idea of making a magic weapon more than just a +1. Example: advantage on nature checks or a command word add +1d4 fire but you have disadvantage on stealth for 1 hour because of residual heat/glowing.
Totally! Item customization is something I really miss from the D&D-inspired video games I played before I actually got into D&D :P
The axe Hew from the lost mines of phandelver campaign is a plus axe that autocrits on wood.
So there is precedence for this at least.
In the new campaign I started, when the players got to the small magic shop I had planned, I made the +1 weapons have unique names and descriptions, mainly so that google sheets wouldn’t think I was putting in an equation, but also because I think it will build a greater bond between the player and the weapon if they have something to call it other than “my +1 shortsword”
You got it!
put an apostrophe before the plus sign ( '+1 ) to convince spreadsheets it is not a formula. Flavor text for The Throngler:
"I am the Lorox, I speak for the trees. This is the Throngler, it starts at your knees.
It throngles them up till they're gone and you're stout.
Then goes for the guts and it throngles them out."
I’ve written up a few random descriptions of Healing Potions and Torches that can be purchased from the bargain bin at a magic shop. Not worth identifying, but not quite mundane, fun little chance for chaos in a dungeon when you light your torch and find yourself leaving a dim trail of light for 100’ as the flame moves through the air.
Hahah that torch idea is great
"Travel into the bag of holding"
Given my players know that the bag man exists, I doubt they will enjoy that thought
The idea of a corporation that mass produces magic items is very interesting and some I’d like to see explored
Haha in the right setting, why not!
I would recommend you check out the Eberron setting. There's a corporation (House Cannith) that does exactly that.
You've tried the best, now try the rest! Adventurer's Choice! Wait...
I came up with a patron concept for one of my player's Warlock. Baba Yaga has amassed hundreds of first borns in trade for all the things people go to a witch for. So she sets her children to work as sales people and magic item providers to make a massive trade network. Most carts had health potions, a few trinket style magic items that could have great use, and occasionally a nice level magic item. It turns the world into a high magic setting as a commoner with a bit of gold can get things like a spoon of spice.
I think Acquisitions Incorporated is about that kind of thing
great tip.on the ba of holding, everything you draw from the bag is soaking wet and is covered in seaweed 🤣
Hahah that's a discount bag of holding for sure :P
No my spell book!
Or covered in glitter cuz the last user was into arts and crafts and spilled their glitter jar this one time and you know how when you put your hand into the bag you think of one item to grab? Well you'd have to do that individually for each piece of glitter so it's just IMpossible to do.
To which I say free food with every item drawn! 😌💙
@@TinySwanGrandAdventures because of the seaweed or the glitter?
in the mighty DM binder, we have 2 pages typed up with all the official spells and potions that can heal on a table that says the time, duration, healing summary, targets, and higher casting changes. So the DM can just look up healing to communicate with the healers.
A small potion flavor & backstory table is going on it to, to function as a reminder for future games!
great ideas!
That sounds very handy! Thanks for commenting!
My paladin picked a +1 longsword as her starting magic weapon from a choice of 5 I gave her. I had a late night inspiration session to flesh out the sword's look and backstory, and how it came to be in her possession. She doesn't know most of the info yet, she just knows that a statue at her monastery that held the sword, and would disappear and reappear at random around the monastery, would always appear at the antechamber as paladins and clerics left to go out into the world. You are supposed to try and take the sword, fail, and then go. It's supposed to teach you a lesson - what that lesson is is up to them.
For her it came to life and gave her the sword.
I particularly like the tip for the bag of holding, it seems like it should be a lot more than a portable junk drawer. I only hesitate to hand out too many plusses to this and that, which might make characters overpowered in high quantity.
Yeah, I like magic being pretty mysterious and creating items that scale with the character, definitely more fun than a +1 that they'll ditch when they find a +2!
I thought about selling some PCs some health potions from a roving merchant. And when they're in the middle of combat and they drink the potion its just flavored water. Teaching them a lesson that you can't trust everyone selling you something.
. . . BUT ultimately that could slow down the game in the future . . .
Hmmm I think it's a worthwhile lesson!
I would do that with something like a +1 weapon or bag of holding so it’s a little less of a clutch item that might cause a tpk
Maybe they're watered down
It also causes a quest for 50 gp from a specific wandering vendor. Hey, remember us?
"Psst adventurer, you must want this sword with the magical engraving +1 on it? it will help you fight better, i swear. act now while supplies last and i'll give you a special discount of... how much did you say you have?"
This is fantastic! I love giving a bit of heft to the items that come the part's way; goodbye to the days of trading Light Bringer for Flame Tongue!
To the group: perhaps a Roulette Bag of Holding, where the person holding the bag rolls a d4, each corresponding to a different elemental plane, everytime the bag is opened, so not every item is immediately available, for a bit of chaos factor.
And to Mr. Bob World Builder: in the spirit of the live-action "movement speed" series, perhaps a skill check spinoff, say, someone proficient in nature attempting to identify or find plants and animals in the wild, while someone who is more of an indoor person trying to do the same. "What trees in our area produce fruit? Which berries are edible?"
All great ideas! Yeah, I'm thinking bout doing a survival skill one eventually as I am an outdoor educator myself. Not technically trained in wilderness survival, but I know my plants pretty well!
@@BobWorldBuilder Friendly reminder to those who wish to forage their food to learn to identify with eyes first rather than with mouth, lest that tasty wild carrot turn out to be poison hemlock. 💙
Healing potions can work a little differently too. I made one that allowed characters to use their health dice without a short rest. One erased exhaustion and gave temp HP. I have one that whenever they are hit it takes 2 less damage for a minute. One that of they ever go to deaths door it activates and gives a quarter ho.
I would definitely link the mechanics to regional flavor varients but they are all stored in opaque containers to prevent sun damage so the party has a hard time telling them apart. (The reason most beer is in brown bottles)
Also 1 should 100% just be half moonshine to surprise whoever gets it at 8:30am while fighting a dragon.
I remember my Dragonborn paladin went to a portside auction house, and bought an evil vampiric hammer that would have sapped life force from struck foes. She bought it, and carried it around until she found a cleric who would bless it and remove the vampiric curse on it. Now, damage dealt with it replenishes her Lay On Hands pool!
Excellent advice, Bob! Magic items are not only unique in my games with names and histories, but many of them evolve by gaining new powers through magical ceremonies/rituals or by revealing old, dormant powers that must be unlocked through quests. It's a great way to introduce the your world's lore into campaign in a way that will engage the players.
Keep up the great videos!
You nailed it! I also love making magic items that grow in power with the character!
I am in total agreement, adding minor quirks and flavour to magic items, from potions to weapons. I make extensive use of those Item Detail charts in the DMG. Also a big fan of reskinning items, like a cloak of protection that got presented as an elven prayer scarf or a necklace of adaptation into a copper teapot of easy breathing (once per day, brew a tea and drink it for the effects of the necklace).
The downside has been that it was a bit more challenging to reconcile this with magic shops in Waterdeep where the expectation is to be able to purchase bags of holding off the rack or stock up on 10 potions of lightning resistance, particularly when as a downtime activity it's supposed to be 5 days of searching and spending cash for even an opportunity for a roll on a magic item chart.
The middle ground I've found is making a list of what's in stock and opportunity to 'special order' an item that takes 1d6x5 days for a brokerage house to track down for them (for a small fee)
Thank you for sharing your ideas on this! I think I've got plans for that next handy haversack ...
Great points Bob. One thing to consider though. Sugar is natural anti-freeze so it would make sense for cold regions to have sweet potions. I'm running Rime of the Frostmaiden so I like to describe them as thick syrups that are almost sickeningly sweet.
For realistic immersion go to the kitchen and chug maple syrups until you can fell your blood flowing through your veins (do not do this)
Hmm that's a cool idea! In Icewind Dale though, I would almost definitely make it honey from all those bees in Good Mead. Straight cane sugar would be hard to come by in the north!
Not to mention cold areas need the calories to keep warm.
All fantastic ideas Bob! Love the idea of the locals affecting the flavor of potions, brilliant!
Glad you liked it!
No I'm picturing some interesting lore where potions have a base that acounts for half the fluid volume and this base is heavily influenced by region/brewer.
Maybe the base is moonshine and your character was not prepared for that at 8:30am as they fight a young dragon.
Maybe its maple syrup, or lemon juice, or spicy aztec chocolate or whatever local "delicacy".
Maybe a cheese maker needed to get into potions so now its medicated sharp cheddar.
Definitely better than all healing potions faintly glow red and are flavorless except when you give them an herbal brown sludge from a crazy old coot as a joke.
I love the idea of the bag of holding being highjacked by a fey of some kind and he’s been stealing their stuff. Would be a great 1-3 session adventure to lighten the mood after something tough and depressing perhaps
Fun balance thing for alignment of magical items: evil things should confer more benefit to the user, good things should confer the normal amount or even a little less, but evil things should have incremental or long term costs to the user (favours owed by Geas, life promised away to something they will eventually face and have to repay, a curse that dooms them), while good things have no such detriments and even give seemingly inconsequential, even silly, benefits (woodland spirits, to minor to do any real good, seek to help you and eventually rise as a swarm at your darkest hour, an angel is reconstituted by your dedicated use of their power and eventually comes to your aid, etc.) to imitate the doom of villains and the providence of heroes.
I have an old shopkeeper, named Mr Shu, who was inspired uncle Iroh from ATLA, who makes teas instead of potions, the eversmoking bottle is a teapot etc. His shop is a tent he carries on his back and that houses a big shop, kinda like Tardis(big on the inside, small outside).Mr Shu is helped by a tortle, their name is Wei and they sell magic weapons(mostly ammunition ) and a loxodon named Hatu, who is a scroll and book seller. My players love Shu and he shows up in every campaign.
Yesss the travelling merchant who shows up everywhere! Idk if that's something else I've come to love from video games, but there was one in my first campaign as a player that I'll never forget! Great job getting some inspiration from Last Airbender, that is top notch worldbuilding!
@@BobWorldBuilder Thank you for the reply. Love your videos, keep it up!
I'm not saying you HAVE to have them accompanied by a salesman with a cruciferous vegetables cart, who is also their bodyguard and enchanted to get in the way of any attacks on any of them, but it would seem thematically appropriate.
Remember the bagman from the ravenloft setting
The addition to the bag of holding I am most excited about
Haha yes, what is truly lurking in the bag???
@@BobWorldBuilder up to DM discretion
They recommend the troll stat block but it's optional
And it is awesome :)
The background story of it is someone who went into the bag of holding and due to him being stored in another dimension he lost his mind
So he can get out of the bag at night for example when the party is asleep and commit a murder pointing the evidence at the party
They need to kill it to cleanse their bag
Amazing concept :)
My favorite that I created was "A Shire's Defender's Cloak of Many Things" for my daughter's halfling- plus 1 cloak of protection mated with the cloak of many things- but the tear off patches were halfling themed- bundles of arrow, ladder, feast, 2nd feast, etc.
I like high magic worlds.
For me it's fun to see what the players will do, while remembering that the NPCs will have changed their lives around the types of magic available, and monsters and NPCs may just have random magical stuff as well. Maybe the local inn has a cleansing stone sitting out front for people to use as they enter, like we might have hand sanitizer.
So it'd be relatively easy for the party to go a magic shop and grab a regular healing potion much like they might have encountered anywhere else. (which is why I don't house rule drinking them as a bonus action like my friends)
However, out in the shopping district, it'd be difficult for them to ignore the individual dancing in front of a cart displaying all sorts of strange magical potions. Dancing to keep shaking and mixing potions tied to his wrists and ankles, of course.
Paaz the purveyor of peculiar potions set out to make potions more affordable to those of lower income, and offer other non-standard alchemical mixtures, but he warns they all contain an element of chaos. Nothing permanently harmful, but otherwise unpredictable and potentially inconveniencing.
They may find discounted healing potions that may cause their hair to turn green, or make everything taste and smell like cinnamon, or make them really sweaty for a day.
They may find a dual flask of a large portion of red and small portion of blue, when anyone drinks the blue part, anyone who drank the red within the last 10 minutes is healed as if they drank a regular healing potion. For after fights, or pre-fight preparation.
They may find one labeled Anihcam Xe Sued, which retroactively helped someone survive an impossible situations in the past, with the warning that if that person doesn't drink it in the future something terrible will happen to them (Final Destination style)
They may need to hear an old lady's story, solve a druidic riddle, find some magic silk worms, and help a shop keeper overcome his depression at his wife's death, in order to make gloves that can cast a lesser version of the daylight spell on itself if left out in the sun for several hours.
Or fight the bandit leader who has my interpretation of Megaman Battle Network's Variable sword, a sword that can use charges to change the area it hits.
Or they might just rummage through the bandits kitchen and find a spoon that magically scoops ice cubes out of water and wonder what to even do with it.
Variety is the spice of life, and it turns out Health is spicy too haha!
You should know, your videos are full of flavor and helpful advice to get the brain jogging. Personall, I'm one of those unfortunate dm's stuck with ideas but has no way outside the straight and narrow path of executing or flushing out said ideas, whether it's for item backgrounds, a race of people or tribe of beings, or simply a village.
But to put it simply, you and your videos are awesome and deserve WAY more than a simple thanks.
I do this with health potions! Make them memorable with taste and smell! Does it use a drop of troll blood that makes the thing semi-congealed? Do the goblins brew it with worms for "delicious meaty earth taste"? Or do your monk and paladin run into problems at the dwarven outpost when they find the only healing potions are the most classic dwarf variant, beer!
I've also adapted an idea from the Planescape video game and made them "consumables", like a scarab. I got push back as if that was a step too far!
Love the idea of the bag of holdings storeage location being flavored to work differently.
I now imaging a dwarf mountain storage company that the bag transports items to for a "small" fee. Almost like a Gringotts.
First.
Bag of Holding is the DM's best friend. Great way to not have to worry about carrying capacity but keep the world real. I gave my group two.
Uh oh! Two bags of holding can easily become dangerous! lol
@@BobWorldBuilder indeed. 🤨
Solution, make them oddly shaped and rigid so one cannot fit into the other. Thou shalt not but the square bag of holding into the round one!
Ill never forget the description the DM gave my first magic weapon. "Past the rusted relics of another age, sitting in the corner humbly covered in a thin layer of dust, cobwebs stretching from its handle sits a perfectly crafted mace. Unlike all of the other weapons in the room, rusted or falling apart due to age and the humid air. This mace seems untouched somehow, its shimmering metal casts a cool glow from the reflected light of your latern. Upon closer inspection you can see the word "the truth" written at the base of the handle"
all that.. for a +1 mace.... yeah... my dwarven cleric carried "The truth" forever
((this was back in 2nd edition fyi))
I recently created a sentient +1 sword created from the horn of a murdered unicorn. Currently it is functioning as a +1 longsword that counts as a finesse weapon when wielded with one hand. It can maintain its own concentration on charm person 3 times per day, either cast when the weapon sees fit or when commanded to by the wielder.
Later on, when the wielder has explored more if the swords backstory, it will be able to be used as an arcane focus, and even later still, when the sword has regained all of its lost memories, it will grant a +1 to spell attacks and spell save DC 😁 lots of fun to be had with it being a sentient weapon to, as it is almost a character in and of itself
putting flavor behind healing potions is a really fun idea. I had rolled some random loot for a good foraging check and had one of my PCs uncover a divot filled with some rosy-white eggs. Upon collecting the eggs, they brought them to a druid, who cracked them and explained that they were the eggs of a Cleric Snake, a species with a toxic albumen used to prevent predators from eating its eggs. However, when dissolved with mineral salt from the local bay and vinegar, the eggs would break down to become a potent tincture.
This varied heavily from other healing potions that they had available to them in other places in the campaign. I agree that having different variants of similar potions brings life to your world a little more. Who is to say that a healing potion must be composed of Troll's blood? Trolls don't live everywhere.
A pink, sweet, bubbly healing potion that, upon consumption, makes you feel happy and safe like a kid again, resulting in the urge to laugh and play games such as tag or jump in any nearby puddles or perhaps even splash in a nearby body of water if there is one.
When I was a DM I lived off a sourcebook called Role Aids: Fantastic Treasures I&II. They basically had interpretations of like every item you've ever heard of in any myth or legend, everything from Excalibur to Paul Bunyan's Axe. What I really liked about it was they had items all over the power scale, so instead of a sword +3 it may be Siegfried's Sword, instead of just Magic Scrolls it had Scrolls from the Library of Alexandria, which were different than Scrolls from Merlin. It gave so much more flavor to the whole game,
For magic weapons (swords in particular) just roll on the AD&D treasure tables for more flavor. +1, +3 vs orcs, etc. Pretty much done with 5e but your ideas bleed into nearly any rpg so very much still watching. Cheers.
Is there a particular AD&D book with those tables? Maybe the DMG? The only one I have is the Fiend Folio
@@BobWorldBuilder yup. 1st dmg
1st edition* dmg
I put a Pitch Black Tentacle Monster that feeds on Magic Items in the Bag of Holding, and if found can communicate telepathically with the Inteligence of a child.
My players also found an Infinite Health Potion that requires a Con Save to drink lol. & Whenever they bring it back to their Alchemist Goblin he just makes it "Better!"
Things I have done to +1 weapons:
- +1 Elemental dmg, the sword sputters the type of element as if the magic was barely alive in it.
- Sword that talks, Its vocabulary is limited, its intelligence is animal low, but it does occasionally (On DM Fiat) maybe help the party come to a solution based on its limited senses and its inability to be anything but blunt with its words.
- Sword heals 1 hit point when it claims the life of a creature of equal CR or higher than your level.
- The runes have an issue, they shift along the blade. each time you finish a long rest while in possession of this blade, roll a 1d4, one of four strange effects happen. These are essentially; Weapon glows faintly, weapon can detect certain type of metal (Based on origin), Weapon emits low heat and a slight Sulphur odor, weapon absorbs heat and has the faint smell of ozone.
Give each a story. Fun.
Seriously, I love "Failed" or "Apprentice Level" magic items.
I too am a weirdo that tracks encumbrance fatigue levels terrain weather and the time on the calendar I think by paying attention to these Minor Details adds depth and flavor to these mystical worlds. Traveling from town to town should be an adventure that's filled with danger mystery and sometimes harsh environments where the very land can be deadly.
You know it!
My older brother is the DM for the whole family campaign (yes, I said whole family, my two other siblings, parents, my two uncles and aunts, and cousins are all in this campaign. Lots of pressure I know) would always include some sort of fun description to items whenever we stop by at a market or a shop. They aren’t long, but it’s just enough to draw attention to the item. He even adds certain details to items that might appeal to one player over the other. Here is an example, my character is a centaur, so she is more fond of long range weapons like bow and arrows. There was one long bow in the market that was described as “smooth, and made of the finest oak wood of the forest. Not one imperfect scratch could be seen. Though this long bow might not appeal to other close combat warriors, a long bow like this is the perfect appeal to any experience archer of the land (insert weapon info here)” Of course, the player doesn’t always have to purchase the item, but to me it spices up the game just a bit and other players can learn about another characters interests to possibly become closer friends with them and create some sort of bond with them. It even comes to play if you ever return to the same market in your travels when the salesman might recognize you and offer you more items that have similar uses and might be even better then what you got before.
It’s not everyone’s style, but it works for our campaign and our story. I really like this video and how it gives ideas on how to make usually bland items more interesting! It might seem like a waste of time and something not to worry about, but trust me when I say players will enjoy the smaller things like more vivid descriptions of each item. It really helps your players fully immerse themselves into gameplay which makes it more fun.
Again, great video man! Love these ideas. I’ll definitely show my brother this.
What a fantastic idea. I love the idea of Granny's Tea.
Thank you! I actually just turned it into the Patreon Pack for this month. Might make a video about it because I really like how it's turned out :)
@@BobWorldBuilder I would love to see it. Like did you just came up with it on the spot or roll for it.
An idea I’ve had with potions (really any kind will do, not necessarily just health potions) is having a rather… sketchy shopkeep who tends to cut the potions with something a little less favorable, giving them strange side effects. Essentially every time a player buys and drinks a potion from the shop, they roll a d20 and end up with some kind of uncalled effects. This includes growing small horns, being unable to control the volume of their voice for a short time, or becoming suddenly paranoid. It’s a fun way to add a bit of spice into what would normally be a pretty mundane option and can lead to some interesting situations :)
I prefer to look at my Healing Potions as tasting conceptually rather than physically.
A potion of healing has the feeling of McDonalds Sprite, and the taste of getting into a warm bed on a cold November Friday night when you are 9, you don't have any homework and your favorite show will be on in the morning, mom bought pop tarts.
Especially in 5e, a +1 weapon has a major impact in combat. The entire system is designed to reign in the attack bonus bloat of earlier editions. I almost never give out a +1 weapon but instead give them combat traits, such as once per combat you can make an attack with advantage even if you have disadvantage (under the normal rules, advantage and disadvantage counter each other, of course). It means i have to spend a lot of time on weapon and/or armor upgrades, but it also means every weapon and every armor piece becomes unique.
As for healing potions, I generally don't use them. In their place I quite often have bandages or other common healing items (healing kits, slaves, etc) that do the same thing but are not "magical".
As for bags of holding, I don't focus much on storage or encumbrance because none of us want to deal with the book keeping, but on the very rare occasions that I do my players are so overjoyed to have one that just getting it is a treat. (My favorite use of one was when they opened it and diverted a water flow into the bag to allow them to pass a hidden door. All of their stuff was waterlogged and their stored food ruined, and none of them had a clue how to get the water out.
I’m new to your channel, but holy cow, dude! This was so so so good and helpful. Thank you so much!!
I have one that you really should use sparingly, weapon of warning.
It is fun for players but a lot of encounters take fun from some kind of surprise. Without it they fall a bit flat.
Gave one to my players. It was an orcish axe that only spoke orcish. One night the axe woke them up to a raiding group of orcs looking for supplies. Before anything happened I had the orcs start to retreat. The players were bloodthirsty and brutalizes the orcs in one turn. After that the axe refused to work as a weapon of warning.
Like Sting? I love that idea!
Maybe reflavour it to act like sting from LOTR and thus it only works on one enemy type?
Maybe make it a ranger only weapon and have it only work on their favoured enemies?
I had a lot of issues with a dagger of warning in a game, but then after digging around for info found it worked a lot differently than i was representing it in game.
For example it does prevent you from getting surprised so basically surprise is a condition that:
"If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren't." p. 189 PHB
However the weapon of warning interrupts this and allows the bearer and the rest of the party WITHIN 30FT to act on that 1st initiative round or 1st turn of combat.
So spring surprise ambushes or attacks when the party is not grouped up, take tactical advantages whenever they appear for your monsters because they would do the same, even beasts seperate members of a herd for take down.
Also just because the bearer of the weapon (not the rest of the party unless one or more have the Alert feat), have advantage on the initiative roll vs the foes, you may not get higher rolls. Its highly likely but dice being dice you may still have situations where foes attack first. Narratively this can be surprise or sudden ferocious attacks. Even if mechanically it isn't the surprised condition.
Also the rule p. 189 says surprised only affects first turn of Combat. As DM abuse this. Players who don't set watches because of warning weapons can have all sorts if bad things happen to them. All their gear, mounts, weapons can be stolen. Fires can be set by enemies to beset them, water can be diverted to flood the camp. With a little imagination you can do quite a lot of "surprise" moments that aren't combat.
Also investigate Hidden and unseen attacker in the PHB, creatures can still use these features to their benefit. You can be hidden before combat starts. Or you can have them Hide as an action in combat.
Weapons of warning are only played overpowered because of one line of flavor text attached to its description.
"This magic weapons warns you of danger" its what mucks it all up in my opinion because everyone says I have Spidey Sense now. Well you don't not really. You don't anticipate combat or have any precognition of danger. You and anyone within 30ft just never get caught flatfooted aka surprised.
It doesnt say how the magic manages to do this but it somehow makes you all very very ready for combat when it starts and only when it starts.
I think it was Sly Flourish who had the amazing idea to create a simple but memorable magic item: A +1 item that can cast a specific spell once per day. It adds so much personality and I really like it.
I also love the idea of heroism itself being the source of magical power. Rather than an artificer creating a _berserker axe,_ perhaps an orc chieftain's ruthlessness infused into it and it became a _berserker's axe_ when he killed the 100th person with it. Heroism-fueled weapons makes it so that every non-consumable magic item you find would have a very interesting story around it.
Also, I recently have been thinking how much better it would be to _upgrade_ a magic item through the levels (leveling up, if you will) rather than just being replaced. That way, the sword a paladin starts the game at at 1st level that his father bequeathed to him can be enchanted by a wizard into a _+1 sword,_ blessed by a cleric into a _+2 sword,_ imbued with dragon's blood after slaying a dragon and becoming a _+3 sword_ or a _flame tongue,_ and finally becoming a _holy avenger_ when he completes his lifelong quest.
If you are interested in tracking encumberance the Bag of Holding doesn't break that. Unlike in previous versions of D&D the 5e Bag of Holding can only hold 500 pounds and has an internal volume of 64 cubic yards. It's just a inventory expansion item.
Make sure to write it *Magick Shoppe* for extra flavor! :D
*Ye Olde Magick Shoppe :P
I also ran a campaign where the bags of holding were interconnected so it was a shared stash, or they all connect to a real world location - players base or keep and the appropriate vault they had. Players could t use the bag as a portal because the bags opening limited the size of item coming trough and none of them fitted although there was kind of unspoken rule they might use it once as a hail mary attempt to prevent TPK and it left a nasty side effect of the bags being left behind and something following trough or leaving backdoors to their most secure location.
Great video. I like how quickly you fleshed these items out with just a few details. And they can be jumping off points if need be. For instance, something happens to the place where bag oh holding items are stored. If the PCs want their stuff they have to go there and solve the problems.
I really appreciate that!
You mentioned that different areas might have different tastes or consistencies due to having different ingredients, but what about different application methods? Like, a potion made in this coastal region uses Blood Grass and Oceanic Sugar Lilies, creating a drinkable liquid that improves your vitality and healing rate. However, this formulation from the far north uses mashed Snowberries and Winter Honey, creating a salve that can be spread on your wounds for more focused healing. The coastal variation might have absolutely no effect if spread on wounds, while the northern salve might actually be poisonous to drink.
Another thought, a region heavily occupied by one species might produce a potion that is poisonous to another species. Like, Dwarven Hearth-Beer would heal your wounds and put hair on your chest...for Humans, Dwarves, Halflings, and Half-Humans. For full Elves, Gnomes, Goblins, and the more interesting races, it might not take proper effect. Maybe it gives Tabaxi the shits but still heals them, but Tengu have a good chance to just die.
Love this! Though I think the tabaxi might just puff out into a crazy furball. The tengu might really depend on how they are described, like more monkey gets hairier or if they are more feathery they might lose their feathers and grow hair. Could lead to some fun explaining to NPCs, and maybe some embarassment...
This may be my favorite video you've made - certainly the first one I've felt compelled to comment upon.
Thanks very much!
I love the ideas, and thank you for the d100 magic properties!
You are so welcome!
Adding flavour to +1 weapons sounds like a lot of fun! Great advice, just subscribed!
Thank you very much!
In one of my games we found an old Alchemy Jug in a crypt that was described as "cracked." It was only cosmetic, but out of game we were talking about how it would be fun if the crack affected its magical properties so that you never knew what liquid you would get when you popped the cork. You'd just roll a d10 and that would determine what would pour out.
I definitely agree with making even +1 weapons/armor unique, especially in low magic settings. Giving even a +1 to stealth or arcana makes the item vastly more memorable.
Just found your channel btw. You're pretty cool
I like the idea of a bag of holding storing the goods somewhere else. Maybe the party fights a prison warden with a bag of holding that stores everything in a large cell somewhere deep in Carceri!
Thanks this was very informative!😄
Very cool to see this video. I had recently decided never to give out a +1 weapon again. Rather, I customized them.
I offered my party a choice of three +1 daggers. One was a fierce looking crusader blade with thick crossguard. One was a wavy coastal blade said to be stolen from a pirate lord. The last a pitch black blade that seemed to suck in the light, extra protruding parts for gouging helpless prey, and always seeming to be a little wet with fresh blood no matter how recently it was cleaned.
Can you guess which one I made cursed?
My favorite magic item so far is Heartsbane, a magic cutlass. I obtained this weapon by slaying a magical copy of my character (not by myself, obviously) that was made by pricking my character's finger on a spike to open a door. The blade was the only thing left of the clone, and seems to be made entirely of blood, as was the creature we fought. Mechanically, it's a +1 cutlass with a special ability, that allows me to use up to four charges to add 1d4 necrotic damage per charge on a hit, with the cost of dealing the same to myself (halved on a successful con saving throw). It gives a cool story to a cool weapon, and is absolutely unique.
Cool video. I like the bag of holding quest idea you tossed in at the end.
Thanks! Yeah I probably should have plugged it at the beginning or something like a smart RUclipsr would do
@@BobWorldBuilder Or a video dedicated to unique plot hooks lile that.
Had a Bar Master that made Healing Potions and just added there were made with mostly alcohol and if you went wild on them, you'd get hammered. It was a neat twist.
One of my favourites: discounted healing potions only 20gp! They have expired long ago and have horrible floating chunks in the liquid. Still heal 2d4+2 but also require a DC 8 CON save or become stunned for a turn while you heave up your breakfast.
Unsure what you think of this but I have bags of (blank) holding. its basically a bag of holding that can only hold things that fit what blank says. bag of liquid holding can hold milk water potions, but not any containers so they would all mix together.
Bag of metal holding will only hold metalic stuff so is good for a smith to carry his ingots but not for a farmer carrying his crops although he might want one of waste holding to hold manure that h4e can slowly let fall as he walks.
they could all look the same but not be the same.
All of the enchanted +1 weapons in my campaign have a unique smell to them. It's just the way magic works in my setting works, when something is enchanted, the favorite smell of the enchanter is imbued into the item
I love the idea of flavors by region, but personally I would flip some of your order. mountains- Spicy (Keeps you warm in the cold) Dry/subtropical - Minty ( keeps you minty cool in the heat/dry!)
Great video Bob !
I have had a characters receive healing potions from a Leprechaun that were each a different color.
In addition to healing a player like a potion of healing they temporarily changed the character's hair color to match the vibrant color of the potion they consumed.
My players loved this and sought out the Leprechaun to buy more of the potions.
I'm doing a modern fantasy campaign, and I made Health Potions essentially bud lights. Since we have a rule that allows you to drink a health potion as a bonus action, I just said that the character shotguns it. If they drink too many they'll also have to make a con save (DC 10) or become poisoned (drunk) for the next minute.
The mass produced magical items thing makes me think of that maybe being used as a player hook.
For instance, the potions stopped arriving, or started coming in a cursed form, and your heroes need to find out what went wrong in their shipment or production. Or maybe they're delivery workers, thrust into a trap by some force beyond their knowledge. Or maybe it's a world where they're the only ones who know how to make magical items, and the heroes are part of a faction that wants to dethrone their monopoly
I think it would be neat if, for flavor, magic weapons require a physical source of magic to imbue the weapon. This could be a piece of a magical monster to forge into the steel of the blade. The resulting weapon would then be either slightly more or less powerful against that specific species of monster (though the DM should be consistent with how they apply this between different magical weapons).
A blade forged with a lighted coin could emit a soft glow.
One forged from a zombie could deal +1 necrotic damage instead of just the +1 weapon damage.
If imbued with the remains of a gelatinous cube it adds acid damage.
A vampire fang heals the wielder for 1 per round on a hit but doesn't work on undead.
Maybe a +2 sword uses two different reagents in the blade, granting two different minor effects instead of one larger effect.
A similar mechanic could be used to make armor and shields unique, an extension of the trope that armor made from dragon hide offers better protecting against them.
That last tip is a golden plot hook! Definitely going to try and use that one in the future!
Glad you liked it! :)
I actually really like the idea of a larger potion shelf like a drinks fridge, though moreso in a larger general store or something.
I also like encumbrance, which is why I don't really like Bags of Holding. Bags of Holding invalidate part of the benefit of Strength, and is a part of the reason why Dex is king in 5e.
I like the idea of a bag of holding that effects what is put inside. Although I generally omit bags of holding because my players are a bit too clever in coming up with uses for them. I just give the players a ship so they can haul around lots of things and have a portable home base with NPCs.
Something that can make magic weapons more interesting is to have a creature use it to fight against the players. That way the party can see the item in action before they get their hands on it, and it feels like they didn't just earn a reward, but earned that reward.
So cool as always!
For potions, you can always add a CON save to not spit them out, or have a chance of giving the character the Poisoned condition if they were made under less-than-ideal circumstances.
I had these 2 shady goblin merchants named Con & Swindle who sold, among other things, bootleg health potions, amateurishly brewed in a dirty kettle from impure ingredients. However, they sold them for cheap, & might be your only option if the item is illegal.
Bob you are a monster for actually calculating encumbrance.
Alternately, for the bag of holding you could give them something like the Luggage from Discworld. A magical chest that follows the characters around and can store all their stuff.
Or it could be like the magic chest in the tale Donkeyskin that the character summons using a wand. So instead of carrying a bag around they have a wand or charm that can summon a magic chest instead.
master sword's not just a plus one weapon, it's also frequently a pact weapon for hexblades. that's why when you're at full health you can shoot an eldritch blast out of it in so many games. patron could be fi or the goddess hylia.
Speaking of potions having regional variation: consider what materials would be required for the end result. peppers grow in a very different climate than squashes. This influences geography. And consider how these reagents are harvested. If it's a major part of a regions identity, then perhaps a culture has developed around it, including the development of new skills, conosieurs, and festivals. Expanding on this thought, does the region have any trade? And if so with who? And why? And are both sides happy, or is there a power imbalance, or some other source of tension that could create conflict?
**I got most of these ideas from a stone works video, but I felt it was worth sharing
"Unless your setting has a corporation pumping out potions..."
Healing Springs LLC has been a regular thing in my campaigns for years!
Looks over tables in Chapter 7 of the DMG: Slick Bob! Real slick!
I run a low-magic campaign for a group of 6 friends... the tech level is fairly primitive, like ancient mesopotamia/sumeria/babylon. Instead of in-combat potion drinking, the players have found a special plant that can be smoked to act as lesser healing potions, in basically an out-of-combat ritual. I'm personally not into weed or tobacco, but I think the idea of smoking a medicinal plant jibes really well with the sorta indigenous low-tech shamantic feel of the campaign. I'm going to let the players fiddle around with herbalism to make a liquid distillation of this plant, which can be drank quickly in combat as a bonus action, but with each ingestion, they have to roll on the "potion miscibility" table.
Great video. Genuinely seems like playing in this guy's game would be Fun, the important part of the game.
It's funny how this used to be a staple of the genre, and now it's an afterthought. From Glamdring and Orchrist, to Excalibur and Durandal.
I feel like a lot of the staple magic items are +1 weapons, +1 armor, +1 shields, +1 ammunition, and the items from Tasha’s that give spellcasters +1 to spell attacks and save DCs.
I like it The abyssal bag of holding. It strictly warns that holy items silver and healing potions must not be stored inside.
Potions don't always need to be potions per se. There's nothing stopping you from lacing beef jerky with a healing potion, or a chocolate. Hell, you can have it be a tab the character puts on their tooth. Their hit points drop a certain level, bite down and a healing pulse fills their bodies. Even fruit can be used for this. Of course not all these options are practical, taking a bite from a pomegranate in the middle of a fight is kinda impractical, but so is pulling a glass vial out, opening it, and chugging it while goblins rain arrows down on you.
Granny's Lil' Sip...love it! lol
this is amazing, thank you! :)
You're so welcome! :)
Your party should make their own bags of holding. They can customize them and you can make sure they have too much stuff that they don't still have encumbrance to track.
A little exemple from one of my games was a healer npc that was a neutral aligned cleric of an evil god. Being a cleric, she could cast healing spells, in fact she was very good at it but since the source of her powers was evil the spells would feel very unpleasant. In the case of healing wounds not only it would hurt almost as bad as being wounded in the first place it would leave a large and nasty looking scar were said wound was.
Bag of Broiling: Uncommon Wondrous item -- Holds up to 100lbs of items. Preserves items held within, keeping them pleasantly hot.
~ Enjoy fresh, home-cooked meals on the go with your very own Bag of Broiling™