Magical Items

Following are some new types of magical treasures, magic especially suited to fighting characters.

Bracelet of Charms: This appears to be a nicely-crafted bracelet of sturdy gold links. It looks like any other bracelet to which small charms and mementos are attached.

But when a warrior (only a warrior, multi-class warrior, or dual-class warrior) slides the bracelet around the blade or haft of a weapon, and speaks the command word engraved on the bracelet's clasp, the weapon disappears . . . and a gold charm matching the weapon appears on the bracelet.

Thereafter, when the warrior speaks the command word and the name of the weapon, the weapon magically appears in the hand on whose wrist the bracelet rested . . . and the bracelet disappears.

The bracelet can hold up to four weapons/charms this way. They can be normal or magical. Shields and miscellaneous equipment cannot be held in this fashion; only weapons built as weapons. Siege weapons cannot be held.

The change from bracelet to weapon takes no time at all, but can be accomplished only once per turn. The bracelet itself can be used only eight times in a day; turning the bracelet into a weapon counts as one use, and turning the weapon back into a bracelet counts as one use.

If the weapon held in the bracelet's enchantment is called on, and wielded, and then disarmed, the character cannot call on another weapon from the bracelet. The bracelet itself is within the weapon. The character must retrieve the weapon first, and only then can he use its magic.

A weapon can be taken out of the bracelet's array. When a character wishes to do this, he takes the bracelet off his wrist and speaks the name of the weapon, and then says the command word . . . a reversal of the previous procedure.

The bracelet does not magically know its owner. Anyone who steals the bracelet from its owner and discovers what it is can use it and call the previous owner's weapons forth.

This item is best used when the wielder wants to carry a variety of different weapons, and wants to do so secretly. With a single warrior, the weapons carried might be a long bow and quiver (quivers count as part of the weapon they carry arrows for), a bastard sword, a halberd, and a dagger. This gives the warrior the ability to call forth the weapon best suited to the task at hand.

If a weapon is broken, the bracelet isn't; the user needs to call forth the bracelet, then separate the broken weapon from it.

Quivers are not magically replenished when they're the size of charms. However many arrows are in the quiver when it becomes a charm are still in it when it becomes a quiver again. Likewise, a broken bow-string stays broken.

The Bracelet of Charms may not be used on the same weapon as a set of Rings of Readiness.

Cage of Shelter: This object looks like a large bird-cage that has been neatly folded down into a package about the size of a medium shield.

The user, who can be of any character class, places it upon the ground, steps back from it, and claps his hands loudly either two or three times.

If he claps his hands twice, the cage grows up into a sturdy metal-framed tent which can house eight people—you can substitute one horse for four people. This tent confers no magical blessing on its inhabitants, but by using it and huddling together for warmth a party can survive a snowstorm that would kill an unprotected party; by erecting it in the desert, a party can avoid the danger and discomfort of a sandstorm.

If the user claps his hands three times, the cage grows up into a strong 10' by 10' cell. The door to the cell has the equivalent of a wizard lock; the cage's owner can open it any time he wishes, and any magician with the knock spell can open it by using that spell. A person in the cell would have to make his Bend Bars/Lift Gates roll successfully (or use a knock) to escape; the door's lock cannot be picked.

To return the cage to its original form, the owner claps again, twice if it is in tent form, three times if it is in cage form. If someone is in it when it is a tent and begins collapsing, it opens up around the person inside; both he and it are unhurt. If someone is in it when it is a cage and begins collapsing, it collapses around him, inflicting 2d6 damage before it breaks open; thereafter, it is ruined forever.

The cage of shelter knows its owner. If someone finds it in a treasure, he must carry it in his gear for a month for the cage to attune itself to him. If its true owner sells it to someone else in the cage's presence, the cage will obey the claps of its new owner immediately.

Charm of Favor: When deities and other powerful beings are pleased with the deed of a mortal, they sometimes give him a charm of favor. This is a small charm or statuette, usually of semiprecious material and two or three inches in size, which represents the god or one of his aspects.

The charm is rather like a limited wish. It represents a favor which the deity will do for the character at some time in the future. To use it, the owner must throw the item on the ground so hard that it breaks, and then call out his request.

The request must have something to do with the attributes of the god: It's no use asking the Goddess of Love to dry up an oasis into a desert, or to ask the God of Earthquakes for a fog to hide the adventurers.

The god hears it when the favor is requested. And he, in the guise of the DM, evaluates the favor. If the favor is something which pertains to one of his attributes, and if the god does not think that the character is making the request out of mere greed or selfishness, and if bestowing the favor will not conflict with any of the god's other aims or desires, he will grant the favor.

So it would be appropriate to ask the God of Insects to send a cloud of bees to rout one's enemies, or to ask the Goddess of Love to cause some NPC to fall in love with the player-character, or to ask a deity of the Earth to cause fruit-trees to grow and save the characters from death by thirst and starvation.

Because the deity is evaluating the character's request, the asking character cannot expect an outrageous favor to be granted. And most enemies who steal the charm from the PC cannot use it successfully; one might take it, hurl it to the ground and break it with his request, and find the cranky god stomping on him and freeing the faithful PC. (This, however, constitutes using up the favor.) But an NPC friend of the owner of the charm might be able to get the item and ask the god to help the charm's true owner . . . particularly if he is ill or kidnapped and cannot do so for himself.

Any character of any class can receive such a charm as a favor. But when they are found in treasure, they are useless; they were not intended for the character who finds them, after all.

The charm of favors does not radiate magic.

Rings of Readiness: This magical item consists of two plain iron rings, one suitable to be worn on a finger and one larger, some 2" in diameter.

The larger ring is to be placed on some item. It can be sewn into or bolted onto a set of armor; it can be placed upon the pommel of a weapon (in which case it shrinks until it fits snugly); it can be attached to any item of personal gear weighing less than 100 lbs.

When the larger ring is attached to an object, and the smaller ring is worn by a character, the character needs only to utter the magical word inscribed on the inside of the smaller ring. When he does, if the other ring is within 10 miles, it will instantaneously transport that object to the character.

If the item attached to the other ring is a weapon, it will appear in his hand. If the item is a suit of armor, it appears on the character; if he is already wearing a suit of armor, it appears next to him. If the item is something else, it appears in a fashion dictated by the DM; a crown will appear on the character's head, while a sewing machine would appear next to him, for instance.

If the item attached to the larger ring is more than 10 miles away, nothing happens.

The use of the rings must be announced before initiative in the combat turn. Use of the rings takes no time. The character calls out the magic word before initiative; then, later in the turn, when his actions come up, the item in question appears.

If a character finds the smaller ring without the larger one, then he can summon whatever object the larger one is attached to, even if it is not his. These rings recognize no single owner. An interesting quest in a campaign might be for a character to find the smaller of a set of rings and have to wander to find the larger ring and summon it and its object to him; remember, it only works within 10 miles of the summoner.

The magic only works if the item attached to the larger ring is inanimate. Living things are not transported.

Once summoned, these objects may not be sent back. This is a one-way trip.

The rings may be used any number of times; they do not wear out.

Many heroes use this magical item so that they never lose their weapons. If the hero finds his sword disarmed in combat, he can call it to his hand on the next round, without wasting the time to go get it. Some con artists use it to run a scam: They'll secretly attach the larger ring to some great item of treasure, sell it to a dealer, ride out of town with their money and then summon the treasure back. This is a good tactic until the vengeful dealers catch up with them.

This magical item may be used by characters of any class.

Rings of readiness cannot be used on the same weapon as a bracelet of charms.

Sheath of Holding: This item looks like an ordinary sheath for a large knife; the sheath is anywhere from 6" to 10" long, including its belt loop.

But it doesn't hold a knife. It holds a sword—a full-sized sword. With magic rather like that found in the bag of holding, this item slides most of the length of the blade into a pocket dimension, so that only the weapon's hilt shows, with the sheath suggesting another 5" or so of blade. (This looks rather strange when it holds a bastard sword, where the hilt will be longer than the apparent blade, but the sheath of holding can do it.)

Each sheath of holding is designed to hold one type of sword. The DM can decide which sort of sword it's designed to hold, or can roll on the table below. The sheath will not hold a sword it is not built to hold.

	Weapon
Roll	Held By	Alternate
d100	Sheath	Roll
01–10	Bastard sword	01–15
11–15	Cutlass
16–20	Dagger	16–25
21–25	Dirk	26–30
26–30	Gladius/Drusus
31–33	Katana
34–38	Khopesh	31–35
39–43	Knife	36–45
44–53	Long sword	46–65
54–58	Main-gauche
59–68	Rapier
69–73	Sabre
74–78	Scimitar	66–75
79–88	Short sword	76–90
89–93	Stiletto
94–98	Two–handed sword	91–00
99–00	Wakizashi

Ignore any rolls which are not appropriate for your campaign setting; if you have no katanas, you don't need to accept any rolls for sheathes for katanas.

The "Alternate Roll" column is used if you are not using the new weapons introduced in The Complete Fighter's Handbook.

This magical item can be used by any character class, but most end up in the hands of warriors and rogues.

Saddle of the Spirit-Horse: This is a very strange magical item which may only be used by warriors (either single-, multi-, or dual-class).

To all appearances, it is an ordinary, worn leather saddle of good quality. However, it is a magical item. If worn by a single horse, it attunes itself to that horse when worn for three days. (It doesn't have to be worn continuously for 72 hours—just worn as an ordinary saddle is.)

Once it is attuned to the horse, nothing remarkable happens . . . unless the horse dies while wearing the saddle. If it does, the spirit of the horse stays with the saddle for another 24 hours. Half an hour after the horse died, the spirit of the horse will "awaken," and climb to its unseen feet, and prepare to carry its master wherever he wants to go. The ghost-horse continues to wear the saddle and to carry it around . . . and the horse's master or other favorite riders may ride it during that time.

For the next 24 hours, the horse-ghost will tirelessly carry its rider wherever he wants to go, at the full running speed the horse could manage when it was alive. But it's a spooky sight: The saddle floats in the air, four or five feet up (at the height the living horse carried it); the rider must mount normally, treat the horse as he did normally, and pretend all is as it ever was.

Other than running, the horse-spirit has no unusual abilities. It cannot be seen or touched. It can whinny and neigh, and it can buck . . . though only the saddle is seen to buck in the air. It cannot truly fly; when it comes to a ravine, for instance, it must descend to the bottom and climb the other slope as it would have had to do if it were alive.

This frightens living horses. No normal horse will approach the animated saddle within a hundred feet. For this reason, it is best used when the character is alone and, has his horse killed out from under him,

If a character kills his horse to get this 24 hours of fast, tireless service, the ghost-horse will remember this and be offended by it . . . even if the character did it secretly, by poison or long-distance magic, the horse will know it. It will allow him to mount the floating saddle, and behave normally for a while, but at some catastrophic time it will try to kill the character. It may jump off a cliff, or ride him straight back at the enemy he's trying to elude, or buck him off into a pit of snakes.

These saddles may also be made for donkeys, camels, or any other ground animals. They don't work with pegasi, griffons, or other flying beasts.

Shield of Medusae: This magical item may only be used by warriors or priests (including multi-class and dual-class warriors or priests).

It is shaped like and works like a normal medium shield. But the outside (the side that faces the enemy) is mirror-reflective, and the inside (where the warrior's straps are) is crystal clear.

To use the shield of medusae, the warrior holds it up before him, in front of his eyes, and looks through its clear surface. While he is doing so, he is immune to the stoning gazes of creatures such as the medusa and basilisk, and to magical items which duplicate their gazes. When the character carrying this shield confronts a stoning creature, he reflects their images back at them, and it is they who must make saving throws vs. petrification or be turned to stone.

Unlike ordinary shields, the shield of medusae has only two damage points before it shatters. In other words, if it is hit twice, it is destroyed.

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