Description of Magical Items

Potions and Oils

Essence of Darkness: This pure black oily fluid must be kept in tough, light-proof containers, since it is destroyed after one turn in bright sunlight or one hour exposed to daylight. Essence of darkness is pure, concentrated, liquefied darkness itself. It can be used in a number of ways:

(i) When a dose is swallowed it makes the imbiber's entire body, including hair, teeth, and even the whites of the eyes, pure matte black in color. This can enhance a thief's chance of hiding in shadows as shown below.

(ii) Similarly, if one dose is diluted in a gallon or so of warm water, the essence creates a powerful black dye. A gallon of this diluted form can be used to dye clothes and even armor and weapons; one gallon of the dye is sufficient to treat the clothes and equipment of one character. The dye takes one turn to mix and soak into the items and one turn to dry. This process also affects the chances for successful hiding in shadows.

Body only (wearing normal clothes)	+5%
Body only (wearing no clothes)	+25%
Clothes only	+20%
Both body and clothes	+40%

These bonuses only apply when the thief is trying to hide in darkened areas, obviously; that is, to "traditional" hiding in shadows. Detection resistance operates on a thief using essence of darkness to hide in this way.

(iii) Essence of darkness is unstable and if a vial is struck by a crushing blow it will explode into darkness 15' radius. A single dose of the magical essence will create a darkness 5' radius if so struck. This property has been exploited by making small glass or ceramic globes filled with the liquid which are then thrown forcefully onto hard surfaces to create "darkness bombs." At the DM's option, a thief who has ingested the essence or applied it to his clothing might similarly become the center of a darkness 5' radius effect if struck a severe blow (50% of remaining hit points, with a 12 hit point minimum for the effect to operate) with a blunt weapon.

The effects of essence of darkness last for six hours plus 1d6 turns, if used externally; if ingested, it has the same duration as a standard potion. Each bottle or vial of the essence found usually contains sufficient fluid for 1d4+4 doses.

Oil of Slickness: The consistency of this magical substance is variable; sometimes it is found as a small vial of very viscous oil, sometimes as a pot of thin, creamy white salve. It is applied by rubbing into the skin of the hands (taking one round). When rubbed in, it improves the speed and coordination of the hands so that all manually-based thieving skills (pick pockets, open locks, find/remove traps) are improved by 10%. A vial or pot of this oil (or salve) usually contains 1d4+4 applications. The effect lasts for 1d4+4 turns. The bonuses to the ability scores cannot be claimed by any thief who is wearing gauntlets or gloves of any kind, including magical ones!

Potion of Master Thievery: This potion gives the thief a temporary increase in levels if he has fewer than 13 levels of experience. The number of levels gained depend on the thief's level, as shown below.

			Increase
Level of	Levels	Added	in each
Imbiber	bestowed	hit dice	skill
1st-3rd	5	5d6	+20%
4th-6th	4	4d6+1	+16%
7th-9th	3	3d6+2	+12%
10th-12th	2	2d6+3	+8%

The thief acts as if he were at the experience level bestowed by the magic of the potion. Damage sustained is taken first from magically gained temporary extra hit points. So far as thieving skills are concerned, the potion affects these all equally by the increase shown. The effects of this potion last for 5d6 rounds.

Potion of Perception: This enhances the senses of the imbiber to a great degree, with numerous effects:

(i) A thief gains a 10% bonus to his open locks and remove traps skills.

(ii) A thief gains a 20% bonus to his find traps and hear noise skills.

(iii) A character's chance for being surprised is halved (usually this means a +1 or +2 on the die).

(iv) A character's chance for detecting secret or concealed doors is doubled. This may also be applied to detecting hidden or concealed objects if the DM wishes to use an Intelligence check for this; a bonus of +4 applies to such an ability check. A corresponding bonus of -4 applies to any observation proficiency check.

(v) A character has a 25% chance of automatically detecting invisible or detecting illusions (from spells or spell-like effects below 5th level) as such.

However, this enhancement also makes the imbiber vulnerable to gaze attacks and weapons and also sound-based attacks (such as a shout spell or the roaring of an androsphinx) and all saving throws made against such attacks are at -2. The effects of the potion last for 1d4+4 turns.

Potion of Sleep Breathing: This potion allows the imbiber to breathe a colorless, odorless cloud of sleep-inducing gas up to three times within an hour after drinking it. This cloud is effectively a 20' x 20' x 20' cube. Within the cloud, creatures are affected as if struck by a sleep spell, the effects of which are exactly duplicated by the cloud. If the thief does not breathe out a cloud in this way within an hour after drinking the potion, he must save versus spells or fall into a deep, comatose sleep himself for 1d4+4 turns. This potion is obviously of great value for the thief in dealing with numbers of low-level and peripheral guards when he is trespassing, breaking and entering, etc.

Potion of Thievery: Similar to, but weaker than, the potion of master thievery, this potion also grants the thief drinking it temporary increases in levels, hit dice, and skills, if he is of 9th or lower level prior to drinking it, as shown below.

			Increase
Level of	Levels	Added	in each
Imbiber	bestowed	hit dice	skill
1st-3rd	3	3d6	+12%
4th-6th	2	2d6+1	+8%
7th-9th	1	1d6+2	+4%

As with the potion of master thievery, the individual acts in all respects as a thief of the higher level gained after drinking the potion, with the increase in thieving skills being equally spread across all categories by the bonus shown. Damage sustained is taken from additional temporary hit points gained first. The effects of the potion last for 1d4+4 turns.

Table of Contents